This week’s College Football Recap will look at the big games, good bets, and trash picks from last week’s action.
The first week of the meat of the college football season did not disappoint. We had undefeated dreams die, statements made, and plenty of surprises as the chaotic college football season continued on this past weekend. Note: All projections referenced in this article are based off of Adam McClintock’s rankings. and projections. If you have not checked out his work I highly suggest doing so and subscribing and contributing to his patreon. He does outstanding work and the content is well worth the subscription prices.
Arkansas Fails to Continue Surprise Season
The Arkansas Razorbacks traveled to Athens, GA to take on the 2nd ranked Georgia Bulldogs. Trying to continue their undefeated season, the Hogs had been impressing football fans across the country with wins against Texas A&M, and Texas. The Hogs strong start to the season was built on the back of their strong defense, which also happened to be the strength of the Bulldogs. This defensive combination lead me to wager on the under at anything better than 48.5.
The same idea also led me to back the Razorbacks at +18 or better. Well, one of those worked out and one did not, as the Hogs were routed 37-0. I think both were still the correct plays still but will take the 1-1 start to the day. I believe Arkansas may have come out a bit too stiff knowing that this was their “big shot”. When UGA was up 27-0, I was feeling pretty comfortable and was hoping the Razorbacks would hit the backdoor with a touchdown and a field goal to hit both bets, but alas we move on at 1-1.
Also if you happened to take the other two noon bets I was contemplating. Both Wake v. Louisville Over 62/63 and Charlotte +10.5 or better hit for some nice early slate returns.
Cincinnati Makes Case for Playoffs with Big Win
The next feature matchup of the day involved the “Group of 5” underdog Cincinnati Bearcats traveling to South Bend, IN to take on the famed Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. Cincinnati’s stingy defense did a phenomenal job stifling the Notre Dame offense. But Desmond Ridder was phenomenal throwing or just 3 yards short of 300, and 2 TD’s (although the one may have gone either way being poorly played by the defender). Ridder out-threw the rotation of QB’s played by ND by 40 yards on 14 less completions. The Irish QB’s also threw 2 INT’s — Coan and Buchner both threw 1— compared to Ridder’s 0.
I didn’t get the lowest number betting wise when the Bearcats number stooped to -120 or maybe even a -115 if anyone saw one of those. I got -125 and wrote that I would take -130 or better. Cashing that brought us to 2-1 on the days main picks, and if you were following the additional bets I was considering, got another win with Ole Miss/Bama under. Also taking a loss on Eastern Michigan Moneyline.
New Mexico Defense Worse Than I Thought?
I loved both Air Force -10.5, as well as Under 46 in the Mountain West matchup. Air Force covered the points easily in a 38-10 win. However, I did think the Lobos defense would be able to get some stops against the Air Force option attack, but The Falcons ran through the Lobos all night long, scoring one more TD than I envisioned they would. I really thought a solid 31-10 win was coming for Air Force, but, we take what we can get and move to 3-2 for main picks. and would have added a couple more wins if you bet La Tech +18 and Penn State -12.5 as well.