Saturday college football and will will see the Florida Gators take on the Alabama Crimson Tide at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The game has a start time of 3:30 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on CBS. Current Vegas odds have the Crimson Tide listed as 14 point favorites, while the total is set at 50.5.
Analysis: The Florida Gators are not used to winning 4 games in a season, but that is exactly what happened last year when they went 4-8. This year they have 14 starters back and one of the best defenses in the league, so they should return to their winning ways this year. The Gators may have been looking ahead to this game when they took on the Kentucky Wildcats last week, as they needed triple OT to beat them. The win does have the Gators at 2-0 on the yeat as they head into this monstrous battle with the Crimson Tide. The Gators averaged just 18.8 ppg last year, but this year they come in ranked 7 th in the nation in scoring (50.5 ppg) and 6 th in total offense (593.5 ypg). Defense is never an issue for this team and they came in ranked 15 th in the nation in total defense (287.5 ypg) and 16 th in points allowed (15 ppg).
The Alabama Crimson Tide are in an unfamiliar spot in the pools and that is that they are not ranked #1 right now. They are ranked third and still have a hell of a team. The Tide comes in at 3-0 on the year and have really been tested just once and that was in their opener vs West Virginia, in a game that they won just 33-23. Since then the Tide have outscored FAU and Southern Miss by a combined 93-12. New QB Blake Sims has been solid for the Tide so far as he has completed 74.6% of his passes for 632 yards with 4 TDs and just 1 INT. His favorite target this year has been Amari Cooper, who has caught 33 passes for 454 yards and 2 TDs thus far. Overall the Bama offense comes in ranked 12th in total offense (568.3 ypg) and 26th in scoring (42 ppg). The defense took some big hits in the offseason, but that hasn’t fazed them as they come in ranked 9th in total defense (267 ypg), 1st in rushing defense (47 ypg) and 10th in scoring defense (11.7 ppg).
Pick: I know the point total of SEC games has gone up the last couple of year, but this one looks like an old school defensive game. Well it may not be close, but there will still be enough defense in the game to keep it under the total. The Crimson Tide had their issues on defense in the first game of the year vs West Virginia, but the Mountaineers also run the kind of uptempo offense that gives the Tide fits. The Gators do not have that kind of offense, which will allow the Tide to substitute their defense properly. On the other side we have a Florida defense that is one of the better in the nation. They did allow 30 points to Kentucky, but that was also in triple OT. The Tide offense is good, but is also still young and hasn't really been tested yet. Well the will today. Florida will take away that run game and make Sims beat them. Eventually he will, but he won't put enough points on the board for this game to go over the total. I see this one as being a 31-10 type game.
-$25 of picks FREE! No Obligation - No Credit Card Required - Becoming a member is Fast and Free!
Stay on top of the latest odds and line moves for Football Season with our real-time odds from Las Vegas and offshore!
College Football Free Picks: Utah State vs Arkansas State Betting
What college football bettors need to know about betting Utah State Aggies vs Arkansas State Red Wolves on Saturday (9/20/14) - a free pick from Pregame.com's Ken Thomson with added insight from Dave Cokin.