Handicapping by Liz

The start of another college football weekend and here are my college picks.

My first best bet goes to South Carolina at home giving Vanderbilt 13 points. This game has revenge written all over it. South Carolina has lost the past 2 meetings to Vanderbilt and they are coming off a loss to Alabama. South Carolina should be focused here as they go on the road after this for 2 weeks, facing Tennessee and Arkansas. Vanderbilt is facing a team, that needs a win and South Carolina will get that win and the cover. Lay the 13 points.

My second best bet is on Texas Tech at home giving Texas A&M 21 ½ points.
There are a lot of solid stats that support this pick. Texas Tech is 7-0 ATS the past 7 meetings at home against A&M. Texas Tech is 12-3 ATS the past 15 meetings between these 2 teams. Also, A&M has lost their last 3 games while TT has won their last 3 games. These 2 teams are going in opposite directions and I much rather go with the team going up then down. Lay the 21 ½ points and take Texas Tech to find the end zone often.

Well, my third pick, which should be no surprise, as I like the Boise State Smurfs. Boise State is on the road in tropical Hawaii giving the Rainbows, excuse me the Warriors, 24 points. Hawaii lost their starting QB, Alexander, a few weeks ago and haven’t won a game since. Boise State is still focused on running the table to get a BCS bid and a blowout here will help the cause.
Boise State has not covered the spread against Hawaii in 4 years but a big win here will look good on their BCS resume. Boise State is 9-4 ATS as an away favorite while Hawaii is 3-5 ATS as a home dog. Look for Boise State to win this game as Hawaii is basically one-dimensional right now. Lay the 24 points.

My next pick is a strange one, as I don’t think I ever pick Syracuse to win much less, win and cover, but I like the Syracuse Orangemen this week at home giving Akron 10 points. Syracuse lost to the Zips last year at the Carrier Dome so revenge is once again the topic here. Syracuse is not playing that bad this year and should be able to beat Akron as Akron has lost their 1st and 2nd QBs and have to rely now on the arm of Nicely, a red shirt freshman, who didn’t play bad last week but did throw 2 ints and no TDs. Syracuse is 10-2-1 ATS the last 13 games against the MAC and this game should help boost Syracuse’s confidence before they host Cincy next week. Lay the 10 points as Syracuse should cover the spread.

My last pick goes to the Miami Hurricanes at home giving Clemson 4 ½ points.
Miami has reeled off 3 straight wins since they lost to Virginia Tech, while Clemson has yet to put 2 good games together this season. Miami is 4-1 ATS their last 5 home games and they are 6-1 ATS the last 7 games. Clemson lost their only 2 road games this year, as the Tigers are a different team outside of Death Valley, and I see this being number 3. Lay the 4 ½ points and take Miami.

Other games I like but not as strong, Marshall at home giving UAB 6 ½ points.
Also, Ohio State to bounce back at home giving Minnesota 16 points. I am also backing Southern Mississippi this week to cover the 21 points at home against Tulane. I like Fresno State to cover the 24 point spread on the road at New Mexico State. And last but not least I like Northern Illinois to cover the 10 point spread on the road at winless Miami, OH.

I do like dogs this week. I like Iowa getting 1 ½ points from Michigan State on the road. Also BYU getting 2 ½ points at home from TCU, Washington at home getting 10 points from Oregon. And finally, Arkansas on the road getting 6 ½ points from Mississippi.

As for my over/under bets
Washington State/California over 57 ½, North Texas/Troy over 57 ½,
Illinois/Purdue over 55 and Colorado/Kansas State over 50 ½.

Well, that’s it for another week, I will be back shortly with my pro picks.

As always bet with your head not over it