Tag: Western Michigan at Michigan State

5 best predictions for the first big weekend of the college football season. What games appear to be the best bets and best picks for Week 1’s Thursday and Friday games?

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Expert Picks
Week 1: Thursday/Friday | Saturday | NFL
Week 1 Schedule, Game Previews

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Week 0 turned out to be interesting, but now it gets going for real.

If you were on the right side of the Northwestern call against Nebraska – you’re welcome for that Wildcat on the money line call (getting the cockiness out of the system now before reality kicks back in) – and if you figured out that Vanderbilt was an all-time gift, you enjoyed Week 0.

But we’re all still guessing here.

There aren’t any preseason games, and what happened in Week 0 stayed in Week 0. For the Thursday and Friday games for Week 1 the idea is the same – go with what you know, assume that no one is sharp quite yet, and remember that the coaching staffs had weeks to prepare for this opener.

The big picks for the Week 1 Saturday are coming. First, after the soft opening of Week 0, we get the introduction to the season as we continue to ease into the fun.

Results So Far: 7-1-1

Click on each game for the preview

5. West Virginia at Pitt point total

LINE 51
Point Total Pick Over

I have to redeem myself for my two misses of last week – they were both on point totals.

The Illinois-Wyoming game was a push, and Northwestern suddenly decided to do that scoring thing again in its win over Nebraska.

That’s all fine. The Backyard Brawl will make up for it.

The point total started out at 55.5, and even then that seemed potentially ten points too low. It immediately dropped like a rock to 51, and the world is going to be a happier place for it.

Obviously that means the public doesn’t believe that this will be any sort of a shootout, but you don’t need much to get to the 51 – 27-24 pushes, and there will be a whole lot more scoring than that.

New teams, new players, but same style for Pitt. Lots of pass rushing, lots of leaving the corners out to dry, and lots of chances for new West Virginia starting QB JT Daniels to bomb away. The Panthers went over on 51 in every game but three last year, and even with the big losses on offense, they should do their part.

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On the other side, there’s a good defense coming back, West Virginia allowed over 20 points nine times. Again, we’re not asking for a firefight here – one team is going to hit 30 in this, and both probably will.

And more than that – and don’t ever take this next part as any reason to invest – it’s one of the big games on Thursday night. You can’t make a game go over, but these two are going to bring the show.

NEXT: College Football Pick Against The Spread No. 4 ACC Fun: Temple at Duke, Virginia Tech at Old Dominion 

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