NCAAF: Arizona (+18) Vs Washington $
I played Arizona last week and they got destroyed by Colorado 34-0, yet I still do not feel this Wildcat team is as bad as their record and national bottom feeder ranking. I am willing to give them one more chance this week to get at least a cover as they are once again getting a huge number at home. This is a Friday night primetime game which was perhaps the only way to get anyone to watch these two bad teams, but may play in favour of the home team.
Washington Huskies are not a good football team and should not be favoured by 18 points on the road against anyone this season. Their rushing defence in particular is very suspect and potentially exportable by the Wildcats. Washington lost as 23 point favourites in week 1 to Montana and if they are not careful, they could be in danger of losing to Arizona as well.
NCAAF: Illinois (+23.5) @ Penn St $$
This is a terrible spot for the Nittany Lions. They are fresh off their bitterly disappointing loss to Iowa that they really should have won. On deck is their biggest game on the schedule as they travel to the ‘Shoe’ to play the Buckeyes. It is easy to see how Penn St may overlook Illinois as it sets up as an enormous sandwich game.
My power ratings do not love the Lions as much as much of the public and polls do. Sure they have a dominating defence, but the offence has been merely average. I do like them getting the win in this matchup, but asking them to cover such a big point is a bit too much. I do not see Penn as a team capable of blowing opponents out by 30+ points.
Illinois has been their usual bad selves this year, but they did pull off a quality win against Nebraska early in the season. I see this being a low scoring game and if Illinois can can score just 10-14 points, it may be enough to get the cover.
NCAAF: Kansas St (+1) @ Texas Tech $$
This is primarily a strength of schedule play.
Kansas St opened the season with a nice win over Stanford but have now lost three consecutive games. Their opponents the last three weeks included Oklahoma St, Iowa St, and Oklahoma, all of which are top rated programs in the NCAAF. In contrast, the Red Raiders best win of the season came against a not so great W Virginia team while they were beaten badly by both Texas and TCU and have the meat of their schedule still ahead of them.
If you look solely on the records for these two teams, it would set the illusion that Texas Tech is actually the better team in this matchup, but I would not agree and I like the Wildcats to get the win.
