[ConferenceChalk]

I specialize in college sports - have been picking college football for the longest but might be a little better in college basketball. I'm going to try and keep this string going all season.

College Football Results from 2010:

• 27-17 ATS in Big Ten games
• 32-20 ATS Top Personal Picks

I publish my picks every Thursday and Friday on our site. There are 2 other handicappers that also make picks on Thursday.

OPENING NIGHT (THURSDAY 9/1) CONSIDERING:
Wisco -35 vs UNLV (might take 1st half line, and if it fails take 2nd half. Night game in Madison, no sleepwalking here)
Miss St -27.5 @ Memphis
Syracuse - 7 vs Wake
Western Kentucky +19 vs Kentucky (neutral site)

any insight into any of these would be fabulous

[GoBlue23]

Love Mississippi St. next thursday. I think they are one of the most underrated/overlooked teams in the country. 9 offensive starters returning along with 7 on defense. I don't like laying this many points EVER on the road. But I really like this one. Memphis should impove from last year, but Miss St. will thrash them regardless.

[raiderhater9572]

Checked out your opening picks and exactly what I have early leans on

Analysis: Western Kentucky may be able to test the wildcats here. If Bobby Rainey can run the ball through the questionable defensive line of Kentucky they may be able to keep the game close. Its hard to bet on a team that was last in the Sun Belt against an SEC team but Western Kentucky was full of youth a season ago. Kentucky’s offense looks very questionable in the run and passing game if they can’t light up the scoreboard then this may be closer than expected. The secondary of WKU is the strength of the defense and may give QB Newton trouble in the first game of the 2011 season. Motivation should be high for the Western Kentucky team against fellow rival Kentucky. Last scrimmage Kentucky was much stronger defensively in last scrimmage could be a lower scoring game. WKU also features two running threats with one at RB and WB Jakes.
Early Lean would be WKU -19 but watch line public could push it up
-Kentucky has been banged up offensive line in preseason workouts

Analysis: Mississippi State looks far superior to Memphis and I think the only reason the line is at 27.5 is because Memphis is hosting. Mississippi state should be able to run all over the Tiger defense and the offense should not be able to score against an SEC defense.

Analysis: Game will be nationally televised on ESPN and coming off a bowl win there is some hype around the Syracuse football program. The line at -7 looks like a good play for a team that is playing WF which was horrendous a year ago. Follow injuries on both teams which have had problems in preseason workouts but the Orange defense should be able to fend off Wake Forest’s offense and produce enough points for a comfortable win.

[daprospecta]

Wisky doesn't like to let up so I can them covering even though that's a lot of chalk
I just don't trust Miss. St. I follow the SEC a lot considering my team is Arkansas and I just don't trust them to put up a lot of points even if it is against lowly Memphis.
Syracuse is one of my leans but only at 7 or less. I just checked the line and it's at 7.5.
I keep hearing about the WKU and Im starting to think it's an under the radar play. Kentucky lost Cobb who was their offense for the most part. GL

[ConferenceChalk]

I'm most interested to see what happens with WKU-Kentucky. WKU has been awful since joining FBS but the program was exceptional on the D-1AA level so there is a winning tradition down there. Its the place where the Harbaugh coaching tree begins (Jack Harbaugh was the coach there for many years) and Willie Taggert is a disciple, having played for Jack and coached under Jim. Not that coaching trees always mean anything...

WKU was 1-11 last season but 7-5 ATS so they were more competitive than it seemed. I'm leaning towards 1 unit on the Hilltoppers.