College football week 10 ATS

Man oh man, another rotten week for my picks. I was 2-3 dropping my record to 22-22-1. I guess there is some work to do.

Something good from this past Saturday, Iowa State got their 5th win of the season at home in Ames, IA against Baylor. Baylor had been averaging almost 50 points, Iowa State only gave up 21 points. Sadly, stud linebacker Jake Knott had his ISU career come to an end due to a shoulder injury. Hopefully he heals up soon both for the NFL and for a normal life in the future! Thanks for the memories Jake Knott!

Let's get on to the picks shall we...I remind you my picks from vegasinsider.com LVH lines.

Game 1: The slumping Iowa Hawkeyes visit the Indiana Hoosiers who are coming off of their first conference win since 2010! Iowa opened as a 3 point favorite but now Indiana is -1.5. The Hoosiers can score a lot of points and Iowa cannot stop anyone of late or score. I think Iowa put up a good fight but in the ends loses this game on the road by about 10. Take Indiana -1.5.

Game 2: LSU +9 hosts Alabama. These two teams met twice last year, the second meeting should not have happened. LSU won the game at Alabama last year. I am sure Nick Saban will be looking for a little revenge on the mad hatter for the home loss in 2011. I think the defense of LSU keeps this game close although I think the LSU offensive struggles continue. Alabama wins this game but I think it is a one score separation with the final being something like 20-13 or 17-10 Alabama. Take LSU to cover the +9 at home.

Game 3: Penn St -3.5 visits Purdue. Purdue is really slumping as of late and the Penn St offense seems to be rolling. I like what coach O'Brien has done his first year at PSU. There is a long road ahead for them with the sanctions but they are going to end up with a pretty good record this year. I think PSU handles Purdue easy in this game with a score of about 30-13.

Quick recap, take Indiana -1.5, LSU +9 and Penn St -3.5. I will be back later this week with a couple more picks.

College football week 9 part 2

These are my final picks for the week.

Game #3 Notre Dame visits Oklahoma -11.5. Notre Dame has really only played Big 10 teams this year so I do not think they are very good. ND does not have a hang your hat type of win, they do have a couple of wins they could have lost the last couple of weeks. OU has really stepped up their game the last few weeks, the defense has clamped down and Landry Jones seems to be synced up with his wide receivers. OU wins this game 30-10.

Game #4 Bowling Green hosts a bad Eastern Michigan team. The Over/Under total is 52. I think there will be some points scored in this game, probably at least 60. I feel comfortable in this total going over 52.

Game #5 Florida St -27.5 hosts Duke which has gotten bowl eligible since the Civil War I think. While I think Florida St. wins this game, I think Duke keeps it closer than the spread. The final score will be around 45-21 or 27.


Week 9 recap: Oklahoma -11.5, over in the Eastern Michigan vs. Bowling Green, Duke +27.5, Boise St -16.5 and Indiana +2

College Football week 9 ATS

Ugh, I am coming to take my lumps, I was 0-5 last week. My record drops to 20-19-1. Only one way to go from here, UP!

Game 1: I am going to the Big 10 which is barely a BCS conference this season. I am really digging here. Indiana +2 is visiting Illinois. Indiana can score and score a lot. They are due to come up with a win and I think they do it this week. Illinois goes down.

Game 2: Boise St -16.5 visits Wyoming. Boise seems to be getting things in order. Their defense has been pretty strong all year long, I think the Bronco offense is coming together and will be a dangerous team come bowl season. Boise takes care of business on Saturday.

Take Boise St -16.5 and Indiana +2.

Week 8 College Football games ATS

Here are my final picks for this week.

Game #3 Maryland +3 hosts NC State this week in ACC action. NC State comes off of a bye week which is probably good. They are not patting themselves on the back yet after their upset win overr Florida St. Somehow Maryland sits atop the ACC Atlantic Division, Maryland has not played good ACC competition yet, that changes this week. I look for NC State to take care of business. Maryland has great defensive #'s while NC State has a pretty good offense. I think the offense wins out on the road. Take NC State -3.

Game #4 Virginia -3.5 hosts Wake Forest. Virginia needs to get right and Wake Forest is the team to do it against. Virginia does not have a lot of margin for error left if they want to get to a bowl game this season and I think they get their third win at home against Wake Forest. Take Virginia to cover the -3.5, they probably sneak out with a 10 point victory.

Game #5 I am going to stick with the Louisville train this week. They -6 hosting South Florida. USF has played some decent competition and it is not getting easier this week. The wheels may be coming off for South Florida. If something goes wrong for them early in this game look for a Louisville route. I think it happens and Louisville wins this game easily.

Here is a recap for week 8 take Iowa State +14.5, Cincinnati -7, NC State -3, Virginia -3.5 and Louisville -6.

College Football week 8 picks ATS

Happy Tuesday everyone, I am sitting here half watching the debates, ugh. College football has already started for the week. Former head coach at Iowa State, Dan McCarney is leading North Texas against UL-Lafeyette in Tuesday night Sun Belt action. (Not Tuesday Night Music Club for you Sheryl Crow fans) Enough, lets get to my picks this week.

Again, I get my lines from vegasinsider.com LVH lines. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them here or contact me via Twitter. My handle is @twojman.

Game #1 Iowa State +14.5 heads to Stillwater, OK to face Okie St. Okie St lost out on a chance of the National Championship due to a defeat by Iowa St last year. I think revenge is on the minds of the Cowboys. To win on the road you need a defense, which ISU has. I think 14.5 points is way too many for Okie State to give to Iowa State. I think ISU can rattle the young QB for the Cowboys, which ever one is starting. I have a sneaky feeling ISU wins this one outright but that is not what I am betting, I would bet ISU keeps this one snug at minimum and probably wins. Take ISU and the points.

Game #2 Cincinnati -7, visits in state rival Toledo. Toledo looks at Cincy as big brother and will go all out to try and win this game. Toledo has a very good team in the MAC this season, they may win the MAC. I do think Cincy has too much speed and too much firepower. This game will be close in the first half, I think Cincy pulls away in the second half by forcing a couple of turnovers and wins something like 34-17.

I will get a couple more games out this week.

College football week 7 recap and betting overview

I was 3-2 on the weekend which makes you a winner in Vegas. This brings my overall record to 20-14-1. I am disappointed in my Iowa State Cyclones though. The lack of a QB is really hurting this team. As former Cyclone great Jack Whitver said on the post game show referring to they Cyclones in the Big 12, "This is a championship defense and a 9th or 10th place offense."

Hopefully things get better this week. The defense at Oklahoma State is not that great. This is a good chance to work out some quirks. Right now ISU is +13, I will be using that as one of my games this week.

Now, I mentioned last week I would give a quick synopsis on how to bet on football games and what some of the terminology means. Here is a website with some quick explanations. I will start with the spread.

Vegas sets a line, we will use the Iowa State and Oklahoma State game this week as an example. The spread is Iowa State +13. In the eyes of Las Vegas Iowa State essentially starts the game ahead 13-0.

Next on the agenda is a cover. Using the above spread. If you place a wager or bet on Iowa State to cover, you assume Iowa State will win the game outright or lose by less than 13. If you take Oklahoma State to cover you assume Oklahoma State will win the game by more than 13 points. If Oklahoma State were to win 33-20 the game would be considered a push, no winner.

A push that was listed above is part of the reason you will see a 'hook' or a half point involved. The spread for this game could be moved down to +12.5. The spread or line moves based on the betting involved. If the bets are coming in heavy on the side of Iowa State, the line will adjust downwards meaning the spread will get lower thus indicating people believe Iowa State will keep the game closer than 13 points.

Another way to bet on games is by the total or Over/Under. Again we will use the Oklahoma State and Iowa State game. There is not a total on this game yet but I will use 60 as an example. A bettor can wager whether or not that score will go over 60. The totals can move in the same manner as the spread.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. If you have any questions let me know, comments are always welcome.

Week 7 College football picks

I am 1-0 so far this week keeping my streak alive. Western Kentucky won Thursday night against Troy by 5, covering the 2.5 points they gave to Troy.

Here is my final pick for the week.

I am going with the game in Lubbock, TX. West Virginia is coming off a HUGE win at Texas. There may be a bit of a hangover coming into this game but I do not care about the spread or who wins. I am going after the over/under total which is set at 77 points. I am going with the over in this game. Both teams can score in bunches. Geno Smith has not even thrown an interception yet this season!



Here are a recap of my picks: Western Ky -2.5 (W), Over 77 total points in the West Vigrina @ Texas Tech game, Toledo -13, Rutgers -7 and Louisville -3.

I cannot believe I had not thought of this before. Saturday or Sunday I will not only put a recap out of the weeks games but I will throwout a quick tutorial on how sports betting works. I will keep it very basic explaining spreads and over/under totals as well as a few other things. Your comments are most welcome. If you have a question or comment please let me know. My Twitter handle is @twojman if you would like to contact me there.

Week 7 college football part 2

Some excitement for the week. Casey Pachall is withdrawing from TCU to get himself cleaned up. This is good news for him. Hopefully this young man can get his life on track.

Here are my second round of picks for the week.

The Toledo -13 visits Eastern Michigan. EM is bad, real bad and Toledo has been putting up a ton of points this year. Toledo is leading the Western division of the MAC at this point and has a great shot at winning the Western division. I assume this will come down to their matchup in mid November against Northern Illinois. I think Toledo takes this game big time, something like 41-14. Toledo easily covers this spread.

So far this week I have Toledo -13, WKU -2.5, Rutgers -7 and Louisville -3.

I will put out one more game either tomorrow or Thursday.

2012 Week 7 College Football

Happy Monday everyone! I am still giddy after my 5-0 performance last week and hope to keep the momentum rolling. Of course that is more then I can say for a few top 10 teams from last week! There were some pretty good games and not so good games last week. Field goal kicking or in the case of Iowa State extra points still seem to be an issue

My 5-0 mark last week ups me to 17-12-1 overall. There are a handful of games I really like this week. My picks are taken from vegasinsider.com LVH lines. Let's get going.

Game #1 Western Kentucky (-2.5) visits Troy in this Sun Belt showdown. Western Kentucky is much better than I thought they would be this year. I think they come out of this game with a W. Considering some of the competition W Kentucky has played their overall defensive stats are fairly solid.

Game #2 Rutgers is -7 hosing Syracuse. Syracuse is a bad team but kept the game surprisingly close with Pitt last week. Rutgers is much better than I thought after losing Sanu to the NFL (Bengals) and their former coach Greg Schiano to the NFL. I look for Rutgers to win this game by 2-3 scores and they easily cover this spread.

Game #3 has Louisville -3 at Pitt. I think Louisville has a good shot at winning the Big East. Pitt looked good at times at Syracuse, especially on the defensive side of the ball. I think Louisville is too much for Pitt at this time and comes away with a 7-10 point victory.


My first 3 games are WKU -2.5, Rutgers -7 and Louisville -3

Week 6 recap College Football

Well good evening friends! I wanted to post my 5-0 weekend!

I've got some live action in Vegas right now, I am hoping Green Bay and Minnesota do not let me down. Papa needs a new pair of shoes!

K-State was down early against in state rival Kansas. Kansas threw the kitchen sink at KSU with fake punts fake field goals. Crazy stuff but KSU pounded them in the end.

Of course my favorite team the Iowa State Cyclones had a huge win today. This sets up a huge game in Ames as K-State comes to visit. Will K-State be a top 5 team? Probably. Remember the last time a top 5 team came to Ames? I do, Okie St left with their national championship hopes dashed.

Enjoy the NFL tomorrow and I will talk to you next week. Hopefully there will be some more great picks and another 5-0 week!

College Football Week 6 part 3

I have one more pick for this week BUT ISU got a big break with what has transpired in the TCU program. Casey Pachall was charged with an OWI (DUI whatever) and was in jail overnight. He will be dressed and on the sidelines for the game but only be watching. I like the punishment from Gary Patterson on this one. I think ISU wins the game outright...

My final pick for the week is Tulsa -4 at Marshall. Tulsa has a lot of weapons on offense. Their running game plays out pretty well vs. the C-USA. I like Tulsa to take down the Thundering Herd in a big way. Tulsa has two RB's averaging over 70 yards per game, impressive. Marshall has put up some big yards so there could be some fireworks in this game. I expect Tulsa to come out on top.


My picks for the week are KSU -24, ISU +11.5, Tulsa -4, Duke -1.5 and Pitt +1.5. Let's hope for a 5-0, I should get a decent payout from Vegas if that happens!

College Football week 6 part 2

Here is part 2 of my week 6 college football picks ATS. Since we are talking about gambling, intrade had Obama's chances re-election at 75%, after tonights debate those odds have shrunk to 68%.

Game #3 Duke -1.5 hosts Virginia. Duke is a team I have been watching and have picked a couple of times earlier this season. Duke seems to be toughining up a bit. Virginia is coming off 3 straight losses and would have lost to Penn St. if Penn St could kick. I think Duke wins this game and gets to 5-1, maybe Dick Vitale will come and call one of their football games if they keep winning! Duke will not be favored in any game after this one so they need this win if they want to get to a bowl game this season.

Game #4: Pitt +1.5 visits Syracuse. I cannot believe Syracuse is a favorite in this game, they stink and have one of the worst BCS coaches in Doug Marrone. Pitt got off to a very slow start this season but have been turning things around. Pitt needs this game to help their bowl chances. I think Pitt goes into the dome and runs for a lot of yards via Ray Graham. I look for Pitt to get the outright win, perhaps even double digits.



Week 6 recap, I have Pitt +1.5, Duke -1.5, ISU +11.5 and KSU -24.

College Football Week 6 picks ATS

As I said in my week 5 recap I was 3-2, this brings my season record to 12-12-1. Nothing to shout about...

I will have some live action in Vegas this week so I will have my money where my mouth is! I will probably do a couple of parlays along with single game bets. I will probably incorporate some NFL into my Vegas picks, but not on this site since I am going to concentrate on the college side of things. I will give a couple of picks tonight, a couple tomorrow and one on Thursday.

Game 1: I hesitate to put this one on here. I am going to take Iowa State to cover +11.5. The line opened as ISU +14 so the line has moved quite a bit. Both teams have outstanding defenses and both teams have offenses that have struggled to hold onto the football. This will be TCU's first home Big 12 game so I think the crowd will be juiced up. There are 15 freshman that play on this TCU squad, they may not be able to channel their emotions properly costing them field position and points. I think the score will be low in this game which is why I like ISU to cover the +11.5.

Game 2: Another Big 12 game, the Sunflower showdown. K-State -24 hosts Kansas. If Bill Snyder is like his mentor, Hayden Fry, he will not want the other in state school to pose a threat. Snyder will run up the score if he gets a chance in this game and put a lot of emphasis on this game the same way Hayden Fry did with Iowa State. K-State is pretty methodical and disciplined. They will not beat themselves and will force Kansas into some bad situations. I look for Collin Klein to have a huge game, maybe 400 total yards rushing and passing.

Quick recap, take Iowa State + 11.5 and K-State -24.