Moving closer to kick off and I am getting more concrete win totals in place and circling games for week 1 and beyond,
I will start with some games I like week 1 and then jump into win totals.
The lines are what is posted on pregame.com under Lines & Odds tab at the moment among several sportsbooks they list out.
These are not official picks yet...will let you know when and if I lock them in. I do wait til training camp starts and see who actually starts, who has any significant injuries, etc.
Michigan +5.5 vs. Utah and under 54.5- Of course you have to have a side in this one. Harbaugh is pretty much a caged animal at this point waiting to attack in this first game. He will have a really solid game plan together and his team will put on a show. The questions on what his offense will look will be there and unresolved and his defense will pick up where they left off last year and keep them in this one.
Utah will not be easily pushed around and they will be prepared. When push comes to shove though they will be conservative and will not take too many chances. I like this game to be decided by a field goal either way with a 23-20 final or so.
Arizona vs. UT San Antonio over 50- The Roadrunners were no joke last year and played many teams tough and will have Zona's attention for this first game. The Pac 12 south is loaded so Rich Rod and the Zona squad will not be messing around and will put their full offensive game plan out their and will score heavily on UTSA. UTSA will not be very competitive but they will score enough points and give up many and this game will fly over 50.
Kent +16 vs. Illinois- I am picking Illinois to have a rough season and it will start right off the bat with this game. Yes, Kent was not good last season but they were ravaged with injury and although they were often getting their brains beat in they still competed. I like them to come after an Illinois team that will not be confident and will have a distracted coach and cover the number.
Stanford/Northwestern over 44.5- I will be in attendance at this one so I will see it up close and personal. NWU generally plays better offense and worse defense at home (that is pretty much anecdotal) and I really expect Stanford to do much better in the red zone. If everyone is sick of saying it then you can be sure that Stanford HC David Shaw is really, really sick of hearing about their anemic red zone offense. I think he will make it a point to do much better this year and will start right off the bat in this one. NWU meanwhile will find a way to keep it close and score as well.
Bowling Green +21 vs Tennessee- I really like this one and will be monitoring BGSU closely as this one nears. Tennessee is poised to have a really nice year and they and the rest of the world is looking ahead to Sept 12 when they play Oklahoma. I like BGSU to take advantage of this look ahead situation and give the Vols a scare. The Falcons played well last year and have a confident team coming back. Don't be surprised if they have the lead at half and UT needs to make a comeback just to get the SU win without any shot of covering the number.
I will be adding more week 1 games but that is it for the moment.
Team Totals- these are from Betonline.com
South Carolina over 6.5 wins -140- I like the Ole Ball Coach or Ole Head Coach to have a bounceback year this season. The Gamecocks, UGA, Tennessee and Missouri are all pretty evenly matched and USC has 6 games that I think they will win and the other games they have a solid chance with no games where they will be prohibitive underdogs. Minimally they will win 7 and will chance to win up to 10.
Iowa over 7.5 wins +100- The Hawkeyes should get 3 wins and likely 4 wins heading into the Big10 schedule. If that happens then Iowa will easily get 4 wins in the Big10 and get the over. This one looks pretty good and I will monitor the QB situation but not too worried about this one.
OK, that's what I got for the moment. More to come.
