4. South Dakota at Kansas
LINE: Kansas -13.5
ATS PICK: South Dakota
This is a straight belief system play.
I’ve been a believer all offseason that over on the Kansas win total projection of 1 – or 1.5, depending on where you’re at – was one of the strongest picks of the year.
That’s partly because this is the 1.
Kansas might be a struggling Power Five program – to be very, very nice about it – and it’s in total reboot mode under head coach Lance Leipold, but 1) he might be the best coach Kansas has had since Mark Mangino was rocking and rolling, 2) South Dakota isn’t very good, and 3) it’s almost a two-touchdown spread.
– Week 1 Schedule, Predictions For Every Game
South Dakota went 1-3 in the spring session, but losing to North Dakota and Missouri State was more than acceptable – the Youngstown State loss was a bit rough.
It’s going to be a good defensive team, and it has a decent passing game, but it doesn’t have a high-octane offense. As long as Kansas can run just a little bit – and Leipold teams can usually run well – all should be okay.