College Football Picks

QB Zach Collaros can get it done in the air or on the ground. He's the real deal.

When I saw the line open at Cincinnati -1.5, my eyes opened up and I was in a state of disbelief. Something has to be up because this football spread is just too favorable if my first impression serves me correct. Sure, Cincinnati lost their head coach Brian Kelly to Notre Dame and they don’t have QB Tony Pike this season either (29 TDs last season in just 8 starts), but did the oddsmakers forget that Fresno State lost the nation’s best running back RB Ryan Matthews (1808 yards, 19 TDs) and play in the WAC?

Cincinnati has a more than capable quarterback in QB Zach Collaros (1436 passing yards, 344 rushing yards, 10 passing TDs, 4 rushing TDs in 4 starts), who filled in for the injured Tony Pike last season. I am enamored with this kid. In Collaros’s five games after Pike’s injury (he had 132 rushing yards in his debut once Pike went down vs. USF), he averaged 65 rushing yards per game. Collaros helped lead the Bearcats to a 12-0 regular season by going 4-0 as their starter and beating quality teams such as Connecticut and West Virginia. He threw for 4 TDs against Syracuse and racked up 480 passing yards, 75 rushing yards, and 3 TDs against Connecticut. Collaros won over Bearcats fans and there were many who wanted him to remain the starting QB for the rest of the season.

Collaros also has a ton of weapons to work with again this season as the offense returns 8 starters including returning RB Isaiah Pead (806 rushing yards, 201 receiving yards, 11 TDs), WR Armon …

WR #15 Jermaine Kearse is the player to watch in this one.

WASHINGTON HUSKIES @ BYU COUGARS -3

Washington has been a notoriously awful football team for the better part of the last decade, but has shown signs of turning their program around last year. Ever since their 2001 Rose Bowl appearance, they’ve struggled big time. Here are their records since 2001 in chronological order: 7-6, 6-6, 1-10, 2-9, 5-7, 4-9, 0-12, 5-7. The bottom line is that this team hasn’t produced a winning season since 2002, but they were able to improve on their 0-12 2008 season by going 5-7 this past year. Everyone tried to pound the Huskies last year and more often than not, they got burned as the Huskies had a 7-5 record ATS. They covered against USC, Notre Dame, Arizona, UCLA, and Cal. Even more impressive was the fact that they closed the season by defeating Cal 42-10 after shutting out Washington State 30-0, as well as upsetting USC 16-13. However, Washington struggled on the road going 0-5 and getting crushed by the likes of Oregon State and Stanford, who they were unable to cover against.

BYU was tremendous this past season, closing the year with an 11-2 record and going 8-5 ATS and finishing 14th in the BCS standings ahead of teams such as Pitt, Oregon State, Stanford, Utah, and West Virginia. That kind of performance last year begs the question, why is this team only giving up 3 points at home? Something has to be up. Let’s see what we can dig up.

First, with a spread like this, you know that some key players from last year won’t be back this season. BYU’s stud QB Max Hall has graduated and moved onto …

Keep your eyes on WR Michael Floyd in this game.

PURDUE BOILERMAKERS @ NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH (-10.5)

Scanning through the week 1 college lines, Purdue at +10.5 caught my eye. Although Purdue had a losing record at 5-7, they were a competitive team, losing to Oregon by 2 points, Notre Dame by 3, and Michigan State by 3. Purdue was probably best known for upsetting Ohio State 26-18. They knew how to fight in games against the top competition, which is why I was tempted to take the points here. I also figured that Notre Dame may be facing a major set back with the losses of QB Jimmy Clausen and WR Golden Tate.

Unfortunately for Purdue, the injury bug has hurt the Boilermakers this past spring. Their star RB Ralph Bolden, who finished 3rd in the Big Ten in rushing, tore a ligament in his knee and may miss the entire season. Purdue’s QB Robert Marve, who was recruited by Miami, but left when he wasn’t chosen as Miami’s starter, will be the new face of the team and will have a talented receiver in WR Keith Smith (91 receptions, 1100 yards last season) to throw to.  Marve isn’t anything to write home about though: he threw more INTs (13) than TDs (9) last season at Miami. Purdue had a solid secondary last year, giving up just 203 yards per game, but they’ll have to deal with replacing 4 starters in that group, a tremendous challenge for any defensive coordinator.

Notre Dame will be led by junior QB Dayne Crist. Crist is a physical specimen at 6’4″, 235 pounds, but inexperienced (just 10 completions in 20 attempts in his collegiate career) and he’s coming off …

Andy Dalton hopes to lead his team to an undefeated year if they can get past OSU.

OREGON STATE BEAVERS @ TCU HORNED FROGS (-13)

Coming into this season, TCU is ranked 7th while Oregon State is ranked 23rd. The TCU/OSU spread jumped out at me because Oregon State is a quality team and they’re getting double-digit points here, which had me think about taking a game where you’re starting off with some points. However, with the Horned Frog’s extraordinary offense and rushing attack, TCU may end up beating the Beavers convincingly.

TCU was ranked No. 3 last year going into the Fiesta Bowl ultimately losing 17-10, so my last impression of them was that they’re impressive offense when playing competition in the Mountain West Conference, but when faced with a legitimate defense like BSU’s, they get shut down.

Oregon State closed the regular season losing to the 7th ranked Oregon Ducks in honourable [sic] fashion, 37-33. Oregon State was a 10-point dog in that game and we recommended a teaser taking the Ducks at -3 with the over 55 — a spot on call if there ever was one. Oregon State finished the season 8-5 crushing the likes of California, Washington, and Washington State, and topping quality teams like Stanford and Arizona State, before competing against Oregon at a high level. In that game, they nearly had the Ducks beat. They had the lead going into the half and trailed by just 1 point going into the 4th quarter. It was an excellent game and a nail-biter for those who had money on the line. It was probably one of the best games of the season if you ask me.

Oregon State has the Rodgers Brothers coming back from …

I looked at the College Football Week 1 spreads and there’s 10 games that wet my appetite. I want to provide a thorough analysis of each game, yet can’t make up my mind on which games I should start looking into. Help me out by voting in this poll. Thanks.

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THE PASS RUSH has been in business for four years now, opening up to the interwebs in 2007. In four year’s time, we have handedly taken the books to the woodshed via weekly NFL and NCAA football picks against the spread. Like any season, it’s a roller coaster. There will be highs and lows, ups and downs, thrilling victories, and crushing defeats. There will be injuries, blown calls, turnovers, and ludicrous penalties that will combine to conspire against you, but you must not let them affect you.

During the 2009 football season, we immediately got off to a hot start. My philosophy to start last year was to bet against the reh-tards of the NFL. It was like a bully picking on the kid with down syndrome — completely shameless and without remorse. By betting faithfully against the Detroit Lions, St. Louis Rams, Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers week-in and week-out, the first half of the season was a phenomenal success. It was like sports books were giving away free money each week. What happened in the second half you ask? The books wised up and …

Ryan Williams is one nasty RB.

BOISE STATE BRONCOS @ VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES (+2.5)

Scanning through the week 1 college football lines, the game that stands out this week other than Pitt @ Utah is Boise State @ Virginia Tech (+2.5).  Two National Championship contenders, the No. 5 ranked Broncos and the No. 6. Hokies will be squaring off week one, in the Sunday Night Lights. The game is set for Monday, September 6th, on ESPN at 8:00pm. To be completely fair, this one is a toss up and I’m giving a slight nod to Virginia Tech. If I’ve learned one thing over the years, it’s that this team has performed exceptionally well at home in night games. Although they won’t have the advantage of playing on their home turf at Lane Stadium, they’ll still have a distinct home-field advantage playing at FedEx Field in Washington D.C.

With that said, I would be careless and hasty to say that Boise State doesn’t have a shot in this game. Despite VT’s huge home-field advantage, Boise State is 10-3 ATS on the road in their last 13 games. Even better is the fact that Boise State has 23 of the 24 players that started in the Fiesta Bowl returning. If your memory fails you, Boise State defeated No. 3 TCU last year 17-10 in the Fiesta Bowl and remained undefeated.

BSU’s QB Kellen Moore threw for over two miles last season (3,537 yards to be exact) with a ridiculous 39 TDs. Moore also has all of his top playmakers back again this season. Boise State has an opportunity to play for a National Championship if they win this game. This game is their National Championship, which is why I cannot …