College Football Betting: What We Learned in Week 9


November 6, 2009 | Posted By Larry Cook

The Hokies are Overrated?

A week after wasting a second half lead at home to Florida State, odds makers anticipated the Tar Heels to get beaten badly by the 14th ranked Hokies of Virginia Tech. Well that certainly wasn’t the case last Thursday night as the Tar Heels pulled out the win as 14.5 point road underdogs. The Virginia Tech offense was weak to say the least as they were only able to gain 256 yards of total offense. Their strong running game was limited as they ran the ball 33 times for just 95 yards. Tyrod Taylor wasn’t much of a factor either as he only threw 23 passes, completing 11 of them. Taylor passed for just 161 yards and 0 touchdowns. Va Tech also had trouble containing the run on defense which has been their big failing on that side of the football throughout the course of this season. the Tar Heels rushed for 181 yards on 43 attempts. Virginia Tech now has three defeats on the year as they are 5-3 overall and 3-2 in ACC play. It can be argued after two straight conference losses that this team is a tad overrated.

Michigan is in disarray:

After blazing out to a bright 4-0 start and looking like one of the more improved teams in the Big 10, the Wolverines have now lost 4 of their past 5 football games. The Wolverines are now 1-4 in Big 10 action and no longer look like a team who can be recognized Big 10 challengers. Illinois didn’t do anything fantastic as they absolutely hammered the ball right at the Wolverine defense. The Illini ran the ball 56 times for a enormous 377 yards, averaging 6.7 yards per attempt. The Wolverine defense allowed 500 yards of total offense in the 38-13 defeat. Juice Williams didn’t have to rely much on his arm as he tossed just 11 passes, completing 8 of them for 123 yards and a touchdown. The Wolverines have major issues on their front seven and they need to get worked out quickly as Michigan still has to play Wisconsin and Ohio State, two teams that really like to run the football.

Oregon is now the best 1 loss team:

The Ducks got off to a slow start as they were absolutely dominated by Boise State in the first game of the year and then scrambled to beat Purdue at home. Since the Boise loss however, they have rattled off 7 straight wins with their most recent being a 47-20 rout against USC. This is a very dangerous Oregon team who is putting up points in clusters. They rank 9th in the land in points per game averaging 35.6 per game. It is amazing that they were able to compile 613 yards against a pretty steady USC defense. They absolutely controlled the fight in the trenches and rushed the ball 49 times for 391 yards. Yes, they almost ran for 400 yards against the Trojans! Quarterback Jeremiah Massoli is looking more improved each week and he can beat you with his arm and his legs. He has tremendous speed for a quarterback and is an explosive playmaker for this Oregon team. It will be interesting to see how things pan outfor the Ducks in the final standings as they truly are the best one loss team in the land right now.

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