After 8 long months, college football is finally back. Generally, teams use week 1 as a warm up and schedule FCS cupcakes to build confidence and guarantee an easy win. This year, the slate of week 1 games looks a little different:
Texas A&M v. #16 UCLA
Wisconsin v. #5 LSU (Lambeau Field, Green Bay)
Auburn v. #2 Clemson
Texas v. #10 Notre Dame
This has to be the greatest opening week of college football of all time. Each of the top 5 teams has a legit chance of being knocked off. A lot of playoff implications and it should be a fun one to watch.
After careful analysis of the spreads, I've made the following 7 bets for the weekend:
Syracuse (-21.5) v. Colgate
Anytime a team from the Patriot League is playing a team from a power 5 conference you can expect a blowout. The talent discrepancy is just too much. The only FBS team Colgate played last year was Navy, and they lost by 38 points. Look for Syracuse to win big tonight in the Carrier Dome.
#2 Clemson (-7.5) @ Auburn
Auburn had a rough go of it last season, going 2-6 in conference play. They lost their two biggest playmakers over the offseason, as Peyton Barber and Ricardo Louis both moved on to the NFL. Clemson has Deshaun Watson, the best dual threat quarterback in the nation, and a nice outside weapon in Artavis Scott.
Auburn will put up a fight, but Clemson should cover the spread fairly easily.
Northwestern (-4.5) v. Western Michigan
Who is Western Michigan? I feel like this spread should be much higher. Northwestern is coming off a good season in which they were a consistent figure in the top-25 rankings. The Wildcats return their starting quarterback Clayton Thorson and running back Justin Johnson, who rushed for over 1400 yards last season.
SMU (-10) @ North Texas
Gotta take the ponies in this one. They played UNT last year and beat them by 18. The game is at UNT this year, but I don't expect the fans will provide much of a home field advantage
SMU is returning all of its playmakers, and it looks like this will be the year they finally pull their shit together and produce a reasonable record. Matt Davis is a versatile quarterback, and Cortland Sutton is one of the best wide receivers in the nation.
Look for the ponies to get off to a strong start and cover spread easily against the Mean Green.
This bet is just gut instinct. The game is being played in Georgia, and the Bulldogs have traditionally been a much better team. The Dawgs return starting quarterback Greyson Lambert and star running back Nick Chubb.
I'm really not sure why USC is ranked 20. They are coming off a subpar 7-6 season, and lost half of their starters on defense. I think they can keep the game competitive, but Alabama won't lose this game. High pressure primetime games like this are what Nick Saban lives for.
Alabama lost the bulk of their running game with the departures of Derrick Henry and Kenyan Drake, but return each of their top three receivers. I expect the game to be close for a half, but look for the tide to run away with it late.
Tulsa (-5) v. San Jose State
This is another one thats just instinct. Tulsa has been a much better program over the years and I feel like they should be able to handle a team like San Jose State, especially at home.