College Football Handicapping Articles

2021 Minnesota Golden Gophers Football Predictions: Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/25/2021

I am bullish on the Golden Gophers this season. P.J. Fleck’s squad is one of the most experienced teams in the nation and just two years removed from an 11-2 campaign in 2019. Minnesota did slink back to a 3-4 season last fall. But they didn’t play poorly and weren’t nearly as big of a mess as other Big Ten underachievers like Wisconsin and Michigan last year.

2021 Michigan State Spartans Football Predictions: Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/25/2021

I’m not a fan of Mel Tucker. At all. However, after Mark Dantonio’s odd departure from East Lansing last year, the Spartans felt like Tucker was the best option to turn the program around after dismal 2018 and 2019 campaigns. Tucker, whose college head-coaching resume prior to Michigan State was one unimpressive 5-7 season in Colorado, was able to lay his foundation during the odd 2020 COVID season. Now he’s hoping to take a small step forward and get the Spartans back to being competitive in the East.

2021 Maryland Terrapins Football Predictions: Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/25/2021

Maryland’s 2020 season kind of summed it up as a microcosm of the Big Ten last year. The Terps pulled two of the biggest upsets in college football last year in back-to-back weeks. First they beat Minnesota in overtime, 45-44, as a 21-point underdog. Then they followed that up the following Saturday with a 35-19 win over Penn State in Happy Valley as a 27-point underdog.

NCAA Football Betting Predictions: Big Bowl Game Opening Line Report and Picks
by Jason Radowitz - 12/28/2020

We’re approaching New Year’s, which means we’re finally going to be able to watch some of the biggest bowl games of the season along with the College Football Playoff. Not only did we see an enormous amount of opt outs this season, but we’ve also seen teams with terrible records trying to play in bowl games this season, while teams who wanted a shot at the CFP decided to opt out of a bowl game when they didn’t make it.

NCAA Football Betting Predictions: Bowl Game Opening Line Report and Picks
by Jason Radowitz - 12/21/2020

At the start of the season, college football had 43 postseason bowls ready to go. Due to COVID, opt outs and different regulations in select states, we’ve seen more than a bunch cancelled. We’re now down to 28 bowl games, and we’ll see if that can hold up. With these cancellations, we’re getting bowl games featuring teams with two wins in 10 games, like South Carolina. It’s ridiculous. We’ll remember this season for sure.

NCAA Football Betting Predictions: Championship Week Opening Line Report and Picks
by Jason Radowitz - 12/14/2020

Last Saturday, LSU, as a 24-point underdog, defeated Florida on the road with minimal scholarship players and mainly freshman and sophomores in the game. This all but concluded Florida’s hopes of playing in the College Football Playoff as they lost the turnover margin by three and threw a shoe on a third down stop that would’ve given the Gators back the ball in a tie ball game.

College and NFL Football Biggest Line Moves for Dec. 12-13
by Doug Upstone - 12/11/2020

It is the last big weekend of college football, and we head into the last four weeks of the NFL. All the betting lines are as sharp as they have been all season at betting sites, making our job that much harder. Regardless, that has not changed what is occurring in the marketplace and we found six line moves to cover for you, both in college and pro football.

NCAA Football Betting Predictions: Week 15 Opening Line Report and Picks
by Jason Radowitz - 12/7/2020

At the beginning of the week, Coastal Carolina was going to welcome Liberty home in a game that would help Coastal Carolina in the rankings had they won. Liberty had lost only one game, and that was to NC State, by a point. When Liberty had COVID issues, Coastal Carolina and BYU elected to face each other in the first game between two undefeated teams from different conferences this late in the year.

NCAA Football Betting Predictions: Week 14 Opening Line Report and Picks
by Jason Radowitz - 11/30/2020

Things have since changed after last week. Northwestern lost to Michigan State. Their CFP hopes have diminished. Actually, the Big Ten’s hopes of playing in the CFP have diminished, thanks to the conference’s quarantine policy that doesn’t match-up with other conferences. If Ohio State misses one more game, they will not qualify for a CFP appearance. They would then give up their No. 4 spot to a team like Texas A&M or Florida.

NCAA Football Betting Predictions: Week 13 Opening Line Report and Picks
by Jason Radowitz - 11/24/2020

The first Top 25 reveal is set for Tuesday, November 24, to see which four teams are in line to play in the College Football Playoff. Of course, many things can change from then until the final rankings are out, but things are a bit difficult with leagues playing at different times and COVID affecting scheduling with postponements and cancellations.

NCAA Football Betting Predictions: Week 12 Opening Line Report and Picks
by Jason Radowitz - 11/16/2020

Things have been interesting in college football. Plenty of teams with higher expectations are not performing, specifically in Power 5 conferences, and the talk about firing head coaches has begun. Jim Harbaugh has coached Michigan to a 1-3 record this season. He’s currently on the hot seat. But that hasn’t even been the biggest storyline of the Big Ten this season. Penn State is currently 0-4 behind James Franklin.

College and NFL Football Biggest Line Moves for Nov. 14-15
by Doug Upstone - 11/13/2020

After a couple of solid performances, Florida State is back to playing lousy football again. The Seminoles have been drubbed by 32 points at Louisville and 24 to Pittsburgh since upsetting North Carolina. N.C. State has also fallen a couple of times recently, yet they lost their starting quarterback, Devin Leary, and are still adjusting. Those doing college football betting have chased the Wolfpack from -7 to -10.5, having zero trust in Florida State. The ‘Noles also have seen players depart in the last week for various reasons, which is an ominous sign. At the moment, N.C. State is still competing, and it seems FSU is checking out.

NCAA Football Betting Predictions: Week 11 Opening Line Report and Picks
by Jason Radowitz - 11/10/2020

With COVID protocols in place, nobody expected a celebration on a football field this season between students, fans, and players. However, Notre Dame, the fourth-ranked team in the nation at the time, defeated the number one overall team in the nation, Clemson, in double overtime, at home, warranting a celebration on the field between fans, players and staff who were mostly maskless.

NCAA Football Betting Predictions: Week 10 Opening Line Report and Picks
by Jason Radowitz - 11/2/2020

It’s been a long time since we’ve had three intriguing ranked match-ups on a single Saturday. The Big Ten will feature No. 13 Indiana against No. 22 Michigan. The SEC will showcase No. 8 Florida against No. 5 Georgia. But in the ACC, we’ll get to watch the No. 1 Clemson face off against No. 4 Notre Dame.

College and NFL Football Biggest Line Moves for Oct. 31-Nov. 2
by Doug Upstone - 10/30/2020

That’s right, it’s that time of the week again to review all the latest line movement in football! My preference is always to do this closer to game time because the lines have had time to simmer in the sauce, and they are more accurate as to what is occurring in the marketplace. The one main exception is the contest or two that is pounded on the day of the game. On tap for you are six line moves, along with the betting trends and of course free picks!

NCAA Football Betting Predictions: Week 9 Opening Line Report and Picks
by Jason Radowitz - 10/26/2020

The first week of Big Ten football has concluded, and it was an exciting one. Last Friday, we watched Graham Mertz of Wisconsin, in his first collegiate start, dominate Illinois with five touchdowns going 20-of-21 for 248 yards passing. When Saturday rolled around, we had some insane upsets, including Rutgers defeating Michigan State on the road, Purdue beating Iowa without star receiver Rondale Moore and Head Coach Jeff Brohm.

College and NFL Football Biggest Line Moves for Oct. 24-25
by Doug Upstone - 10/23/2020

It’s that time again as we get close to the start of the weekend football action, and here we are again looking at some of the biggest line moves.Honestly, I find line movement fascinating when studying the odds. You have almost a whole week to see why they are moving, trying to understand what football bettors are thinking and what the betting percentages mean.

NCAA Football Betting Predictions: Week 8 Opening Line Report and Picks
by Jason Radowitz - 10/19/2020

The Big Ten is returning to action in college football. It only took until Week 8. The Pac 12 won’t be playing for a couple more weeks. Due to the Big Ten and Pac-12 opting into the season late, we’ve had some extremely weird AP rankings this season. In Week 7 alone, there were five ranked teams that lost, including North Carolina, who lost to Florida State, 31-28, as the fifth best team in the nation.

College and NFL Football Biggest Line Moves for Oct. 17-19
by Doug Upstone - 10/16/2020

We’ve had a couple of great college games this week from the Sun Belt Conference to get the football week started, and now we are looking for more. Your friendly writer/handicapper has studied the complete board and found some rather intriguing line moves to follow this weekend.

NCAA Football Betting Predictions: Week 7 Opening Line Report and Picks
by Jason Radowitz - 10/12/2020

We’ve made fun of the Big 12 for their high-scoring games. The Big 12 was always known for having no defense, while the SEC was the conference where you’d get the top defenses and low-scoring games. 2020 has been different. COVID has absolutely played a role in this as teams weren’t able to prepare as much as they would’ve liked due to different protocols.