Written by Robby Kalland at CBSSports.com
Week 1 of the college football season was amazing and featured huge games between traditional powers that don’t often play each other. Hopefully you took advantage of it and enjoyed all of that wonderful football because Week 2 is, well, just not as good.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t watch or follow along. It’s college football, so some weird and fun things are bound to happen. There just aren’t as many games to circle on the schedule as “must watch” games.
That means it’s a bit tougher to pick out lines that stand out, but we did our best in this early look at Week 2 lines and game odds. As always, spreads and over/unders are courtesy of our good friends at SportsLine.
Lines you need to know
Arkansas (+7.5) at TCU: Week 2 doesn’t feature many marquee nonconference matchups, but Arkansas-TCU has the potential to be fun. Neither team impressed in the opener with both narrowly escaping embarrassing home defeats to Louisiana Tech and South Dakota State, respectively. Both look to show the Week 1 issues were a fluke on Saturday.
Virginia Tech (+11) vs. Tennessee: Speaking of disappointing, the Hokies and Vols play each other on Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway. The venue will be cool, but the football might not be. The Hokies struggled with Liberty in the first half before pulling away late, and the Vols got all they could handle from Appalachian State at home. Tennessee is still a double-digit favorite, but it has to prove that its line play issues aren’t going to be a problem all season.
Penn State (+5) at Pittsburgh: The in-state rivalry gets renewed this year for the first time since 2000, and the Panthers are a touchdown (sans extra point) favorite at home over the Nittany Lions. Neither team played particularly well in their openers, but both won comfortably over lesser competition. In a week lacking juice, this could be one of the most competitive games of the weekend with two teams fired up to stake their claim as best team in the state.
BYU (+3) at Utah: The other big in-state rivalry game will be in the Holy War between BYU and Utah. These two teams do not like each other and BYU, a three-point road dog, hasn’t taken down Utah since 2009. Taysom Hill had some moments againstArizona, including the late drive for the game-winning field goal. Utah won 24-0 over Southern Utah as the Utes’ defense led the way.
These may raise some eyebrows
Wyoming (+24.5) at Nebraska: Wyoming looked pretty good in an opening win against Northern Illinois at home in a super late kickoff on Saturday. Nebraska might be better this season, but 24.5 is an awful lot of points to lay with the Huskers against a team that showed the ability to run the ball and score points.
Kentucky (+17) at Florida: Florida was locked in a battle with UMass at home and is now laying 17 points in-conference. What a world. Kentucky was awful (AWFUL) in the second half against Southern Miss, blowing a 25-point lead, but I still can’t get over this Florida team laying 17 points in the SEC after scoring 24 against UMass.
UConn (+4.5) at Navy: UConn had to comeback at home to beat Maine on Saturday. They have to go face a Navy team with a new quarterback following an ACL tear to their starter Tago Smith, but the Midshipmen would appear on the surface as the better team. The Huskies can be scrappy, but I’m a bit surprised Navy isn’t a bit bigger favorite in this one.
To continue reading this article, click here.
