Tulane (-17)
USC (-25.5)
Louisville (-3.5)
Alabama (+7)
Penn State (-14)
SMU has gotten killed 3 out of 4 games, including by Rice 27-56. They've ran for a COMBINED 150 yards in 4 games so far. All 4 teams they've played have put up 200+ passing and rushing yards outside of Texas Tech (180 rushing yards). Texas State University scored 36 points on them! Their running into a Tulane team that held Alabama and John Parker Wilson to 73 passing yards. They havent gave up over 80 yards of rushing to anybody they've played, which includes East Carolina and Alabama. Tulane BIG, right?
Laying 20+ on the road is a recipe for disaster, but if Oregon State's QB (Moevao) throws 2 interceptions against Stanford and Penn State, how many do you think he will throw against USC? The guy's threw the ball 41 and 54 times in Oregon State's losses this year. If Moevao starts slinging the football around it will be a field day for USC. The total in this game is 51.5. USC will AT LEAST put up 40 on this pathetic Oregon State team, no matter where this game is played. Oregon State should luck into about 10 points if Moevao slings the football around like Brett Favre's long lost brother. The over should work nicely in this one
I'm sure you'll call bias on this one, but UConn has played nobody. The one road game they did play was a 12-9 OVERTIME win against Temple. Donald Brown is a nice back, but Louisville's run defense has looked good so far. Tyler Lorenzen isn't exactly Tom Brady in the pocket. Connecticut doesn't have the ability to throw the football and thats is Louisville's biggest liablity defensively. Louisville's offense looked horrible against Kentucky, but like I said, rivalry games bring out the best and worst in teams. Throw in revenge for the infamous "fair catch" last year and I believe Louisville wins big here.
Yes, Georgia is #3 in the country and at home against Alabama. I'm just not sold that Georgia is head and shoulders above the rest of the top teams in the SEC. Alabama has played great so far this year, including a huge road win against Clemson. I don't think Alabama will be scared and the running game will be huge. I see 2 talented backs in Moreno of Georgia and Coffee of Alabama. Alabama went in and dominated Arkansas on the road. I'm just not sure that this game will be decided by more than 1 score. John Parker Wilson's time has come to be a leader and I think he gets the job done on Saturday. I might consider the Alabama ML later, but right now Alabama +7 looks good to me
Penn State will have its first true test Saturday when Juice Williams and the Fighting Illini come to town. The weak link in this game is the Illinois defense though. Louisiana Lafayette almost pulled a huge upset over Illinois last week, but the Illini came away with a 20-17 win. The defense played better than the week before, but a 3 point victory against Louisiana Lafayette isn't going to get them ready for Penn State. Eastern Illinois rolled up 180 yards of rushing and scored 21 points on Illinois. Penn State has looked dominant so far this season and I expect them to shred the Illini's pitiful defense and win by 3+ scores
Love to hear some comments (havent seen much about the weekday games so far)