Wake Forest Demon Decons @ Maryland Terrapins (+2.5): I like Wake, but they are bound to lose one of these close games. Every single one of their games (except one) has been tight. Maryland likes to lose games their supposed to win, but an underdog at home in this one, I like the Terps.
Western Michigan (-1.5) @ Central Michigan: I like CMU QB Dan Lefevour, but I thin Western Michigan’s defense is a little better. Defense wins rivalry games, and it’s not like Western Michigan’s offensive production is a joke QB Tim Hiller already has 2046 passing yards and 23 touchdowns. But defensively I like the road team in this one.
Miami (OHIO) Redhawks (+10) @ Bowling Green Falcons: The Falcons have allowed as many points per game as they’ve scored, and that’s never a good thing. These two teams have a nice history, and that usually ends up with Miami taking the game against the Falcons. I know Bowling Green is the better team, but in games like this things usually stay close.
Syracuse Orange (+24.5) @ South Florida Bulls: Syracuse has received my ire more than a few times, and early in the season they were a pretty safe bet against – but they have played better of late, and they are relatively healthy. They don’t score much, but their group of young defenders have proven to be resilient at least. South Florida isn’t a point machine, and they’ve played a lot of close games. I’ll take 3 touchdowns and a field goal plus a half point in this one.
Vanderbilt Vandals (+15) @ Georgia Bulldogs: This game was close in ’06 and close in ’07 and this Vanderbilt team is better than they’ve had in a long time. Georgia is a very good football team, but they aren’t a “blow you out” group by any means. They’ve had trouble playing close with their opponents, and a complete upset here wouldn’t surprise me. They only beat Tennessee by 12, Arizona State by 17 and South Carolina by 7 – Vandy is better than all three of those schools. Close game here, that’s my bet.
Army Black Knights @ Buffalo Bulls (-10.5): After barely losing to Central Michigan (2 points) and then getting ousted in overtime to Western Michigan last week, I think the Bulls are ready to come out and win an easy one. Buffalo is a solid team, that’s what has me taking them. I know Army has played some tough games, but Buffalo’s offense is more well rounded and Army has been played with the bounces in each of their last two contests. They’ll stumble a bit here and a good Bulls home team will win easily.
North Carolina Tar Heels (-4.5) @ Virginia Cavaliers: Talk about an up and down Cavs team, goodness. They lost by 45 at home to USC starting the season, and after a joke week they lost back to back games to Connecticut and Duke by a combined 13-76 score. Yikes. But, they fought back lately, beating Maryland 31-0 and East Carolina 35-20. Here’s the problem here, North Carolina plays too tough and though they lost something with Brandon Tate going down for the season, they still have enough talent to take the Cavs out on the road. North Carolina has played well on the road, handling Rutgers then beating Miami four weeks ago. This is a tough call, and not one of my favorite plays, but I like the Heels here.
Middle Tennessee State (+14.5) @ Louisville Cardinals: This one seems easy. Middle Tennessee State has played a lot of close games with a lot of good teams and Louisville just isn’t that solid right now. They’ve been playing better of late, but I’d say these teams are closer to even than two touchdowns apart – I like the Blue Raiders here.
Toledo Rockets @ Northern Illinois Huskies (-8.5): Toledo beat Michigan at the Big House last week… So what? Michigan is terrible, I’d take Northern Illinois over the Wolverines any day of the week and this game is at home. The Huskies have been good all year. I don’t see it, but most “experts” on a pretty prolific site have Toledo in this one. I’ll take the Huskies and be a renegade… Follow who you please.
Mississippi State @ Tennessee Volunteers (-7.5): I would stay right away from this game, but I’ll go with Tennessee to win their 6th straight against Mississippi State. They 7.5 isn’t too scary and while neither of these teams excite me, the Vols might have found a little better play from their quarterback position last week, and that’s what gives me the slight lean, oh, and the home field here.
Idaho Vandals @ Lousiana Tech (-20): Idaho played one relatively not so terrible game this year, and they still gave up gobs of points and lost. That was last game and thus people aren’t quite so against them right now, but they are terrible. You can do whatever you want to their defense, and I think the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs will.