Last night we went 2-1 (+4.4) with a huge win with the first TD by Chez Mellusi and the under hitting in Florida Atlantic vs Michigan State with ease. As for the loss, admittedly, I overthought a very popular pick in Stanford at home against TCU +8.5. However, it was very close to a win, if Stanford’s game ending field drive was cut short, stopped, or picked off, we’d be talking about a win right now. Furthermore, the Stanford offense, especially the passing game, started off much stronger than expected, so TCU was forced to fight back for the win.
For the season, we are now 4-2 (+5.3), but the challenge truly starts today. Let’s look at the games that are calling my attention for today:
- Georgia -10.5 (1 unit)
- Georgia / Clemson Over 49 (2.75 units)
- Penn State/ West Virginia Over 49 (2 units)
- Penn State -7.5 (.75 unit)
- Vanderbilt +13.5 (.75 unit)
- Tennessee Over 48.5 Points Scored (.75 unit)
- Virginia Tech / Vanderbilt Under 49.5 (1 unit)
- South Dakota State +13 (1 unit)
We have ten units in action for this early slate. Here’s my logic on the games at hand. First, I don’t love Georgia and Clemson as a noon game for shootout, but I am most confident in this game being a high scoring affair. Carson Beck (a frontrunner for the Heisman) and Cade Klubnik (a former top recruit who’s now experienced and an upperclassmen) are going to look to start their season on a high note. I think this game will be close going into 3rd quarter, but in time, I do feel Georgia will start to pull away even though they are down starting running back Trevor Etienne with a one game suspension for a March DUI.
As for the Penn State / West Virginia game, this screams of TCU / Stanford, but historically Penn State has dominated this matchup and they are led by an experienced QB in Drew Allar who has the most passing yards 2631 among returning Big Ten QBs, but also have a one-two punch at running in Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton with 1600+ rushing yards in 2023. This situation plays out very similarly for West Virginia with a returning QB with over 2400 passing yards and three leading rushers that combined for around 2400 yards in 2023. Both teams are looking for their best options in the passing game, but Penn State has had much greater success with their defense, that’s why although I find this game going over, I do feel Penn State can win by more than one score. As with the Georgia / Clemson game, I feel better with the over than the outcome, I am certainly pushing it with both best.
As for my other picks, I could see sluggish start to the season for Virginia Tech and Vanderbilt resulting in a game that shouldn’t be so close with not a lot of touchdowns on the field and more punts than you want to see. I think the Tennessee offense wants to set the tone in a matchup against instate rival Chattanooga, selfishly, I would prefer 47.5, but I think they can find their way to 7 touchdowns while starting season strongly for hyped quarterback Nico Iamaleava who had a strong performance in the bowl game against a very good defense in Iowa. Finally, I could not miss the Dakota train against, they are playing a much better team than Colorado in Oklahoma State, but South Dakota St dominates the FCS, so they are primed to keep this a one score game.
We will check back in later this afternoon… full day of interesting games to talk about including Miami Florida / Florida and Notre Dame / Texas A&M.
jungle-bash.com 