The first weekend in November is in the books, and for the first time in forever, I had a winning weekend. As for my "best bet" - it couldn't have been much worse as I took Oregon State -4 (and I thought I got a great number!) against USC, only to watch the Trojans win outright. Now it's on to next weekend, where the biggest games take place on Thursday night. Here are my initial leans. No plays yet, just looking for opinion and input into these selections:
Michigan -6.5 vs Nebraska Time for the Wolverines to lick their wounds. Something tells me the Wolverines won't see near the defense next Saturday as they saw last Saturday. Michigan State's defense was absolutely incredible. Nebraska's defense will look like swiss cheese and this sure be much easier for the high powered Michigan offense. Wolverines win big, something like 31-14.
Tennessee +7 vs Auburn Vols tough at home and after two lopsided road losses Tennessee will look to put it back together at home.
UCLA -1 at Arizona
LSU +11 at Alabama This is a series that is dominated by the road team. Bama has been sensational, but against a relative weak schedule so far.
Texas A&M -19 vs Mississippi State Johnny Manziel has been sensational lately and the Bulldogs are just playing out the string now.
Texas Tech -2.5 vs Kansas State I look for Tech to bounce back after two tough losses.
I will likely pass on both the Oregon/Stanford game and the Baylor/Oklahoma game. In both cases, you have high powered offenses, playing at home, matched up against tough defenses. Not sure what to think of the spreads here. OU's defense looks good, but they still gave up 36 to Texas and 30 to Tech. Meanwhile, can anybody shut down Oregon? If there is, Stanford would be that team.
As always, I welcome your input on these games.
All lines from 5 Dimes.
BOL everyone