Week 1

Excited about a great college football season. Been waiting all summer, counting down the days as I'm sure you guys are. Been playing a lot of football with my son, trying to teach him how  to run the "option" from a QB point of view. He's not quite grasping the concept, then again he's 3. I'm going crazy here, I need this season here NOW!! Lol 

I am not sold on Volunteers. I like your NC State pick. The others look good too. BOL!!!

Also leaning
Oklahoma -29

Michigan St -7

I know it's a lot of chalk, but the matchups lobsided! BOL

Like your Bama pick. I agree that this game could be similar to how they played LSU last year. Granted they lost a few key players, they have some athletic guys on the team who WILL step up. Period. And their offensive line is one of the tops in the nation. Offense will roll and score at least 31-35 IMO. bare minimum. While Michigan is lucky to score 14.

Im starting to like B Miller and the Buckeyes! I wasnt really looking into that game until yesterday to be real. Seems like they may be just a tad bit underrated and 23 points at home seems like a gift

I also like USC at 39 man! They WILL be motivated to come out and whoop some Hawaii ass. Their offense can score quick as hell. The only thing that concerns me is their defense. I wonder if they are up by 45 if they would allow a garbage TD in the very late 4th quarter. I still will probably make them a play tho regardless. Barkley is for real. Also may look at a 1st half line

Not sure where your getting GA at 35 because 5dimes has it at 37.5 but shiiiiet 35 is a must play IMO.

Like your lean on Oklahoma! Landry Jones and company will beat some UTEP ass. Im thinking 51-13 or so in that one.

Nice card bro! I like most of your plays. I also was leaning NC state myself, however this Bray character is supposed to be pretty good right? Honestly havent seen him play too much. BOL

Take all FAVORITES!

i like Nebraska here, USM lost a good amount and their coach. Isee the Huskers rolling here


GL on the card

actully i like all ur picks too except for the nc tstae pcik.. i lke tenn to win by at least 10 give or take but they will beat nc st.. i not really sold on that wolfpac team. for some reason they bother me.. i only liked them when russel wilson was there

Your top 2 plays are the same as my top 2 plays.  They may be the only two Saturday games I wager on.  I may add a play on Clemson, but with the Sammy Watkins suspension, I'm not sure yet..

Alabama has three JUCOs on defensive side of the ball.   One (Jesse Williams) is a returning starter, and his trying to play his way into the first round of the NFL draft.  Phil Steele has him rated as the 4th best defensive lineman in the country.  I think he'll finish the season better than that.

The other two JUCOs are both CBs - Deion Belue & Travell Dixon.  They will be competing with junior John Fulton (PS #55) for the second CB spot.  Fulton is entering his third season under Saban's tutelage.  In other words Fulton has the most experience in Saban's defense.

From what I saw in the spring I think it's a 2-man race between Belue and Fulton with Dixon running a distant third.  If I had to project a starter today I would give Belue the edge.  If that indeed is the case, then Alabama would be starting two JUCOs, one of which is a returning starter as mentioned above.  Who starts, however. really isn't all that important because Alabama plays nickel about 70% of the time anyhow.

The other corner will be locked down by Dee Milliner (PS#10).  I think by season's end he will be one of the best two corners in the nation, will enter the draft early, and be a 1st round selection.

Be that as it may, the corners will be the key to the defense this season.  If they play well (and I think they will), Alabama will again have an elite defense.

Offensively, Alabama is loaded with talent at the wide receiver position, and now that they finally have an elite NFL caliber QB, look for Alabama to pass quite a bit against Michigan.  At the end of the day I wouldn't be surprised if they throw the ball slightly more than they run it (depending upon the score heading into the 4th quarter).

  Best of luck with your card Gogo!!! 

 

I love you top three picks along with "Georiga".

Regarding he Vols (and I am a homer); the offense may be difficult to stop. I realize NC State has a solid secondary but the Vols have some elite receivers, which will be difficult to shut down one on one. Although coming off ACL Surgery J Hunter still has a 40" vertical leap and prior to surgery could long jump over 25'. (does not practice anymore). He has great hands and speed. The question is how tentative will J Hunter be in his first game back. Opposite Hunter is D. Rogers, a 1000 yd plus receiver last year while being double covered most of the time after the Hunter injury (T Bray also missed 5 games due to injury as well).  Vols have added a 4 star Juco receiver to these two C. Patterson.  Along with a decent tight end and RBs who catch the ball out of the backfield, the passing game will be exciting. The running game on the other hand is scary bad. Maybe T. Poole's graduation is addition by subtraction. The Vols are also returning the entire offensive line, so hoping the passing game will help opens some holes for the young RBs.

The defense will be undergoing a makeover with a new defensive coord and a change from 4-3 to a 3-4. Although unproven, the anchor of the new 3-4 will be D. McCullers another 4 star Juco at 6’-6”, 377 lbs. I’m hoping he can clog the middle and keep the LBs free, the strength of the TN defense. I am not sold on the secondary, and TN did not get much pressure on the QB last year….a bad combination! The Vols gave up some big plays at times, which I attribute to youth and not be at the right spot. There will be some growing pains with the transition, but I believe Sal Sunseri (from Alabama) is a significant upgrade over Justin Wilcox (from Boise State).

 

Other comments regarding NC Sate/TN Game:

 

The game will be in the GA Dome, so not a home game. And for what it is worth, One Common opponent last year: Cincy. TN won 45-20 at TN, while NC State lost 44-14 at UC.

 

I have not decided if I will bet the TN game, but wanted to offer up a few points. With the turf maybe the over is the play.

 

GLTA

Mrpidaso, I LOVE hearing " Homers" points of view. Because they assess the good AND bad things. I totally agree the Vols might be freakishly good on
Offense, I mean numerous 350+ passyard games. Did they lose quite a few players on D? Cuz their defense was at least decent last year I thought?! The game being on turf might be a game changer aswell. I think you talked me off the ledge. You made some good points. Well see what happens! BOL man!

As a homer, I may be biased at times, but I will bet against TN if I think it is a good bet. I would rather win money then TN win a football game. Ideally the spread will be such I can win both!

Actually, I expect the defense to improve. TN is returning 8 on Defense. The key loss that I can think of is Malik Jackson, who was actually playing out of position. He played DT, when he would have been better suited to DE. (he did beef up for the transition). We are also retuning H Lathers at LB who did not play last year because of injury. My largest concern is the transition (and overall turnover of coaches last year....7 of 9 assistants left) We finally have depth which has not been there the last couple of years due to attrition of players. Although TN recruited D Mccullers we will be thin at DT, which is key to the 3-4.

I do not know how the NC State game will play out, but for TN, I believe it will set the tone for the year. If TN loses, it could be another long year, but for the first time in a long while I am optimistic about the direction of the program. Dooley is getting IMO a lot of unwarranted heat as he inherited a mess, but with that said the pieces are in place this year and we will learn if he can actually coach. Barring injuries TN will go into this season with a team that can (not will), but can win each game on their schedule. They will likely lose 3/4 games but they have the players to compete in each game.

Another factor with this TN team is the loss to UK to end the season last year. At the time a devastating loss with a bowl game on the line, but now it may be a motivating factor, because losing to UK although expected in Basketball, is embarrassing in football. (And no disrespect to UK...but they are what they are....a basketball school!)

Good luck no matter how you play the game.....but stay on the ledge as it is always more fun.....that is why they call it gambling, otherwise we would be stuffing our money in piggy banks!

And my goal is not to sway anyone in any direction just sharing some thoughts. I have been lurking on this site for years and thought maybe I should contribute on occasion.

BOL

good write ups goplata - i like the neb play...have you heard any more about improvement on martinez passing technique?

also on USC - do you trust Kiffin...he is a bastard, but also a good coach...i can just picture it, USC up by 49 at the end of the 3rd quarter...Kiffin puts in his 3rd and 4th teams and Hawaii gets 2 TD's in chump time...win win for kiffin, dominating performance, but demonstrates that he is a humble guy in that he takes it easy on his old adversary and colleague at SC norm chow as norm rebuilds the hawaii program... on paper SC could beat hawaii by 75+...if it wanted to...for some reason, i don't trust kiffin, but it is still in my top 10 games that i am considering....please convey to me why i should not worry too much about kiffin and Fight On with the trojan! 

Longhorn, you make some solid points about a backdoor cover, something we need to look into is this Hawaii team as a whole. We all know their no where close to SC. Questions to ask ourselves, 1. Can Hawaii even score in SC's 3 and 4th stringers? 2. What is Kiffin's track record as far as playing horrible teams in the season opener. The norm chow comment is also smart thinking, will that play a " charity" factor in coffins

Kiffins* plan. I dunno!!! Let's research it a little more! Great insight!!!

sounds good, bro! 

BOL this year. 

Longhorn, looked over some Hawaii football stuff this morning. Returning 7 starters on offense not including QB Bryant Moniz who had decent year. Looks like QB David Graves is going to be the guy. Played in 6 games last year, started 2. Looks like he can run a little bit. Warriors returning 4 on defense is all, I don't this that matters much at all against SC. I think the main focal point is, CAN Hawaii score on SC???? Does Norm Chow find a way to manufacture some points with his experience and wisdom?  Let me know what u find...

Did some thinking, had a change of heart on Bama. It went from my strongest lean to a no play for me. Boom changed my mind, when referring to Bama Defense, " you can't lose that kind of talent, leadership, first round talent, etc. ams expect to pick right back up where you left off" I starting thinking about it, and I agree. Bama may still cover, but I can't do it. Denard may give those young guys some issues. Who knows... Anyways I have locked in my first plays of the year, decided to forget online betting, and stick to numerous runs to Aliante station casino in North LV! Lol.... I don't bet with major money like a lot of you, still a hobby for me. If I notice I win year in, year out will start to bet more money every year. Maybe I'll be Billy Walters in 20 years lol.. 1 unit= 10 bucks

GL Bud....

I lean Michigan....but it's not a play..so BOL

 If you read my Alabama preseason write-up last season you know I was very sold on them, especially the defense.  I predicted they would win the national championship, and they did.

The difference is that I get access to all of Alabama's scrimmages, so much of what I report is from 1st hand observations, not reports filtered through the media.  For example, tomorrow's scrimmage is considered a closed scrimmage, but I'll be there. 

Adrian Hubbard is a guy that hardly anyone has heard of, but that's about to change in short order.  By season's end everyone will know who he is.  As you said, the guy is 6'6" 250 lbs and pursues like Lawrence Taylor.  The guy is a sack machine.  The only question is whether he's going to play the Jack or the Sam.  He's been working at both, and he very well may play both in games.

Where people are sleeping on Alabama this season is their offense.  Last year I said that Alabama's defense would be one of the best in school history, and maybe in modern college football history.  They didn't disappoint.  This season I'm very comfortable in prediciting that this offense will be the best in school history.

Most people know Alabama has the best offensive line in the country, and most know they are stacked at running back, but people don't know is that they are equally stacked at wide receiver, and maybe even more so.  Like Adrian Hubbard, the nation doesn't know who many of these guys are, but they will.

One guy that the nation got somewhat of a glimpse of last season was Kevin Norwood.  Norwood was last seen owning the Honey Badger in the national championship game after Maquis Maze pulled his hamstring.  And as good as Norwood looked in that game, there are at least two receivers that are clearly better than him.  Alabama has elite althletes 6-deep at that position, and they will all be in the rotation this season.

I am very high on Michigan this season.  I really love their coaching staff.  But trust me when I tell you that Michigan will be on the business end of a bloodbath in the Jerry Dome on September 1st.  I recommend parlaying that game with a few others you like.  It will be a "Max Bet" game for me.

Best of Luck