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#204 California
#204 California
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Valley Sports
#151 Florida AtlanticComment
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Vegas Hotsheet
#209 Old DominionComment
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Weekend Warrior
Mark Mayer
#202 Tenn
#203 No Carolina
#208 Oregon
#200 S0 Carolina
#189 UNLVComment
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Cappers Access
#174 Maryland
#192 UConn
#101 Tennessee
#211 MichiganComment
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JEFF BENTON
Your Saturday freebie is the Houston Cougars over the Rice Owls.
It's a new era at Rice, as long-time coach David Baliff has been replaced by former Stanford offensive coordinator Mike Bloomgren, while former Michigan DB's coach Brian Smith will be in charge of shoring up a defense that has allowed right at 35 points per game over the last 3 seasons.
Let's start there, as you can assume the Houston Cougars are going to post at least 5 TD's which would definitely be enough to cover this big impost.
This will be the Owls second game of the season, and if the first is any kind of a barometer, this could be a long afternoon at Rice Stadium, as the Owls needed a closing minute score to rally for the 31-28 win over - wait for it - Prairie View!
Houston brings a more talented edition cross-town than last week's foe, and they have won and covered the last 4 series meetings, including a 38-3 beatdown last year in the second game of the season.
Major Applewhite is in his second season at the helm for Houston, and he has a very talented QB in D'Eriq King calling the shots. He is a dual threat that will be able to run the ball when he needs to, and also spread the field all afternoon long.
The Cougars did not start a senior last year, but this season there are plenty of them set for their last campaign, and they do have future NFL defensive tackle Ed Oliver leading the stop unit that figures to force a few Rice turnovers that should also lead to some short-field points for the visiting Cougars.
Blowout City before it is all said and done. Houston by 30 points.
3* HOUSTONComment
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RAY CHADWICK
Tennessee has parted ways with Butch Jones, and now former Alabama assistant Jeremy Pruitt leads Orange Nation in a rebuild. Hopes are high, but high-hopes cannot play the game on the field for the Volunteers, and this game being played in Charlotte shapes up to be a Mounties win and cover if you ask me.
West Virginia now has senior leadership in Will Greir under center, and bring back plenty of starters from last year's underachieving 7-6 team. Right now that offense that Grier is piloting is way ahead of the Tennessee attack that was held to 17-points or less in half of their dozen games just a season ago, and while Pruitt was the D.C. for the Crimson Tide, I don't expect his Vols defense to be anywhere near "top shelf" just yet.
The Mountaineers have flirted with "big" seasons in the past, but this could very well be the season they actually do something. A convincing win in this "neutral" site spot could be the springboard Dana Holgorsen's team needs to get the ball rolling in Morgantown.
I am going to lay the wood with West Va.
2* WEST VIRGINIAComment
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TOMMY BRUNSON
Saturday free play winner is Oregon to blast Bowling Green.
It is now Mario Cristobal's turn at head coach in Eugene, as last year's assistant takes over for now Florida State head coach Willie Taggart. Cristobal is the third coach in three years at Oregon, but the schedule is very kind for his debut, as Bowling Green (2-10 last year, 4-8 the season before last) comes calling. Then its Portland State next week with San Jose State and finally Stanford closing out 4 straight at home for the "itching to go" Ducks.
Justin Herbert is back at quarterback and the junior enters the season in full health. The Ducks were able to cover 4 of 6 last season when laying double-digits, while the Falcons went just 3-9 against the spread last season including losing to South Dakota. Bowling Green also could not convert when getting double-digits from the oddsmakers, as they dropped 4 of 6 against the spread in that role.
Cristobal did coach his team in a bowl loss to Boise State, expect him to let the dog eat in his home debut, as Herbert shows that he is NFL-ready with a huge game tonight at home.
Big price here, but this one could see Oregon reach the 50-point plateau, so I say "lay away!" with the Ducks.
3* OREGONComment
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Randy Chambers
MICHIGANComment
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Chris Ruffolo
WEST VIRGINIAComment
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Mark Roberts
PHILLIESComment
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Andrew Jett
TB RAYSComment
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BIG AL
Our complimentary selection for Saturday, September 1 is:
Rice +26 over Houston.Comment
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BUSTER SPORTS
Event: (173) TEXAS at (174) MARYLAND
Sport/League: CFB
Date/Time: September 1, 2018 12PM EDT
Play: MARYLAND 13.0 (-108)
We will be on Maryland in this one as we like the Terrapins to stay within what we believe is too big a number at the time of this writing. There is a real mess going on at Maryland with the inexcusable death of Jordan McNair and at the time of this writing the suspension of HC D J Jurkin. However, issues like thes can make a team stronger and we believe that Maryland could be a real sleeper this year as they battled injuries last year that slowed them down and are now healthy. They also have a new OC Matt Canada who will act as the interim coach until the investigation is over. We love what Canada will be able to do with this offense as we see him as a top level OC in the nation. Maryland will be very motivated to win this game after beating the Longhorns last year in Texas especially with the weak schedule ahead. With a win here, they could be 4-0 heading into the Big House on October 6th. Texas should also be better this year as well with HC Tom Herman in his second year in Texas. We believe with the talent this team has they will have to be much better than the 7-6 record of last year. One reason they might have some trouble early is that they have not really cemented their QB situation. We believe QB Sam Ehlinger will start the Maryland game but they have 3 other QB’s very capable of playing, with sophomore Shane Buechele and two freshmen top recruits in quarterbacks Casey Thompson and Cameron Rising. The Texas D should be better this year as well as they have recruited well and have 6 starters back from last year. It will be interesting to see if they learned anything from last years game as Maryland ran for 263 yards. Maryland will definitely be capable of doing that again this year so we will know quite fast how far the D has come along for Texas. Overall for us, now that the line has climbed all the way to 13, we will jump in on the Terrapins, as we believe no matter what happens regarding the internal situation at Maryland that this is just way too many points. So lets get the job done with the Maryland Terrapins as your free play for September 1st in CFB.Comment
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VEGAS SYNERGY
Event: (163) MASSACHUSETTS at (164) BOSTON COLLEGE
Sport/League: CFB
Date/Time: September 1, 2018 1PM EDT
Play: Total Over 62.0 (-110)Comment
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