Handicapping by Liz

Well, we are off to a good start again this weekend as I had the over in the Buffalo/Ohio U game on Tuesday night. Here’s my college picks this week.

This week’s first pick goes to BYU on the road at New Mexico laying 26 ½ points. BYU is currently 7-2 and New Mexico is a woeful 0-9, so I see no problem here laying almost 4 TDs and as long as the line stays under 28 I like this game a lot. The numbers support me as well as BYU is 4-1 ATS the last 5 times these 2 teams have played in New Mexico and the road team is 6-0-1 ATS the last 7 meetings. Lay the points and watch the rout.

Second on my list of best bets this weekend is Oregon at home giving Arizona State 17 ½ points. The Ducks are coming home after losing last week at Stanford and have to be in a very fowl mood. Oregon is 7-1 ATS their last 8 conference games and this should make it 8-1. Also the Ducks are 4-0 ATS their last 4 games at home. It also doesn’t help ASU that their starting QB, Danny Sullivan, is questionable for the game on Saturday due to a bicep injury. My opinion here is that Oregon will take out their frustrations on ASU in front of the home crowd and it just depends how bad they want to punish ASU to get back on track, but I’m looking at more of a spread of 4TDs as the final.

Next pick is the Florida Gators to cover the 16 point spread on the road at South Carolina. Florida has had South Carolina’s number the past 2 years winning both games by a combined 107-37 and I just don’t see that changing again this year. South Carolina’s offense is horrible, in their past 4 games the Gamecocks haven’t scored over 16 points, this just can’t happen if they want to stay competitive with the Gators. South Carolina’s QB Garcia is having a good year statistically but either the play calling or their vanilla offense is just not producing many points. Also the stats for Florida are amazing the Gators are 11-1 ATS their last 12 road games and 10-1 ATS their last 11 road games as favorites and the list goes on and on. I just don’t see South Carolina staying within the number, so lay the 16 points and watch Florida score and South Carolina to struggle.

Well, I’m jumping on the Cincinnati bandwagon and picking them this week to cover the 8 ½ point spread at home against West Virginia on Friday night. I just haven’t been all that impressed with West Virginia and this week both Devine and Brown are probable and will be playing with ankle injuries and that isn’t good news for the West Virginia offense as they ARE their offense. Cincinnati says they will play Tony Pike a little on Friday but they haven’t lost a step with Collaros who has thrown 10 touchdowns and only 1 int. Look for the Bearcats to jump out to an early lead and force Brown to throw and take Devine and the Mountaineers out of their game. Lay the 8 ½ points and just enjoy the game.

My last best bet this weekend is Hawaii at home giving 18 ½ points to New Mexico State. I’ve always liked betting Hawaii at home, because for one thing you’re in Hawaii and that’s a pretty big distraction for any team. Hawaii won last week at home against Utah State and looked even better than they did in the Nevada game the week before. New Mexico State has lost their last 3 games by a combined 124-10 while Hawaii has scored 70 points their past 2 games. Hawaii is also 3-0-1 ATS the past 4 meetings between these teams and I look for that trend to continue. Lay the points and take the Rainbow/Warriors to win and cover the number.

Other games I like but not as strong, I like my Boise State Smurfs to cover the 31 points at home against Idaho. Also Houston to cover the 4 points on the road at UCF(Central Florida). San Diego State to cover the 7 ½ at home against Wyoming. Oklahoma State to cover the 4 points at home against Texas Tech. Nebraska to cover the 3 ½ points on the road at Kansas. And last but not least I like ULM(Louisiana-Monroe) at home giving Western Kentucky 21 points.

My dogs this week are Kansas State at home getting a point from Missouri. Tulane getting 3 points on the road at Rice. Marshall at home getting 3 points from Southern Miss. I also like Mississippi State at home getting 12 ½ points from Alabama. And my last favorite underdog is UTEP(Texas El Paso) getting 7 points on the road at SMU.

As for my over/under bets
I already hit the over 45 in the Ohio/Buffalo game.
Other O/Us I like are
the over 54 in the Michigan/Wisconsin game,
the over 50 in the Missouri/Kansas State game,
the over 53 in the New Mexico State/Hawaii game,
the over 64 in the Idaho/Boise State game,
and the over 62 UAB/Memphis game.

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 :