Picking The Top 3 College Football Games Of Week 1 And One Betting Lock
The opening weekend of college football is loaded. Let’s make some picks.
College football is back, people. It’s the most wonderful time of the year and boy did the football gods bless us with a wild opening weekend of games.
Let’s get right into it and take a look at what we think are the three best games of the week, hand out predictions and give you the one pick against the spread of the week that is an absolute lock.
Pick Against The Spread Lock Of The Week — Appalachian State (+14) vs. Georgia
Appalachian State is one of those teams that is always there. They always hang around against big-time opponents. In their season opener last year they should have knocked off Tennessee in Knoxville. Plus, they should have a little mojo on their side as it is the 10 year anniversary this weekend of their gigantic win at Michigan.
So, if you believe in good juju, take the Mountaineers. Fourteen points is a lot, especially seeing as how the Bulldogs haven’t won by more than 14 points in their last 17 games played.
In all seriousness however, Georgia is one of those teams that really flew under the radar this offseason. You didn’t hear much about the Bulldogs other than the fact that the quarterback position is a bit strange with question marks surrounding Jacob Eason a bit.
The ‘Neers have the talent and the experience to stick with the Bulldogs in a major way.
No. 3 Florida State vs. No. 1 Alabama — Saturday, 8:00 p.m. EST (Alabama -6.5)
This is the game of the week, if anyone tells you otherwise you need to reconsider the people you hang around with.
There isn’t too much to say about this one. Both teams are loaded on both sides of the ball, but then again it’s Alabama and there really isn’t another team in the country that matches up with them at every position. Florida State’s defense is going to be nasty this season, but so is Alabama’s just like water will continue to be wet.
It’s an interesting quarterback matchup with Deondre Francois and Jalen Hurts, but it’s way too tough not to take Alabama here. And yes, they’re playing in the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, but it’s still Atlanta, the Crimson Tide doesn’t lose there.
Alabama wins and covers.
No. 11 Michigan vs. No. 17 Florida — Saturday, 3:30 p.m. EST (Michigan -3)
This is another neutral site game that will be played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The story heading into this one is the fact that the Gators have suspended a total of 10 players for this contest including star wideout Antonio Callaway as well as starting running back Jordan Scarlett. It’s also been reported that there may be even a few more suspensions coming later on.
Things don’t look too great for Florida to say the very least with all of their suspensions, Florida still has the talent around the field to win this contest. The Gators will take the ‘next man up’ motto to a whole new level and lucky for them their next man up should have the ability to do so. Sure, there are question marks, but Michigan has its own as well including 10 new starters on defense.
Florida has a few more weapons offensively than Michigan’s young defense and quarterback Feleipe Franks will lead the orange and blue to a huge win to kick off the year, but this one will be very close.
BYU vs. No. 13 LSU— Saturday, 8:30 p.m. EST (LSU -12.5)
Let’s call this one the Battle of the Cats as the Tiger and Cougars will square-off in New Orleans on Saturday.
Sure, West Virginia and Virginia Tech could be considered one of the Top 3 games of the week as well as Tennessee and Georgia Tech on Monday, but this one just has a weird feeling about it.
Ed Orgeron is entering his first full season as the Bayou Bengals’ head coach plus Matt Canada is making his debut as the team’s offensive coordinator. It’s also going to be interesting to see the LSU offense simply without Leonard Fournette in the backfield.
Then you have BYU who always plays up to its competition. The Cougars don’t have the same four and five-star recruits like LSU has spread out all over the field, but there is something about BYU that always seems odd, in a good way. It’s also worth noting that BYU played last week so they’ve got the first game jitters out of their system as they knocked off Portland State.
I think LSU squeezes out a close win in the Superdome, but I wouldn’t touch this game as a gambling man at all with that 12.5 point spread.
Odds via OddsShark
