Category: BetFTW

Top-5 most watchable college football games of Week 5

We’ve assembled this handy list of the five most watchable games of the weekend.

We’re nearly finished with the first month of college football season and we’re left with a surprising and unexpected group of undefeated teams, many of which will be facing off this weekend. There’s still plenty of story to tell, but already this is shaping up as a dramatic and unpredictable season with lots of parity at the top and few unbeatable titans.

With plenty of attractive matchups on the schedule, it can be tough to decide where to focus your attention. Thankfully, we’ve assembled this handy list of the five most watchable games of the weekend for your viewing pleasure.

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Here is the projected starting lineup for the Suns after trading Deandre Ayton

This team can compete with anyone.

The Phoenix Suns made two of the biggest trades of the past season, impressively acquiring Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal.

These blockbuster moves immediately changed the landscape of the Western Conference. Beal is a three-time NBA All-Star who joins Durant (13-time NBA All-Star) and Booker (three-time All-Star).

Former No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton, meanwhile, was moved to Portland as part of a Damian Lillard trade to help land some depth in Phoenix.

Phoenix also made savvy moves by picking up strong role players like Yuta Watanabe, Drew Eubanks and Keita Bates-Diop. Based on our projections, here is how the starters will look in Phoenix:

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Fantasy football waiver wire ahead of Week 4: De’Von Achane, obviously, but also C.J. Stroud

The names to target on waivers ahead of Week 4.

Week 3 of the 2023 NFL season is over, after a pair of games to go on Monday night.

And if you play fantasy football, you’re already planning ahead with waivers after a busy slate of games.

That’s what we’re here for, a roundup of some of the players you could be targeting ahead of Week 4.

Some of the names below might be taken already, but if not, there are a bunch of dudes who could change your fantasy fortunes this season. Let’s run through them, in no particular order, and we’ve update this after the two games remaining on Monday Night Football were played.

Lee Corso wants ESPN’s College GameDay to make its first trip to Durham next week for Notre Dame vs. Duke

Lee Corso wants ESPN’s GameDay to go to Durham. Someone call Mike Krzyzewski for guest-picking honors.

ESPN’s signature college football show “College GameDay” has been broadcasting live from campuses on Saturdays in the fall since 1993. And since its creation, there’s just a handful of Power Five schools that have never been involved in GameDay, as a host or opponent.

One of them is the Duke Blue Devils.

While we all know Duke as a powerhouse in basketball, its football team hasn’t always been consistently relevant.

But this year, in their second season with Mike Elko as head coach and Riley Leonard at quarterback, the Blue Devils are pretty dang good. Heading into this week’s matchup at UConn, Duke is 3-0 and ranked No. 18 in the AP Top 25 Poll – its highest ranking since 1994.

Since Duke has never been part of GameDay as an opponent or host, that means longtime panelist Lee Corso has never had the chance to put the Blue Devil on during his weekly headgear pick. He’s lobbying for that to change.

In a video shared Saturday morning by WSJS (Winston-Salem, N.C.) host Josh Graham, Corso – who is talking with fellow GameDay analyst Kirk Herbstreit – says “I hope we go up (to Duke) … I’ll pick Duke. I don’t care.”

“I think, personally, even if Notre Dame loses today, we ought to go to Duke.”

Notre Dame plays Ohio State on Saturday in South Bend, Indiana. The Irish would still likely be ranked in the AP Poll even if they lose, creating a ranked versus ranked matchup at Durham, N.C.’s Wallace Wade Stadium on Sept. 30 (assuming Duke, +21.5 favorites on Saturday at UConn, beats the Huskies).

Later in the video, Herbstreit asks Corso, “Cameron Crazies – do they do football too?” And indeed, they do. Duke students rushed the field earlier this season when Duke upset Clemson in Week One.

Hosting Notre Dame – and College GameDay – would likely create a similar atmosphere in Durham with a rowdy crowd.

Should ESPN follow Corso’s request, choosing a celebrity guest picker for Duke versus Notre Dame should be easy. Retired Blue Devils basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski should be available.

A meaningless Rams field goal with 4 seconds left led to an all-time bad beat for Niners bettors

This was BRUTAL.

Oh this is SO BRUTAL from Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay … and it made everyone wonder: Did he know the spread for his team’s Week 2 game against the NFC West rival San Francisco 49ers?

Here’s the situation: The Rams were down 30-20 with four seconds left. There was no way a field goal would matter for Los Angeles at that point … yet for some reason, McVay lined the team up for a 38-yarder off the foot of Brett Maher.

It was up, it was good, and if you bet Niners -7.5 or -8.5, you lost an all-timer of a bad beat.

Oof:

 

Top-5 most watchable college football games of Week 3

There’s no such thing as a boring slate in college football, no matter what the schedule says.

Week 2 of the 2023 college football season was a momentous one, with the season’s biggest non-conference showdown turning into a potential passing of the torch from one dynasty to another. Meanwhile, Deion Sanders continues to defy expectations at Colorado and the Pac-12 continues its remarkable run of success out of conference in what could be its final year of existence.

What does Week 3 have in store for us? Well, honestly…not nearly as much excitement as Week 2, at least on paper. Last week’s fireworks have given way to a much more predictable-looking group of games this week but beware: sometimes college football is at its most chaotic just when you think you’ve got it figured out.

In week’s like this one, it’s more important than ever to know how to best spend your valuable viewing time and that’s why we’ve compiled this list of the five most watchable games of Week 3. Get those remotes warmed up and get ready to channel-surf between these games on Saturday.

Coco Gauff’s mom lost it when her daughter won the U.S. Open

Coco Gauff’s mom was so, so excited for her daughter’s big U.S. Open win.

There’s nothing stronger than a parent’s love for their children, and there’s nothing more joyous than watching your kid achieve something in front of the entire world.

That’s the feeling that Candi Gauff had on Saturday as she watched her daughter Coco Gauff win the 2023 U.S. Open and complete her first career Grand Slam.

Coco Gauff’s spectacular U.S. Open victory earned praise from plenty of notable figures

It’s a remarkable moment for Coco Gauff, who was not favored to win over Aryna Sabalenka during Saturday’s closing match.

Coco Gauff thanked her haters after she won the U.S. Open

The second that Coco Gauff earned the historic victory, Candi Gauff became jubilant and celebrated her daughter’s major accomplishment. Seeing her be overcome with joy as her daughter stuns the world is just the absolute best.

The family love is clearly strong in the Gauff family, and now Coco Gauff will get to bring home the trophy and celebrate it with the rest of her family and all of her friends.

It’s a special moment for the Gauffs, one that further defines Coco Gauff as one of the world’s best tennis players.

5 stunning Shedeur Sanders moments from Colorado’s electric win over Nebraska

Shedeur Sanders went OFF on Saturday against Nebraska.

Is there anyone in college football who is having quite the season Shedeur Sanders is?

The Colorado football torched Nebraska on Saturday in a 36-14 win to the tune of 393 yards and two touchdowns in the air and a rushing touchdown.

It’s the kind of performance that adds an exclamation mark to your Heisman resume, and FanDuel currently has Sanders as a longshot at +3500 odds to take home the prestigious award.

Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders broke out his dad Deion’s classic celebration after touchdown run

We’re guessing those odds are going to dramatically increase in the weeks to come as the Buffaloes rack up more impressive performances.

They’re the story of college football right now, and Sanders is a big reason for that. Let’s look at five highlights from his stellar afternoon.

Deion Sanders and a 98-year-old Colorado superfan jammed out to the Ying Yang Twins after the Buffs’ win over Nebraska

Colorado win against Nebraska leads to another ‘disaster’ for sportsbooks

A $1 million bet on Colorado was just one of many tickets cashed on Deion Sanders’ home debut

Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes are now 2-0, winning the games in very different fashion.

Last week, it was a shocking 45-42 upset of then-No. 17 TCU as a 21-point underdog, which cost sportsbooks dearly because of the +800 odds that were offered on the Colorado ML, and ended up cashing.

The lookahead line on Colorado-Nebraska had been Nebraska around an 8.5-point favorite at sportsbooks; after Colorado won, it re-opened Nebraska -1.5 and quickly moved to Colorado -3.

This week, the public was all over the Buffs against Nebraska, coming out in historic droves. At PointsBet/Fanatics, as of Thursday, more money had been bet on Colorado to cover than on 30 NFL teams, with the exception of the Chiefs and Lions.

Colorado to cover was the most-bet game at multiple sportsbooks, including BetMGM, where 85% of the bets were on Colorado -3, three times the number of bets as on any other Week 2 college football game.

With Colorado winning 36-14, most sportsbooks lost on the game.

“It was a disaster,” Zachary Lucas, retail sportsbook director at TwinSpires texted. “We took a boatload of spread cash today and second-half bets. Worse this week than last week.”

“Ugly!” Chuck Esposito, sportsbook director at Station Casinos, texted. “Late sharp action was on the Huskers, but public was backing the Buffs, We need Nebraska straight, parlays and ML.”

It wasn’t all bad for sportsbooks, though, as many bigger bets from respected players were backing the Cornhuskers.

“We definitely needed Nebraska, but we had some big bets on the dog,” Chris Andrews, South Point sportsbook director texted me. “I’d had results that were much worse. Last week was worse because of the [Colorado] ML.”

“It was mostly Nebraska money here,” Thomas Gable, sportsbook director at The Borgata in New Jersey texted me. “Absolutely a good result.”

The biggest reported bet came at FanDuel sportsbook, which took a $1 million on wager on Colorado -2.5 before kickoff.

5 fantasy players to target with Cooper Kupp missing time with a hamstring injury

These five players might help your fantasy team in Cooper Kupp’s absence.

The Los Angeles Rams might be without their offensive player for some time this season.

Wide receiver Cooper Kupp will be held out of the team’s season opener against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday with a hamstring injury, and Rams head coach Sean McVay didn’t rule out the possibility of Kupp landing on injured reserve with his ailment.

More: 5 fantasy players to target if Travis Kelce misses time with knee injury

It’s a tough setback for Kupp, who only played in nine games last season after winning a Super Bowl MVP honor and the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year award after the 2021 season.

It also puts the Rams in a difficult spot as the team tries to shake off a down season post-2022 Super Bowl win.

If you drafted Kupp for your fantasy team, you may be looking for new options to put in your starting lineup this fall.

Well, look no further. We’ve got five players who might be smart starts after Kupp’s unfortunate medical news.