"One is the loneliest number that I've ever seen"
1 and freaking 4, that's my record from week one. I had some good picks that went wrong (Oregon) some bad picks (Fresno State and Louisiana Tech) and one replacement that I wish I could have back (eff you FIU). Thank goodness for the Holy War.
But, this is a new week and we have a new parcel of selections that you should probably ignore.
So, without further ado.....
The Week 2 FIVE:
1. Rutgers @ Iowa (-20) [+950 & -1800] {O/U 49.5}
Crunching the numbers I think that Iowa is a much, much better team than Rutgers here. Especially at home. Yes, I know they struggled in week one but a LOT of teams struggle in week one. I expect Iowa to score early and often and to cover this number fairly easily.
Prediction: Rutgers 10 Iowa 45 (Iowa to COVER -20)
2. Army @ Michigan (-22) [+1000 & -2000] {O/U 47.5}
In a first for me I'm putting my beloved Wolverines in the FIVE, AND I'm picking against them. I was not impressed with what I saw last week against MTSU. Of course, Army wasn't that impressive either but I think the triple option is going to give Big Blue's defense fits. I think Michigan wins, but I think it takes many bourbons (on my part) before they get there.
Prediction: Army 21 Michigan 35 (Army to COVER +22)
3. Coastal Carolina @ Kansas (-7.5) [+250 & -300] {O/U 54.5}
I will admit to getting a little nervous when putting a game between two not very good teams in my FIVE, but I think this one is CLOSE, coming down to a FG at the end. Les Miles goes an ugly 2-0.
Prediction: Coastal Carolina 14 Kansas 17 (Coastal Carolina to COVER -7.5)
4. Eastern Michigan @ Kentucky (-15) [+500 & -700] {O/U 53.5}
Death, taxes and Eastern Michigan keeping it close. This team might not win a ton, but they're always in a dogfight, and there's evidence that Kentucky and most of the SEC East might be gawd-awful this year.
Prediction: Eastern Michigan 17 Kentucky 20 (EMU to COVER -15)
5. Arkansas State @ UNLV (-1.5) [+105 & -125] {O/U 62.5}
My numbers have Arkansas State as the better team, even taking into consideration the HFA of UNLV (which I rank as smaller than the average). In other games I'm calling for covers, in this game I'm calling the mild upset.
Prediction: Arkansas State 24 UNLV 20 (Arkansas State to WIN on the ML)
College football takes off Thursday to give the Stage to the NFL. OK, whatever, but they come back with a pretty solid game in Marshall at Boise State on Friday, before the ONE THAT EVERYONE IS WAITING FOR (OK, not everyone) when Texas aTm goes to face Clemson, IN Death Valley. Then there's the night cap LSU at Texas, and remember when Stanford at USC used to mean something? It's the battle of the backup QBs now.
As is usual you're going to find some gems sprinkled among the diamond games. The fun of college football is that they could be games where you least expect them.
Good luck this week, have fun watching the games.
