A few early lines up

[rolltide]

i know Tulane got spanked by Duke last year but 3 TD's is a lot to ask. Tulane was VERY young in 2014 but should be much better this year at least on offense

College Football	Spread	Money Line
North Dakota State at Montana
game must be played before September 2nd for action
Sat 8/29		51 North Dakota State	-15 1.877
3:30PM		52 Montana	+15 1.877
North Carolina vs South Carolina, in Charlotte
game must be played before September 9th for action
Thu 9/3		101 North Carolina	+7½ 1.877	3.420
7:00PM		102 South Carolina	-7½ 1.877	1.336
Michigan at Utah
game must be played before September 9th for action
Thu 9/3		103 Michigan	+3½ 1.877	2.410
9:00PM		104 Utah	-3½ 1.877	1.592
Duke at Tulane
game must be played before September 9th for action
Thu 9/3		105 Duke	-20½ 1.877
12:00PM		106 Tulane	+20½ 1.877
TCU at Minnesota U
game must be played before September 9th for action
Thu 9/3		107 TCU	-19½ 1.877
12:00PM		108 Minnesota U	+19½ 1.877
Baylor at SMU
game must be played before September 9th for action
Fri 9/4		201 Baylor	-35½ 1.877
12:00PM		202 SMU	+35½ 1.877
Kent State at Illinois
game must be played before September 9th for action
Fri 9/4		203 Kent State	+17 1.877
9:00PM		204 Illinois	-17 1.877
Texas at Notre Dame
game must be played before September 9th for action
Sat 9/5		301 Texas	+12½ 1.877	4.600
3:30PM		302 Notre Dame	-12½ 1.877	1.208
Arizona State vs Texas A&M, in Houston
game must be played before September 9th for action
Sat 9/5		303 Arizona State	+5½ 1.877	2.790
12:00PM		304 Texas A&M	-5½ 1.877	1.452
Alabama vs Wisconsin, in Arlington
game must be played before September 9th for action
Sat 9/5		305 Alabama	-12½ 1.877	1.208
12:00PM		306 Wisconsin	+12½ 1.877	4.600
Auburn vs Louisville, in Atlanta
game must be played before September 9th for action
Sat 9/5		307 Auburn	-12½ 1.877	1.235
7:00PM		308 Louisville	+12½ 1.877	4.340
Virginia at UCLA
game must be played before September 9th for action
Sat 9/5		309 Virginia	+16 1.877	6.400
3:00PM		310 UCLA	-16 1.877	1.125
Purdue at Marshall
game must be played before September 9th for action
Sun 9/6		351 Purdue	+13½ 1.877
3:00PM		352 Marshall	-13½ 1.877
Ohio State at Virginia Tech
game must be played before September 9th for action
Mon 9/7		401 Ohio State	-20½ 1.877	1.068
8:00PM		402 Virginia Tech	+20½ 1.877	9.860

 

[BigdaddyQH]

Still very early but a few observations here. First, UNC HC Larry Fedora needs a quality win. His three seasons as HC at UNC have not been real productive. Spurrier would like to see South Carolina rebound, but his head is not on the chopping block. UNC +7 1/2 as of now.

TCU is in what amounts to a must win situation. A loss to Minny would put them in a major hole starting the season. I do not see TCU losing this game, but 19 1/2 points is a lot to give to a pretty good Minnesota team who is 9-4 ATS in the past two seasons.

 

[rivercitybirdie]

utah, texas, louisville and virginia i like

 

[loomis41973]

106 +-20.5
301 Texas +12.5
309 VA +16

 

[Conan]

I like Utah as well. Wittingham is expecting a great year with a healthy quarterback for a change and a pretty good backup if there's a need. His bench is pretty deep at most positions and key elements of his offense has plenty of experience. The defense has looked sharp this spring. All that probably falls on deaf ears until Utah establishes itself in its own conference first. But I believe they are a sleeper and still pretty much underrated these days, even coming off a 9-4 record in 2014.

Harbaugh is even less proven where he is at now. Had he not been known in CFB as an effective head coach that lifted a traditional major power up and out of the doldrums, I'd say there would be no reason to lend much support to the Wolverines. Harbaugh surprised everyone and beat USC as 51 point underdogs in his first year at Stanford, but the Cardinal won just 4 games that year. The following year (2008) Stanford won just 5 games and in 2009, they finally had their first winning season (8-5) since they put up 9 wins in 2001. It took Harbaugh 4 years as Stanford's head coach for his team to put up a 12-1 record (2010) and come knocking on the doors of the elite.

So now that he is at Michigan, there is no reason to think the Wolverines will come out like a bunch of snarling Wolverines right away. Judging from his performance as Stanford's HC, it might be wise to let him recruit the players he wants for one cycle or about 3-4 years before expecting much. At this point, Michigan may be capable of logging a completely unexpected upset, even on the road but I doubt that the Utah Utes will provide much motivation for that to happen.

 

[Albatross]

Give me the dogs in every game. Don't really like a fav on the list.

 

[RunLeeRun]

Vtech: at home, returning most of that team, probably running the 5 man front again that shut down the Ohio St rush attack. Here's your blueprint Big Ten.

 

[GoSooners]

Vtech: at home, returning most of that team, probably running the 5 man front again that shut down the Ohio St rush attack. Here's your blueprint Big Ten.

When I looked at Ohio State in the Final Four games, the OL looked like they were coming off the line much faster and were much more crisp and precise with their blocks than they were earlier in the season against VT. They get 4 of those OL players back this season, so it will be interesting to see if they can pick up where they left off against what is essentially the same VT defensive line they faced last year.

 

[RunLeeRun]

When I looked at Ohio State in the Final Four games, the OL looked like they were coming off the line much faster and were much more crisp and precise with their blocks than they were earlier in the season against VT. They get 4 of those OL players back this season, so it will be interesting to see if they can pick up where they left off against what is essentially the same VT defensive line they faced last year.

Yeah, it's going to be interesting. Both sides should be more experienced. OSU was certainly on another level by years end, but there is a fundimental difference when playing the 5-man front the way Vtech did than vs a 4-man. They put a DL on each of the G-C-G. This eliminates the free linemen from double teaming or getting to the second level. That kills OSU's bread-and-butter inside zone. The outside linebackers were set to take away the edge. This gave Vtech a numbers advantage. According to ex-OC Tom Herman, the backup plan vs Cover 0 (which Vtech played for over 50 snaps) is to use speed option and then go vertical with the pass game. They didn't attack speed option very well until late in the game, and quite frankly running vertical routes vs a Bud Foster defense is an uphill struggle because he's going to blitz and stunt the shit out of you. If this is to be a nice chunk of the plan again, Jones won't be their best option at QB. It will be one of the quicker two that can run the speed option. None of the QB's are all world throwing the ball but if you have better talent at WR vs DB's, of course you can make a killing in a hurry. Quite frankly, I think being aggressive is better tactic vs OSU than being gouged in the middle all game long. Also, Tom Herman is gone and now it's Nebraska's ex-OC Tim Beck calling the plays. He can have his moments, both stellar and deer-headlights. But I'm not a fan overall. He gets too caught up with trying too much, but maybe Meyer can get him straight, or maybe Meyer will call plays.

 

[GoSooners]

RLR...What I hate most about opening weekend is the amount of time these coaches and players have to prepare for this first game. Having all summer to prepare always makes these first week bets a little dicey. It's really hard to compare OSU/VT to last year because you know Meyer and Foster aren't going to use the same gameplans. Well, at least Meyer won't. But I'm sure both also have a plan B in place. The one big disadvantage OSU had last season compared to this year is they had to play VT the week after playing Navy. Which is never an easy proposition for the defense having to get out of the option mode and back to a conventional offense in one week. And all VT had the week before was a scrimmage against Bill & Mary. So the OSU game was basically a game they pointed towards all summer. And Navy is a team you never want to overlook, or you can get burned. So different circumstances this year. Plus you know VT will have OSU's full attention after losing to them last year and this being a road game...As far as these other first week lines, I prefer to find a game in which one team is at a distinct advantage in the running game over their opponent. For instance a team bringing back most or all of their OL and RB's vs a defense who loses most of their DL starters or ever better their DL starters and a new coach or coordinator on top of being bad against the run the year before. Vegas usually can't set a line high enough for these kind of mismatches, even though the public can sometimes be afraid to bet them. As for OSU/VT, it's pretty much a wash. Four starters returning for each line, same coordinators, same coaches. So I'll probably be looking elsewhere for some value.

 

[cloverleaf]

Some observations and betting at least 60% results:

Baylor -35.5 will destroy SMU.
Notre Dame -12.5 at home should handle Texas.
Alabama -12.5 will beat Wisconsin by 24.
Auburn -12.5 will show they are the real deal.
Virginia Tech +20.5 still knows how to play defense.

Sixty percent and I'll back it up...............

 

[BigdaddyQH]

Some observations and betting at least 60% results:

Baylor -35.5 will destroy SMU.
Notre Dame -12.5 at home should handle Texas.
Alabama -12.5 will beat Wisconsin by 24.
Auburn -12.5 will show they are the real deal.
Virginia Tech +20.5 still knows how to play defense.

Sixty percent and I'll back it up...............

Let's see what we have. Baylor at SMU +35.5. A team that won one game in the regular season against a team that lost one game. Baylor must win BIG because they are in the Big 12-2
Texas at Notre Dame -12 1/2. Who knows what kind of team Texas will have. Notre Dame has everyone returning but a major problem at QB. Texas has the same QB problem. The Irish are not the greatest spread team around. Pass.
Alabama vs Wisconsin +12 1/2. Pretty tough going against Nick Saban the game after he got his tail handed to him, especially in this situation. Alabama's offense is certainly questionable, but Wisconsin's offense is worse. A high school coach could defend against the run, run, run mentality that Alvarez forces his "yes men" head coaches to use. Chryst is no different. 28-3 maybe?
Auburn at Louisville +12 1/2. Auburn had a terrible 4-8 ATS record last season. Both teams lose a lot of players, especially on offense, but Louisville covered against Miami and Notre Dame last season. Pass.
Ohio State at Va. Tech +20 1/2. Ohio State turns this game into a battle between their top two QB's to see which one starts in game 2. You can bet that the competition between Jones and Barrett will be fierce. If one scores, the other will do his best to score. Va. Tech still has no offense to speak of. I like Ohio State to just do their thing and cover here.

 

[rolltide]

Let's see what we have. Baylor at SMU +35.5. A team that won one game in the regular season against a team that lost one game. Baylor must win BIG because they are in the Big 12-2
Texas at Notre Dame -12 1/2. Who knows what kind of team Texas will have. Notre Dame has everyone returning but a major problem at QB. Texas has the same QB problem. The Irish are not the greatest spread team around. Pass.
Alabama vs Wisconsin +12 1/2. Pretty tough going against Nick Saban the game after he got his tail handed to him, especially in this situation. Alabama's offense is certainly questionable, but Wisconsin's offense is worse. A high school coach could defend against the run, run, run mentality that Alvarez forces his "yes men" head coaches to use. Chryst is no different. 28-3 maybe?
Auburn at Louisville +12 1/2. Auburn had a terrible 4-8 ATS record last season. Both teams lose a lot of players, especially on offense, but Louisville covered against Miami and Notre Dame last season. Pass.
Ohio State at Va. Tech +20 1/2. Ohio State turns this game into a battle between their top two QB's to see which one starts in game 2. You can bet that the competition between Jones and Barrett will be fierce. If one scores, the other will do his best to score. Va. Tech still has no offense to speak of. I like Ohio State to just do their thing and cover here.

don't forget your max bet on TCU ML -2500

 

[GoSooners]

don't forget your max bet on TCU ML -2500

Ha!

 

[BigdaddyQH]

don't forget your max bet on TCU ML -2500

What the hell are you talking about? The ML's are not even out yet. Get a life. Stop talking about things you have no idea about.

 

[GoSooners]

Speaking of the TCU/Minnesota game. Patterson's problem in these early games will be getting their defense to play up to it's standards from the end of last season. My feeling right now is they are again going to start a little slow on defense but show improvement by midseason. Much like last year in which they started slow (Baylor game for example) and finished strong. This Minnesota game is a tough one to cap. It is a dangerous road trip. But the problem for the Golphers is they run the type of offense that TCU should be able to keep up with and overcome in the second half. If i was a TCU fan I would actually be a little more concerned about their road game against Texas Tech. By all rights they should be able to outscore Tech. But this is another game that is played in the first half of the season before TCU's defense will be playing up to speed. So it could be a tough game depending on what kind of QB play Tech gets this year. I think TCU wins this game, but they have a dangerous gauntlet of games against OU, OSU and Baylor is a span of 4 weeks which will be a make or break for this team. But i still think TCU goes 11-1 this season and it will be another wait and see at the end of the year.

Staying with the subject of opening lines, I always try to look at these secondary games first. The oddsmakers are less apt to have the sharp lines on these kinds of games that involve less public betting money. I think it's where the real value is if you can find a mismatch. And if you can find a mismatch with a short spread all the better..

 

[Conan]

What the hell are you talking about? The ML's are not even out yet. Get a life. Stop talking about things you have no idea about.

Maybe it's you that needs to figure out what rolltide was talking about. I got it, GS got it, but you haven't a clue what he was talking about.

 

[RunLeeRun]

Maybe it's you that needs to figure out what rolltide was talking about. I got it, GS got it, but you haven't a clue what he was talking about.

Everybody knows he's Junk, yet he still thinks he's played it off. Was it Stanford money line?

 

[sendacash]

Va tech getting+20.5 in Blacksburgh? Am I getting lured in hear or what? Can Meyer really sell the whole revenge factor when they won the NC anyways?

 

[Conan]

Everybody knows he's Junk, yet he still thinks he's played it off. Was it Stanford money line?

Maybe he can't shake off Stanford's win over USC as a 51 point dog. He may have dropped 20
dimes on USC that day and his favorite chalk play turned out to be the biggest dog win in history.