As I start my afternoon post, I have no winning or losing bets yet. There’s a few I feel good about and there’s one particularly important one that I feel really foolish about. I’ll add more details as the early slate of games wrap up.
Here’s my picks for the afternoon games (3:30 pm to 7:00 pm):
- Florida +2.5 (1.1 unit)
- Ohio State / Akron Over 56 (1 unit)
- Northwestern -3 (1.2 units)
- Georgia Southern +13.5 (1.2 units)
- California -20.5 (.7 units)
- Mississippi State -26.5 (.7 units)
I like Florida in a matchup at home. Miami Florida is hyped this season in what is looking like a weakened ACC, but returns an experienced veteran QB in Graham Mertz, who put together a 20 TD, 3 INT season last year. I worry slightly with Bill O’Brien and his conservative offense approach in a Ohio State’s revamped offense debut, but I think they want to set a tone after recent dominance of Michigan and their investment in recruiting while also noting Akron is not a very good team. In the case of Northwestern, I recognize Miami of Ohio has a good team, but it is hard to bet against Big Ten team (even a lower one) in a coinflip game at home. As for Georgia Southern, similar to the Vanderbilt situation, they are almost a 2 score underdog at home against a team in transition and trying to figure out who they will be this season in Boise State.
Finally, I was called to California and Mississippi State by looking at their traditional success in opening day matchups as well as the struggles of their opponents against Power 4 schools. I think both could win by 30, so this is personally worth the investment.
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