College Football Thursday Handicaps
Photo Credit: On3
College Football Record: (0.00 units)
6:30pm cst: North Carolina State Wolfpack -14.5 vs. UCONN Huskies; Total 47
NCST will be debuting its new offensive coordinator Robert Anae and QB Brennan Armstrong tonight against UCONN. This could be a lethal combo but I am not too sure it will be in the first game of the season. NCST needs some new players to step up at the skill positions. UCONN will be looking to build off of a strong season last year (for their standards) and with the 6th most experience returning in the country. NCST lost a ton especially on defense and this is a large number for the first game of the season against a game Huskies team. I’ll gladly take the points. I was thinking about playing the total over but with the new running clock I will wait until I see both of these teams with a game under their belt.
Pick: UCONN +14.5 & Over 47 (via DraftKings)
7:00pm cst: Florida Gators vs. Utah Utes -5.5; Total 44.5
It sounds like there will be no Cam Rising tonight in this game. The spread has been jumping from 7 to 4.5 all week as nobody has been certain about Rising’s status. I see this game being a grind it out game. The Florida Gators have Graham Mertz at QB and their identity is running the ball behind its big offensive line. I also see Utah playing a very conservative game with its 3rd string QB most likely starting. Even if Rising does play, he will be very limited. This should be a slow smash mouth game so that leads me to take the Gators and the Under. I like Florida because of their ability to run the ball and if they can keep this one close I see them covering here.
Pick: Florida +5.5 & Under 44.5 (via DraftKings)
7:00pm cst: Nebraska Cornhuskers vs. Minnesota Golden Gophers -7.5; Total 43
This should be an interesting game with Matt Rhule making his Nebraska and Big Ten debut. This line has set at 7 since opening until late last night this moved to 7.5. Minnesota should have the advantage at the skill positions over Nebraska especially at wide receiver. I am interested to see both of these quarterbacks play though: Jeff Sims a transfer from Georgia Tech for Nebraska and Athan Kaliakmanis the “Greek Rifle” for Minnesota. With the lack of returning talent for the Golden Gophers I am inclined to take the Cornhuskers in this matchup because the last three matchups have ended with the Gophers winning by exactly 7 points. So, you know this will be a close game and I’m betting it will.
Pick: Nebraska +7.5 (via DraftKings)
