Geoff Haxton is a former backstop, so it makes sense to see him make an absolutely ridiculous snag on a foul ball last Friday night, also perfectly framing the ball and not moving a muscle for the theoretical umpire. The ball, which came off the bat of Texas Tech batter Jace Jung, made a beeline for the broadcast booth, where it smacked the bare hand of the Texas Tech radio announcer....
The Linemakers on Sporting News, a group of former sports book operators with dozens of years of collective experience making odds and handicapping games in Las Vegas, offer our opinions and picks for Saturday’s bowl games. Be sure to click through to the informative and entertaining videos, which are shot at the South Point sports book and our studios in Vegas. The lines and totals listed below are the Vegas consensus as of Saturday....
Here’s a pick for this week’s NCAA Football card: No. 9 Auburn Tigers at No. 15 Georgia Bulldogs After a late-game heartbreak against Texas A&M, Auburn heads to Georgia to face a Bulldogs team that has been largely unstoppable on offense. Sitting at No. 4 in the SEC, Auburn is still very alive in the division race given the tiebreaker over Ole Miss and the looming late-season matchup against Alabama....
USC is coming off a 13-10 win at Stanford and heads to Boston College this week, opening as a 20-point favorite and being adjusted to -18.5 on Monday. Johnny Avello, the Wynn’s executive director of race & sports operations, said it’s way too early to anoint the Trojans, a young team prone to mistakes that could cost them some wins this season. “USC really was outplayed in that game against Stanford,” Avello told The Linemakers on Sporting News....
Rutgers is the perfect example hosting a Michigan Wolverines team that opened as 1.5-point road favorites at The Wynn for Saturday’s Big Ten matchup. The Scarlet Knights have since moved to -3 as bettors seem to have jumped ship on the Wolverines after they were blown out 30-14 by Minnesota at home last week as 10-point favorites. “I know the Michigan team, things aren’t going well right now, but you make the Rutgers the favorite over them?...
There are nine games on the schedule involving FBS teams — a far cry from the usual Labor Day weekend setup. No ranked teams are playing, and the highlight of the schedule is Monday’s matchup between BYU and Navy. Stop complaining. It’s football, and there are opportunities to bet against the spread. MORE: Shaking up the CFP in 2020 I will offer picks against the spread for every week of the college football season....
This week’s slate of games offers no matchups of top-25 teams, and several in-conference games like Alabama-South Carolina and Clemson-Syracuse that feature double-digit lines. The biggest game of the week by far should be the annual meeting of Iowa and Iowa State for the Cy-Hawk trophy. Iowa, despite being ranked No. 19 in the country, is a one-point underdog for the home-team Cyclones, which hasn’t won a game in this series since 2014....
That is the question among the best teams with just two weeks left until the College Football Playoff selection show. While COVID-19 continues to impact the weekly schedule, the top four has so far remained upset proof. No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Clemson and No. 4 Ohio State are going to be difficult to knock off the College Football Playoff block. There were no major shakeups this weekend, but eight teams still remain in the championship mix....
No. 1 LSU (13-0) meets No. 4 Oklahoma (12-1) in the Peach Bowl at 4 p.m. on Saturday, and No. 2 Ohio State (13-0) meets No. 3 Clemson (13-0) in the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl at 8 p.m. in the primetime matchup. PLAYOFF PRIMERSPeach Bowl | Fiesta Bowl The winners advance to the College Football Playoff championship game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans on Jan. 13. With that in mind, Sporting News’ staff makes its predictions for Saturday’s semifinals:...
Some of those losses were to be expected, as the Week 5 slate featured four matchups between undefeated, ranked opponents: No. 1 Alabama took down No. 12 Ole Miss in Tuscaloosa, 42-21; No. 2 Georgia beat down No. 8 Arkansas, 37-0; No. 7 Cincinnati made a College Football Playoff statement with its 24-13 win over No. 9 Notre Dame; and No. 19 Oklahoma State took down No. 21 Baylor 24-14 in Big 12 action....
Iowa appeared completely outmatched in its 24-7 loss against unranked Purdue. That should cause the Hawkeyes to fall significantly, though perhaps not out of the top 10. The defense had no answer for Purdue quarterback Aidan O’Connell, who completed 30 of 40 passes for 375 yards and two touchdowns, and top wideout David Bell, who had 11 catches for 240 yards. Conversely, Hawkeyes quarterback Spencer Petras completed 15 of 32 passes for 195 yards and four interceptions....
That will create some interesting storylines, especially for the top College Football Playoff contenders. Sporting News already released its pre-preseason top 25, and the top 10 teams are at head of that Playoff discussion. They also have the most intriguing spring games. MORE: Sporting News’ pre-preseason top 25 for 2019 Here are the storylines we’ll be watching from those top-10 teams. 10. Michigan When: April 13 (5 p.m., TBD)...
New Year’s Day, though, will offer a brief reprieve. Because for the first time in years, there will be no bowl games on the day the calendar flips. It’s an unusual quirk in this year’s college football schedule. But not all that surprising. Here’s why: MORE: Updated list of college football stars skipping bowl games with 2023 NFL Draft ahead Why are there no bowl games on New Year’s Day?...
That said, there’s still plenty of great football to watch from all across the nation, and Sporting News is on hand to make sure you get the most of it. MORE: Sporting News’ Week 2 Power Rankings SN has all the highlights and big plays from Saturday, including from big games like Georgia-South Carolina, Texas A&M-Clemson, USC-Stanford and more. Here are all the biggest scores and highlights from Week 2:...
This week, that results in two top-25 matchups. We have No. 21 USC and No. 17 Washington out of the Pac-12 and a pseudo-ACC matchup between No. 18 Virginia and No. 10 Notre Dame. MORE: Watch college football games live with fuboTV (7-day free trial) Other games to key in on are No. 24 Kansas State vs. Oklahoma State and No. 5 Ohio State vs. Nebraska, this site of this week’s “College GameDay....
The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic not only limited campus visits for would-be recruits, but also essentially eliminated all in-person meetings that could otherwise have taken place between players and coaches. How that affects this year’s class remains to be seen, but one thing is apparent already: Pandemic or no, college football’s top teams will do just fine in the 2021 recruiting class. WEEK 15 PROJECTIONS: Playoff | Bowls...
MORE: Get the latest NCAA odds & betting advice at Sportsbook Review Georgia at Florida (+3.5 to +6.5) Saturday, Nov. 2, 3:30 p.m. ET The college football odds are reflecting an influx of Georgia money in a clash between two SEC rivals boasting stingy defenses. The line offered early in the week at all of the best online sportsbooks opened with the Bulldogs laying 3.5 down in The Swamp but we see that this line has vaulted to 6....
Oklahoma can solidify its Playoff case with a victory against one-loss Texas in the Red River Rivalry this week. The Sooners have three Playoff appearances, and that would help hold off the momentum for two SEC teams to make the final cut. Week 7 is full of matchups that could shake up the landscape, so stay tuned. MORE: Week 7 Playoff picture The 2019 college postseason schedule features 40 bowl games between FBS teams, with the finale at the national title game on Jan....
