Week 8

Due to time constrains I wasn’t able to post anything last week, but we’re back at it this week. As always feel free to comment below or reach out on Twitter @Smithers513. Good luck!

Week 1: 3-1

Week 2: 2-2

Week 3: 2-1

Week 4: 3-2

Week 5: 3-2

Week 6: 1-1

YTD: 14-9

Memphis @ Tulsa +10.5

This is a tough wager to talk yourself into, but I’ve gotta play it.  Tulsa has seen a bit of rebirth under first year head coach Philip Montgomery, the former offensive coordinator at Baylor. The results have been immediate, with Tulsa ranking 5th nationally in yards per game at over 550 per game. Memphis is unchartered territory right now. After beating Ole Miss at home, in arguably the biggest win the program has had in quite some time. Coach Justin Fuentes is obviously a stud, but I’ve been reading about how he’s reached out to other successful coaches about how to handle distractions. Memphis has been perfect on the road this season, but escaped with a 44-41 win at BGSU, and a 24-17 win over South Florida. Memphis has shown that their defense is very susceptible to explosive offenses, evidenced by surrounding 41 to BGSU and 46 to Cincinnati. I’ll be happy to line up backing a Tulsa team that I know can score against a very mediocre Memphis secondary. Let’s see how Memphis handles this role, and I’m happy to pay to find out.

Old Dominion @ FIU -13

It may seem like I’ve been on FIU a lot, and I have been, but there’s nothing wrong with that given the Golden Panthers are 12-5-1 ATS since the start of 2014. Let the ride continue in a game that I think the line is at least 3 points short. Old Dominion is 3-3 this season, but 2 of those 3 wins were narrow escapes over some of the worst teams at the FBS level in Charlotte and Eastern Michigan, and FCS Norfolk State. When the Monarchs have stepped up in competition they have gotten handled by a significant margin. In their three games against NC State, Marshall, and Appalachian State, ODU was out gained on average by 220 yards per game, and had 4 turnovers in two of those three games. FIU is a defense that is going to pressure ODU’s running attack because they are comfortable playing man coverage outside. I don’t see ODU having much success scoring points, and FIU should create a turnover or two into easy scoring opportunities and it should be a smooth cover for the Golden Panthers.

Louisiana Monroe @ Idaho +1

This is a line that had me scratching my head a little bit, being that I thought that Vandals should have been favored by a field goal. This is just a classic case of two awful teams playing each other, and determining which one was the edge. Neither team really does anything great, but Idaho does have an edge in total yard averages and passing yards per game. When you’re backing bad teams, sometimes you have to search outside the box for motivation, and after gaining a road win at Troy, I think that Idaho is going to be playing with confidence for the first time in a long time.. When you factor in the long travel for Louisiana-Monroe out to Idaho which begins a three game road trip, and has a rivalry game against Louisiana Lafayette, I think Idaho becomes the side in a game that they should be laying points in.