By Jeremy Dennis, @menace524
Ladies and Gentlemen, we have all returned to some college football after a very drab and uneventful off-season. Am I right? Anywho, we are now stuck in a strange college season where the Big 10 and PAC 12 aren’t even involved in the College Football Playoff (not that the PAC 12 was really that involved, but I digress). For the start of the college festivities, we have some scintillating games in the…..uh…...Sun Belt, Conference USA, and American Athletic. Of course, I don’t want to forget those sassy Independents Army and BYU. Unfortunately, there aren’t a Baker’s Dozen of picks this week, so you just get the mini-pack. Without further 2020 disaster-mongering, let’s get this thing started!
Southern Miss (-15) vs South Alabama: Due to the ‘Rona, things are a little shaky for Southern Miss as they have lost a main WR, DL, and LB. However, the Golden Eagles still should have plenty of depth to play with the Jaguars. South Alabama could see improvement on the offensive and defensive side of the ball, but it would be hard to see them be competitive. The over could be in play here (53.5)
Memphis (-19) vs Arkansas State: This game will go one of two ways. Memphis, which is feeling really good about themselves for reaching a New Year’s Six bowl game, comes out flat against a scrappy Red Wolves team and they barely win or lose outright.
Or Memphis wins by 40. I tend to side on the side of a blowout just because Memphis returns a QB that threw for 4,000 yards, a running back that went for almost 1,500 and they have eight returning starters on defense.
Middle Tennessee State (+3.5) at Army: Both teams took a step back last year by combining for nine wins in 2019. Conventional wisdom says that both teams should be looking to rebound this year. Army is always a difficult read due to their offensive tendencies but 3.5 may be too big of a number with two (mostly) evenly matched teams. The under might be the play just because of the reduction of possessions with the Army offense (54.5).
SMU (-22) at Texas State: The computer feels like this is the easiest bet on the board. SMU is another surprising team that won 10 games in 2019. They will be returning Shane Buechele under center and will have 13 of their starting 22 coming back for this campaign. Texas State has been mostly crappy since jumping to the FBS level. From a personnel standpoint, the Bobcats will actually be taking a step back on offense and defense after only winning three games in ‘19. The Mustangs may get the Over (70) by themselves.
Navy (+1.5) vs BYU: If you read any of my Walking the Line columns last year, if you went against the folks who made the lines move more than two points during the week, you would have made money hand over fist. This line actually started Navy -1.5 and has moved three points in two games. While there is some attrition on the Navy offensive side of the ball, it is hard to believe that BYU is now that much better than a team that won eleven games last year. The computer doesn’t care if Navy is throwing an ex-WR as the new option-QB. Let’s roll with the Middies.
The season starts in earnest next week with the ACC and NFL getting on-line. The Blitzlytics Team will look to keep the train rolling that resulted in a 54.7% success rate on all college football games last year. Don’t forget to check the site regularly to get the up-to-date picks on college and pros. Also, this is the first year that Blitzalytics has put together a Prospect Encyclopedia that covers all 32 NFL teams.
Here is the link so you can check it out:
Good luck this week and pick some winners!