It's mid August and our favorite time of the year is just around the corner. Good luck to everyone.
Colorado St -3.5 vs Oregon St $330 to win $300
Colorado St had one of the best offenses in the 2nd half of last season and most of that same crew returns. One could argue QB Nick Stevens was the hottest QB in the 2nd half in all of CFB not to mention the most accurate. He gets back his favorite target and a WR that I believe is going to explode this season Michael Gallup. This guy put up some great numbers last season despite the fact he knew nothing about route running. He spent the summer learning and that will pay off in making him unstoppable.
The Rams have a 2 headed monster at RB led by Dawkins and Mathews with Mathews scoring 13 tds last season. The OL brings back their stud center and has plenty of experience. This offense will be prolific due to the best weapon an offense has-play action. CS was 7-0 when running for more than 200yds. Oregon St gave up an avg of 218 on the ground last season ranked 102 in the nation. Expect Oregon St to concentrate on not letting Stevens-Gallup and a hot passing offense to beat them so safeties deep which opens up a solid Ram ground attack. Add in the Beaver's best 2 cbs are gone and Colorado St has a plethora of options for the offensive play caller.
On D, the Rams bring back a lot of experience with LB being their strength led by Watson Jr and they get Clyborn back. Best safety and CB also return. The weakness in the Colorado St D is their DL. This is a concern because the Beavers can run the ball behind Nall Jr. The saving grace in this scenario is that Oregon St lost their 3 best guys on the OL.
On offense JUCO Luton has won the QB job. He is huge at 6'7 and could be tough to bring down. However, this is a guy who could not win the starting job at IDAHO. He went to community college after that and returns to one of the worst passing offenses in college. They were 118th in the country throwing the ball and lost their best WR. The ONLY chance Oregon St has at keeping this close is running the ball, but I would expect the Ram's D to stack the box and make an Idaho reject QB beat them in the air. Last season, Oregon St was 0-8 when scoring under 34 points.
The X factor in this game is Colorado St opens up a brand new stadium and has sold out. Expect the all important big MO to be with the Rams when this game kicks off. I would be stunned if Colorado St does not hang 45+ on this Beaver D and that should be enough to get the cover.