Being thorough is a key to making money during the college football season. However, at the same time, many bettors have limited time to do all the necessary research. Also, even the most “seasoned” bettors like to have a handy “quick-reference guide” or “cheat sheet” available.

This allows them to hone in on potential value spots throughout a season. That is the intent of this article. This is my second installment of six and while this is not an all-inclusive listing of all the teams from F to J, it is indeed a “value guide” for some of the teams in this range. Next up, I will take a look at teams from K to M and so on…

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This six-part series effectively breaks up the 120 teams into groups of roughly 20 each and while I certainly will not write about value for every single team, I will indeed indicate the teams for which there could be value going with or against them. I will notate why I feel this way and, again, this is not intended to be an all inclusive list nor is it intended to be a detailed list. It’s a quick reference guide for early in the season to help you look for spots where, as an example, a “play on” team is matched up with a “go against” team. That is the type of “value play” that you definitely want to be a part of! Now, let’s take a quick look at the F to J group!

Florida State – The Seminoles should be very tough to score on and they have a very impressive secondary. Offensively they return a lot of talent at the skill positions and that should help this unit to finally start to lift up out of the doldrums they’ve been stuck in. Because the 'Noles have only finished at 7-6 each of the last two seasons, they are still flying “under the radar” a bit and, as a result, there should be some good point spread value with this team this season. The Noles defense keeps this team in games and the bad news for opponents is that the offense is starting to catch up!

Georgia Tech – The Yellow Jackets won the ACC Coastal Division in 2006 and, with most everyone back for 2007, there were big expectations. Things “went south” in a hurry, though, and now this will truly be a rebuilding type year. With new head coach Paul Johnson (from Navy) the emphasis will be on the ground game for the Jackets. That’s going to take awhile to get clicking on all cylinders and Georgia Tech has just four starters returning on offense and defense, so this certainly appears to be a season of transition. It’s going to take time for all the personnel to get on the same page at Georgia Tech.

Hawaii – Teams didn’t like reading all about the Warriors last season and, after going undefeated in the regular season, Georgia pummeled them in the Sugar Bowl. Now, in 2008, things will get very tough for Hawaii. QB Colt Brennan is gone and the offense is going to try and change its system and employ more of a running game. Good luck! Also, the defense was more of a key than people realize last season, and the Warriors lost a lot of key players from this unit. A tough road scheduled means that Hawaii could be buried early this season and we’ll be there to try and make some money fading the Warriors while all that is going on in the first two months of the 2008 season! Hawaii only has four home games from late August until late November. That is not going to help this team rebuild!

Iowa – Last season the problem for the Hawkeyes was their offense. They had a solid defense but the fact that their offense often sputtered is what ultimately left the Hawkeyes home during bowl season. That is also what insures that coach Kirk Ferentz and company will be very hungry for the 2008 season. The defense will once again be rock solid, especially on the line. The offense also returns most of their starters and will also be solid on the line. We love teams that can perform well in the trenches and the Hawkeyes seem to fit the bill on both sides of the ball. This would indicate that Iowa could certainly be a good ATS team this season as we feel they may still fly “under the radar” because of the recent history of their underperforming offense. The Hawkeyes also benefit from an easier Big Ten schedule than what most of their conference foes are dealing with. This adds even more value to an Iowa team that is well-coached. This is a “play-on” team!