2019 College Football: Week 2 - Best Bets

Alright going to try something different this season for my secondary piece that isn’t my preview. It was a suggestion of an acquaintance who suggested I talk about the five or so bets I like the most based on my numbers. These won’t just be the biggest disagreements but places I’m in line with my numbers.

We’ll start with Army (+22.5) against Michigan at noon in Ann Arbor. It’s one of my games to watch and with Army holding games to 5 possessions a piece that requires an improving but still questionable Michigan offense to score on 80% more possessions than the Army offense. This won’t be a fun game to watch per se but that’s in your favor with the points.

We stay in the Big Ten East with Maryland as a 2-point favorite playing host to Syracuse (+110). ‘Cuse scored a relatively modest amount (24) in a win in which they held Liberty scoreless in week 1, while Maryland scored 79 on Howard. I don’t put much stock in that win. Howard is 241^st in the Sagarin ratings of all D1 schools. I’m taking the bet that both offenses will look more like we expected pre-season and take Syracuse to win a close one on the road.

We move to the middle of country where Coastal Carolina (+7.5) visits Kansas. Les Miles is still using an offense that was outdated a decade ago and the need for a touchdown with 2:20 left last week against FCS doesn’t fill me with confidence for a Miles team that lacks the talent he scraped by with at LSU.

We head to the wilds of Texas for Texas Tech (-34.5) vs UTEP where Tech looks to be continuing it’s scoring tradition (I know 1 week under a new coach, but they put up 45) and UTEP is the toughest job in the country. As long as this line stays below 5 TDs give the points and you should feel pretty safe as long as UTEP stays below 17 points.

My last pick is going to be a bit unusual but it’s a pair of FCS-FBS upsets. Southern Illinois (+145) or Kennesaw State (+145). They’re equal bets both ML and both are +3.5. I lean SIU because the Salukis visit UMASS who are 128^th to Kent State’s 118^th in my rankings but I don’t have strong feelings on too many games this week and these give you the opportunity to cheer for the little guys with a bit more weight.

This piece is obviously going to evolve as the weeks roll by but it is a nice way to narrow down my picks instead of throwing just the wall of games that is the weekly guide.