It's been ages since I have had time to pen an article touching upon the various money lines offered in college football but regular Against The Line readers will remember this article being a staple when we launched the site in 2002 and throughout the 2002-2005 seasons. Unfortunately, with as wild a ride as the college football season has been this year, it has been my main objective to keep refining our weekly "Member's Picks" to insure our paying members are always in the money and beating the house and the insane up and downs have kept me from penning anything much at all this year...
Regardless, for those of you unfamiliar, in this quick look at the money lines, I will attempt to give you a general overview of what I like as an "Entertainment Bet" for the weekend that may well offer the chance of a hefty payoff. In two of the three seasons we ran the Money Line column weekly we finished in the positive for the year, so though typically these bets are not as good a return as a lined wager, we realize the fact that some folks like to take on the additional risk and make a bit of a "Ballsy" bet just to have a small wager on the game... Inasmuch as this is the case, here's this weekend's breakdown of the money lines:
EMU +140
N'Western +110
Michigan St +160
UVA +150
Wake Forest +300
Duke +450
Vandy +150
UConn +200
Iowa St +170
Notre Dame +140
Colorado St +300
Rice +190
Wyoming +450
UCLA +220
Miss St +170
Stanford +350
Nebraska +220
Wisconsin +120
Florida St +200
New Mexico St +150
Northern Illinois +140
Marshall +210
Maryland +210
Texas Tech +210
North Carolina +150
Oklahoma St +200
Tulane +170
South Carolina +220
Cal +150
SDSU +130
ULL +450
Ark St +210
Of the above, I like Florida State, Texas Tech, Oklahoma St, and Cal out of the gate. UVA, Maryland, Michigan St, and UConn don't look especially bad either, but I have a few more reservations about those. So in order, here are my quick thoughts on each.
FSU topped a decent BC team last week and has the talent to win any game they play this year. The problem the Noles have had has been consistency and stupid mistakes. They lead Miami the entire game but gave up late TOs and dropped the game. If Weatherford puts together a solid game and avoids mistakes, they can get by VT who struggles on offense. Glennon has looked better since returning against Duke, but the Hokies are beatable, and at 2/1 this isn't a bad wager.
Texas Tech is playing the worst 8-2 team in the nation and the Red Raiders have enough offense to get the job done. This pick is more about betting against Texas than it is betting on TTU, but with the Horns looking terrible many times this season (UCF, Ark St, OSU, etc...) I think TTU may have plenty enough to top the Horns.
Oklahoma St is a definite hot and cold team and is going to get the undefeated Jayhawks at home. After a terrible loss at UT you have to assume the Cowboys are going to be jacked up about the opportunity to knock off another top ten team, and as of yet KU remains largely untested. This game is a coin flip in my book, and anytime you can get 2/1 odds on something that is a 50/50 bet it is something worth taking a look at.
Cal needs to rebound after a real rough patch here in the middle of the season and USC might be the ideal candidate. The men of Troy have played mediocre ball by USC standards and have looked very average against soft competition from Washington and Arizona. Cal is a better team than both the aforementioned and should give USC a test. That said, if I am going to bet a money line wager, I usually drop anything below +150 so this barely qualifies, and with some equally good games in the +200 range, I think considering the above makes more sense.
Of the second tier games, UVA has been in every game this season except the first game aberration against Wyoming, Maryland gets a BC team off a loss at home, MSU is roughly the equal of Purdue though they haven't been able to "finish" a game in weeks, and UConn has lost only once and by just one point to UVA. All these second tier teams have a shot at the upset, though none inspire too much confidence in me.
So with all of the above mentioned, I'll make TTU the upset money line pick of the week in the first edition of the picks this year. I'll likely place my own small little wagers on both the Noles and Cowboys, as well, but of the three I lean with TTU as the best of the lot.
So without furthe
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