Game 1: Missouri Tigers @ Florida Gators – Saturday, November 3
Football betting experts will note that before the season began, the Missouri Tigers were taken seriously – not as a real threat to win the SEC East Division championship, but certainly as a team that could win eight games and make life miserable for division contenders South Carolina and Georgia. Now, the Tigers look like a bottom-of-the-barrel ballclub. They’ve been ravaged by injuries, especially at the quarterback spot, but they have also shown that they are thin and moveable at the line of scrimmage. Missouri’s offensive and defensive lines have been pushed around all season long. The Tigers just don’t own a lot of heft, and this is why a muscular and powerful Florida team should be able to have its way with Mizzou this upcoming weekend. Florida’s offense is not elite, but its defense is suffocating and its special teams is spectacular in both the punting and placekicking realms. Missouri will have a very hard time finding either the offense or the field position needed to remain competitive in this game for four quarters.
College Football Betting Pick: Florida -15.5
Game 2: Arizona State Sun Devils @ Oregon State Beavers – Saturday, November 3
When surveying a 5dimes.com review, it is suggested that you take Oregon State in this game. Arizona State is a program that has fallen short of its potential over the past 25 years. Ever since a trip to the 1987 Rose Bowl, the Sun Devils have – with the sole exception of the 1996 season (also a Rose Bowl year) – failed to reach a spotlight bowl game despite their location in a recruiting-rich area that should be very attractive to the top talent in California, Arizona, and Texas, not to mention other states such as Colorado. Arizona State is rarely able to navigate the choppy waters of the Pac-12 Conference. An upset loss in September and a deflating performance in a big October home game have formed the narrative for the Devils on so many occasions, leaving them outside the candy store while the likes of USC and Oregon compete for championships.
Arizona State will try to make a big statement this weekend when it takes on one of the Pac-12′s most pleasant surprises, the Oregon State Beavers. At the beginning of this season, OSU head coach Mike Riley was on the hot seat, but after a home-field win over Wisconsin and a road triumph at UCLA, the Beavers changed their internal subculture and regained the winning identity they built under Riley throughout the past decade. It was in 2010 that Oregon State faltered after several years of excellence. The Beavers have rebounded this season, and that confidence is likely to serve them well against Arizona State. Playing not only at home, but at night, in the chill of the soggy Pacific Northwest will give the Beavers a comfortable environment against the desert-dwellers from Tempe, Ariz. Expect Oregon State to play with more precision on offense and more vigilance on defense.
College Football Betting Pick: Oregon State -4.5
Game 3: Nebraska Cornhuskers @ Michigan State Spartans – Saturday, November 3
When you express the desire to become a bookie, you need to weigh the pros and cons in a pick ‘em game such as this one.
At bodog or any other outlet, one needs to realize that the Nebraska Cornhuskers once stood tall as one of the powerhouse programs in college football, but they haven’t won a conference championship since they took home the 1999 Big 12 title. It’s true that their opponent this weekend, Michigan State, has suffered an immensely disappointing season, but the Spartans know that they won’t have much time to lick their wounds. Michigan State is immersed in a desperate pursuit of a bowl bid, a minimal goal that seemed to be beyond dispute or questioning at the start of the season, but which has become very much in doubt as November arrives. Therefore, Nebraska can’t expect to roll over its opponent this weekend.
Michigan State might be inferior to the Huskers in terms of the won-loss record and overall achievements in 2012, but the Spartans – being a wounded dog – are going to be tough for the Cornhuskers to handle, especially when Nebraska has the ball. Michigan State’s defensive front is one of the toughest in the United States, led by pass-rushing specimen William Gholston. Nebraska quarterback Taylor Martinez is a turnover-prone field general, and if Michigan State can get at least two turnovers from Martinez, the Spartans can play a game of ball control and field position against Nebraska’s defense, which has not been particularly strong this season. Expect Michigan State to gain more leverage at the line of scrimmage, pushing its way to an old-fashioned smashmouth kind of victory.
Read more on the latest sportsbook odds for college football in 2012.
College Football Betting Pick: Michigan State (Pick)