Categories
Handicapping

NCAA Football Handicapping: 2010 Conference-USA Football

Ben Burns CFB Picks – Conference USA Predictions / Preview

Ben Burns
Ben Burns

Each week Ben Burns prepares college football bettors for the upcoming ncaa football gambling season. This week it’s the Conference USA. Ben highlights several items to keep in mind when September college football betting season rolls around.

Categories
Handicapping

NCAA Football Handicapping: 2010 Big Ten Football

Ben Burns CFB Picks – Big Ten Predictions / Preview

Ben Burns
Ben Burns

Each week Ben Burns prepares college football bettors for the upcoming ncaa football gambling season. This week it’s the Big Ten. Ben highlights several items to keep in mind when September college football betting season rolls around.

Categories
Handicapping

NCAA Football Handicapping: 2010 ACC Football

Ben Burns CFB Picks – ACC Predictions / Preview

Ben Burns
Ben Burns

Each week Ben Burns prepares college football bettors for the upcoming ncaa football gambling season. This week it’s the ACC. Ben highlights several items to keep in mind when September college football betting season rolls around.

Categories
Handicapping

Finding Value When Betting On College Football

Beyond the BCS: Scanning the card

Ben Burns
Ben Burns

North Texas quarterback Riley Dodge returns for the Mean Green this week against Middle Tennessee. Dodge sat out last week’s game at Alabama after separating his shoulder in an overtime loss against Ohio. But coach Todd Dodge told reporters that his son and quarterback will be at full strength against the Blue Raiders, who are coming off a win over Maryland.

Categories
Cappers

CFB Line Shopping: Small Schools

Value shopping: Is there any left in BYU or Houston?

Ben Burns
Ben Burns

Both Cougars have caught the public’s eye by taking care of top-five BCS opponents early in the season.

BYU, of course, knocked out Heisman trophy winner Sam Bradford before knocking Oklahoma off its lofty No. 3 perch.

Houston exposed No. 5 Oklahoma State last week in Stillwater.

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Cappers

College Football Handicapping: Week 1 Review

Burns’ Small Conference Report

Ben Burns
Ben Burns

Who impressed?

Colorado State: Bettors would be wise to take notice of Rams’ coach Steve Fairchild. He’s a rising star, and it showed against rival Colorado Sunday.

Colorado State’s offense, featuring the most experienced offensive line in the nation, was balanced (208 passing, 168 rushing) and was a step ahead of the Buffalo defense throughout the first half.

The Rams’ defense shut down what is expected to be a good Buffalo rushing attack. Colorado averaged just 1.4 yards per carry and finished with 29 yards rushing.

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Handicapping

NCAAF Handicapping: 2009 Sun Belt Conference

Burns’ Sun Belt Preview

Ben Burns
Ben Burns

Finding solid, updated information on Sun Belt football is not easy, for bettors or oddsmakers.

So spending time to dig deeper on these lesser-known squads can pay dividends.

“The way to win early in the year is to get a better handle on a team than the average guy on the street,” Francis Doyle, betting analyst for Sportsinteraction.com said.

Categories
Handicapping

CFB Football Handicapping: 2009 MAC Conference

Burns’ MAC Preview

Ben Burns
Ben Burns

We’ve got less than two weeks to prepare for the college football season.

This week, we break down the MAC, a conference that is changing and one known for pulling off major upsets.

A Toledo team that finished 3-9 went into Michigan last season and won. Bowling Green opened the year by winning at Pittsburgh.

Categories
Handicapping

NCAA Football Handicapping: 2009 WAC Football

Burns’ WAC Preview

Ben Burns
Ben Burns

The WAC has two teams—Boise State and Nevada–capable of busting the BCS.

It also has a handful of teams capable of being complete busts (Hawaii, New Mexico State, Idaho).

Either way, there is money to be made on the WAC. The below power rankings will help.

Categories
Handicapping

CFB Football Handicapping: 2009 C-USA Football

Burns’ Conference USA Preview

Ben Burns
Ben Burns

Conference USA Power Rankings (ATS records are from last three seasons.)

1. East Carolina Pirates

ATS: 23-17 (Home: 11-6. Away: 10-9)

Thing to remember: This is coach Skip Holtz’s best team, featuring 16 returning starters and plenty of all-conference talent on both sides of the ball.

Categories
Handicapping

NCAA Football Handicapping: 2009 Mountain West Football

Burns’ Mountain West Preview

Ben Burns
Ben Burns

The last time we heard from the Mountain West, Utah was dismantling Alabama as 14-point underdogs in the Sugar Bowl.

The upset capped the Utes’ second undefeated season in the last five years and gave the MWC ammunition to make its case to be included in the BCS.

The BCS pushed aside the Mountain West like it was the WAC.

Categories
Handicapping

NCAA Football Handicapping: 2009 SEC Football

Burns’ SEC Preview

Ben Burns
Ben Burns

Florida’s assumed dominance is going to make handicapping the SEC very difficult.

College Football Oddsmakers, fearing being pounded by public Gator action, will be forced to inflate lines. But it might not even matter.

With Superman Tim Tebow back at quarterback and all 11 starters back on defense, covering 30-point spreads might seem like child’s play to the defending champs.

Categories
Handicapping

NCAA Football Handicapping: 2009 Pac 10 Football

Betting the Pac-10: USC is the key

Ben Burns
Ben Burns

Betting the Pac-10 is all about figuring out Southern Cal.

When will the Trojans be at their best? (11-1 ATS in non-conference games the last three years).

When will they lay a brick? (4-10 ATS on the road in the Pac-10 the last three seasons).

Pete Carroll’s juggernaut lost a ton off of last year’s team. Only three defensive starters return, and it was pretty obvious from Carroll’s whining just how much quarterback Mark Sanchez meant to the Trojans.

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Handicapping

NCAA Football Handicapping: 2009 Big 12 Football

Burns’ Big 12 Preview

Ben Burns
Ben Burns

The Big 12 is spewing confidence.

Texas coach Mack Brown and Nebraska AD Tom Osborne claim their conference is top to bottom as competitive as the mighty SEC.

Whatever.

Categories
Handicapping

NCAA Football Handicapping: 2009 Big 10 Football

Burns’ Big Ten Preview

All you Big Ten haters better be changing your tune. The Big Ten is back, with four teams capable of making a BCS-sized impact and a couple of upstarts flying under the public’s radar. In recent years, the conference’s reputation has taken a major beating. The Big Ten went 15-26 ATS in non-conference games in 2008.

Ohio State and Penn State each got clobbered by USC, and the Buckeyes looked slow in BCS Championship Game losses to Florida and LSU.

Categories
Handicapping

NCAA Football Handicapping: 2009 Big East Football

Burns’ Big East Preview

If you thought the Big East has been bad in recent years, just wait ’till this season.

There is no favorite, just a bunch of mediocre teams, for the most part lacking big-time talent.

College Football Oddsmakers seem to like South Florida to win the conference. The media prefers Pittsburgh, with the Panthers picked in multiple preseason publications. Rutgers and West Virginia also should be in the mix. But none of the above is heads and shoulders better than UConn, Louisville or even Syracuse (gasp).