We don’t really get to know teams until they’ve played a few games. That makes Week 2 of the 2019 college football schedule an important one. And after a first full week of games that spanned five days, we’re back to a more traditional schedule with a bulk of the action taking place on Saturday. As always, it’s the big boys that attract most of the attention with heavyweight battles taking place in Texas and Clemson.
Our first battle of the season between ranked foes was a good one with Auburn rallying to beat Oregon in Week 1. There are a couple of tantalizing matchups this Saturday with No. 1 Clemson hosting No. 12 Texas AM and No. 6 LSU visiting No. 10 Texas. A&M is getting some love from the betting public and the spread was wagered from Clemson -19 to -17.5 at offshore sportsbooks. LSU is a 5-point road favorite for its contest.
Three games that are on the board have lines over 30 points with Alabama spotting New Mexico State a whopping 55 points for their matchup. Lines that high aren’t uncommon for Bama, which has spotted at least a half a hundy four times since 2012.
Conference play gets underway in the Big Ten and Pac-12 this week. Iowa is 20-point home chalk for its league opener against Rutgers. USC’s path to the Pac-12 South title will be a bit bumpier following the loss of JT Daniels to a knee injury. Despite that, the Trojans opened as a 3.5-point favorite over Stanford, which has some quarterback issues of its own. K.J. Costello was knocked out of the opener and his status is unknown. Should he be cleared to play you can expect that line to move.
Big Favorites
The biggest spread of the week lies with the Crimson Tide, who are 55 points better than New Mexico State according to the college football betting lines. There is a huge discrepancy between these programs, but 55 points is a lot no matter who’s playing. Bama beat The Citadel 50-17 last year, but failed to cover the 52-point line. The Tide has been favored by at least 50 points four times since 2012, but they were unable to cash against the line on each occasion.
Wisconsin looks like the early favorite in the Big Ten West after dismantling what was thought to be a better USF team, 49-0, last week. Oddsmakers took notice and made the Badgers a five-touchdown favorite against Central Michigan. There is one other game with a line on the board north of 30 and that favors Texas Tech in its game with UTEP. The Red Raiders took care of FCS Montana State, 45-10, cashing against the 28.5-point spread. They are a bigger favorite this week laying 34.5-points to the Miners.
Upset Picks
My upset picks didn’t pan out last week with both Oregon and Utah State losing in the closing moments. If the games were 59 minutes instead of 60, I’d be thumping my chest right now. But I digress. Utah State did cover the spread in its tilt with Wake Forest, so there is some consolation. A classic rivalry from the old Big 8/12 days is renewed when Nebraska and Colorado hook up. I went against the Huskers last week and it paid off, and I’m not sold on the hype. They struggled against South Alabama needing two defensive scores and a special teams touchdown to avoid the upset. They aren’t so lucky this week. Colorado will do all it can to make the most of Laviska Shenault’s last year in Boulder and I like the Buffs to win outright.
If the Tennessee program hasn’t hit Rocky Top bottom, it’s sure getting close. The Vols were stunned by Georgia State last week, losing 38-30 as a 24.5-point favorite. It’s hard to envision them losing two in a row at home, but this program is nowhere near where it should be. Heck, they can’t even get someone to coach, settling for Jeremy Pruitt. BYU gave Utah a game and looked good at times. They might have upset their Holy War rival if not for four turnovers. Clean up the mess and the Cougars can win this game.
Week 1 Lock
It’s not often that a Group of Five team has a chance to beat up a P5 conference so take it while you can. And that’s exactly what Hawai’i is going to do. After taking down Arizona 45-38 in its opener, the Rainbow Warriors host Oregon State on Saturday. UH is laying 6-points to the Beavers, but with their explosive offense the Warriors will cover and easily win this contest.
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