Week 2 College Football Betting Picks

Went 4 of 6 last week. Not a bad opening week, particularly since I was heavy on Cal. On to this week…

Oklahoma State by 14 over Arizona – I think Arizona keeps it interesting, as I recall they’ve done pretty well in similar trips to the midwest recently (against Iowa, etc). Zona covers.

ASU by 7.5 over Missouri – ASU covers at home.

Wisconsin by 21 over Oregon State – Oregon State is terrible early in the year (and always lights out against Cal), apparently more so that usual this year. More important is that – somehow without attracting much negative reaction, at least not here in Pac12 territory – Bielema has shown he’ll gladly run the score up on people. However, as I type that I remember the ASU/Wisconsin game last year. And how I don’t like big spreads. And how I was pretty sure USC would clown a supposedly overmatched Minnesota team travelling 1500 miles from oshkosh territory this past weekend. I’ll take Wisconsin covering but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Oregon State looks completely different than last week. I would be suprised if OSU wins though.

Cal by 6.5 over Colorado – Colorado looks to be a completely different team at home – even more dichotic than Cal has been in recent years. The venue itself isn’t overly intimidating but the altitude and early start (I saw 1230 pm mountain time somewhere… hope Tedford brings coffee). That said, I saw both last years Cal/Colorado game and the Hawaii game last week… I have a hard time seeing that o-line handle our front seven, or that defensive backfield keep up with Keenan and Marvin. Colorado keeps it interesting most the way but Cal covers in the end.

More Picks after the jump.

Washington by 5 over Hawaii – I think I’ll take UW. No real reason other than home/away.

Oregon by 26.5 over Nevada – LSU game had more points than I thought but basically the right outcome. However, as much as Oregon struggles against elite defenses with extra time… they completely destroy overmatched teams that don’t have time to prepare. Oregon covers.

Stanford by 21 over Duke – Not sure how much of Stanford’s last performance was Stanford’s incredible offense or SJSU’s ineptitude, we’ll see this week based on how UCLA does. Duke isn’t a whole lot better, and I generally think teams with elite QBs tend to be more consistent on the road than others – less likelyhood of the home dog keeping a sloppy game close. Stanford covers.

WSU by 14 over UNLV – WSU covers, even without Tuel. Losing him is a gig bummer for the Cougs though… got to think their chances of a turnaround took a heavy blow Saturday.

SC by 9.5 over Utah – Don’t really know what SC did last week… looked like they were going to sail to an easy blowout and then they decided to stop scoring. Barkley to Woods is an incredible combo… but Utah may be the better team. I’ll take Utah to cover (I don’t think I’ve ever won a bet that involves USC, though… for what its worth).

Alabama -10 at Penn State – I’m from Pennsylvania, and I’d love to see the SEC served some humble pie… but don’t see it happening. In the last contest Penn State looked smaller and slower than Alabama. A lot smaller and slower. I’ll take Bama.

UCLA by 21.5 over SJSU – Tough to take SJSU over anyone after last week. UCLA covers.

Of these, I’m tentatively going to put money on: Cal, Bama, UCLA, WSU, ASU, Stanford and Oregon. And already slaughtering that ‘don’t bet on large spreads’ rule… we’ll see how it goes.