Week 1
Colorado/TCU-Over 54- 2 words: COACH. PRIME. TCU and Dykes coming off a magical year, and Coach Prime has taken Ralphie by the horns and said, “we do things around here my way now”. I expect this to be a “statement” game from both teams (TCU-We’re not going anywhere; CU- We’re playing a new brand of football). Gotta score points to grab national attention, and with both teams wanting to show what they’re made of, I can see this being points all over the place (even if it’s all TCU because CU still isn’t that good).
Auburn/UMASS- Auburn -35 OR Under 51.5-UMASS couldn’t stop a slow leaking bottle of syrup with an industrial sized can of Flex Seal. Auburn has a bunch of new coaching faces, notably the head Tiger, Hugh Freeze, and several new players (12 from the transfer portal that could end up starting) but should be able to handle UMASS easily, especially in front of a rowdy Jordan-Hare crowd. Take your pick of the bets. I think either one is a winner. This has 40’s-0 written all over it.
UNC/South Carolina-Over 64.5-Neither defense could stop anyone last year (S.C. 88th and U.N.C 102nd). Both teams are stacked on offense. I expect it to be another shootout like UNC/App St last year (63-61 UNC). Could be a really fun game with 2 Sunday hopeful QB’s battling it out in U.N.C.’s Drake Maye and South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler. Sprinkle some on the spread (U.N.C. -2.5) too if you’d like. We all know that Rattler is not the best in big games (ignore the Clemson win. Clemson decided they didn’t need to play their best QB all season until it was too late. Uiagalelei was about as bad as he could be, going 8-29 for 99 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT, so it’s not like Rattler beat Trevor Lawrence). I’m not saying to bet the farm on this one, but if I had a farm to bet, I’d certanly have the deed in my hand before kickoff and see if I had any takers.
**BONUS PICK- Oklahoma/Arkansas St-Under 58-Not too much to say about this one; OU doesn’t score a lot of points, and neither does Arkansas St. I expect OU to come out and play hard because they’ll still have faith that they’re a contender, and I could see this being 38-3, 41-7 when it’s all said and done. Butch Jones is a great coach, but this one is just too much for the Red Wolves, who went 2-10 and 3-9 the last 2 seasons, to keep it close.
