College football situational betting spots
Most of the betting spots aren’t as obvious as they were in Week 1, but they are out there and they could impact the betting odds and the way that the game plays out to be sure.
We are looking for revenge spots. Looking for double revenge. For bad travel. For scheduling concerns. For any sort of compromising weather or travel situation.
Here are the college football situational betting spots to consider for Week 2:
Marshall at Boise State – We start with maybe the best situational spot game of the week. Marshall makes the long trip from Huntington to Boise for this Friday night affair. This is a fairly quick turnaround for Boise State. The Broncos went out on the road to the Sunshine State and had to take buses from Jacksonville to Tallahassee after concerns about Hurricane Dorian, which wound up sitting stationary over the Bahamas into the following week anyway.
Then the Broncos did the unthinkable and erased a big deficit with a true freshman on the road to secure an outstanding non-conference win. Now they play on Friday night after traveling across the country to take on Marshall. The spot is unique for Marshall in that they wouldn’t often play west of the Rocky Mountains, but here they are. This line has come down from 12 to 10.5, with the spot likely playing a big factor.
William & Mary at Virginia – The Cavaliers should be able to name the score here, but this is a bad spot to cover a big number against an FCS team. Virginia played last week against Pitt in a rare Week 1 conference play opener. The Cavaliers won that game. Now they go back to a glorified practice game against a team looking for more than a paycheck. I’d be real wary of the Cavs covering a big number here. At time of writing, 5Dimes was the only book open with UVA -34.5.
Ohio at Pitt – We won’t even be more than a beer or two deep when this week’s College Football Saturday begins at 11 a.m. ET. It’s a short trek from Athens to Pittsburgh, but this is a real early start and things could be quite sluggish at the outset. Interestingly, the line movement has been on Ohio, who had all sorts of problems with Rhode Island last week.
UAB at Akron – This is a big road favorite role for a team that looked as bad as UAB did against Alabama State last week. Of course, Akron got rolled by Illinois, but at least that is an FBS team. UAB doesn’t go this far north all that often and this will be Akron’s home opener with a new head coach. This is a rather intriguing game, though one of the uglier handicaps of the week.
Army at Michigan – Everybody remembers Army nearly beating Oklahoma in Norman last season. I would assume that nobody expects an encore performance in Ann Arbor, but you never know. Michigan looked pretty bad last week against Middle Tennessee. If Army has its way, the Knights will shorten this game, which means an offense that has yet to gel will have to take full advantage of its possessions with new offensive coordinator Josh Gattis. I’ve never understood why major conference teams with playoff aspirations would schedule to get cut blocked for 35 minutes, but here we are.
Vanderbilt at Purdue – This is a really interesting game for both teams on Saturday. Vanderbilt, like Pitt, opened conference play last week against Georgia. It was the only SEC conference game on the card and the Commodores lost handily. Purdue blew a fourth quarter lead at Nevada and suffered a pretty devastating upset loss. The Boilermakers will try to get back on track this week against a Vanderbilt team that is pretty pesky. Once again, expectations are placed on Purdue as a 7.5-point favorite. Not living up to them two weeks in a row would be a tough pill to swallow.
Cincinnati at Ohio State – How big is this game for the Bearcats? This one is huge. A chance to knock off one of the Biggest Brothers in college football. Former Ohio State DC Luke Fickell will have his team ready. Players snubbed by Ohio State will be ready. Can the Buckeyes match that intensity? They are clearly the more talented team, but they will not be the more motivated team on Saturday. We’re not necessarily talking about an outright upset here, but this line has fallen under 17 and you can see some of the narrative-based reasons as to why.
Nebraska at Colorado – Nebraska had all sorts of issues last week with South Alabama, a consensus bottom-10 team in the country. Colorado racked up 52 points against Colorado State in the Rocky Mountain Showdown and has an extra day to prep for this game after playing on Friday. The Cornhuskers go to the altitude of Boulder looking to get back on track…and revenge. Colorado beat Nebraska 33-28 in Lincoln last year, even though Nebraska outgained Colorado by 170 yards in that game.
Texas A&M at Clemson – This is the start of the hardest part of the schedule for Clemson. The Tigers play Syracuse next week. This will be the smallest favorite role of the regular season in all likelihood for Clemson and they are favored by 17.5. A&M gave the Tigers all they could handle last year in College Station and you can bet that Jimbo Fisher would love to ruin Clemson’s reign of terror. The Tigers had better be ready after a glorified practice against Georgia Tech last week.
Illinois at UConn – There isn’t anything situationally to this game, but it is just crazy to see Illinois favored by 20.5 on the road against anybody. And it’s crazier, yet, to see it wholly justified by how awful UConn is.
Arkansas State at UNLV – It was a somber day in Jonesboro last week, as the Red Wolves lost at home following the passing of Wendy Anderson, the wife of head coach Blake Anderson. Let’s see if the Red Wolves can rally here as they go a long way from home to take on UNLV. UNLV will be in search of revenge in this home-and-home after losing by a touchdown last season at Arkansas State. This is a weird travel spot for the Red Wolves and the markets are starting to move on the Rebels.
Wyoming at Texas State – What a letdown spot this could be. Wyoming knocked off Missouri in Week 1 with one of the more misleading box scores of the week. Now the Cowboys head to Texas State, a team desperate for an FBS win over somebody outside of the Sun Belt. Texas State has five FBS wins in the last four seasons. This is a really tough spot for Wyoming, to go from the thin air of Laramie to the microwave oven of San Marcos. Texas State looks to be a sharp side this week, with the spot considerations a big part of the equation.
BYU at Tennessee – I mean, how obvious is this one? Going from Provo to Knoxville is quite a change of scenery. The Volunteers have a very unhappy fan base after last week’s loss to Georgia State. Not to mention how upset the locker room must be. BYU just lost the Holy War, again, despite being the better team for a good portion of that game. Sophomore QB Zach Wilson threw two pick-sixes, so we have to wonder where he is mentally going into this one. There are a lot of layers to this Week 2 onion.
Western Michigan at Michigan State – Little Brother vs. Big Brother games are always interesting handicaps at this time of year. This one doesn’t have the same flare as Cincinnati at Ohio State, but the directional Michigan schools always get up for each other, Michigan, and Michigan State. Western Michigan looked a lot better than Michigan State did last week, though Sparty at least played an FBS team. The Little Brother tends to be scrappy in these.
LSU at Texas – This may be the only signature game of Week 2, but it is a damn good one. LSU was thoroughly impressive last week in rolling up on Georgia Southern. Texas looked fine against Louisiana Tech. Money is hitting the board on LSU. Obviously there isn’t much situationally here, as blue-blood programs are used to these hostile road games. This is just a damn good game.
Tulane at Auburn – Auburn isn’t on upset alert, but Tulane looked nearly flawless in dismantling FIU last week. Auburn is coming off of that huge win over Oregon in Arlington in one of last week’s signature games. Bo Nix didn’t look great in that one. Tulane won’t have as much success against Auburn’s defensive front as it did against FIU’s, but Willie Fritz surely has the Green Wave going in the right direction. If Auburn takes it easy here, it will be hard to cover a big number.
Nevada at Oregon – Oregon was on the wrong end of fourth quarter heartbreak last week. Nevada, meanwhile, was on the jubilant end. How do those two teams put Week 1 behind them and focus on Week 2? It should be easier for Nevada, given that they get a crack against a household name. Oregon, meanwhile, saw its College Football Playoff hopes go up in flames with that loss and likely the conference’s as a whole. This is a pretty tough handicap because one team is vastly more talented than the other, but these two programs have very different feelings as they go through practice this week.
Miami (FL) at North Carolina – How about that return for Mack Brown? South Carolina gift-wrapped the game in the fourth quarter with turnovers and North Carolina took full advantage. Now the Tar Heels open ACC play against Miami, as the Hurricanes get back to the field after two weeks off. It has to be tough for Miami to spend all that time preparing and then to go two weeks without another game. Could we see a sluggish start in the early going for the ‘Canes? Will that be enough to keep UNC in the game?
Minnesota at Fresno State – Fresno State should remember last year’s game rather vividly. Minnesota scored a go-ahead touchdown with about 3:30 left in the game. Fresno State drove down field and then Marcus McMaryion got picked off in the back of the end zone. It was one of two games that Jeff Tedford’s team lost. This is obviously a long way for Minnesota to go, especially after surviving an upset bid from South Dakota State last week.
Oregon State at Hawaii – A trip out to the island for Jonathan Smith’s team. The Beavers played Oklahoma State last week, so unlike their Pac-12 brethren, Arizona, the logistics of getting to Hawaii are a hassle for Oregon State. This line is starting to move on Hawaii, who has had a couple of weeks off following the season-opening win over Arizona in Week 0.
Eastern Kentucky at Louisville – Louisville played well for a little while on Monday night against Notre Dame. Now the Cardinals have to set their sights on a really short turnaround to face Eastern Kentucky. The Colonels played pretty well against Marshall and Bowling Green last season. Louisville only has four days to prep for this game with a first-year head coach and a pathetic passing game. At time of writing, 5Dimes had Louisville -26. I’d be looking to go the other way.
