Editor's Note: Be sure to pick up Judd Hall's selections for this year's college football season. Click to Win!
A big “thank you” goes out to everyone that participated in Week 1 of this year’s College Football Handicapping Challenge. One thing we can glean from the opening weekend’s results is that it might be getting a tad tougher to go five-for-five. I say that because we had just 49 contestants come through with a perfect record this week. Compare that to the 71 perfect players in 2006 at this time and 51 who picked all five correctly just last year.
Sadly, I wasn’t one of the chosen few that went perfect last Saturday. I did, however, post a perfectly respectable 4-1 mark…an improvement on the 3-2 record I had after the first week last season.
Unlike last year, I didn’t really sweat many of the games. Southern Cal dominated the Cavaliers like everyone knew they would, TCU came through with another solid win against the Lobos and Houston Nutt made his presence felt as Ole Miss beat down Memphis. The Illini may have gotten a shot of life at the end of the game against Mizzou, but they never looked like they’d challenge. As for the Spartans, they gave it a hell of a try at Berkley.
Now don’t worry if you didn’t play in the first week. You’re still eligible to win great weekly prizes up until Saturday, Nov. 22, 2008. Just remember to sign up here.
The season is now in full gear and another slate of games this Saturday for us to look over. Let’s find some winners.
Syracuse (-4 ½) versus Akron
This pick might get me put in the loony bin, but let’s go through this logically.
Syracuse needs to pick up the pace on its ground game...they averaged just two yards per run last season. The Orange definitely didn’t pick up the pace last Saturday as we saw against Northwestern, gaining just 122 yards rushing.
Luckily for the Orange, Akron couldn’t stop an old lady driving a rascal last week versus Wisconsin. I’ll grant you that the Badgers’ running backs are much better than the ‘Cuse. Yet, I’m thinking they should get close to the 404 yards Wisky picked up.
It also doesn’t hurt that Syracuse is 14-5 against teams from the MAC, excluding Temple. Meanwhile, the Zips are just 6-12 SU and 7-11 ATS in the second game of a back-to-back road trip.
Final Score: Syracuse 24, Akron 10
Air Force (+3 ½) at Wyoming
Air Force looked good in its opener against Southern Utah, winning 41-7. And just like usual, the Falcons won it with a solid ground game. Solid is putting it mildly when you amass 433 total yards rushing…even if it’s against the soft Thunderbirds.
That won’t be a big deal when they take to the road to play with the Cowboys. Wyoming needed a fourth quarter touchdown drive to hold off a down Bobcat squad, 21-20. So let’s not get ahead of ourselves with them giving up just 39 rushing yards to Ohio.
Last year, the Falcons gained 256 yards on the ground. And they should have no issues doing more of the same in this matchup. The fact that Air Force is an underdog is a gift to bettors.
Final Score: Air Force 27, Wyoming 13
Buffalo (+13 ½) at Pittsburgh
Don’t worry Panther fans, they aren’t going to lose this weekend. They (or should I say Dave Wannstedt) will get the fear of God put into them by how close this game will be. Pittsburgh coughed up the ball four times, leading to a pair of touchdowns that sent the Falcons to a 27-17 victory.
Normally you would laugh off Buffalo, but that won’t happen in this scenario. The Bulls dismantled UTEP last Saturday with scoring drives that averaged no more than seven plays.
Can Turner Gill’s club come through with an upset here? It’s very possible. Yet I’m more on the side that Wannstedt will have his team ready for the challenge. Look for a close game.
Final Score: Pittsburgh 28, Buffalo 24
Northwestern (-6 ½) at Duke
The Wildcats were fairly balanced when it came to the offensive attack they used against Syracuse (269 yards passing, 215 yards running). And they were able to hold the Orange to converting just three third downs in 14 opportunities.
Now look at the Blue Devils who took James Madison to task, 31-7. They looked good on offense with 364 total yards, while moving the chains 24 times. Truly impressive for David Cutcliffe, considering this team went 1-11 last year.
While the Dukies looks to be on the right track, it’s hard to argue with Northwestern going 4-0 SU and ATS into Durham the last four visits.
Final Score: Northwestern 30, Duke 14
Nevada (+10 ½) versus Texas Tech
I’m going to chalk last week’s game for the Red Raiders up to rust. How else can they let a team like Eastern Washington stay around? Take a look at Graham Harrell proof…he threw for 536 yards, but had just two touchdowns and an interception.
Texas Tech will get to take on group in the Wolf Pack that returns eight starters on offense. And they put them to good use, rushing for 426 yards and throwing for another 203 with Colin Kaepernick.
I see this matchup being very close thanks to Texas Tech’s inability to stop the passing game. As good as the pistol offense is, it can’t quite match up with what Mike Leach has in his arsenal.
Final Score: Texas Tech 38, Nevada 31
You can reach Judd Hall via e-mail at judd@vegasinsider.com
