Weekend Preview - CFB Week 1

Good afternoon and welcome to the first post on this blog. I'm hoping for this to become an active blog for me to archive and talk about the sports I watch and gamble on and also host any open letters I may need to write in the future. We're quickly approaching the first week that matters in college football and no I'm not only saying that because my bets went 0-5 for week 0. I'm really looking forward to this year in college football with it being the last year with the PAC-12 and possibly ACC as we know it. While many are mad at this, I personally feel like I've seen this coming for years as the SEC continued to dominate other conferences in terms of National Championships and output of quality NFL players and made (some) other conferences irrelevant. College football has long been a game dominated by eras of coaches and teams and I don't see that changing with this conference realignment. As a UGA fan and alum I found last year boring at times and lost interest in blowing out weak SEC teams, but with the chance of a three-peat on the line and another year of losing starters to the NFL, I'm excited to watch this season unfold and see if anyone can end Georgia's reign. Last year Ohio State was the only team that could give them a scare and looking at the landscape this year I don't see any team capable of being the David to their Goliath. 

...but unfortunately their matchup this week is again UT-Martin so I will not be including it in my Week 1 preview. I'm sure there are some great UGA blogs who will be able to predict how much Georgia chooses to hang on the Skyhawks but my sportsbook doesn't even offer a spread to bet on which I think tells the full story. The games I'm looking forward to watching this weekend are Virginia vs. #12 Tennessee, Buffalo @ #19 Wisconsin, Rice @ #11 Texas, #21 UNC vs. South Carolina, West Virginia @ #7 Penn State, and of course #5 LSU vs. #7 FSU. 

Virginia @ #12 Tennessee

Tennessee fans are ready for another season after getting to taste relevancy last season for the first time since their 2007 SEC Championship loss. While some of their fans might have dreams of singing Rocky Top around Uga VIII's grave (gone too soon, RIP Big Bad Bruce) after winning the east, I think most know their ceiling for the year is a big six bowl game. I think the Tennessee program is on the up and up and I'm looking forward to watching strong arm QB Joe Milton who can allegedly throw a ball 50+ yards from his knees. Hopefully he won't be throwing from that position much in live games but we'll see.  Milton has a cannon and I think this Tennessee team will work on showing us that last year's offense wasn't just a fluke, Tennessee -28. 

 Buffalo @ #19 Wisconsin

"Wisconsin HC Luke Fickell urges students to show up on time to Saturday's game" was the first headline I saw when reading up on this game. I love it. I wonder why he's worried students wouldn't want to show up before 2:30 for this marquee matchup with last year's MAC runner up. With that being said, Buffalo is not returning a lot of production from last year and I think Fickell will take this opportunity to get some momentum with his team and fanbase. I expect his defense to feast against a worse opponent and set the offense up for success, Wisconsin -28.

Rice @ #11 Texas

JFK once gave a speech at Rice Stadium where he made an allusion between Rice choosing to play Texas and us trying to land on the moon saying both are done "not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills". Tough scene when the president says your team has the same odds of winning a game as the United States being able to land on the moon - which people to this day have their doubts about. Hearing that in your own home stadium could drive a man to do crazy things. Texas QB Quinn Ewers is in line for a big game as I expect him to make some early noise in Heisman talks and show us why he was such a highly rated prospect. He's shaven his head this offseason signaling this year is ALL business, no more party in the back...big things to come, Texas -35.

#21 UNC vs. South Carolina

We have two quarterbacks who could be drafted next year on fringe top 25 teams with bad defenses so I'm hopeful this one turns into a shootout with scoring back and forth. UNC QB Drake Maye is the reigning ACC player of the year and already at the top of draft boards for next season while last season Spencer Rattler finally was able to show why he was once the heir apparent in Lincoln Riley's system on a surprisingly competitive South Carolina team. If both can get in a rhythm early this game could have me doing that "pew pew" shot sound that Jonathan Gannon made when he met Rondale Moore. Give me points Over 64.5.

West Virginia @ #7 Penn State

Interesting opening matchup between two power 5 teams here, this game was originally announced in 2013 renewing a rivalry between the schools which Penn State leads 48-9-2. With all that time to wait I'm sure these fan bases are anxious for the game, especially Penn State as they're set to start 5 star QB Drew Allar for the first time. Vibes are high in State College after a Rose Bowl win last year for the Nittany Lions, almost as high as Bob Huggins' BAC driving around his recycling. This WVU team has question marks everywhere after finishing 5-7 last year and many are saying this could be James Franklin's best team in years. All signs point to Penn State continuing their trend Penn State -20.5.

#5 LSU vs. #7 FSU

I'll be honest, these are two teams who I didn't pay too much attention to last season because I didn't buy in on either being a CFP threat and I still have doubts about both of these head coaches being able to lead a playoff team, but a week 1 top 10 matchup is something you don't pass up on. I'll keep this one simple and easy - it's an SEC team vs an ACC team. Do yourself a favor and however much money you lose on Saturday's game, bet that much on LSU -2.5 on Sunday and end your weekend even. 

-Joe