2023-24 COLLEGE FOOTBALL BETTING WEEK TWO
We were finally in full swing last week and it didn’t disappoint. Some of the guys were lucky and some were not. Our podcast got out a little bit late but you can find it at the link. Hope you guys enjoy week 2 and hopefully you’re making some money while you’re at it.
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Bennett (@bennett_cfb)
2023 Record: 3-2 (+0.8 Units)
Utah Utes @ Baylor Bears
Spread: Utah -7.5
Total: 47
I may be over-reacting a little bit myself here but Utah looked so damn good against UF and Baylor couldn’t finish off Texas State in week 1. Looks like there’s a ton of trouble in Waco and Blake Shapen won’t be out there to help. He’s in the mid as hell tier regardless but Utah should be able to handle their business on the road.
Pick: Utah -7.5 (-112) on DraftKings
Auburn Tigers @ Cal Golden Bears
Spread: Auburn -6.5
Total: 54.5
This is a strong matchup between two relatively unknowns and both teams offenses really clicked in week 1. It’s also one of your Pac-12 after dark games so why not play a little bit with it. The offensive potential between both teams is looking really good to go along with both teams having very susceptible defenses. Both teams do run the ball quite a bit and that can get scary but the pace of play on both sides is going to be insane this year, especially with Jake Spavital back calling the plays for Cal.
Pick: Auburn/Cal o54.5 (-110) on DraftKings
Nebraska Cornhuskers @ Colorado Buffalo
Spread: Colorado -2.5
Total: 58.5
Week 2 is always the grand over reaction week and Matt Rhule definitely saw everything that Colorado did in Fort Worth week 1. Even with Colorado likely to move the ball a ton I expect Nebraska to do the same old thing that they always do, run the ball until they can’t run it anymore. Take the under here and enjoy the sweat but just remember that clock is running a lot more this year than it has in the past.
u59.5 Nebraska @ Colorado -110 on DK
Arizona Wildcats @ Mississippi State Bulldogs
Spread: Mississippi State -9.5
Total: 60.5
Probably my favorite matchup of the week and not many eyes will get on it because of Alabama and Texas. We are the Fisch gang and love to see the air-raid system that they’re running out at Arizona. Mississippi State has kind of moved away from the full air-raid but will still get points up against a fairly weak Arizona defense. Mississippi State does have a strong defense but the secondary is very depleted compared to last year so expect Arizona to hang around with their high-powered offense.
Pick: Arizona/Mississippi State o60.5 (-110) on DraftKings
Vanderbilt Commodores @ Wake Forest Demon Deacons
Spread: Wake -10
Total: 57
I can’t not give you guys a road dog of the week and regardless of how shaky this Vanderbilt team has looked so far they still have a stellar quarterback and two good wide receivers. Neither defense is particularly well and Vandy won’t win this one outright in a low scoring game. Mitch Griffis has looked fairly rattled so far for Wake and I think there’s a good shot Vanderbilt can pull this one out. Don’t touch this one if you don’t want but it’s good value.
Pick: Vanderbilt ML (+330) on DraftKings
Rick (@RickHHSports)
2023 Record: 2-0 (+2 Units)
Nebraska Cornhuskers @ Colorado Buffalo
Spread: Colorado -2.5
Total: 58.5
There’s no more volatile team in college football right now than Colorado. You and I both know it. Coach Prime is all over the headlines and the topic of every college football media coverage. Shoot, they’re ranked in the top 25 nationally!
Do you know what their win total is? 5.5.
Do you know who typically knows what they’re talking about? Vegas.
With that said, the same Vegas has Colorado as favorites at home and when it comes down to heart and belief, I’m not sure this Nebraska team will have enough to not implode late like they always do (including last week against Minnesota), and I trust Sanders far more than I do Jeff Sims. Colorado’s defense might be one of the worst in the country, but Nebraska’s offense isn’t much better. I’ll buy the hype train for now.
Pick: Colorado -2.5 -105 (FanDuel)
Texas A&M Aggies @ Miami Hurricanes
Spread: Aggies -4
Total: 51.5
I know there’s a game in Tuscaloosa in the evening, but this game is the clear second best matchup this week. The only pitfall is that it’s being played in Miami, which is just a desolate wasteland miles from campus that never fills out even for big games, but live attendance numbers is a bigger, offseason discussion.
As for this game, Mario Cristobal and Jimbo Fisher arguably have their most complete teams since joining their respective schools and while everyone loves to look at A&M’s offensive explosion last week, it’s the defenses that will make this game. Both teams allowed just 13 points combined in their cupcakes week one, and that’s exactly what we expected. Both defenses are elite and littered with talent, and that’s exactly where I see this game being won.
Last year’s contest was 17-9, and while we’ll likely have more points than that with the total being set to nearly double that, I’m here to tell you we won’t double it. Both coaches are defensive minded and will play a methodical, safe approach in an attempt to not only keep themselves in the game but force the opponent into mistakes. Give me a nice clean under that should be a few points lower.
Pick: u51.5 -115 (FanDuel)
Texas Longhorns @ Alabama Crimson Tide
Spread: Crimson Tide -7
Total: 55
Last week I took on the biggest game of the weekend with confidence where most didn’t and we cashed with ease on Florida State moneyline at plus money. I can’t guarantee that again, but I do have a play I feel strongly about in this game. First, as I’m sure you’ve heard or read elsewhere, we have to revisit last year’s game where Quinn Ewers nearly pulled the upset off until he was taken out of the game due to injury. Alabama was able to do what they do best and squeak out a close victory.
Now Alabama has lost tons of talent from last year to the draft, graduation, and transfers as they always do, but just as Alabama does they replace those five star talents with other five star talents. Alabama’s secondary could be the best in the country if players continue to develop and that’s their worst unit. Now, the inexperience of those DBs should play a large role in the success that I expect Texas to find through the air with Sarkisian’s offense.
You might be wondering how good Texas is after a big of a sleepwalk early before cruising to a multiple possession easy victory, but I’m here to tell you that they know what they have offensively and they didn’t want to expose any schemes they’re going to use against Alabama in a game against Rice. Mitchell and Worthy are matchup nightmares at receiver for the Alabama DBs and the offensive line is an extremely talented unit that should have their moments against the Alabama front as well.
I’m not here to guess who covers like I did last week, but I do think that this Texas team exposes some growing pains in Alabama’s new units. Alabama’s offense should force Texas to have to move with urgency, especially as the game runs late, and I’m confident that we’ll see the Longhorns reach 24 points in this game. Give me their team total over 23.5 in the game of the week!
Pick: Longhorns TT o23.5 -110 (Bovada)
Additional Plays:
Tulane +7.5 vs Ole Miss (-110, FanDuel)
Oklahoma State -3 @ Arizona State (-110, BetMGM)
Andy Chase (@AndyHHSports)
2023 Record: 1-0 (+1 Units)
Boise State vs UCF
Boise State +3.5
Total: 60.5
Central Florida flies into Idaho to head to the blue field of Boise State and face off against a Broncos team that had a tough go Week 1 against Washington. Tough go or not, I have a lot of respect for the Washington Huskies and Boise State alike, and do not necessarily think we should be having a knee jerk reaction after the first week.
Boise State have a home record of 112-14 over the last two decades. What is even more impressive is that the Broncos have only been underdogs twice since 2001, with the most recent occurrence being in 2021 against an undefeated Fresno State team. Boise State went on to blow out their ranked guests 40-14, making their record as a home dog 1-1.
On top of Boise’s dominance at home, Gus Malzahn has not led a strong regime on the road since taking over for the Knights, holding a record of 5-6 on the road while 4-7 against the spread. I think this game is a great bounceback spot for the boys in blue, and I’ll be taking them to win on the moneyline. I do not think such a small spread will come into play with such a high total, and that this game goes one way or the other without it being close. I’ll side with the historically dominant home side who many were high on last week before the Huskies made folks quickly overreact about the Broncos.
Pick: Boise State Moneyline (+148) on BetUS
Rusty (@rustyHHsports)
2023 Record: 1-1 (-0.4 Units)
Matchup: Nebraska @ Colorado
Spread: Colorado -2.5
Total: o/u 59.5
Yes I’m riding the prime time hype train. No this probably isn’t a smart. Yes I don’t care. I will probably take this bet every week until it’s stopped. Gimme the buffs here.
Pick: Colorado -2.5 (-105) on FanDuel
Matchup: Stanford @ USC
Spread: USC -29.5
Total: o/u 70
If you read the article last week you know I have a raging hard on for Caleb Williams and the Trojans. I also said I’m going to take this bet every week this season and so far I’m 2-0. I certainly don’t see Stanford being the one to stop it.
Pick: USC team total O49.5 (-115) on DraftKings
Schwartz (@willschwartz75)
2023 Record: 0-0
Matchup: Stanford @ USC
Spread: USC -29.5
Total: 69.5
Like Rusty, I’ll be digging into Stanford-USC on the West Coast, but investing in the other side. While USC could absolutely score 50 points on offense, there is absolutely not a single chance on Earth for the USC defense to do enough to cover this spread. The line has already moved down from 30.5 or 31 to 29.5 or even 29 on some books, a testament to how ridiculous the number really is. I’ve already grabbed stanford at +30.5, but seeing as these aren’t really football numbers anyhow, losing the one point should not be a dealbreaker, and 29.5 is still a great bet.
Stanford looked much more competent than expected in game one of the Troy Taylor era. Quarterback Ashton Daniels has secured the job for the foreseeable future with a really nice two touchdown, turnover-free performance, as he led the Cardinal to 37 points against Hawaii. That’s not the Nation’s best defense, but neither is USC’s; they’ve allowed 42 points combined to San Jose State and Nevada. They have absolutely no cover for Stanford’s monster tight end Benjamin Yurosek, who should positively run wild in this one, and they don’t really have the motivation to play the starters all game, with much bigger goals on the horizon.
Pick: Stanford +29.5 (-110) on FanDuel.
Matchup: UCLA @ San Diego State
Spread: UCLA -14.5
Total: 48.5
We’re going to stick on the West Coast for our second pick and back the Pac- a conference that is currently 13-0- in a non-conference matchup. San Diego State is 2-0 but has been pretty dreadful so far; they scraped out a win over an Ohio team that lost stud quarterback Kurtis Rourke to an injury pretty early on, and earned a one-score home victory that finished 1-10 in the FCS last year.
Conversely, UCLA had an impressive opening day victory over Coastal Carolina. They forced historically-efficient passer Grayson McCall into his first ever multi-interception game, and figured out the quarterback situation; Ethan Garbers is awful and should never see the field again, while Dante Moore looked extremely sharp in his NCAA debut. They won that game by 14 despite starting with Garbers and playing a much more legit Coastal squad; if you think they win by less against this SDSU team, I can’t help you. This number has already moved a point after starting at 13.5, obviously that’s a much better football number but it shouldn’t change a thing realistically, the Bruins should positively run away with this one
Pick: UCLA -14.5 (-105) on FanDuel.
