This will be the weirdest college football season of all-time.
We have some of the teams starting now, some starting in a month and the rest delaying until early-2021 or completely until the next ‘football season.’ Let’s just hope the next couple weeks goes off without a huge outbreak and we can enjoy college football again.
There are a few must-watch ACC games this week. It’s strange to already have ACC conference games in early-September…but everything about this season will be weird.
We at ‘America’s White Boy’ pick all 14 college football games (with betting lines) against the spread in Week 2 of the 2020-21 NCAA Football season (September 12th, 2020).
Duke at Notre Dame (-20) – My pick is Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Notre Dame beat Duke by 31 points last season and this year’s Irish team has just as much talent. Duke does come into this game with new starting QB Chase Brice, who is a graduate-transfer from Clemson. He played mostly mop-up duty when he was there, but he did get some real-game action filling in for QB Trevor Lawrence in a big game. Duke has a ton of new transfer talent, so they are better than last season’s team. I look for a big game from Notre Dame QB Ian Book under new offensive coordinator Tommy Rees. I’m taking the Irish to cover at home.
Georgia Tech at Florida State (-12) – My pick is Florida State Seminoles
Georgia Tech is trying to be sneaky by hiding whom they chose to start at quarterback on Saturday. They said they have decided between the four quarterbacks that were battling, but won’t announce the starter until gametime. The two leading candidates are sophomore James Graham and freshman Jeff Sims. Graham played poorly last season in the handful of games he played. From what I’ve read from various reporters, it appears that maybe Sims is the front-runner based on all the positive platitudes the coaches have said about him in interviews. Georgia Tech was one of the worst teams in all of the power conferences last season. I doubt a new quarterback will fix their issues. Florida State QB James Blackman is back, but I can’t say that he’s done anything spectacular there. New FSU head coach Mike Norvell should have enough talent left at Florida State to cover against a lowly Georgia Tech squad.
Syracuse at North Carolina (-23) – My pick is North Carolina Tar Heels
Last year, North Carolina was one of the most improved teams under first-year head coach Mack Brown. He got the most out of QB Sam Howell and turned him into a probable NFL quarterback. The Tar Heel offense is nuts right now. They could struggle on the defensive line since they lost some talent to graduation that they couldn’t replace right away. If Syracuse QB Tommy Devito has enough time, he could keep this from being a complete blowout. He was smart with the ball last season and only threw five interceptions, but there were games that he just couldn’t throw the ball well. I think North Carolina will cover this spread at home.
Clemson at Wake Forest (+32.5) – My pick is Clemson Tigers
Clemson has beaten Wake Forest by 60 and 49 in their last two meetings. This year’s Wake Forest team isn’t even good as last year’s squad. They will miss WR Sage Surratt who opted out and they lost WRs Kendall Hinton and Scotty Washington to graduation. They recruited a lot of receiver talent, but they just can’t reproduce that production and experience. Clemson lost a lot of talent to the draft, but their team is so deep and they’ve been recruiting the cream of the crop the last few seasons. I expect Clemson will get out to a big lead and bench QB Trevor Lawrence by the third or fourth quarter. Clemson should still cover this big spread.
UTEP at Texas (-43) – My pick is UTEP Miners
The Longhorns didn’t lose much talent to graduation. QB Sam Ehlinger returns with nearly his entire rotation of running backs. They did lose WRs Collin Johnson and Devin Duvernay, but they have returning WRs like Jake Smith and Brennan Eagles that will fill their roles. On defense, they also return most of their starters and the only notable player they’ll miss is CB Brandon Jones, who was drafted by the Dolphins. UTEP is coming off a 24-14 win at home against Stephen F. Austin last weekend. There’s a chance that UTEP can score double-digits on Texas. This is a tune-up game for the Longhorns and a garbage-time UTEP touchdown late in this one could mean a win or loss against the spread. I’m taking the points in this one.
Western Kentucky at Louisville (-11.5) – My pick is Western Kentucky Hilltoppers
The Hilltoppers have one of the best under-the-radar running backs in the country. RB Gaej Walker converted from a defensive back to a running back just last offseason. He ran for 1,200 yards and eight touchdowns last year. WKU QB Tyrrell Pigrome is a graduate-transfer who started seven games over four years for Maryland. He doesn’t have the arm talent of some of the most recent Western Kentucky quarterbacks, so they should be a run-heavy team this year. The Hilltoppers also return Conference USA Player of the Year DE DeAngelo Malone. He is the biggest reason why this could be a very competitive game. Louisville QB Micale Cunningham could have a hard time with Malone on Saturday. If WKU can close in the pocket and keep Cunningham behind the line of scrimmage, they will keep this game close. I’m taking the points in this one.
QUICK HITS
UAB at Miami (FL) (-14) – My pick is Miami (FL)
Charlotte at Appalachian State (-17) – My pick is Charlotte
UL Lafayette at Iowa State (-11.5) – My pick is UL Lafayette
Arkansas State at Kansas State (-10.5) – My pick is Kansas State
UL Monroe at Army (-20.5) – My pick is Army
Texas-San Antonio at Texas State (-8.5) – My pick is UTSA
Tulane at South Alabama (+8) – My pick is South Alabama
Coastal Carolina at Kansas (-7) – My pick is Kansas
Sweetbob’s college football picks against the spread record in previous seasons:
2013: 134-79-8
2014: 148-118-4
2015: 149-118-3
2016: 196-145-6
2017: 183-159-13
2018: 177-157-6
2019: 187-141-8
2020: 0-0-0
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About the Author…
Bobby Roberts (otherwise known as Sweetbob) is the creator of ‘America’s White Boy’ and contributor at Project Shanks. His writing has been featured on ESPN’s ‘SportsNation’, Sports Illustrated’s Hot Clicks, Guyspeed, and various other sites. You can follow him on Twitter at @Sweetbob.