Week 4 Friday Night Lights
Photo Credit: Illinois Athletics
College Football Season Record (20-23-1) [-2.94 units]
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6:30PM CST: Stanford Cardinal vs. Syracuse Orange -9.5; Total 56.5
Syracuse is hosting another ACC school at home with the Stanford Cardinal coming to town. When Stanford played TCU earlier in Week 1 at home, the Horned Frogs were 9.5-point favorites. Now, Stanford is on the road against a team I think is probably better than TCU, and the spread is the same. Stanford still has plenty to work on offensively. They barely covered the spread after a last-second made field goal.
Syracuse will have a loaded offense in front of a loud Carrier Dome crowd. I still think people are undervaluing this Syracuse team. They have weapons, a quarterback that has shown up in ACC play, and a veteran defense. Not an ideal situation for Stanford. I’m not sure the Cardinal can keep up offensively in this game. Syracuse doesn’t have a look-ahead game either. I’ll lay the points.
Play: Syracuse -9.5 (-110) [via DraftKings]
7:00PM CST: Illinois Fighting Illini vs. Nebraska Cornhuskers -9; Total 42.5
Illinois played great at home to upset Kansas earlier in the season, but after Kansas lost at home to UNLV, maybe KU isn’t very good. Illinois has also been forcing a ton of turnovers, including three against Kansas. All week, I kept hearing how about 75% of tickets and 75% of money have been on Illinois at around +7.5. This number opened around 10, dropped to 7.5, and is now back up to -9 for Nebraska.
Illinois’ QB Altmyer has yet to throw an interception but will be tested tonight. The Nebraska crowd is going to be loud and full, like during the Colorado game. It looked like an old-school Nebraska crowd. Will Illinois be able to run the ball against this tough Nebraska front? If not, they will be forced to throw the ball more than they would like, which is not good.
This will be the first test for freshman QB Dylan Raiola, but he will still be at home. Can the Illinois turnover luck continue? Raiola has been calm and has avoided turnovers. The Nebraska running game has also been setting the tempo for the offense. It could be a long night for the Illinois defense if the offense can’t pick up first downs.
The line move here is telling me Nebraska is the side. I can’t trust Illinois on the road if they can’t run the football. The money trail is helping us tell the story here. Let’s not forget about Nebraska getting their teeth kicked in by Illinois while Nebraska was down. Shoes on the other foot tonight.
Play: Nebraska -9 (-110) [via DraftKings]
9:00PM CST: San Jose State Spartans vs. Washington State Cougars -13.5; Total 55
The San Jose State Spartans have been a bit of a surprise to start the season under new head coach Ken Niumatalolo. Washington State is one of the hottest teams in the country. The Cougars are coming off a huge road win at Washington for the Apple Cup. They also have Boise State on deck. Will they be focused against little ole San Jose State? Boise State is the leader for the at-large bid to make the College Football Playoff. Niumatalolo is a great coach and he is proving that at SJSU. I think they can make this game ugly with their tough defense, keeping this game just close enough for us. Apple Cup hangover + look ahead to Boise = SJSU cover. We kinda saw this with App State last night.
