Gridiron Fanatics

College football finally gets under way this weekend and with that my first installment of a weekly college football picks column. Here are my college picks for week one. (All lines taken from Sportsbook.com).

Baylor at Wake Forest -2.5, Sept. 5th, 3:30pm EST

Wake Forest returns a 4 year starting QB in Riley Skinner along with a very experienced O-Line. Baylor was 104th nationally against the Pass last year which is Wake Forest’s strength on offense. Wake’s Defense was 29th against the rush last year but is only returning 4 starters and missing standout LB Aaron Curry and CB Alphonso Smith. I expect Wake Forest to be able to exploit Baylor through the air while coming up with enough stops on defense to win a close game. I’ll lay the 2.5 points and take Wake Forest at home.

Nevada +14.5 at Notre Dame, Sept. 5th, 3:30pm EST

Nevada travels to South Bend to take on Notre Dame to open the season. Notre Dame has struggled recently in home openers losing to Ga Tech 33-10 two years ago and beating lowly San Diego State by only 8 points last year. The pressure is on for Charlie Weiss to turn in a winning season at Notre Dame as he has ample time to recruit his players and install his system. Nevada is an above average Offense led by QB Colin Kaepernick. They also run a pistol offense that could give Notre Dame trouble. The opening line for this game was ND -10 and the public money has moved this line to ND -14.5. I like Nevada to keep it close while fading the public. I’ll take Nevada and the points.

Va Tech +6.5 at Alabama (Neutral Site) Sept. 5th, 8pm EST

Va Tech takes on Alabama in the game of the week Saturday night. One thing you can always count on with Virginia Tech is good defense and special teams. Generally speaking good defense and special teams play wins games early in the season while offenses take time to jell in game situations. Expect Virginia Tech to pound the ball with their stable of running backs and keep this game close. Take the 6.5 and Virginia Tech in this match up of two top 10 teams.

Georgia at Oklahoma State -4.5, Sept. 5th, 3:30pm EST

Georgia goes on the road to take on Oklahoma State in this intriguing match up. Ok State has high expectations with their high powered offense. Georgia’s offense should slip a bit early on with the losses of Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno. However, their defense should improve a bit from last year’s squad. I am just not sure if that defense will improve quick enough to stop that potent Cowboy offense on the road. I’m laying the 4.5 points and taking the Oklahoma State Cowboys in this one.

Minnesota -7 at Syracuse Sept. 5th, 12pm EST

I’m making this the “‘Smooth’ Jimmy Apollo Lock of the Week”:

'Smooth' Jimmy Likes Minnesota -7

Syracuse is awful, and I mean AWFUL. They are 10-38 over the last 4 years and now have a starting QB who has not played football in 4 years. I’ll take my chances backing a bowl caliber Big 10 team to win by more than a TD against a team that has a Point Gurad as their quarter back and is a terrible team to begin with. This pick is Minnesota -7.

YTD: 0-0 +0 units
Lock of the Week: 0-0 +0 units

Don’t forget about Sportsbook.com’s half juice Fridays. All bets are -105 odds which means you only need to wager $105 to win $100 instead of the standard $110 to win $100. Get your picks in today!