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My favorite thing about opening weekend every year is that it proves, without a doubt, that we as a football observing community don't know shit. And not just our little Underdog Dynasty or SB Nation community. I mean everyone. ESPN. Fox. SI.
Collectively, we did manage to get some things right though. Penn State was our overwhelming favorite to win the Great Irish Breakfastball Challenge, or whatever it's called. But honestly, even that would have been wrong if O'Leary had filled out his depth chart right and started a quarterback instead of a place kicker.
This is the fine line we're walking here, putting our knowledge to the test and reputations at stake to see if we can get an edge on Vegas, the people who always have the edge. Well this week most of us would have lost our lunch money. Collectively we beat the house, going 51/99. Since most of us are too old for common core, we can recognize that's more than 50%.
Also, since even your deity didn't want to see Florida suffocate Idaho to death, that game was a no bet, leaving us with 9 games on the slate. So, without wasting any more time, let's look at the standings for this past week. (Note: because of some last minute developments, we've switched out Sean for Brian Wright, our local South Alabama blogger.)
| Rank | Name | Record |
| 1 | Karl Strength | 7-2 |
| T-2 | Nic Lewis | 6-3 |
| T-2 | Al Burke | 6-3 |
| 4 | Brian Wright | 5-4 |
| T-5 | Dieter Kurtenbach | 4-5 |
| T-5 | Kyle Vos | 4-5 |
| T-5 | Chris Hondros | 4-5 |
| T-5 | Bryan Vance | 4-5 |
| T-5 | Matt Monte | 4-5 |
| T-5 | Adam Rosenfield | 4-5 |
| 11 | Carson Ingle | 3-6 |
The top spot belongs to Karl, which is amazing to me since he thinks ULM is the best team in the Sun Belt. But I can't really say anything, since I'm not even batting .500. (Sorry about baseball-ing things up.) Overall, this is expected for week one. But as we learn more about these teams, so will the oddsmakers.
With that said, let's look at the week two matchups.
|
NFL -
NCAA |
Day
|
Date
|
Away Team
|
Away
Pick |
Selection
|
Point
Value |
Home
Pick |
Home Team
|
Home
Spread |
Game
Info |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TOTAL | 0 | |||||||||
| NCAA | Sat | Sep 6 12:00 | Southern Methodist (0-1) |
|
 |
1 |
|
North Texas (0-1) | -3.5 |
MATCHUP |
| NCAA | Sat | Sep 6 12:00 | Buffalo (1-0) |
|
 |
1 |
|
Army (0-0) | -3.5 |
MATCHUP CBSSports, CBS |
| NCAA | Sat | Sep 6 13:00 | Navy (0-1) |
|
 |
1 |
|
Temple (1-0) | 4.5 |
MATCHUP ESPN3 |
| NCAA | Sat | Sep 6 14:00 | South Alabama (0-0) |
|
 |
1 |
|
Kent St. (0-1) | 3.5 |
MATCHUP ESPN3 |
| NCAA | Sat | Sep 6 14:00 | New Mexico St. (1-0) |
|
 |
1 |
|
Georgia State(1-0) | -1.5 |
MATCHUP ESPN3 |
| NCAA | Sat | Sep 6 15:30 | Middle Tenn. St. (1-0) |
|
 |
1 |
|
Minnesota (1-0) | -17.5 |
MATCHUP Big10 |
| NCAA | Sat | Sep 6 19:00 | Louisiana Tech(0-1) |
|
 |
1 |
|
La.-Lafayette(1-0) | -12.5 |
MATCHUP ESPN3 |
| NCAA | Sat | Sep 6 19:00 | Idaho (0-0) |
|
 |
1 |
|
La.-Monroe (1-0) | -14.5 |
MATCHUP ESPN3 |
| NCAA | Sat | Sep 6 19:00 | East Caro. (1-0) |
|
 |
1 |
|
South Carolina(#9) (0-1) | -16.5 |
MATCHUP ESPNU, ESPN3 |
| NCAA | Sat | Sep 6 23:00 | Texas Tech (1-0) |
|
 |
1 |
|
UTEP (1-0) | 18.5 |
MATCHUP FOX Sports 1 |
Navy is a good team, and I have them ranked higher at the moment, but Temple is coming into this one red hot. Giving them points is foolish to me.
Georgia State and New Mexico State is the first game in history with two underdogs, but I watched that whole Georgia State game, and I don't think a few extra days of preparation will help anything.
Louisiana Tech at UL will be interesting. The Cajuns feel like they are clearly the better team, but 12.5 is a lot of points.
Lastly, ECU and UTEP to cover, because I ain't scared of no big bad wolf. Now go hit up your neighborhood bookie/barber shop, and let them know you won't be paying for haircuts for a while, and hopefully not because you're broke.