15* USC/Arizona State ESPN Late-Night BAILOUT on USC -5

I still believe the USC Trojans are one of the two best teams in the Pac-12 right alongside Stanford. They are certainly the best team in the loaded Pac-12 South, which says something considering they reside in that division with the likes of UCLA, ASU, Arizona and Utah. It was just a blip on the radar last week with their loss to Stanford, which wanted that game more after losing by a field goal each of the previous two seasons to the Trojans.  That loss will actually have the Trojans refocused and motivated this week.

The Trojans clearly won’t be lacking any motivation anyways, though that loss to Stanford does help. They have lost three of their last four meetings with Arizona State, including a 38-34 home loss last year. ASU scored three touchdowns in the final 3:23 to steal victory from the jaws of defeat.  It’s payback time Saturday night as this is the best team that USC has had since Pete Carroll left. All of the scholarship sanctions are gone, and the Trojans now have a very deep, talented roster.

I have not been impressed one bit with Arizona State this season. It was outgained by 134 yards in its 17-38 loss to Texas A&M in the opener and didn’t look like it even belonged on the same field as the Aggies. Then, the Sun Devils were flat against Cal Poly in a 35-21 home win as 34.5-point favorites, failing to cover by nearly 21 points. They also didn’t cover in a 34-10 home win over New Mexico as 25-point favorites. That was a 24-10 game in the fourth quarter before the Sun Devils scored the final 10 points.

USC features a high-octane offense that is putting up 48.3 points and 557.7 yards per game this season. Cody Kessler is still a Heisman Trophy candidate with the way he’s been playing. Kessler is completing 78.7 percent of his passes for 922 yards with 10 touchdowns and zero interceptions to this point. Tre Madden is averaging 7.4 yards per carry, Ronald Jones is averaging 9.4, and Justin Davis is averaging 9.2.

With Kessler's numbers and the jaw-dropping yards-per-carry average of their three top running backs, the Trojans should move the ball at will on this ASU defense.  The Sun Devils have given up at least 178 rushing yards in each of their first three games.  They are allowing 215 yards per game rushing this season.  This defense simply is not very good.

I have not been impressed with Arizona State’s offense one bit, either. It is only averaging 28.7 points and 423.7 yards per game despite playing both Cal Poly and New Mexico, which have horrible defenses. The Sun Devils only managed 291 total yards against Texas A&M in their opener. In what is expected to be a shootout, I simply do not believe the Sun Devils have the firepower to keep up with this high-powered USC attack.

USC is a perfect 8-0 ATS off one or more consecutive losses over the last three seasons. It is coming back to win by an average of 20.6 points per game in this spot. This has been a resilient bunch to say the least, and that will be on display Saturday as all of the motivational factors are working in the Trojans’ favor in this one.  Take USC Saturday.

15* Mississippi State/Auburn ESPN 2 No-Brainer on Auburn -3

You're not going to get a better price on Auburn the rest of the season.  Now is the time to buy low on the Tigers after their 21-45 loss at LSU last week, which followed an overtime win over Jacksonville State as 39-point favorites the previous week.  I was very down on Auburn coming into the season unlike most, but now I'm reversing roles here and backing them while everyone else is down on them.

Auburn is making a switch at quarterback this week, and I really believe it's the right move.  There was a lot of hype surrounding Jeremy Johnson coming into the season, but he just hasn't gotten it done with only 473 passing yards and six interceptions in three games.  It was absolutely the right call for head coach Gus Malzahn to bench him this week.

Malzahn is putting his trust in freshman Shaun White, who was the 14th-ranked QB prospect coming out of high school.  Everything I've read about this guy is that he is a winner.  After he has a big game against Mississippi State this week, you're not going to get to back him at this kind of a price again, so now is the time to do so while the price is right.

"I feel like that's best for our offense right now," Malzahn said. "Sean White is a guy that has got a lot of reps. He's responded very well in practice, very well in scrimmages, and I just feel like he needs a shot right now. We've got a lot of confidence in him right now.”

White has participated in two Elite 11 QB camps and also a Nike training camp.  He shined in a 7-on-7 circuit with South Florida Express, a team loaded with elite players.  At a 7-on-7 event in Oregon, he thrived against 160 four-and-five star recruits.

His team, the Field Generals, began the tournament by losing their first game by almost 40 points, but that was a game White didn't play in.  The Field Generals rallied to win the 7-on-7 title after White led them on a last-minute touchdown drive for a 21-14 comeback victory.  That championship carried White, who ended up committing to Auburn two weeks later, a school he didn't have an offer from before coming to Oregon.  He earned MVP honors in that tournament as well as the Elite 11.

What I'm saying is that this guy is good, and it will show right away against a Mississippi State team that is getting way too much respect from oddsmakers here.  The Bulldogs are the least-experienced team in the SEC with just 7 returning starters.

They only outgained Southern Miss by 29 yards in a 34-16 win in their opener.  That's a Southern Miss team that was 4-32 over the previous three seasons.  I think that performance just shows that the Bulldogs are nowhere near as good as they were last season.

The reason they are getting so much respect is because they lost to LSU 21-19, while Auburn lost to LSU 21-45.  But you have to consider that LSU led Mississippi State 21-6 in the fourth quarter.  You also have to consider that Mississippi State played LSU at home, while Auburn played LSU on the road.

Auburn has won five of its last seven meetings with Mississippi State.  The home team has won each of the last four meetings.  Auburn is 6-1 in its last seven home meetings with Mississippi State.  The Tigers are 17-5 ATS in their last 22 games off a blowout loss by 21 points or more to a conference opponent.  I fully expect the Tigers to play inspired football this weekend after getting bashed all week.  White will be the biggest reason they come out on top.  Bet Auburn Saturday.

15* SEC PLAY OF THE DAY on Vanderbilt +25

Ole Miss is coming off the biggest win in college football last week.  It stood toe-to-toe with Alabama and dominated the majority of the game, eventually coming away with a 43-37 victory.  ESPN College Gameday was in Tuscaloosa last week, so the stage couldn't have been bigger or brighter.  Ole Miss stood up to the test and is now the No. 3 ranked team in the country.

But off such an emotional win, it's only human nature for Ole Miss to suffer a letdown this week.  It won't be near as focuses to face Vanderbilt, thinking that it just has to show up to win.  That's the kind of mindset that makes it very difficult to cover massive spreads like this 24.5-point number the oddsmakers have set.  I look for the Commodores to give the Rebels a scare this week.

It's clear to me that Vanderbilt is already one of the most improved teams in the country.  That doesn't show up in the win/loss column because it is just 1-2 on the season.  However, a closer look at the two losses shows that the Commodores really played two fine games and could have won.  They also beat Austin Peay 47-7 last week to get their first win of the season.

In the opener, Vanderbilt lost at home 12-14 to Western Kentucky.  But there's no way the Commodores should have lost that game considering they outgained the Hilltoppers by 147 total yards.  That's the same Western Kentucky team that hung 41 points on Louisiana Tech and 35 points on Indiana this year.  The Commodores held the Hilltoppers to just 247 total yards.

Yes, Vanderbilt also lost at home to Georgia 14-31 as 18-point dogs, but that game was much closer than the final score showed.  The Commodores were only outgained 400-422, or by 22 total yards.  After seeing what Georgia did to South Carolina last week, it's safe to say the Commodores aren't to be taken lightly this year.

It's pretty easy to see why this team is so much better than last year.  They returned 18 starters after having just 10 back last season as they were very young.  Their defense is always good and is again this season, but the improvement on offense has been huge.  They had 400 total yards against Georgia and are averaging 444.7 yards per game.  Despite playing Western Kentucky and Georgia, their defense is only giving up 17.3 points and 271.0 yards per game.

The Commodores finally have a quarterback in Johnny McCray.  He is completing 59.8 percent of his passes for 880 yards with four touchdowns and five interceptions this season.  He has also rushed for 124 yards and a score while averaging 5.9 per carry.  He is the type of quarterback that can make plays against this Ole Miss defense, just as he did against Georgia when he threw for 295 yards in that 17-point loss.

Vanderbilt is 11-2 ATS in its last 13 games off a no-cover where it won straight up as a favorite.  Plays on road underdogs (VANDERBILT) - average offensive team (4.8 to 5.6 YPP) against a team with a good defense (4.2 to 4.8 YPP), after allowing 225 or less total yards in their previous game are 28-4 (87.5%) ATS over the last 10 seasons.  Roll with Vanderbilt Saturday.

15* MLB Saturday No-Doubt Rout on Minnesota Twins -130

The Minnesota Twins are 1.5 games back in the wild card.  They need this game against the second-worst team in the American League in the Detroit Tigers.  I look for their motivation and their edge on the mound to get them a win today.

Tyler Duffey is one of the most talented young arms in the Twins' organization.  he has gone 4-1 with a 3.15 ERA in eight starts this season, including 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA in his last three.  One of those came against Detroit on September 14 as he allowed one earned run in 6 1/3 innings of a 7-1 victory.  He has 44 K's in 45 2/3 innings this year.

Aldredo Simon has been awful for the Tigers.  He is 13-10 in spite of a 5.21 ERA and 1.485 WHIP in 29 starts.  Simon has really struggled of late, going 1-1 with an 8.31 ERA and 2.135 WHIP in his last three starts.  He has given up eight earned runs in nine innings in his last two starts against Minnesota this season.

The Twins are 9-2 in their last 11 road games vs. a right-handed starter.  Minnesota is 6-1 in Duffy's last seven starts. The Tigers are 3-7 in Simon's last 10 starts vs. a team with a winning record.  Bet the Twins Saturday.

15* Pac-12 PLAY OF THE DAY on California -3

California is the biggest sleeper to win the Pac-12 this season.  The Golden Bears improved from 1-11 in Sonny Dykes' first season to 5-7 last year, and four of their seven losses came by a touchdown or less to Arizona (45-49), UCLA (34-36), USC (30-38) and BYU (35-42), which were all bowl teams last year.

Dykes returned 17 starters and a whopping 58 lettermen this season.  In fact, this is the most veteran team in the Pac-12 this year with all 22 of their starters either juniors or seniors.  I can't stress enough that it's time to back this team early in the season before all of the value is gone, including this week.

Cal was very impressive in its first two contests, which is no surprise.  Cal beat Grambling 73-14 in the opener and outgained them by 359 total yards.  Then it beat San Diego State 35-7 as 12.5-point home favorites and outgained the Aztecs by 160 total yards.

Cal has had an elite offense over the last two years and it's even better this season, but it's the defense that now makes this team a threat to win the Pac-12.  After being dreadful the past two seasons, the Golden Bears held their first two opponents to an average 10.5 points per game, 311 yards per game and 4.5 yards per play.  All the talk out of camp was how improved this D was going to be, and that certainly appears to be the case.

That defense did not hold up very well against Texas last week, but you have to consider that this was a 45-24 game before the Golden Bears took their foot off the gas in the 4th quarter.  Texas scored 20 unanswered points in the final period, but missed an extra point that would have forced OT.  But since California did cover the 5-point spread last week, I believe it is being undervalued here.  This team really should be 3-0 ATS if not for that blown lead.  I look for Dykes to use it as a teaching opportunity that you can never let up.

California's offense doesn't let up one bit.  This is probably the most underrated offense in the country led by a potential No. 1 NFL draft pick in Jared Goff.  They are averaging 51.0 points, 563.0 yards per game and 7.4 yards per play.  This was a good offense the last two years, too, but now in Goff's third season it's reaching new heights.  Goff is completing 73.1 percent of his passes for 898 yards with nine touchdowns and two interceptions this year.

Washington is a team in rebuilding mode.  It returned just 9 starters this season and lost four players to the NFL Draft in the first and second rounds.  Back-to-back home wins over Utah State (31-17) and Sacramento State (49-0) has Washington overvalued here, but the betting public sees its 13-16 road loss at Boise State in the opener and doesn't consider that a bad loss.

Well, a closer look at that Boise State game shows that it was a bigger blowout than the final score would indicate.  The Huskies were actually outgained by 158 total yards by the Broncos.  Their offense only mustered 179 total yards and remains a work in progress.  Now the Huskies will be playing their toughest opponent yet in Cal, which has a winning record.  That's significant because despite going 8-6 last season, the Huskies did not beat one team that had a winning record.

It's payback time for Cal this week, too.  The Golden Bears have lost six straight meetings in this series, including a 7-31 home loss last year.  That game was far from the blowout that that the score would indicate as Cal was only outgained 368-384, or by 16 total yards.  With 17 starters back for Cal and 9 back for Washington, it's clear to me that these are two teams heading in opposite directions this season.  That will show up in the final score Saturday.  The Huskies are 0-4 ATS in their last four home games vs. a team with a winning road record.  Roll with California Saturday.

20* CFB Non-Conference GAME OF THE WEEK on North Texas +25

This is an awful spot for the Iowa Hawkeyes.  They are coming off two huge wins with their 31-17 win at in-state rival Iowa State and their 27-24 home win over Pittsburgh.  They kicked a 57-yard game-winning field goal as time expired to beat the Panthers last week.

Now, the Hawkeyes will be coming down for their emotional high, especially with the Big Ten opener at Wisconsin next week.  They know that the Big Ten West runs through Wisconsin, so they will clearly be looking ahead to that game.  They won't give North Texas the focus it deserves to cover this massive 25-point spread.

Iowa is not good at covering these huge spread.  The Hawkeyes play a very conservative style and have for years under Kirk Ferentz.  They never seem concerned with running up the score.  They seem to have a way of playing up or down to their competition every week, too.

Yes, they led Illinois State big most of the way in the opener, but they only ended up winning that game 31-14, or by 17 points.  I could see a similar score here.  Last year, all of Iowa's non-conference games were close, too.  They only beat Northern Iowa by 8 at home, Ball State by 4 at home, lost to Iowa State by 3 at home, and beat Pitt by 4 on the road.

You can count on two fingers how many wins Iowa has by more than 24 points over the past four seasons.  They only had one last year and that was a 48-7 win over Northwestern.  They only had one in 2013 and that was a 59-3 win over Western Michigan.  They didn't have one in 2012.  In fact, Iowa has only beaten 2 of its last 49 opponents by more than 24 points.  That's a 47-2 system working in North Texas' favor.

The betting public wants nothing to do with North Texas after an 0-2 SU & 0-2 ATS start.  The Mean Green lost to SMU 13-31 on the road in the opener, but SMU had TCU on the ropes in the 4th quarter last week.  They lost to Rice 24-38 at home last week, but that game was closer than the score showed.  They were only outgained by 84 yards.  The Mean Green have committed 7 turnovers in two games and must improve in that department.

North Texas coach Dan McCarney was a former assistant at Iowa.  He was also the head coach at Iowa State for a number of years and faced Kirk Ferentz numerous times.  His familiarity with Ferentz and the Hawks will come in handy here.  It will also serve as extra motivation for McCarney as this game means a little more to him.

Plays against a home team (IOWA) - in the first month of the season, after closing out last season with 3 or more straight losses, with 5 offensive starters returning, in the first month of the season are 34-8 (81%) ATS over the last 10 seasons.  Iowa is 3-12 ATS in its last 15 home games off a no-cover where it won as a favorite.  The Mean Green are 20-8 ATS in their last 28 games following a double-digit loss at home.  Take North Texas Saturday.

20* CFB BLOWOUT GAME OF THE WEEK on Tennessee -1

The Tennessee Vols are the real deal this season and my pick to win the SEC East.  They returned 18 starters this year and Butch Jones had put together back-to-back Top 5 recruiting classes.  It has all come to fruition thus far as the Volunteers should be 3-0 had they not blown a 14-point 4th quarter lead to a very good Oklahoma team.

The proof that the Vols have turned the corner will come against Florida this weekend.  They have lost 10 straight meetings with the Gators, so they're obviously going to be about as motivated as a team could ever be.  They came close last year in a 10-9 home loss, which is only going to add fuel to the fire.

Florida is not a good team this year.  Yes, it is 3-0, but it could easily be 1-2 right now.  Florida beat East Carolina 31-24 at home in Week 2 and only outgained the Pirates by 40 yards.  That win really looks bad now when ECU lost to Navy 45-21 last week.  The Gators only outgained Kentucky by 4 total yards in their 14-9 road win last week as well.

Jim McElwain clearly isn't the offensive savior that everyone thought he'd be right away.  The Gators only put up 245 total yards on Kentucky last week.  They aren't going to be able to keep up with this high-powered Tennessee attack that is one of the most underrated in the country.

Since Josh Dobbs took over as the starting quarterback, this Tennessee offense has been rolling.  They have scored 45 or more points in five of his last eight starts, which is a huge number.  They have already hung 55-plus points twice this season.  Their defense is improved this year as well and limited a strong Oklahoma attack to just 348 total yards, in double-overtime no less.

Plays on road teams where the line is +3 to -3 (TENNESSEE) - in conference games, after playing 2 straight non-conference games are 33-10 (76.7%) ATS over the last five seasons.  The Vols are 17-5 ATS in their last 22 games as a road favorite of 7 points or less.  The Gators are 1-9 ATS in their last 10 home games after playing a game where 29 or fewer total points were scored.  Florida is 2-12 ATS in its last 14 home games after scoring 14 points or less last game.  The Gators are 6-14 ATS in their last 20 home games.  Roll with Tennessee Saturday.

15* CFB Saturday Letdown Spot on UMass +28.5

This is the ideal letdown spot for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.  Not too many folks gave them a chance last week against Georgia Tech as they were home underdogs.  They were determined to prove their naysayers wrong and pulled off the 30-22 upset as they were a dog in most places all week.

Off such an emotional win, this is clearly a letdown spot.  But it's also a lookahead spot because the Fighting Irish travel to face No. 11 Clemson next week.  It's pretty clear to me that the Fighting Irish won't be focused for this game against UMass, and they aren't going to win by more than four touchdowns as a result.

I love fading Notre Dame as a big home favorite.  The Irish are 28-point favorites against the Minutemen, one of the largest point spreads during Brian Kelly's six seasons as Irish coach. No. 11 Notre Dame was 28-point favorites against Purdue last season and won 30-12. The 14th-ranked Irish were 29.5-point favorites against Temple to open the 2013 season and won 28-6. No. 11 Notre Dame also was 24.5-point favorite favorites against Boston College in 2011 and won only 16-14.  That's not a very good track record under Kelly.

UMass only went 3-9 last year and is undervalued in the early going as a result.  But five of its nine losses came by 7 points or less, and it only lost one game by more than 23 points last year.  The Minutemen now have 19 returning starters this year and are a sleeper in the MAC.

After opening with a 14-48 loss at Colorado in a game that was much closer than the final score indicated, the Minutemen showed what they were capable of last week by nearly upsetting Temple.  They lost 23-25 at home as 13.5-point underdogs.  But Temple is obviously a great team with two great wins already over both Penn State and Cincinnati.

No team in the country has been hit harder by injuries than Notre Dame up to this point.  "Certainly we can't afford to lose any more players at key positions: Quarterback, running back, you start to get into true freshmen, and that will be obviously a significant change in what we look like," Kelly said Sunday.

Sophomore safety Drue Tranquill became the sixth player for the Fighting Irish to sustain a season-ending injury when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee Saturday while celebrating a pass breakup in the end zone against Georgia Tech.

Defensive lineman Jarron Jones was the first to go down in mid-August with a torn medial collateral ligament in his right knee when at the end of a play Notre Dame tackle Mike McGlinchey pushed linebacker Joe Schmidt, who fell in to Jones. Freshman nickel back Shaun Crawford , who had been practicing with the starters, during a one-on-one drill when he was backpedaling, turned and planted and tore his ACL.

Running back Tarean Folston, who led the Irish in rushing last season, tore the ACL in his right knee on his third carry of the season against Texas. Quarterback Malik Zaire fractured his ankle when his leg got trapped under a Virginia player on a run. Tight end Durham Smythe tore the MCL in his right knee in the final minute when a teammate fell into his leg.

One important thing to have when backing big underdogs like this is a good quarterback who can lead the offense to points.  UMass certainly has that in Blake Frohnapfel.  Last year, he threw for 3,345 yards with 23 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.  He has thrown for 618 and four touchdowns with two picks in two games thus far, which is pretty good against defenses the caliber of Temple and Colorado.

Notre Dame is 7-20 ATS in its last 27 games as a favorite of 21.5 to 31 points.  The Minutemen are 5-1 ATS in their last six games following a ATS win.  The Fighting Irish are 1-5 ATS in their last six vs. a team with a losing record.  The Minutemen are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games overall.  Bet UMass Saturday.

25* CFB UPSET GAME OF THE YEAR on Connecticut +7

I backed Connecticut last week and will ride this gravy train again Saturday as it continues to be undervalued.  The Huskies led most of the way against Missouri last week as 21.5-point road underdogs and only lost 9-6 when they went for a fake field goal and the win at the end of the game.

UConn really should be 3-0 against the spread right now, too.  After upsetting one of the best FCS teams in the country in Villanova 20-15 as 6.5-point home dogs, UConn only beat Army 22-17 as 6.5-point home favorites.  But the Huskies outgained Army by 150 total yards and should have won by more.

That game against Missouri was every bit as close as the final score indicated.  The Huskies were only outgained by 37 yards in their 9-6 loss.  Their defense held the Tigers to just 270 yards of offense and is one of the more underrated stop units in the country.  UConn is giving up just 13.7 points, 279.3 yards per game and 4.8 per play.

UConn has been sound against the run, giving up 126 yards per game and 3.7 per carry.  It held Missouri to just 85 yards on 34 carries last week.  Even Army, which usually produces huge rushing totals, could only muster up 180 yards.  That's big because UConn has already faced a triple-option team, so it will know exactly how to stop Navy this week.  That extra preparation the Huskies got for the triple-option cannot be overstated.

Navy is way overvalued here due to blowing out two lesser opponents at home in Colgate and East Carolina.  The Midshipmen are a quality team year in and year out, but they should not be favored by a touchdown on the road against the Huskies.  Their defense gave up 405 total yards to ECU last week, including 325 passing, and that game was much closer than the 45-21 score would indicate.

Connecticut is 10-2 ATS in its last 12 games after scoring 9 or fewer points in its last game.  Plays against road favorites of 3.5 to 10 points (NAVY) - in the first month of the season, after closing out last season strong with 3 or more straight wins are 50-15 (76.9%) ATS since 1992.  Plays on underdogs of 3.5 to 10 points (CONNECTICUT) - off a road loss, with 4+ more total starters returning than opponent, in the first month of the season are 34-12 (73.9%) ATS since 1992.  While I'm calling for the upset, I'm taking the +7 here and this play will be graded on the +7.  Bet Connecticut Saturday.

15* CFB Saturday Undervalued Underdog on Central Michigan +27

Michigan State is clearly overvalued this season.  It has opened up 3-0 but 0-3 against the spread.  That hasn't stopped the betting public from backing them, or the oddsmakers from jacking up their lines.  That's especially the case now that they are the No. 2 ranked team in the country.  These highly-ranked teams are overvalued week in and week out.

Obviously the 3-point win over Oregon was huge, but the other two wins have been far from impressive.  They only beat Western Michigan by 13 as 16.5-point favorites.  They also only beat Air Force by 14 as 24.5-point favorites.  They were actually outgained by 104 yards by Air Force last week, but the Falcons committed 6 personal foul penalties and 3 turnovers, or they actually could have pulled off the upset.  Despite being 3-0, the Spartans are actually getting outgained by 26 yards per game on the season.  That's not the sign of a very good team.

I love fading Big Ten favorites of 20 points or more.  Sure, I'm not going to do this blindly, but I have learned how to pick my spots over time.  Big Ten favorites of 20-plus points went 0-5 against the spread last week.  The Big Ten in general plays a slow, methodical game that tends to lead to defensive battles, which makes it hard for them to cover these big spreads.  Michigan State is no exception.

Central Michigan is flying under the radar this season due to its 1-2 start.  But the Chippewas played an improved Oklahoma State team very tough in the opener, only losing 13-24 as 21-point underdogs.  They were only outgained by 77 yards in that game.  They beat Monmouth by 21 before losing to Syracuse 27-30 (OT) on the road last week.  The Chippewas outplayed the Orange and should have won as they outgained them 520-326 for the game, or by 194 total yards.

I love backing big underdogs with good quarterbacks who can put up points on offense because you're never out of it when this is the case.  Well, Cooper Rush is the real deal this season.  He is completing 70.3 percent of his passes for 983 yards with 5 touchdowns and 3 interceptions through three games.  Plus, the Chippewas have been better defensively than they are getting credit for here.  They are only giving up 309 yards per game this season, and holding Oklahoma State to 24 points is no small feat.

Just like Air Force and Western Michigan, which are two comparable teams to Central Michigan, the Chippewas will hang with the Spartans this week.  The Chippewas are 40-19-2 ATS in their last 61 games following a ATS win.  Central Michigan is 5-0 ATS in its last five road games, 4-0 ATS in its last four games following a loss, 5-0 ATS in its last five road games vs. a team with a winning record, and 4-0 ATS in its last four games overall. The four trends combine for a perfect 18-0 system backing the Chippewas.  Take Central Michigan Saturday.

25* MLB GAME OF THE YEAR on Cleveland Indians -114

The Kansas City Royals are in a massive letdown spot here.  You rarely find these spots in baseball like other sports, but this is certainly one of them.  The Royals just clinched their first division title since 1985!  There's no doubt they partied hard last night and won't show up ready to play this game against Cleveland.

The Indians are still alive for the final wild card spot in the American League thanks to their 6-3 win over the Twins yesterday.  At 4 games out, it's an uphill climb, but they are still plugging away and have not packed it in.

I'll gladly back one of the most underrated starters in baseball in Carlos Carrasco, who is 13-11 with a 3.62 ERA and 1.089 WHIP in 28 starts with 196 strikeouts in 171 2/3 innings.  Carrasco has been at his best on the road, going 8-4 with a 2.73 ERA and 0.921 WHIP in 14 starts away from home.

Carrasco is 3-0 with a 2.25 ERA in three starts against Kansas City in 2015.  Edinson Volquez is 2-3 with an 8.87 ERA and 2.301 WHIP in six career starts against Cleveland.  He is also 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA and 1.500 WHIP in his last three starts coming into this one.

Carrasco is 9-1 (+8.4 Units) against the money line on the road when the money line is +125 to -125 over the last 2 seasons.  The Indians are 12-2 in their last 14 during game 1 of a series.  Cleveland is 6-0 in Carrasco's last six starts during Game 1 of a series.  The Royals are 0-7 in their last 7 during game 1 of a series.  Kansas City is 1-6 in its last seven games following a win.  These five trends combine for a 40-4 system backing Cleveland.  Bet the Indians Friday.

20* Boise State/Virginia ESPN Friday No-Brainer on UNDER 49

I don’t have a real good feel for the side in this game. I believe Boise State being a small favorite is about right. I just don’t really trust either of these teams to win this game in what is essentially a pick ’em. But I do see some value in the total as I believe this is going to be a low-scoring affair.

Virginia has been a pretty good defensive team through the years with little offense. That’s the case in 2015 as its offense is sub-par once again, while its defense is better than the numbers show up to this point. The Cavaliers have played two high-powered offenses in Notre Dame and UCLA, so thus it is giving up 445 yards per game through three games.

The Cavaliers have not fared very well offensively in the early going. They are only putting up 375 total yards per game and only managed 373 against William & Mary last week. This is an offense that put up 374 yards per game last season and doesn’t look to be any better, especially with so many losses and only five starters back.

Boise State is no longer an elite offensive team. It lost its two best players on offense from last year in RB Jay Ajayi and QB Grand Hedrick. Now, starting QB Ryan Finley is out with an ankle injury, and this offense is really in trouble. The Broncos only managed 16 points against Washington in their opener and 24 against a suspect BYU defense. Sure, they racked up 52 points on Idaho State last week, but that’s far from impressive.

The Broncos are much more reliant on their defense this season than they have been in year’s past. That’s a pretty good unit to rely on when you consider the Broncos returned eight starters on that side of the ball. They held Washington to just 179 total yards, BYU to a respectable 381 total yards, and Idaho State to 298 yards. They are only giving up 16.0 points, 286 yards per game and 4.2 per play this season.

Virginia is 40-14 UNDER versus good rushing defenses that allow 3.25 or fewer yards per carry since 1992.  Virginia is 41-16 UNDER versus good defensive teams that give up 310 or fewer yards per game since 1992.  The UNDER is 10-1 in Cavaliers last 10 home games off a no-cover where they won straight up as a favorite.

Plays on the UNDER on roadteams where the total is between 42.5 and 49 (BOISE ST) - with an excellent rushing D - allowing 100 or less rushing yards/game, after outrushing opponent by 125 or more yards last game are 50-19 (72.5%) over the last 10 seasons.  Bet the UNDER in this game Friday.

15* Redskins/Giants NFC East ANNIHILATOR on New York -3.5

The New York Giants are essentially already in a must-win situation. The chips are already stacked against them considering only 11 percent of teams since 1990 to open 0-2 have made the playoffs. It’s safe to say that they are going to be extra motivated to avoid suffering their third straight loss to start the season.

New York essentially should be 2-0 right now if its defense could have held late in both of the losses to the Cowboys and Falcons, where they blew double-digit second half leads in each. But the offense deserves some of the blame, too, failing to put away both of those teams. They settled for a field goal in the final two minutes against the Cowboys after Rashad Jennings was instructed not to score. They fumbled inside the Atlanta 10-yard line in the 4th quarter or would have added on more points.

Now the Giants get a break this week because they get to face a team they have simply dominated in recent years. The Giants are 4-0 SU & 4-0 ATS in their last four meetings with the Redskins, and none have even really been all that close. All four wins have come by 7 points or more. They have won by 13, 31, 14 and 7 points in the last four meetings, respectively. That’s an average margin of victory of 16.3 points per game.

The Redskins did bounce back nicely following a 10-17 home loss to the Dolphins in the opener with a 24-10 home win over the Rams last week. But they clearly caught the Rams in a letdown spot after they had beaten the two-time defending NFC champion Seattle Seahawks at home the previous week. The Redskins are banged up right now as WR DeSean Jackson (out), LB Perry Riley (questionable) and CB Chris Culliver (questionable) are all possibly out for this one.

The Giants get a huge boost defensively this week due to the season debut of middle linebacker Jon Beason.  He is the leader of this defense and a beast against the run.  That's key because the Redskins lead the league in rushing through two weeks at 171 yards per game.  Well, the Giants rank 3rd in the league against the run, giving up 68 yards per game and 3.0 per carry.  That makes this a good matchup for them and an even better one now that Beason is back.

Odell Beckham Jr. got going last week with 146 receiving yards and a touchdown.  He had 12 receptions for 143 yards and his first three-touchdown game the last time these teams met in a 24-13 victory for New York on December 14.  Eli Manning was 51-of-73 for 550 yards with seven touchdowns and one interception in last season's sweep of the Redskins.  Washington has gone 1-7 on the road in each of the past two seasons and is 2-12 in its last 14 games against NFC East opponents.  The Redskins hit the road for the first time this season.

Plays against road underdogs of 3.5 to 10 points in conference games off an upset win as a home underdog are 42-17 (71.2%) ATS over the last 10 seasons. The Redskins are 2-8 ATS in their last 10 games following a win. Washington is 15-37-3 ATS in its last 55 games vs. a team with a losing record. The Giants are 6-1 ATS in their last seven Thursday games. New York is 5-0 ATS in its last five games after allowing more than 350 total yards in its previous game.  Take the Giants Thursday.

20* Cincinnati/Memphis AAC GAME OF THE WEEK on Cincinnati +10

This line is clearly inflated whether or not Cincinnati quarterback Gunner Kiel plays tonight.  If he plays it would just be an added bonus, and head coach Tommy Tuberville believes that there's a good chance he will take the field Thursday.

“He’ll have a good chance to play,” Bearcats coach Tommy Tuberville told reporters Tuesday of Kiel, who has thrown for 805 yards and five touchdowns in three games.  Backup Hayden Moore came in when Kiel exited against Miami Ohio when the score was 24-23 and eventually led the game-winning drive, so he at least got his feet wet if he needs to play.

The key here is that Cincinnati is better than the final scores would indicate to this point.  Cincinnati outgained Alabama by 390 yards in a 52-10 home win, outgained Temple by 261 yards in a 24-34 home loss, and outgained Miami Ohio by 97 yards in a 37-33 road win.

When you look at the numbers, it's easy to see that the Bearcats are a very good team.  They rank 7th in the country in total offense at 579.3 yards per game, and their defense is only giving up 330.0 yards per game, so they are outgaining teams by an average of 249.3 yards per game.  The problem has been turnovers as the Bearcats have already committed 11 of them, which is correctable.

The Memphis Tigers are a good team again this season and I don't want to take too much away from them.  But they have faced three awful defenses in opening 3-0 in Missouri State, Kansas and Bowling Green.  They now will be facing the toughest team they have played yet, and it's not really even close.  Asking them to win by double-digits to cover this spread is simply asking too much.

This is a Tigers defense that returned just three starters from last year and won't be very good as the season goes on. They gave up 41 points and 579 total yards to Bowling Green last time out, but escaped with a 44-41 victory thanks to facing one of the worse defenses in the country in the Falcons.

Memphis is going to have to deal with a ton of playmakers on Cincinnati's side.  The Bearcats have three players who have rushed for at least 220 yards already this season.  Mike Boone (220 yards, 9.6/carry) is an absolute stud, and he is probable to play tonight after his status was in doubt.  Their two best receivers in Shaq Washington and Mekale McKay were also in doubt earlier this week, but both are expected to play, which will give the offense a huge boost.

Finally, Cincinnati is going to be highly motivated following an embarrassing 41-14 home loss to Memphis last year.  The Tigers caught them completely off guard early in the season.  It's payback time now as the road team has won each of the last two meetings in this series.  Look for the Bearcats to play with a serious chip on their shoulder in this one.

The Bearcats are 6-1-1 ATS in their last eight conference games.  The Tigers are 5-18 ATS in their last 23 games after scoring 42 or more points in their previous game.  Memphis is 12-27 ATS in its last 39 games following two more more consecutive wins.  Tommy Tuberville is 12-3 ATS off two straight games where his team has committed 3 or more turnovers in all games he has coached.  Bet Cincinnati Thursday.

15* MLB Thursday Total DOMINATOR on Orioles/Nationals OVER 8

After two low-scoring pitcher's duels with 5 runs in Game 1 and 7 runs in Game 2 to start this series, I believe there is value with the OVER in Game 3.  The pitching matchups in the first two games were much better than the one were have here in Game 3.

Now it's Tyler Wilson vs. Tanner Roark.  Wilson has only seen limited action this season, but it has not been pretty.  He is 1-2 with a 5.00 ERA and 1.333 WHIP in three starts this season with just 5 strikeouts in 18 innings, so he obviously doesn't have very good stuff.  He gave up six earned runs in 4 1/3 innings in his last start against Tampa Bay.

Roark has been awful all season.  He has gone 4-6 with a 4.73 ERA and 1.372 WHIP over 93 1/3 innings of work.  As a starter, he's 3-3 with a 5.66 ERA and 1.489 WHIP in nine starts, including 1-1 with a 6.60 ERA and 1.467 WHIP in three home starts.  Roark gave up six earned runs in 5 innings to the Marlins in his last turn.  He allowed five runs in 6 1/3 innings in his only career start against Baltimore as well.

The OVER is 15-5-2 in Orioles last 22 games vs. a right-handed starter. The OVER is 22-6-4 in Nationals last 32 home games.  The OVER is 6-2 in Roark's last eight starts overall.  Washington is 32-11 OVER (+20.9 Units) vs. an overused bullpen that pitches more than 3.2 innings per game this season.  Roll with the OVER in this game Thursday.

20* MLB Wednesday No-Doubt Rout on Cleveland Indians -129

The Cleveland Indians are still holding out hope of making the postseason.  They are 4.5 games back in the wild card and need a big finish to do so.  This team has shown a lot of resiliency of late.  In fact, the Indians are a perfect 7-0 in their last seven games following a loss.  They haven't lost two in a row since September 1-2.

The Indians have a massive advantage on the mound tonight behind Corey Kluber, the 2014 AL Cy Young winner.  He has gone 8-14 in spite of a 3.44 ERA and 1.037 WHIP in 29 starts this year.  Kluber owns the Twins, going 6-2 with a 3.22 ERA and 1.073 WHIP in 13 career starts against them.  Kluber has pitched at least 8 innings while allowing no more than two earned runs in each of his last five starts against Minnesota.  He is 4-1 with a 1.70 ERA in those five starts.

Phil Hughes is 10-9 with a 4.58 ERA and 1.306 WHIP over 24 starts this season.  The right-hander has really struggled of late, going 0-3 with a 10.03 ERA and 2.057 WHIP in his last three starts.  Hughes is 1-2 with a 7.43 ERA in his last four starts against Cleveland, allowing 19 earned runs in 23 innings.

Dating back further, the Indians are 13-3 in their last 16 games following a loss.  Cleveland is 6-0 in its last six after scoring two runs or less in its previous game.  The Twins are 0-7 in their last seven when their opponent scores two runs or less in their previous game.  Add those two trends to the fact that the Indians are 7-0 following a loss, and we have a 20-0 system backing them.  Bet the Indians Wednesday.

25* MLB Run Line GAME OF THE YEAR on Chicago Cubs -1.5 (-133)

I'll back the Chicago Cubs on the run line today and avoid the -300 juice.  Rarely will you see a baseball team laying -300 juice unless they have a massive advantage on the mound.  That's certainly the case for the Cubs tonight.

Jake Arrieta is a deserving candidate of the 2015 NL Cy Young Award.  He has gone 19-6 with a 1.96 ERA and 0.923 WHIP in 30 starts this season.  Arrieta has been untouchable in the second half, posting 17 straight quality starts while going 13-1 with a 1.01 ERA during that stretch.

I'll gladly fade Tyler Cravy of the Brewers.  The right-hander is 0-7 with a 6.42 ERA and 1.721 WHIP in five starts and six relief appearances in 2015, including 0-3 with a 10.50 ERA and 2.333 WHIP in his last three starts.  Cravy faced the Cubs on August 13, giving up four earned runs, eight base runners and two homers over 4 1/3 innings of a 2-9 loss in Chicago.

Arrieta is 14-1 (+12.0 Units) against the money line in the second half of the season this season with the Cubs winning by 2.6 runs/game.  He has gone 13-2 against the run line during this stretch.  Bet the Cubs on the Run Line Tuesday.

20* Jets/Colts ESPN Monday No-Brainer on New York +7

The New York Jets are almost mirror images of the Buffalo Bills, who beat the Colts 27-14 last week, and will find some success in this game because of it. They boast a Top 5 defense led by the addition of Darrelle Revis, and they have a bruising running game. I actually think the Jets have a better quarterback than the Bills in Ryan Fitzpatrick, too, and he has plenty of weapons at his disposal with Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker.

The Colts’ offense was stymied by the Bills last week. They were held to just 14 points and 304 total yards. Andrew Luck was confused and under duress all game, completing 26 of 49 passes for 243 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. The ground game was held to just 64 yards on 17 carries as well.

Indianapolis was not great defensively against a Bills offense that wasn’t expected to be good. The Bills managed 27 points and 342 total yards on the Colts, whose weakness is their defense. They rushed for 147 yards on 36 carries, and I look for the Jets to have the same kind of success on the ground in this one.

New York had its running game going against a good Cleveland defense last week in a 31-10 victory. It rushed for 154 yards on 36 carries, led by 91 yards and two touchdowns by Chris Ivory. Fitzpatrick was efficient, completing 15 of 24 passes for 179 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Marshall made his presence felt right away, catching six balls for 62 yards and a score.

I know Cleveland doesn’t have an elite offense, but the Jets did what they were supposed to do and held the Browns to just 10 points and 321 total yards. They limited Johnny Manziel and Josh McCown to 18 of 32 passing for 231 yards and a touchdown with an interception, while also forcing two fumbles to get three takeaways in all. Head coach Todd Bowles is a defensive mastermind, which was proven in Arizona the past few years, and he will have an excellent game plan in place to stop the Colts.

The Jets have had the Colts number through the years. They are 5-3 straight up in the last eight meetings despite being an underdog in six of those. Indianapolis has only beaten New York by more than seven points once in those eight meetings. The Jets are 4-1 ATS in the last five meetings as well.

It’s worth noting that the Colts will likely be without their best receiver in T.Y. Hilton for this one. Frank Gore was also injured against the Bills and is questionable to return this week. The Jets are 5-0 ATS in their last five vs. AFC opponents. The Colts are 2-5-1 ATS in their last eight vs. a team with a winning record.  Bet the Jets Monday.

15* MLB Run Line PLAY OF THE DAY on Los Angeles Angels +1.5 (-115)

The Los Angeles Angels trail the Houston Astros by 2.5 games for the final wild card spot in the American League.  They cannot afford to lose this series to the Astros if they want to make the postseason.  Look for them to come out with an inspired effort in Game 1 Monday.

Jered Weaver has pitched very well of late, going 1-1 with a 3.24 ERA and 1.260 WHIP in his last three starts.  One of those was against Houston on September 11 as Weaver allowed two earned runs in six innings of a 3-2 victory.  He improved to 5-2 with a 2.47 ERA and 0.841 WHIP in eight career starts against the Astros.

Dallas Keuchel was dominant in the first half of the season, but he has slowed down here of late.  Keuchel allowed nine earned runs and three homers over 4 2/3 innings in his last start against the Rangers.  He sports a 4.13 ERA and 1.393 WHIP in 10 career starts against the Angels.

Houston is 7-23 against the run line (-18.2 Units) vs. AL teams scoring 4.2 or less runs/game in the second half of the season this season.  The Astros are 3-13 in their last 16 after scoring 5 runs or more in their previous game.  Houston is 1-7 in its last eight games following a win.  In a game that could easily be decided by one run, we'll take the Angels at a great price on the Run Line Monday.

15* NL Sunday No-Doubt Rout on Pittsburgh Pirates -120

The Pittsburgh Pirates only lead the Chicago Cubs by one game for home-field advantage in the wild card game.  They are still hoping to win the NL Central, too, as they trail the Cardinals by four games.  The Dodgers already have the NL West wrapped up and will only be playing for seeding from here on out.  The motivation clearly goes to Pittsburgh.

The edge on the mound also is heavily in the Pirates' favor today.  Gerrit Cole is 16-8 with a 2.60 ERA and 1.112 WHIP in 29 starts this season, including 8-5 with a 2.36 ERA and 1.133 WHIP in 15 road starts.  I look for him to notch his 17th win today.

The Dodgers will be going with Mike Bolsinger, who is solid with a 6-3 record, 3.13 ERA and 1.280 WHIP in 18 starts this year.  But Bolsinger has struggled of late, going 1-0 with a 5.27 ERA and 1.902 WHIP in his last three starts.  He is nowhere near on Cole's level.

Bolsinger is 1-10 (-9.7 Units) against the money line when playing against a team with a winning record over the last two seasons.  The Pirates are 41-17 in Cole's last 58 starts overall, including 5-0 in his last five Sunday starts.  Bet the Pirates Sunday.

25* NFC North GAME OF THE YEAR on Minnesota Vikings -2.5

The Minnesota Vikings should come back motivated from a poor performance in a 3-20 loss against the 49ers in the opener. I believe the 49ers simply wanted that game more after taking so much grief in the offseason. The Vikings admitted that they did not live up to the hype that was created for them with the return of Adrian Peterson, and they simply fell flat on their faces in the opener.

Minnesota will also be motivated from losing to the Lions in both meetings last season. In the second meeting, they lost 14-16 on the road, but thoroughly dominated that game. They outgained the Lions 360-233 for the game, or by 127 total yards. I believe the Vikings are still a team on the rise this season, while the Lions are not.

Adrian Peterson did not get enough touches against the 49ers to make a difference, and you can bet the Vikings will force-feed him in this one. He had just 10 carries for 31 yards against the 49ers. I expect him to get 20-plus carries in this one, which is when this offense is at its best, taking the pressure off of Teddy Bridgewater.

The Lions were outgained by 181 yards by the Chargers in a 28-33 loss. They benefited from a defensive touchdown en route to taking a 21-3 lead, but then their defense had all kinds of holes the rest of the way. The Chargers scored 30 straight points to take control of the game, racked up 483 total yards on the Lions, and it’s already clear that the Lions really miss Ndamukong Suh.

I certainly believe the Vikings have the better defense in this one. They went from allowing 30 points per game in 2013 to just 21.4 points per game last year in Mike Zimmer’s first season. They played pretty well against the 49ers until the fourth quarter, but they still only gave up 20 points. Their defense is built to stop the pass with elite rushers off the edge and a very good secondary, making this a better matchup for them against the pass-heavy Lions. They held Detroit to an average of 16.5 points per game in the two meetings last year.

Plays against all teams where the line is +3 to -3 (DETROIT) – off a road loss, in the first month of the season, after closing out last season with two or more straight losses are 58-27 (68.2%) ATS since 1983. The Lions are 1-6 ATS in their last seven road games. The Vikings are 4-1 ATS in their last five home games. Minnesota is 11-4 ATS in its last 15 games following a loss.  That last trend shows how resilient the Vikings have been.  Bet the Vikings Sunday.

20* NFL BLOWOUT GAME OF THE WEEK on New York Giants -2

The New York Giants are going to be hungry to come back with a win in their home opener after blowing the game against the Cowboys last week. They have been getting bashed in the media by the way they handled the clock management down the stretch, and that’s only going to add fuel to the fire.

The fact of the matter is that the Giants should have won that game against the Cowboys. This is a team that is clearly on the rise in my opinion, especially with the way they closed out last year. They scored 28, 24, 36, 24, 37 and 26 points over their final six games for an average of 29.2 points per game. Eli Manning and company put up 26 on the Cowboys in Week 1 as well.

Atlanta was one of the worst defensive teams in the NFL last season. It should be slightly better this year, but the fact of the matter is that it lacks overall talent on this side of the ball. The Eagles racked up 399 total yards on the Falcons on Monday Night Football and should have scored more than 24 points, but costly turnovers, penalties and missed field goals had them settling for that number.

One key advantage the Giants will have in this one is that they’ll have an extra day of rest. The Giants played on Sunday against the Cowboys, while the Falcons played on Monday against the Eagles. That extra day usually pays dividends in the NFL, and it’s always harder to come back on a short week like the Falcons after a MNF game.

I also believe the Giants will be the more motivated team in this one, as stated before. They know they cannot afford to drop to 0-2 because history says that teams that start 0-2 rarely make the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Falcons will have a sense of satisfaction after upsetting the Eagles in a game everyone thought they'd lose last week and will not come back as motivated as a result.

The Giants are 5-0 ATS in their last five games after allowing more than 350 total yards in their previous game. The Falcons are 2-5 ATS in their last seven games following a win. New York is 5-1 straight up in its last six meetings with Atlanta. The home team is a perfect 4-0 straight up in the last four meetings dating back to 2009.  Take the Giants Sunday.

15* AFC Sunday No-Doubt Rout on Cincinnati Bengals -3

Admittedly, I may not have been giving the Bengals enough credit coming into the season. In fact, I didn’t give the Chargers much credit, either. But I think the Bengals will cover this 3-point spread as I was much more impressed with the way they went on the road and beat Oakland last week than I was with the Chargers’ home win over the Lions.

Cincinnati thoroughly dominated what was supposed to be an improved Raiders team from start to finish. It outgained the Raiders by 150 total yards for the game. This was a bigger blowout even than the 33-13 final showed as the Raiders scored all 13 of their points in the 4th quarter when the game was already decided. The Bengals clearly took their foot off the gas late after taking a commanding 33-0 lead.

Andy Dalton is still a solid regular season quarterback. He went 25 of 34 for 269 yards and two touchdowns without an interception. He also has more weapons than he’s ever had with A.J. Green and a healthy Tyler Eifert at his disposal. Eifert’s presence was felt in the opener as he had nine receptions for 104 yards and two touchdowns, showing why he was a former 1st-round pick.

The rushing game was solid as usual, too, as the Bengals amassed 127 yards on the ground. That's actually a below-average number for this offense compared to last year.  The Bengals have one of the best offensive lines in the NFL and will overpower a suspect San Diego front seven.  The defense held the Raiders to just 246 total yards in the win and is once again solid this year.

San Diego did erase a 21-3 deficit to beat Detroit in the opener, but it clearly has some holes on defense after giving up 28 points. I like what I saw from the Chargers offense against the Lions, but that’s a Lions defense that will take a huge step back this year with the loss of Ndamukong Suh. I don’t expect the Chargers to have nearly as much success against this impressive Bengals defense on the road this week.

Cincinnati is 3-1 SU & 3-1 ATS in its last four meetings with San Diego. The Bengals have outgained the Chargers in seven straight meetings. Even in their playoff loss to the Chargers a couple years ago, the Bengals outgained them 439-318 for the game, but shot themselves in the foot. Cincinnati has held San Diego to 334 or fewer total yards in each of the last four meetings. It clearly has this Chargers offense figured out.

The Bengals are 17-5 ATS in their last 22 games after scoring 24 or more points in their previous game. The Chargers are 1-8 ATS in their last nine vs. AFC opponents. San Diego is 3-9 ATS in its last 12 games overall. Cincinnati is 15-5-1 ATS in its last 21 home games.  The Bengals have one of the most underrated home-field advantages in the NFL, going 14-2-1 SU in their last 17 games in Cincinnati.  Roll with the Bengals Sunday.

15* NFL Sunday UPSET SHOCKER on Houston Texans +3

The Houston Texans are going to come back hungry for a victory after opening 0-1 with a loss to the Chiefs.  The Texans dug themselves too big of a hole early and couldn't quite recover, losing 20-27 to a very good Kansas City team.  But they actually outgained the Chiefs by 66 total yards in the loss and held KC to a respectable 330 total yards.

Ryan Mallett took over for an ineffective Brian Hoyer in the second half, and the offense actually looked its best with Mallett running the show.  He finished 8 of 13 passing for 98 yards and a touchdown.  Head coach Bill O'Brien was impressed also because he has named Mallett the starter this week.  I look for this offense to live up to its potential as he's a much better passer than Hoyer and capable of making all the throws.

Carolina is coming off an ugly 20-9 win at Jacksonville.  That's a bad, bad Jacksonville team.  While the defense played well, the offense looked terrible against the Jaguars as expected.  The Panthers managed just 263 total yards for the game and were actually outgained by two yards.  This Carolina offense is going to really struggle against what is a better Houston defense now with J.J. Watt and a healthy Jadeveon Clowney teaming up to wreak havoc up front.

I just trust in O'Brien to light a fire under his team knowing that the Texans cannot start 0-2 if they want a chance to make the playoffs.  The stats say that only 25% of teams that start 0-2 make the playoffs, and I know O'Brien is well aware of it.  The Texans will come back the more motivated team in this one.

Let's get back to this Carolina offense.  This has to be one of the worst offenses in the NFL in 2015.  When your top receivers are Ted Ginn and Jerricho Cotchery, you know you're in trouble.  Cam Newton is simply going to be asked to do too much all season, and the fact that the Panthers actually covered against the Jags last week works in our favor here.  The betting public doesn't yet know how bad this Carolina team is going to be, but I have a great feeling I do already.  The Panthers should not be favored in a game that I believe the Texans win outright.

The Panthers are missing their best player in Luke Keuchly, who suffered a concussion against the Jaguars and is listed as doubtful to play Sunday.  He has the most tackles in the NFL since he came into the league, and he is their leader on defense.  Without him, this is no more than an average defense.  The Panthers could also be without DT Dwan Edwards and DT Star Lotulelei, who are both questionable.

Plays against home teams where the line is +3 to -3 (CAROLINA) - good offense from last season - averaged 335 or more total yards/game, in non-conference games are 23-5 (82.1%) ATS since 1983.  The Texans are 4-1 ATS in their last five games following a loss, 6-2 ATS in their last eight games following an ATS loss, and 6-1 ATS in their last seven games in Week 2.  Bet the Texans Sunday.

15* BYU/UCLA Late-Night BAILOUT on BYU +16.5

BYU continues to be underrated year in and year out.  That has been the case to open the 2015 season again.  BYU has pulled off back-to-back upsets over Nebraska (33-28) on the road and Boise State (35-24) at home.  Yet, it is now a 16.5-point underdog to UCLA this week and still lacking the respect it deserves.

The Cougars have put up great offensive numbers against two solid defenses.  They have scored 34.0 points per game and averaged 446.0 yards per game in their two wins.  The defense has held its own in allowing 26.0 points per game and 403.0 yards per game against two elite offenses as well.

BYU may be a better offense with Tanner Mangum under center.  He was one of the top QB recruits in the country coming out of high school, and even tied Jameis Winston for MVP honors in the Elite 11 camp.  He is a better passer than Taisom Hill.  Mangum has completed 61.5 percent of his passes for 420 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions in just over one game of action.

UCLA is overvalued here.  It is expected to compete for a Pac-12 title this season with all of the returning starters it brought back.  While I believe this is a good team, I do not feel like the Bruins deserve to be 16.5-point favorites.  They were 18-point favorites over Virginia in a 34-16 home win in their opener.  BYU is clearly a better team than Virginia, and it's not really even close.

While the Bruins have a very good offense, their defense leaves a lot to be desired.  They gave up 28.1 points and 399 yards per game last season.  They returned eight starters on D, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are going to be much better.  They have faced two awful offenses in Virginia and UNLV in their first two games, and now I look for their weaknesses to be exploited against this underrated BYU offensive attack.

I also think this is a tough spot for UCLA.  It will be looking ahead to its Pac-12 opener next week at Arizona, which won the Pac-12 South last season.  UCLA clearly wants revenge on the Wildcats and wants to win the Pac-12 South this year, and it starts with beating Arizona next week.  The Bruins won't give the Cougars the full attention they deserve this week.

The Cougars are 21-9 ATS in their last 30 games after allowing less than 100 yards rushing in their previous game.  BYU is 7-1 ATS after accumulating less than 100 yards rushing in its previous game.  The Cougars are 4-1 ATS in their last five non-conference games.  Bet BYU Saturday.

20* CFB Letdown GAME OF THE WEEK on Iowa State +8

The Toledo Rockets are in a massive letdown spot here.  They are coming off the biggest win in all of college football last week, beating Arkansas 16-12 on the road despite being 23-point underdogs in that game.  After such a huge win over an elite SEC opponent, the Rockets won't even show up today against Iowa State.

The Cyclones are a much-improved team this season that will likely pull off the upset here, but I'll take the points for some added insurance.  They returned 13 starters this season, but after going 2-10 last year, the betting public wants nothing to do with this team in the early going.  The offense and defense are both vastly improved, and that has shown the first two weeks.

Iowa State's offense has a senior QB in Sam Richardson and one of the most underrated receiving corps in the Big 12.  They have a very good passing game that will pick apart this Toledo defense.  They also have their best defensive line since Paul Rhoads came to Iowa State seven years ago.  That D-line will be key in shutting down Toledo.

Iowa State opened the season with a 31-7 win over a ranked FCS opponent in Northern Iowa as a 13-point favorite.  Then, it held a 17-10 lead at home over Iowa last week, but gave up 21 unanswered points down the stretch to lose 31-17.  Iowa tacked on a garbage TD late that made this final score appear to be a blowout when it really wasn't.  But the perception that it was a blowout works in our favor here because we're now Iowa State is catching too many points.

Toledo never should have beaten Arkansas in the first place.  Toledo was actually outgained 318-515 for the game, or by nearly 200 total yards.  So, Toledo's win looks impressive, when in reality if Arkansas outgains Toledo by 200 yards it should win by 14-plus points every time.  This game was really a blowout in Arkansas' favor, but it did not show up in the final score.  The Razorbacks continually shot themselves in the foot.  But because it was an upset win for Toledo, that works out in our favor here, too.

These teams played last year with Iowa State winning 37-30 at home as 3.5-point favorites.  Remember, this was a 2-10 Iowa State team last year, too.  The Cyclones outgained the Rockets 454-325 for the game.  Sam Richardson had one of his best games of the season with 37 completions, 351 yards and three touchdowns without an interception.  He is primed for another big game against this Toledo defense, which gave up 30.8 points per game last year and 412 passing yards to Arkansas last week.  It's also worth noting that the three meetings between Toledo and ISU since 2006 have all been decided by 7 points or less and by a combined 10 points.

Toledo is 0-6 ATS after allowing 325 or more passing yards last game over the past two seasons.  The Cyclones are 4-0 ATS in their last four vs. MAC opponents.  Take this combined 10-0 system backing the Cyclones straight to the bank.  Roll with Iowa State Saturday.

15* CFB Saturday Undervalued Underdog on SMU +37

The SMU Mustangs are clearly not the same joke of a team that they were last year when they went 1-11 after winning their final game of the season.  It's time to back them now while the perception is still out that SMU is still one of the worst teams in college football.

At the same time, the perception is that TCU is a national title contender.  While I believe that to be true, the fact of the matter is that oddsmakers are forced to set huge spread for TCU to have to cover due to what they did last year. It's going to be very hard for the Horned Frogs to live up to these lofty expectations from the betting public and the oddsmakers in the early going.

That was clearly the case in a season-opening 23-17 win at Minnesota.  TCU was a 16-point favorite in that game and had to hold on for dear life in the end just to get the victory.  Sure, it came back and beat Stephen F. Austin 70-7 as a 45-point favorite last week, but that's an FCS team and one that is not nearly as good as this SMU squad.

Chad Morris, who was previously the offensive coordinator at Clemson and led the Tigers to numerous great seasons on that side of the ball, accepted the challenge of turning SMU around.  He actually inherited 16 returning starters this year, so he had some pieces to work with.  So far, he's done a tremendous job.

SMU opened the season with a 21-56 home loss to Baylor and covered the 37-point spread.  That was actually a 28-21 game at halftime before the Bears pulled away in the second half.  The Mustangs put up a respectable 369 total yards on a Baylor defense that was expected to be one of the best in the Big 12 with so much returning talent from last year.

Last week, SMU rolled North Texas 31-13 as a 6-point home favorite.  I'm not saying North Texas is a great team, but keep in mind that SMU had lost to North Texas 6-43 last year.  That just shows the kind of improvement this team has made.  That win over the Mean Green was every bit the blowout that the final score would indicate.  The Mustangs outgained them 444-240, or by 204 total yards.

SMU is capable of putting up big points under the guidance of Chad Morris and behind former Texas A&M transfer Matt Davis, who was the 6th-rated QB recruit in the country coming out of high school.  Davis has been brilliant through two games, completing 70.2 percent of his passes for 337 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions, while also rushing for a team-high 240 yards and two scores.  With a QB of his caliber, SMU is more than capable of staying within five touchdowns of TCU.

Yes, TCU does have one of the best offenses in the country again this year, but it's defense is sure to take a big step back as the season goes on.  The Horned Frogs only returned five starters on defense and lost six of their top seven tacklers from last year.  Making matters worse is that they have been hit by injuries on this side of the ball already.

Two of those five returning starters were DE James McFarland and DT Davion Pierson, and both are out for this game due to injury.  Plus, three more of their projected starters on defense are hurt and will miss this game in FS Kenny Iloka, LB Mike Freeze and LB Sammy Douglas.  Their defense has held up against two poor offenses through the first two games, but I have no doubt Davis and this SMU offense will find plenty of success in this one.  Roll with SMU Saturday.

15* Stanford/USC ABC Saturday No-Brainer on Stanford +9.5

I believe the value is with the road underdog Cardinal in this one. That is evident to me when you consider that this was only a 5-point spread before the season started, and now it has moved 5.5 points in USC’s favor with a line of 10.5 now. I don’t believe that is warranted even though the Cardinal already have a loss. If anything, that has them extra motivated coming in knowing their margin for error now is very slim.

I like the way that Stanford responded from its loss at Northwestern last week. It beat a quality Central Florida team 31-7 at 20-point home favorites. This game was an even bigger blowout than the final score would indicate as the Cardinal outgained the Knights by 310 total yards for the game. The offense racked up 491 yards behind 341 passing and three touchdowns from Kevin Hogan, while the defense limited the Knights to just 181 total yards.

USC has won and covered each of its first two games of the season, which has it overvalued here. The Trojans have played a very soft schedule, beating Arkansas State by 49 and Idaho by 50. They were 27-point favorites over Arkansas State and 44-point favorites over Idaho, so they were supposed to roll. I believe that easy early schedule will work against them here as the Cardinal are the more battle-tested team with a much tougher schedule thus far.

Plus, Stanford is going to be motivated after getting upset by USC each of the last two seasons by a field goal. The Cardinal outgained the Trojans by 26 yards in a 17-20 road loss in 2013. They then outgained the Trojans by a whopping 138 yards last year despite losing 10-13 at home. They limited the high-powered USC offensive attack to just 291 total yards last season, and their offense racked up 429 yards, but shot themselves in the foot by not capitalizing in USC territory time after time.

One thing that really stands out to me is how close of a series this has been in recent years. In fact, each of the last five meetings between USC and Stanford have been decided by 8 points or less, including three by a field goal or fewer. I expect USC to be slightly better than last year, but not enough to warrant this 9.5-point spread. I fully expect this game to go right down to the wire as well.

Plays on road underdogs (STANFORD) - average offensive team (4.8 to 5.6 YPP) against a team with a good defense (4.2 to 4.8 YPP), after allowing 225 or less total yards in their previous game are 27-4 (87.1%) ATS over the last 10 seasons.  Take Stanford Saturday.

15* CFB Saturday No-Doubt Rout on California -6.5

California is the biggest sleeper to win the Pac-12 this season.  The Golden Bears improved from 1-11 in Sonny Dykes' first season to 5-7 last year, and four of their seven losses came by a touchdown or less to Arizona (45-49), UCLA (34-36), USC (30-38) and BYU (35-42), which were all bowl teams last year.

Dykes returned 17 starters and a whopping 58 lettermen this season.  In fact, this is the most veteran team in the Pac-12 this year with all 22 of their starters either juniors or seniors.  I can't stress enough that it's time to back this team early in the season before all of the value is gone, including this week.

Cal has been very impressive in its first two contests, which is no surprise.  Cal beat Grambling 73-14 in the opener and outgained them by 359 total yards.  Then it beat San Diego State 35-7 as 12.5-point home favorites and outgained the Aztecs by 160 total yards.

Cal has had an elite offense over the last two years and it's even better this season, but it's the defense that now makes this team a threat to win the Pac-12.  After being dreadful the past two seasons, the Golden Bears have held their first two opponents to an average 10.5 points per game, 311 yards per game and 4.5 yards per play.  All the talk out of camp was how improved this D was going to be, and that certainly appears to be the case.

Speaking of dreadful, that's a great word to describe the state of Texas' football program.  After going 6-7 last year that ended in a 31-7 loss to Arkansas where the Longhorns were held to just 59 yards of total offense, many expected this team to be improved.  But they only had 12 returning starters and were projected to start a bunch of freshmen.

The start the Longhorns are off to clearly shows that they are in trouble.  They lost 38-3 to Notre Dame in the opener and were outgained by a ridiculous 364 total yards as their offense managed just 163 and their defense gave up 527.  Yes, they did beat Rice 42-28 last week at home, but a quick look at the box score shows that the Longhorns were actually outplayed in that game.

Indeed, Texas was outgained by 185 total yards by Rice.  They managed to score 42 points despite just 277 yards of total offense, which is nearly impossible.  That's because they benefited from an 85-yard punt return TD and a 26-yard fumble recovery for a TD.  Their defense gave up 462 total yards to the Owls.

So, this young defense is giving up an average of 33.0 points and 494 yards per game through two games.  It's safe to say that Cal is going to do whatever it wants to offensively as this will be the best offense that Texas has faced yet.  Plus, Texas is only averaging 220.0 yards per game offensively.  It's offense is still in shambles and will be able to do nothing against this improved Cal defense.

Texas is 0-8 ATS after a game where it forced three or more turnovers over the past three seasons.  It is losing in this spot by an average of 14.9 points per game.  The Golden Bears are a perfect 5-0 ATS in their last five road games.  Texas is 0-7 ATS in its last seven games after scoring more than 40 points in its previous game.  The Longhorns are 0-4 ATS in their last four games overall.  These four trends combine for a perfect 24-0 system backing the Golden Bears.  Bet California Saturday.

20* SEC GAME OF THE WEEK on South Carolina +16.5

I believe this line is an overreaction from South Carolina’s 22-26 upset home loss to Kentucky last week. That’s a better Kentucky team than it gets credit for, and the Gamecocks still should have won the game. They outgained the Wildcats by 18 yards and racked up 417 total yards in the loss. They rushed for 195 yards as a team and 5.7 per carry.

Now that loss to Kentucky has created some serious line value to come back and support the Gamecocks this week. South Carolina clearly has Georgia’s number, going 4-1 straight up in the last five meetings, and 5-1 against the spread in the last six.   In fact, you have to go all the way back to 2006 to find the last time Georgia beat South Carolina by more than this 16.5-point margin, and even that was only an 18-point win.

Georgia has only beaten South Carolina by more than 11 points once in the last 11 meetings.  Georgia has only beaten South Carolina by more than 16 points twice in the last 19 meetings.  This series history alone shows that there's value with the Gamecocks.

South Carolina only went 7-6 last season, but four of those losses came by 7 points or less, and it beat Georgia 38-35. The Gamecocks outgained the Bulldogs 447-408 for the game. They have actually outgained the Bulldogs in five of the last seven meetings. Steve Spurrier simply owns Mark Richt in this series. Georgia may have its revenge this year, but asking it to win by 17-plus points to beat us is asking too much.

Georgia did take care of Louisiana-Monroe 51-14 in the opener, but that game was probably closer than the final score as the Bulldogs outgained the Warhawks by 184 total yards. I’m certain that Georgia’s 31-14 win at Vanderbilt was closer than the final score because the Bulldogs only outgained the Commodores by 23 total yards.

Vanderbilt had plenty of success against this overrated Georgia defense with 400 yards of total offense. Johnny McCray threw for 295 yards and a touchdown in the game, but his three interceptions cost the Commodores a chance to win. I believe Georgia has one of the worst QB situations in the SEC. Greyson Lambert only went 11 of 21 for 116 yards against the Commodores. They are a one-dimensional running team, making them easier to stop.

South Carolina also had starting QB Connor Mitch knocked out early against Kentucky, which threw the Gamecocks off.  Backup Perry Orth came in and played well, though, completing 13 of 20 passes for 179 yards with one touchdown and one interception.  Orth is a junior who has been with the program for three years.  Having an entire week to prepare to be a starting QB will benefit Orth, and I expect him to surprise some folks this week.  But because they have a backup QB starting, this line is higher than it should be.

Georgia is 10-23 ATS in its last 33 home games off a road win. The Bulldogs are 18-35 ATS in their last 53 home games off a win over a conference rival. The Bulldogs are 1-8 ATS in their last nine games after allowing more than 280 yards passing in their previous game. The Gamecocks are 6-1-1 ATS in the last eight meetings.  Take South Carolina Saturday.

15* NL Saturday PLAY OF THE DAY on Cardinals/Cubs OVER 6.5
I am backing the OVER today between the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs.  These two teams should have no problem combining to score seven-plus runs in this one.
Michael Wacha is a very good starter, but he has faltered of late, going 1-1 with a 7.20 ERA in his last two starts.  One of those came against the Cubs on September 8 as Wacha allowed 6 earned runs in 4 innings.  In fact, Wacha is 0-1 with a 9.90 ERA in his last two starts against Chicago, giving up 11 earned runs in 10 innings.
Travis Wood is the worst starter in the Cubs' rotation.  He is 2-2 with a 5.17 ERA in eight starts this year, including 0-1 with a 7.15 ERA in his last three.  Wood hates facing the Cardinals, going 5-6 with a 5.67 ERA and 1.495 WHIP in 17 career starts against them.  He has allowed 16 earned runs over 14 2/3 innings in his last three starts against St. Louis.
The OVER is 17-6-5 in Cardinals last 28 games overall.  The OVER is 8-1-2 in Cardinals last 11 vs. a team with a winning record.  The OVER is 6-1 in Wacha's last seven road starts.  The OVER is 7-1-1 in Cubs last nine games following a win.  The OVER is 9-3-1 in Cubs last 13 games overall.  The OVER is 5-0-1 in Wood's last six starts overall.  The OVER is 6-0-1 in the last seven meetings.  The OVER is 6-0-1 in Wood's last seven starts vs. St. Louis.  Bet the OVER in this game Saturday.

25* CFB Non-Conference GAME OF THE YEAR on Connecticut +21.5

The Connecticut Huskies came into the 2015 season way undervalued due to having gone 2-10 in Bob Diaco's first season last year.  Diaco stepped into a tough situation, but it's not taking him long to turn things around in Storrs.  He has already matched his win total from last year with a 2-0 start.  He had 14 starters and 52 lettermen back this year.

The Huskies beat a highly-ranked FCS team in Villanova 20-15 in their opener and were 6.5-point underdogs in that game, which just shows you the respect the oddsmakers have for Villanova, and the lack of respect for UConn.  Last week, UConn beat Army 22-17 as 6.5-point favorites in a game that was a much bigger blowout than the final score would indicate.

UConn actually outgained Army 415-265 for the game and should have won by more.  But since they didn't, but believe this spread against Missouri is way bigger than it otherwise would have been.  The value is clearly with the Huskies as over 3-touchdown underdogs in this one in a game I believe they could actually pull the upset.

Missouri is one of the most overrated teams in the country coming into the 2015 season due to winning back-to-back SEC East titles.  It's an absolute miracle that the Tigers have accomplished that feat, because they really haven't been that good.  That was especially the case last year as they only outgained all opponents on the season by an average of 21 yards per game despite going 11-3.

The Tigers returned just 12 starters this season and won't be nearly as fortunate as they were last year.  They were already fortunate last week to escape with a 27-20 win at Arkansas State.  The Tigers only managed 288 total yards against Arkansas State, which was the same team that gave up 55 points and 509 total yards to USC the previous week.

To cover a big spread like this one, you need to have a high-powered offense.  Missouri does not have that.  It only averaged 367 yards per game last year, and it has an awful QB in Maty Mauk, who completed just 53.4 percent of his passes last season.  Mauk was awful against Arkansas State, completing just 16 of 36 passes for 148 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions.  Again, this was an Arkansas State defense that was one of the worst in the country.

Now Mauk will be up against a UConn defense that is clearly underrated.  The Huskies gave up a respectable 379 yards per game last season and were solid on that side of the ball.  They returned eight starters on defense this season and are a lot better.  The Huskies have only given up 16.0 points and 284 yards per game against their first two opponents.

NC State transfer Bryant Shirreffs has made what was a weak offense for UConn last year a respectable one in 2015.  He is completing 68.9 percent of his passes for 472 yards with two touchdowns against one interception through two starts.  I look for the Huskies to put up enough points to cover this massive spread, but to also hold Missouri to less than 30 points, which will make it an easy cover.  Bet UConn Saturday.

15* CFB Saturday Early-Afternoon ANNIHILATOR on Tulsa +30.5

This is another situation where I'm fading a team off a huge win and expect a letdown.  Oklahoma erased a 17-3 deficit in the 4th quarter at Tennessee last week and won in double-overtime, 31-24.  The Sooners celebrated afterwards like they won the National Championship.  They will not be focused on beating Tulsa this week, and they'll come in overconfident and struggle to put the Golden Hurricane away.

Tulsa clearly isn't a team to be taken lightly, either.  It managed to nab former Baylor offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery, who has led the record-setting offenses at Baylor over the past seven years.  He was tasked with turning around a Tulsa program that had gone 5-19 over the past two seasons after going 11-3 in 2012.  Montgomery stepped into a good situation with 16 starters and 57 lettermen back this season.

Montgomery and company are off to a tremendous start to a turnaround.  The Golden Hurricane have opened 2-0 with a 47-44 overtime win against Florida Atlantic and a 40-21 road win over New Mexico.  That was the same FAU team that gave the Miami Hurricanes a scare last week before eventually giving way in the second half, so that win looks more impressive today than it did in Week 1.

The win over New Mexico was even more impressive because it was on the road, and the Lobos are a team on the rise with 14 starters back.  The Golden Hurricane absolutely dominated in all areas of that 40-21 win.  They racked up 600 yards of total offense for a second straight week.  Their defense made big improvements in limiting the Lobos to 390 total yards, so they outgained them by 210 yards for the game.

It's really amazing what Mongtomery is doing here with this offense in his first season.  He did have 10 starters back on offense, but he has implemented his Baylor principles and has turned this unit into a juggernaut.  The Golden Hurricane are averaging 43.5 points, 609.0 yards per game and 7.0 per play.  It's a balanced attack that is averaging 236 yards per game on the ground and 372 through the air.

Senior QB Dane Evans is completing 58.7 percent of his passes for 745 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions.  He has two stud receivers in Keyarris Garrett (12 receptions, 265 yards) and Keevan Lucas (14, 258, 3 TD) back from last year.  The running game is vastly improved, too, behind Zack Langer (228 yards, 4 TD) and D'Angelo Brewer (225 yards, 1 TD).

Again, this is a tough spot for Oklahoma.  It is coming off that huge road win over Tennessee, and now it has its Big 12 opener on deck against West Virginia.  I have been impressed with the Sooners thus far, but after going 2-0 ATS through their first two games, they are clearly overvalued here.  Tulsa will be able to score enough points to keep this one interesting for four quarters and it will never get to a 31-point game or more in Oklahoma's favor.  The Golden Hurricane are 5-1 ATS in their last six vs. a team with a winning record.  Roll with Tulsa Saturday.

15* CFB Saturday Non-Conference KNOCKOUT on Air Force +25.5

The Michigan State Spartans are in a massive letdown spot this week.  They just beat Oregon 31-28 at home last week to avenge their loss to the Ducks last season.  I expect them to lack the kind of focus it will take to put away a pesky Air Force team by more than this 25.5-point spread.  There is a lot of value here with the Falcons because of it.

This is an Air Force team that went 10-3 last season with wins over the likes of Boise State, Colorado State and Western Michigan.  That's the same Western Michigan team that gave the Spartans all they wanted in the 2015 opener, only losing 24-37 as 16.5-point home underdogs.

Air Force appears to be strong again in 2015 as its off to a 2-0 start with blowout victories over Morgan State (63-7) and San Jose State (37-16).  That win over SJSU was extremely impressive because they were just 4-point favorites, and SJSU returned 16 starters this season and is going to prove to be one of the most improved teams in the country.

Air Force outgained SJSU by 162 total yards in the win.  This rushing attack by the Falcons is strong again after averaging 273 yards per game on the ground last season.  They have averaged 411 rushing yards per game and 6.2 per carry through their first two contests, and this is an offense that returned seven starters from last year so it was going to be strong again anyway.

Michigan State isn't used to facing the triple-option, and head coach Mark Dantonio is worried about it.  "They present a lot of problems in terms of discipline, who has who on the option, things of that nature," Dantonio said. "I think it's a tough draw because it's something we've not experienced. We've played option football before but not to this level."

Again, Michigan State is not going to be focuses this week after beating Oregon.  These players will just think they can show up to win this game.  And you have to be disciplined defensively to face the triple-option because there are so many responsibilities that each defender must focus on.  The Spartans gave up 24 points and 383 yards to WMU and 28 points and 432 yards to Oregon, so they aren't exactly off to the greatest start defensively.

Plays on road underdogs (AIR FORCE) - after beating the spread by more than 14 points in two consecutive games, in non-conference games are 27-6 (81.8%) ATS since 1992.  The Falcons are once again undervalued in 2015, and that will be evident as they give the Spartans more of a test than they were expecting coming in.  Take Air Force Saturday.

20* FSU/Boston College ACC GAME OF THE WEEK on Florida State -7.5

I believe Florida State is better than it gets credit for this season. The Seminoles are now 31-1 in their last 32 games overall, yet they're only the No. 9 ranked team in the country. They have been one of the best four teams in the country each of the past two seasons as well, and I’m not so sure they aren’t one of the four best in 2015. This is a very generous price to get the Seminoles at.

Florida State lost Jameis Winston, which is a big reason why it isn’t getting much respect in the early going. But Winston had an awful season last year to follow up his Heisman Trophy in 2013, throwing 25 touchdowns passes and 18 interceptions. It’s already apparent to me that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers drafted the wrong guy with the No. 1 overall pick after watching Marcus Mariota outplay Winston in Week 1 NFL, and it wasn’t even close.

A 49-point win over Texas State and a 20-point win over South Florida aren’t hugely impressive, but it’s certainly worth noting that the Seminoles have played the tougher schedule than the Boston College Eagles have thus far, and that USF is a better team than it gets credit for.

Everett Golson is already playing better than Winston did last year, completing 64.7 percent of his passes for 465 yards with five touchdowns and zero interceptions. It was also huge for the Seminoles to get Dalvin Cook back from suspension to start the year. All Cook has done is rush for 422 yards and five touchdowns while averaging 8.6 yards per carry.

Boston College’s blowout wins over Maine (24-3) and Howard (76-0) are being overblown here.  It was a 26-point favorite over Maine and a 44-point favorite over Howard, which are two I-AA teams. This is an Eagles team that is in rebuilding mode in 2015 and one that will be outclassed. The Eagles only returned 10 starters this season and lost their best player in QB Tyler Murphy from last year. I do think they have a good defense, but only putting up 24 points against Maine shows that their offense has a lot of work to do.

I also believe this line is smaller than it should be due to Boston College playing Florida State tough the past two years. FSU won 48-34 as 23.5-point road favorites in 2013 when it went on to win the national championship. FSU was a 17-point home favorite against Boston College last year, but needed a field goal in the closing seconds to win 20-17. So essentially FSU is going from being an average favorite of 20 points per game the last two years against BC down to a 7.5-point favorite this year. That alone shows that there is value in the Seminoles.

The Eagles are 2-6 ATS in their last 8 games following a SU win of more than 20 points. The road team is 7-3 ATS in the last 10 meetings in this series. The Seminoles are 5-0 straight up in their last five meetings with Boston College with three of the last four wins coming by 14 points or more.  Bet Florida State Friday.

15* AL Run Line PLAY OF THE DAY on Cleveland Indians +1.5 (-124)

Instead of taking the Cleveland Indians as +130 underdogs, I'm going to take the extra run here by paying 54 cents of juice.  I believe the Indians will win this game, but at only -124 on the run line it's worth taking the extra run.  The Indians still have a shot at the wild card as they are only four games back.

Cody Anderson has been one of the more underrated starters in baseball this season.  He has gone 4-3 with a 3.68 ERA and 1.056 WHIP in 12 starts, including 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA and 0.911 WHIP in his last three.  Those three came against the Tigers (twice) and Blue Jays, so he has pitched well against great lineups.

Chris Sale is overvalued here.  The White Sox are out of contention and have nothing to play for.  Sale has struggled of late, going 0-2 with a 7.16 ERA and 1.653 WHIP in his last three starts.  One of those came against the Indians on September 7 as he allowed three runs on three homers in a 2-3 loss.  He is 4-5 with a 4.23 ERA in 13 career starts against Cleveland.

Sale is 12-28 against the run line (-15.1 Units) vs. AL teams scoring 4.7 or less runs/game on the season over the last two seasons.  Chicago is 16-43 against the run line (-20.7 Units) as a favorite when the run line price is -190 to +175 this season.  Sale is 1-12 against the run line (-11.0 Units) as a road favorite when the run line price is +105 to +130 in his career.  Take Cleveland on the Run Line.

20* Broncos/Chiefs NFL Thursday No-Brainer on Kansas City -3

The Kansas City Chiefs will be highly motivated to put an end to their 6-game losing streak to the Denver Broncos in this series. They know that if they want to win the division, it’s going to come down to beating the Broncos. I believe they now have the pieces to do so, and I agree with this line moving from a pick ’em all the way to Chiefs -3.

Kansas City was very impressive in its Week 1 win against Houston. It jumped out to a 27-9 lead by halftime and held on for a 27-20 win in a game that was a bigger blowout than the final score would indicate. Alex Smith went 22 of 33 passing for 243 yards with three touchdowns in the win. He found tight end Travis Kelce six times for 106 yards and two scores. New No. 1 receiver Jeremy Maclin had a solid debut with five grabs for 52 yards.

The Chiefs certainly have one of the best defenses in the NFL this season. They got back linebacker Derrick Johnson and safety Eric Berry after each missed most of last season due to injury. They were already one of the best defenses in the NFL last year, and now they’ll be even stronger in 2015. The Texans couldn’t do much on offense all game until the fourth quarter, when it was already decided.

Denver’s offense was atrocious against Baltimore in the opener. The Broncos did not score one offensive touchdown, and it’s clear that Peyton Manning is on the decline after a horrible finish to last season. Manning went 24-of-40 passing for 175 yards with an interception, which was returned for a touchdown. They only managed 69 rushing yards on 25 carries as well.

Baltimore has a good defense, but it is not as good as the one Kansas City fields this season.  Manning has been held to fewer than 200 passing yards three times in his last six games overall.  The five-time NFL MVP hasn't engineered a touchdown in 21 drives counting the preseason.  This isn't just a fluke folks, Manning is no longer the quarterback he once was.

The Broncos are 0-5 ATS in their last five games following a ATS win. The Chiefs are 6-1 ATS in their last seven home games. Kansas City is 9-3 ATS in its last 12 vs. AFC opponents. The Chiefs are 4-0 ATS in their last four September games.  Bet the Chiefs Thursday.

15* Clemson/Louisville ACC ANNIHILATOR on Louisville +6

The Louisville Cardinals are going to be highly motivated for their first victory of the season Thursday night. They still have their entire ACC schedule ahead of them, so it shouldn’t be hard to shake off a couple losses to Auburn and Houston that have come by a combined 10 points. I still believe this is one of the best teams in the ACC.

Louisville actually outgained Auburn by 78 total yards in its 24-31 loss in the opener. Houston is obviously a better team than it gets credit for, though that 31-34 loss by the Cardinals as 13.5-point home favorites is concerning. That’s a Houston team that returned all of its key weapons on offense for first-year head coach Tom Herman, who was the offensive coordinator at Ohio State last year during the championship run.

Clemson is getting too much love from oddsmakers in this one due to back-to-back blowout victories. Well, it was favored by 34 over Wofford and by 18.5 over Appalachian State, so it was supposed to roll in both those games. I believe a lack of competition for the Tigers will really come back to hurt them here, while the tough slate the Cardinals have faced already has them battle-tested and ready for this big showdown.

Yes, Clemson did beat Appalachian State 41-10, but that game was much closer than the final score would indicate. Clemson only outgained Appalachian State 392-298 for the game, or by 94 total yards. It simply took advantage of four Mountaineer turnovers, even returning an interception for a touchdown.

Clemson did not fare well on the road last year at all.  It went 2-3 in road games with losses to Georgia (by 24), Florida State (by 6, FSU was playing backup QB) and Georgia Tech (by 22).  It's only road wins last year came against Boston College (by 4) and Wake Forest (by 14 as 21-point favorites).

Louisville will also be motivated for revenge from a 23-17 road loss to Clemson last season. It was an 8.5-point underdog in that game and arguably outplayed the Tigers despite losing. The Cardinals outgained the Tigers by 35 total yards in the game. Their defense held Clemson to just 229 yards of total offense.  In fact, the Tigers scored two non-offensive touchdowns with one punt return and one fumble return, so they pretty much did nothing offensively.  They aren't going to be so fortunate with those non-offensive touchdowns again.

Plays against road favorites of 3.5 to 10 points (CLEMSON) – in the first month of the season, after closing out last season strong with 3 or more straight wins are 48-15 (76.2%) ATS since 1992. The Tigers are 0-5 ATS in their last five conference games. The Cardinals are 10-3 ATS in their last 13 games following a loss. Louisville is 17-6 ATS in its last 23 conference games.  Take Louisville Thursday.

15* AL Thursday No-Doubt Rout on Cleveland Indians -124

The Cleveland Indians are still very much alive for the final wild card spot in the American League.  They are only four games back after winning five of their last seven.  The Indians seek their 15th victory in 21 games tonight behind the reigning AL Cy Young winner.

Corey Kluber is 8-13 with a 3.41 ERA and 1.033 WHIP in 28 starts this season.  He has been at his best at home, going 5-6 with a 2.80 ERA and 1.061 WHIP in 13 starts.  Kluber is 5-4 with a 3.32 ERA and 1.052 WHIP in 13 career starts against Kansas City.

Yordano Ventura hasn't been the talent the Royals had hoped for.  He is 11-8 with a 4.42 ERA and 1.337 WHIP in 24 starts this year, including 4-3 with a 5.15 ERA and 1.423 WHIP in 11 road starts.  He gave up five earned runs in 5 1/3 innings in his last start against Cleveland on April 29.

The Royals are 3-9 in their last 12 games overall.  The Indians are 13-3 in their last 16 home games.  Cleveland is 7-1 in its last eight home games vs. a right-handed starter.  The Indians are 27-12 in Kluber's last 39 home starts.  Roll with the Indians Thursday.

20* AL TOTAL OF THE MONTH on Red Sox/Orioles OVER 9

I expect a slug fest tonight between the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles.  These are two of the more potent lineups in baseball, and they'll be up against two of the worst starters on each team's respective staffs tonight.

Henry Owens is 2-2 with a 5.25 ERA and 1.472 WHIP in seven starts this season for Boston.  He has struggled in his last three starts, going 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA and 2.000 WHIP.  The OVER is 6-1 in Owens' seven starts this year.

Mike Wright is 2-4 with a 5.45 ERA and 1.411 WHIP over eight starts and one relief appearance for Baltimore.  Wright has struggled of late as well, going 0-2 with a 9.58 ERA and 2.033 WHIP in his last three outings.

The OVER is 24-5-1 in Red Sox last 30 vs. a team with a losing record.  The OVER is 36-15-2 in Red Sox last 53 games overall.  The OVER is 8-1 in Orioles last nine after allowing 5 runs or more in their previous game.  The OVER is 7-1 in Orioles last eight home games.  Bet the OVER in this game Wednesday.

20* AL Central GAME OF THE MONTH on Cleveland Indians -119

The Cleveland Indians are still very much alive for the final wild card spot in the American League.  They have won four of their last five to get to .500 and 4.5 games back.  Meanwhile, the Kansas City Royals are coasting to the finish line because they already have the AL Central wrapped up.  They have lost eight of their last 10 games overall.

Josh Tomlin is 5-1 with a 2.85 ERA and 0.732 WHIP in six starts this season.  He has really come on strong here of late, going 3-0 with a 2.49 ERA and 0.738 WHIP in his last three starts.  I'll gladly back him and the surging Indians at this price Tuesday.

Kris Medlen has had mixed results for the Royals this season.  He is 3-1 with a 4.58 ERA in four starts and 11 relief appearances.  Medlen is 2-1 with a 5.87 ERA over those four starts.  The Royals are clearly trying to save their rotation by giving Medlen these spot starts.

Kansas City is 2-10 (-10.2 Units) against the money line after two straight losses by 4 runs or more over the last two seasons.  The Indians are 10-1 in their last 11 home games vs. a right-handed starter.  Cleveland is 13-3 in its last 16 home games overall.  The Indians are 5-0 in Tomlin's last five starts.  Bet the Indians Tuesday.

20* Vikings/49ers ESPN Monday No-Brainer on Minnesota -2

I’m big on the Minnesota Vikings this season and believe they’ll be one of the most improved teams in the NFL. Mike Zimmer did a fine job in all aspects in his first season last year in turning this into a competitive football team. It was a young team last year, but now it’s loaded with young veterans and a plethora of talent to give the Packers a run for their money in the NFC North.

Zimmer was the architect of many strong Cincinnati defenses over the past few years. Well, it took him just one season to make drastic improvements in Minnesota. He took a defense that gave up 30 points per game in 2013 to an 8.6-point improvement and only 21.4 points per game in 2014. The Vikings finished a very respectable 14th in total defense. This stop unit is only going to be better in 2015 with some key additions in the draft (CB Trae Waynes, LB Eric Kendricks) and in free agency (CB Terrence Newman).

But the real reason to be excited about this team is getting Adrian Peterson back for a full season. He missed all but one game last year, yet the Vikings still went 7-9. Teddy Bridgewater took over the starting QB role midseason and managed to lead the Vikings to a 5-4 finish in his final nine games. Again, that’s impressive when you consider Peterson was not around for it.

Bridgewater finished the season with 2,919 passing yards while completing 64.4 percent of his passes and averaging 7.3 yards per attempt. He also rushed for 209 yards and a score. Now offensive coordinator Norv Turner has provided Bridgewater with the deep threat he was missing last year. Mike Wallace comes over from Miami after scoring 10 touchdowns for the Dolphins last year. He’ll be paired with Charles Johnson, who was one of the most underrated wide receivers in the league. A healthy Kyle Rudolph at tight end now gives this offense almost zero weaknesses.

The 49ers are an absolute mess. It has been well documented this offseason, but it’s the truth. The loss of a winning head coach like Jim Harbaugh is devastating enough, but the personnel losses are even bigger. Gone are Frank Gore, Mike Iupati, Patrick Willis, Michael Crabtree, Chris Borland, Perrish Cox and Aldon Smith. One of their key free-agent acquisitions was Darnell Dockett, but he was released prior to the season due to poor performance.

San Francisco will still have a respectable defense despite all of these losses on that side of the ball, but the offense is the main issue. Colin Kaepernick should have never been given a big contract. He has no accuracy in the passing game, and he did not look comfortable in the preseason. He took too many sacks behind a poor offensive line. The receiving corps is too slow, and with Gore gone, the running game is a question mark even with the emergence of Carlos Hyde. There just isn’t must to like about this San Francisco offense that managed a mere 19.1 points per game last year.

Simply put, these are two teams headed in opposite directions. The Vikings are certainly a team on the rise that had Super Bowl aspirations as soon as this year, while the 49ers are in full-blown rebuilding mode. The 49ers are 0-6 ATS in all games where the total is between 35.5 and 42 over the past two seasons. This basically shows that when they’re up against an elite defensive team like Minnesota, they don’t have the offense to perform well.  Bet the Vikings Monday.

15* AL Monday No-Doubt Rout on Los Angeles Angels -110

The Los Angeles Angels are showing excellent value as small favorites against the Seattle Mariners today.  The Angels are only three games back of the final wild card spot in the American League.  The Mariners have no chance of making the postseason as they are seven games back with too many teams ahead of them.

Los Angeles also has the edge on the mound today.  Garrett Richards is 13-10 with a 3.71 ERA and 1.237 WHIP in 27 starts this year, including 1-0 with a 3.05 ERA and 1.161 WHIP in his last three.  The right-hander is 4-2 with a 2.24 ERA and 1.047 WHIP in eight career starts against Seattle.

Taijuan Walker is 10-8 with a 4.70 ERA and 1.223 WHIP in 28 starts this season for the Mariners.  Walker clearly has not enjoyed facing the Angels, going 1-1 with a 5.25 ERA in two career starts against them, both of which came this season.

Richards is 13-2 (+11.6 Units) against the money line when playing against a team with a losing record in the second half of the season over the last two seasons.  The Angels are 23-7 in Richards' last 30 starts vs. a team with a losing record.  The Mariners are 1-9 in their last 10 during game 1 of a series.  Bet the Angels Monday.

25* NFL Week 1 GAME OF THE YEAR on New York Giants +6

The New York Giants are going to come into the 2015 season highly motivated after failing to make the playoffs five of the past six years. I like the direction that the front office has gone in rebuilding the offensive and defensive lines in recent years to get stronger up front. I believe that is going to start to pay off this year.

The Giants couldn’t have had any worse luck than they did last year. They were ravaged by injuries worse than any other team in the NFL. With a little better luck in the health department this year, the Giants are good enough to get back into NFC East title contention.

New York’s offense made huge strides last season in the second year of Bob McAdoo’s system. They ranked 10th in total offense and 7th in passing offense. Eli Manning had one of his best seasons ever, throwing for 4,410 yards and 30 touchdowns while setting a career high with a 63.1 completion percentage. This offense really hit its stride once Odell Beckham Jr. took over.

The Giants scored 28, 24, 36, 24, 37 and 26 points over their final six games for an average of 29.2 points per game. Beckham had 60 receptions for 842 yards and nine touchdowns over that six-game stretch. He may be the best receiver in the NFL already. Now they added Shane Vereen for another weapon out of the backfield. Vereen had 52 receptions in New England last year.

The defense must improve after giving up 25.0 points per game last season. So they brought in coordinator Steve Spaguolo, who was here in 2007 and 2008 and was the architect of the stop unit that beat the Patriots in Super Bowl 42. They added Alabama safety Landon Collins in the second round, and he’ll start right away. Middle linebacker Jon Beason is finally healthy after missing 40 games over the past four seasons.

When corners Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Prince Amukamara were on the field at the same time, they played very well together last year. But Amukamara missed half the season with a torn bicep. Getting him back healthy will be a huge boost to this defense because he’s already one of the better corners in the league.

The Cowboys come into the season overvalued off their surprising 12-4 season last year that came out of nowhere. That is being reflected in this line right off the start with the Cowboys as 6-point favorites. Their offense won’t be as good without DeMarco Murray, and their defense only ranked 19th last year and still lacks talent.

Dallas has three starters out on defense for the opener as well. Defensive end Greg Hardy and linebacker Rolando McClain will both miss the first four games due to suspension. Their best corner in Orlando Scandrick suffered a season-ending knee injury in training camp. Brandon Carr has not lived up to the massive contract he signed in the offseason, and former first-round pick Morris Claiborne has been a bust up to this point. They did use a first-round pick on UConn corner Byron Jones, but he’s not going to be a star from Day 1. The Giants are simply in much better shape at the CB positions, and that’s key because this is going to be a very pass-heavy game.

Finally, the Giants are going to be highly motivated to put an end to a 4-game losing streak to the Cowboys. Three of those four losses came by 5 points or less, and four of the last five meetings in this series were decided by 5 points or fewer. That fact alone shows you that there is value in backing the Giants as 6-point dogs here.  Bet the Giants Sunday.

15* Royals/Orioles ESPN Sunday Night BAILOUT on Kansas City-115

Even thought the Royals have the AL Central wrapped up, they are still playing for home-field advantage in the postseason.  The Orioles have nothing to pay for at this point, which make this price on the Royalsl very generous.

Johnny Cueto certainly has not performed well since joining the Royals. Even still, he's 9-11 with a 3.24 ERA and 1.052 WHIP in 27 starts this season.  He's still one of the best starters in the game and undervalued because he's not pitched well of late.

Wei-Yin Chen is also struggling along with the Orioles.  He's 1-1 with a 6.61 ERA and 1.836 WHIP in his last three starts.

Kansas City is 51-23 (+22.8 Units) against the money line when the money line is -100 to -150 this season.  Roll with the Royals Sunday.

15* AL Central ANNIHILATOR on Cleveland Indians -107

The Cleveland Indians have played their way back into contention for the final wild card spot in the American League.  They trail the Texas Rangers by just four games.  They are 69-70 on the season, and now they have a chance to reach .500 for the first time since the fourth game of the season, so they'll obviously be motivated to do so.

Rookie Cody Anderson has pitched well this season, going 3-3 with a 3.72 ERA and 1.025 WHIP in 11 starts.  He is 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA and 0.750 WHIP in his last three starts as well.  One of those came at Detroit last time out as he pitched seven shutout innings of a 4-0 victory against Justin Verlander.

Verlander gets the start for the Tigers, and while he is pitching well of late, he's not getting much help because his team has essentially quit.  The Tigers are 64-76 on the season, including 5-15 in their last 20 games overall to play themselves out of playoff contention.

Verlander is 0-7 (-8.2 Units) against the money line when the total is 8 to 8.5 this season.  Verlander is 0-8 (-8.5 Units) against the money line when the money line is +125 to -125 this season.  The Tigers are 1-7 in their last eight road games.  The Indians are 10-1 in their last 11 home games.  These four trends combine for a 32-2 system backing Cleveland.  Take the Indians Sunday.

15* Bengals/Raiders Late-Afternoon ANNIHILATOR on Oakland +3

I was very impressed with what I saw out of the Oakland Raiders in the preseason. Their defense was dominant, especially in a Week 3 game against the Arizona Cardinals where they were all over Carson Palmer throughout the first half.  The Cardinals could do nothing offensively against this defense.

The Raiders are clearly a team on the rise as they have gotten rid of their salary cap issues that have hurt them in the past, and now they are stocked with young, cheap talent in most areas.  I look for the Raiders to really surprise some teams this year behind the improvement of Derek Carr in his second season.

They added some very solid players this offseason, spending their cap money wisely on center Rodney Hudson, MLB Curtis Lofton, DE Dan Williams and WR Michael Crabtree, among others.  They also drafted the top wideout in Amari Cooper with their first pick, and he and Crabtree will be far and away better receivers than what Carr had to work with last year.  The Raiders have really emphasized strong offensive and defensive lines in their rebuilding project, too, and should be much stronger at the point of attack now.

While the Raiders won three of their final six games last year and should build off of that, this play is more about how down I am on Cincinnati than anything.  The Bengals went 10-5-1 last year despite getting outgained by an average of 11.3 yards per game on the season.  That is almost impossible to do.  They ranked 15th in total offense and 22nd in total defense.

The slip the defense made last year was very noticeable.  They lost defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer last offseason as he became the head coach of the Vikings.  This once-dominant defense under Zimmer now became soft.  Plus, this if a very old defense that isn't going to be any better this year.  The Bengals did almost nothing to address their needs on defense, only adding guys like Michael Johnson and A.J. Hawk, who are no more than replacement-level starters in this league.  They used their first three picks of the draft on offense, which was a mistake.

The defense had a league-low 20 sacks last year and won't be able to get pressure on Carr and the improved offensive line in Oakland.  Andy Dalton is not a very good quarterback, and his weapons outside of A.J. Green are sub-par to say the least.  The Bengals do have a strong offensive line and running game, but I look for the Raiders to load the box to stop it.

The home team is a perfect 5-0 SU in the last five meetings between these teams.  The Raiders have won four of the past six meetings overall.  The home team is 5-1 ATS in the last six meetings as well.  Bet the Raiders Sunday.

20* NFL Non-Conference GAME OF THE WEEK on Miami Dolphins -3

The Miami Dolphins are a team on the rise.  After back-to-back 8-8 seasons, they are ready to break through and make the playoffs in 2015.  They have all the pieces in place to give the New England Patriots a run for their money in the AFC East this year.

The Dolphins put up their best offensive yardage ranking (14th) since 2008 and their best points ranking (11th) since 2001, which are the last two years the Dolphins made the playoffs.  Ryan Tannehill is one of the most underrated young starters in the game, and now he enters the second year of Bill Lazor's offense.  This is going to be one of the best offenses in the league as Tannehill has a plethora of weapons around him with the additions of Jordan Cameron, DeVante Parker and Kenny Stills to go along with Jarvis Landry.

The defense is another reason to be excited about the Dolphins.  They finished 12th in the league in total defense last year and will be dominant this season.  That's because they have added the top free agent on the marked in Ndamukong Suh.  He was the catalyst behind Detroit's top-ranked defense last season.  This will be one of the most dominant defensive lines in the league as Suh joins Cameron Wake and Olivier Vernon.

Washington is a mess right now off a 4-12 season.  Robert Griffin III has essentially been shown the door, and the turnover-prone Kirk Cousins is taking his place.  The offensive line can't protect him as the trio of Griffin III, Cousins and Colt McCoy were sacked 58 times last year.  This offensive line hasn't gotten much better in the offseason, so look for Suh and company to be in Cousin's hip pocket all day long.

The Redskins won't be much better defensively, either.  They ranked 30th in scoring defense last year at 27.4 points per game allowed.  They did make some nice moves this offseason in adding guys like Terrance Knighton, but they have a long way to go before being among the better defenses in the NFL.  This is still one of the league's worst stop units.

Plays against home teams where the line is +3 to -3 (WASHINGTON) - good offense from last season - averaged 335 or more total yards/game, in non-conference games are 23-5 (82.1%) ATS since 1983.  The Redskins are 1-6 ATS in their last seven home games.  Washington is 12-27 ATS in its last 39 September home games.  Take the Dolphins Sunday.

15* NFL Sunday Undervalued Underdog on Jacksonville Jaguars +3

The Jacksonville Jaguars are a team to look out for in 2015.  They enter Year 3 under Gus Bradley and have stockpiled a bunch of young talent while rebuilding over the last two years.  Now that young talent is going to pay off in 2015 with a much more competitive team.

Blake Bortles got comfortable with Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns in his rookie season last year while getting his feet wet.  By all indications, Bortles looks like the franchise QB that the Jaguars were hoping for.  Look for him to take a gigantic leap in Year 2.  There is a lot of positive vibes coming out of the locker room with this team as several members have stated that they are going to surprise some people this year, and I agree.

Bradley is a very good defensive mind who now has the right pieces in place to fit his system.  The Jaguars improved by leaps and bounds defensively last season, especially when it came to getting pressure on opposing quarterbacks.  They finished 6th in the league in sacks.  The return of their leader on defense in Paul Posluszny from injury will make them much stronger against the run this season.  He missed nine games last year with a torn chest.

While I do think the Jaguars will be improved, the biggest reason for this play is that I think Carolina is going to be absolutely horrid this season.  The Panthers won the NFC South last year with a 7-8-1 record, and they did so after opening the season 3-8-1.  So they simply finished strong the last four weeks of the season while everyone else in this pathetic division faltered.

The Panthers did little to improve their team this offseason and lost more than they gained.  The offense is in really bad shape as Cam Newton has the worst group of receivers in the league after Kelvin Benjamin suffered a torn ACL in the preseason.  Benjamin had 1,008 yards and nine touchdowns as a rookie last year and is a massive loss.

That leaves Ted Ginn Jr. who has just 83 catches while starting five games for three different teams over the past five season, and Corey Brown as the starters.  Brown had 21 receptions as an undrafted rookie last season.  It's clear to me that Jacksonville is going to be able to load the box and stop the running game, because the Panthers aren't threats in the passing game at all this year.

Yes, Carolina has a solid defense, but this stop unit is overrated in my book because of the attention that Luke Keuchly gets.  Even with him, the Panthers still allowed 23.4 points per game last season.  That's not the kind of number that would go with 'elite defense' like many like to peg the Panthers as being.  They still have holes in a lot of places, especially in the secondary where the Jaguars should be able to take advantage.

Jacksonville is going to come out with something to prove in the opener.  I look for Bortles and company to have a big day through the air against a poor Carolina secondary.  I also look for their defense to shut down the one-dimensional Panthers do to their lack of weapons outside.  Jacksonville is 12-4 ATS in its last 16 Week 1 games and 4-1 ATS in its last five games overall.  Roll with the Jaguars Sunday.

15* NFL Sunday No-Doubt Rout on New York Jets -3

These are two very similar teams who have strong defenses and questions on offense.  The thing is I believe the Jets to have the better defense and much fewer questions on offense.  I look for the Jets to roll the Browns at home in the season opener for both teams Sunday.

Head coach Todd Bowles worked magic as the defensive coordinator in Arizona the past couple years.  He got the most out of the talent on hand, which was less talent than what he'll have to work with in New York.  The Jets could legitimately have the league's best defense this season.

They ranked 6th in the NFL in total defense last year.  Now they have added former Jets Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie, giving them arguably the best CB tandem in the NFL.  They already had a strong front seven with their only weaknesses in the secondary.  Now this defense no longer has any weaknesses.

I think the Jets will actually be better offensively this season than most give them credit for.  Ryan Fitzpatrick is a steadying hand at QB, and it was actually a blessing in disguise that Geno Smith suffered a broken jaw in training camp, because he's not nearly as good as Fitzpatrick.  I like the weapons at his disposal as well with the addition of Brandon Marshall to go along with Eric Decker.  The rushing attack should be strong with Chris Ivory leading the way behind a solid offensive line.  Ivory rushed for 820 yards on only 198 carries last year.

The Jets should find plenty of success on the ground in this one against a Cleveland defense that ranked 23rd overall and 31st against the run.  They also ranked just 27th in sacks (31) last season.  The Browns do have a very strong secondary, but even with Joe Haden, it's not as good as the secondary the Jets have to offer this season.

The biggest reason for this pick is that I do not think the Browns will be able to do anything offensively.  They still have arguably the worst QB situation in the NFL with Josh McCown starting.  He was terrible in Tampa Bay last year and he even had two stud receivers in Mike Evans and Vincent Jackson.  Now, McCown will be throwing to guys like Dwayne Bowe, Brian Hartline and Andrew Hawkins.  If the Panthers don't have the worst receivers in the NFL, than the Browns certainly do.  They are also unsettled at running back.

The Jets are 2-0 SU & 2-0 ATS in their last two meetings with the Browns, most recently winning 24-13 at home as 2.5-point favorites in 2013.  I foresee a similar outcome in this meeting.  The Browns are 3-12-1 ATS in their last 16 games in Week 1.  The Jets are 4-1 ATS in their last five games overall and 4-0 ATS in their last four vs. AFC opponents.  New York could surprise some people this year.  Take the Jets Sunday.

15* CFB Saturday UPSET SHOCKER on San Jose State +6.5

These are two teams headed in opposite directions in 2015.  The San Jose State Spartans are clearly a team on the rise that is undervalued, while the Air Force Falcons are primed to decline and are overvalued right now.  That creates the perfect storm to back an SJSU team that I fully expect to win outright Saturday.

San Jose State has had some very poor luck in Ron Carragher's first two seasons.  The Spartans did go 6-6 in 2013, but were not selected to a bowl game.  They slipped to 3-9 last year despite finishing with the third-best yardage differential (+82.8 yards/game) of all Mountain West teams.  They outgained all opponents by 42 yards per game on the season.  But they were -12 in turnovers and had poor offensive (20.4) and defensive (12.1) yards per point.

With 16 returning starters this season, the Carragher has by far his best team yet.  That was evident in the opener as San Jose State crushed New Hampshire 43-13.  Sure, New Hampshire is an FCS team, but it entered the 2015 season as the No. 7 FCS team in the country.  What did Vegas think of New Hampshire?  Well, SJSU was only a 6-point favorite, yet it won by 30 points.

Believe it or not, that 30-point win actually should have been bigger.  The Spartans outgained New Hampshire 707-186, or by 521 total yards.  That's right, the Spartans racked up 707 yards of total offense.  This was an offense that brought back a whopping 10 returning starters from last year, so it was going to be good, but nobody expected it to be this good.  Before long the secret will be out and there won't be as much value in backing SJSU, but for right now, this team is completely flying under the radar.

Air Force was the most improved team in the country last year, going from 2-10 in 2013 to 10-3 in 2014.  But the Falcons had 16 starters back last season after having just 10 back the year before, so they were bounce-back candidates.  They certainly weren't as good as their 10-3 record would indicate, though.  They were actually outgained by 20.1 yards per game in Mountain West play in spite of their 5-3 record.

Now the Falcons return just 11 starters this season. They lose QB Kale Pearson, who had a 14-to-3 TD/INT ratio last season and actually gave the Falcons a threat of a passing game, which is something they rarely have running the triple-option.  They only have four starters back on defense from a unit that had nine starters back last year and gave up 395 yards per game.  This is going to be one of the worst defenses in the Mountain West.  To compare, SJSU only gave up 357 yards per game last season

Air Force also beat an FCS opponent in Morgan State 63-7 last week.  But Morgan State is one of the worst FCS teams in the country as the Falcons were 32.5-point favorites in that game.  The Falcons also used a special teams touchdown and a defensive TD to pad the score.  I'm not saying the Falcons won't be decent again, but I really believe the Spartans are the better team in this one.

Air Force head coach Troy Calhoun is 2-9 ATS in a home game when the total is 56.5 to 63 as the coach of Air Force.  His teams rarely have the firepower to keep up in shootouts, which is what this game is expected to be.  San Jose State is 25-12 ATS in its last 37 games after scoring 37 or more points in its previous game.  The Falcons are 3-9 ATS in their last 12 games after allowing less than 20 points in their previous game.  Air Force is 6-13 ATS in its last 19 conference games.  Take San Jose State Saturday.

15* CFB Saturday No-Doubt Rout on Western Michigan -4.5

I am very high on the Western Michigan Broncos this season and believe they are the best team in the MAC.  Head coach PJ Fleck went just 1-11 in his first season in Kalamazoo, but then guided the Broncos to one of the best turnarounds in the country with an 8-5 record in 2014.

The blew a 21-10 halftime lead to Northern Illinois, otherwise they would have gone on to win the MAC Championship.  They are even stronger in 2015 with 16 returning starters.  This is easily the most talented team in the MAC.  They return QB Zach Terrell, who completed 67.9 percent of his passes for 3,443 yards with a 26-to-10 TD/INT ratio.

Leading rusher Jarvion Franklin (1,551 yards, 24 TD) and all of the top receivers are back, including Corey Davis (78 receptions, 1,408 yards, 15 TD) and Daniel Braverman (86, 997, 6 TD).  The defense is going to be even better this year with seven starters back from a unit that gave up 24.9 points per game last year.

I was very impressed with WMU in the opener.  It only lost 24-37 at home to Michigan State, which is considered a national title contender.  It was only outgained by 69 total yards against the Spartans.  The defense limited senior QB Connor Cook to 15-of-31 passing, and they held their own against the run.  Terrell went wild on a very good Spartans' defense, completing 33-of-50 passes for 365 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.  That effort proved to me that my lofty expectations for this team are warranted.

Georgia Southern caught everyone by surprise last year en route to a 9-3 season that included a perfect 8-0 record in the Sun Belt and a conference championship.  It won't have that luxury again now that teams have game tape on them to go off of after last season was their first as a member of the FBS.

The Eagles do have a respectable 13 returning starters back, but their most important returning starter is suspender.  QB Kevin Ellison, who was the leader of this team last year and their most important player, has been suspended for the first two games of the season.  Ellison threw for 1,001 yards and five touchdowns against three interceptions last year, but rushed for 1,096 yards and 12 touchdowns while averaging 6.4 yards per game.

This offense clearly missed Ellison in the opener.  Georgia Southern was destroyed 44-0 at West Virginia as 16-point underdogs.  The Eagles were outgained 544-224 for the game, or by 320 total yards.  Backup QB Favian Upshaw went just 2-of-13 passing for 29 yards with a whopping four interceptions in the loss.  It's clear to me after that performance that Georgia Southern is nothing without Ellison, and that's it's defense is not going to be able to hold up against this high-powered WMU offense.

Plays against any team (GA SOUTHERN) - poor passing team from last season - averaged 150 or less passing yards/game, with 8 defensive starters returning, in the first two weeks of the season are 24-4 (85.7%) ATS over the last 10 seasons.  Plays on of 3.5 to 10 points (W MICHIGAN) - in the first month of the season, after closing out last season with 2 or more straight losses against opponent first month of the season, after closing out last season strong with 4 or more wins in last 5 games are 37-11 (77.1%) ATS since 1992.  The Broncos are 11-2 ATS in their last 13 games overall.  WMU is 9-1 ATS in its last 11 games following an ATS win.  Roll with Western Michigan Saturday.

20* CFB Non-Conference GAME OF THE WEEK Eastern Michigan +13.5

The betting public wants nothing to do with Eastern Michigan off three straight 2-10 seasons.  That's understandable, but this team is going to make some real progress in the second year under Chris Creighton in 2015.  He welcomes back 13 starters this season, and after the Eagles went just 2-10 ATS last year, they are going to be showing a lot of value this season early and often.

That was the case against Old Dominion in the opener as the Eagles were 6.5-point underdogs and covered the spread, losing by a final of 34-38.  That was a solid Old Dominion team that had gone 6-6 the previous season with impressive wins over Louisiana Tech and Rice.  The Eagles arguably should have beaten the Monarchs, too.

They outgained Old Dominion 444-413 for the game, but only lost due to a -3 turnover differential.  They also had QB Reginald Ball get hurt after they were tied going into the 4th quarter.  Ball is questionable to return this week, but head Creighton is optimistic, and even if Ball cannot go then he is very confident in backup Brogan Roback.

“Brogan (Roback) is prepared and he’s taken nearly as many reps all of fall camp as Reggie has,” Creighton said of his sophomore backup. “We have two quality quarterbacks.”  Bell went 12-of-18 passing for 117 yards and two touchdowns with an interception, while Roback was 10-of-17 for 71 yards with in interception while filling in for him.

While I do believe the Eagles are vastly improved this season, the biggest reason for this play is that I do not believe Wyoming should be getting this much love from oddsmakers.  The Cowboys went just 4-8 in Craig Bohl's first season last year despite having 16 returning starters.  Now they have only nine returning starters in 2015 and are pretty much rebuilding, while Eastern Michigan is past that rebuilding phase.

Wyoming showed its rebuilding ways in its 13-24 home loss to FCS foe North Dakota despite being 18-point favorites in the opener.  It was dominated in all phases of the game, which is a bad sign when you consider North Dakota isn't even among the top 30 FCS teams in the country.  North Dakota outgained Wyoming 429-330 for the game, or by 99 total yards.  The Cowboys could only managed 2.2 yards per rush with 41 yards on 19 carries.  Conversely, they gave up 276 rushing yards and 5.1 yards per carry to North Dakota.

Just like Eastern Michigan, Wyoming QB Cameron Coffman is questionable to play and will likely be a game-time decision.  That's big because Coffman threw for 270 yards and two touchdowns against North Dakota in a losing effort.  Coffman is a former Indiana transfer who actually finished second in passing yards per game in the Big Ten back in 2012.  Even if by chance Coffman plays and Ball does not, I still like EMU to cover this spread with ease.

Plays against favorites (WYOMING) - off a home loss, in the first two weeks of the season are 30-6 (83.3%) ATS over the last 10 seasons.  Plays against a home team (WYOMING) - off a home loss, in the first two weeks of the season are 44-11 (80%) ATS over the last 10 seasons.  Wyoming is 0-6 ATS after scoring 14 points or less in its last game over the last three seasons.  Roll with Eastern Michigan Saturday.

15* CFB Saturday Undervalued Underdog on UMass +13

I actually have UMass picked to win the MAC East division this season, that's how highly I think of them despite going 5-31 over the past three seasons.  Head coach Mark Whipple was here from '98-'03 and took over a 2-9 team and led them to the IAA National Championship in his first season.

Whipple inherited a 1-11 team last year and took the Minutemen to 3-9, but this had to be one of the best 9-loss teams in the country.  The Minutemen had 5 losses by a touchdown or less.  They lost by 3 to both Colorado and Vanderbilt, by 5 to Bowling Green after leading in the 4th quarter, blew a 41-14 lead against Miami to lose by 1, and gave up a touchdown with 34 seconds left to lose to Toledo by 7.

Now the Minutemen return 19 starters and will be under the radar from the get-go.  That includes QB Blake Frohnapfel, maybe the most underrated QB in the entire country.  How important is Frohnapfel to this team?  Well, the Minutemen have outgained MAC opponents by 108 yards per game with him, and they've been outgained by 197 yards per game without him.

Frohnapfel threw for 3,345 yards and 23 touchdowns against 10 interceptions over the team's first 10 starts last year.  The offense is going to be explosive again after averaging 421 yards per game last season with 10 starters back.  But look for huge improvements on defense with nine starters back from a unit that gave up 448 yards per game last season with only five starts back.  The Minutemen have a very nice set of LB's and DB's in particular.

I really thought Colorado had a chance to make some progress this year, but it's clear after a 28-20 loss at Hawaii in the opener that the Buffaloes are still hurting.  They turned the ball over three times and QB Sefo Liufau went just 23-of-40 passing for 158 yards with an interception.  That is not a very good Hawaii team, and one that has lost at least nine games each of the past three seasons.

UMass gave Colorado a run for its money last year.  It only lost 38-41 at home as 17.5-point underdogs.  Frohnapfel threw for 267 yards and three touchdowns with one pick in the loss.  I believe the Minutemen will be hungry for revenge in the rematch exactly one year later.  This spread has simply been set way too high due to the 19 starters the Minutemen have returning from that 3-point defeat to the Buffaloes.

The Minutemen are 5-1 ATS in their last six September games.  UMass is 6-2 ATS in its last eight vs. a team with a losing record.  The Minutemen are 6-2 ATS in their last eight games overall.  The Buffaloes are 1-6 ATS in their last seven games after accumulating more than 200 rushing yards in their previous game.  Colorado has just 10 wins over the past four seasons and enters this contest on a 9-game losing streak.  Bet UMass Saturday.

20* CFB BLOWOUT GAME OF THE WEEK on Connecticut -7

The UConn Huskies are a team that is flying under the radar entering 2015.  They went just 2-10 in head coach Bob Diaco's first season last year.  But they had just 12 returning starters, and now that number jumps to 14 with 52 lettermen returning and only 13 letter winners lost.  I fully expect the Huskies to be improved in the second season under Diaco.

They are off to a promising start.  Despite facing an FCS opponent in Villanova, the Huskies were actually 7-point underdogs in their opener.  Well, when you consider Villanova is the No. 2 ranked FCS team in the country, it's easy to see why.  That's why the Huskies' 20-15 win over Villanova wasn't your usual blah FCS win.

Connecticut is going to have a very good defense this season, just as it did last year when it gave up a respectable 379 yards per game.  But now eight starters are back on this side of the ball, and this will be the backbone of the team.  The Huskies played well defensively, giving up just 303 total yards to Villanova in the opener.  It help them to 3.2 yards per rush and 5.7 yards per pass.

UConn is going to be much better offensively this season behind sophomore Bryant Shirreffs, a former NC State transfer.  He's off to a great start by completing 12 of 20 passes for 202 yards with two touchdowns and one interception against Villanova.  He threw a 27-yard TD pass to Akeel Newsome with 4:53 remaining to put the game out of reach.  The Huskies led 20-9 at that point before a touchdown in garbage time by Villanova with 1:54 left.

Army is coming off a 4-8 season last year despite having 14 returning starters.  It now has just 10 returning starters in 2015, while losing each of its top three rushers on offense, including QB Angle Santiago.  The defense gave up 32.9 points and 431 yards per game last season and has just five starters back and will be awful again.

That was evident in Army's 35-37 home loss to Fordham last week.  Fordham is another FCS opponent, but it was only ranked No. 21 in the FCS rankings and nowhere near as good as Villanova.  The Black Knights were expected to roll as 13.5-point favorites, but it simply did not happen.  They were actually outgained by 56 yards in the game and gave up 445 yards to Fordham.  I believe that effort will be a sign of things to come for Army in 2015, especially this week given the situation.

UConn will be motivated for revenge in this one.  It lost to Army 21-35 last year on the road, but now it gets the Black Knights at home in the rematch.  That was far from the 14-point game that it appeared to be as the Huskies were only outgained 353-365 for the game.  UConn was actually going in for the game-tying score when Army intercepted a pass and returned it 99 yards for a TD with only 28 seconds remaining.

Army is 0-10 ATS in road games over the last three seasons.  UConn is 12-2 ATS in its last 14 home games off an upset win as an underdog.  The Black Knights are 5-21 ATS in their last 26 road games overall.  Take UConn Saturday.

20* Utah State/Utah ESPN 2 Rivalry Play on Utah -11.5

The Utah Utes are coming off their best season since joining the Pac-12.  They went 9-4 last year and finished with a winning record within the Pac-12 for the first time.  Sure, they were fortunate to win a lot of close games, but this is a team that can compete in the stacked South division.

With 14 starters and 61 lettermen back, this is Kyle Whittingham's best team that he has had at Utah yet.  I liked what I saw from the Utes in their opener against Michigan as they led 24-10 before giving up a garbage touchdown with only 54 seconds to play for a 24-17 victory.  That was a Michigan team that will prove to be vastly improved this year as the season goes on, and when we look back, I believe that win over the Wolverines will be even more impressive than it is today.

I certainly was not impressed with Utah State in its opener.  It only beat Southern Utah 12-9 despite being 31-point favorites.  It actually needed an 88-yard punt return for a touchdown with 4:54 left to play to overcome a 9-5 deficit.  I believe that performance is a sign of things to come for this team not only Friday, but as the season progresses.

The Aggies only managed 250 total yards on Southern Utah.  Chuckie Keeton clearly isn't what he used to be as injuries have really taken their toll on him throughout his career.  Keeton went just 16-of-33 passing for 110 yards with no touchdowns and one interception, while also rushing for only seven yards on six carries.

Utah State is missing some key players in this one.  Starting WR Brandon Swindall is questionable with a hamstring injury, and starting LG Tyshon Mosley is expected to miss this game due to suspension.  But the biggest loss is WR Hunter Sharp, who was by far their best receiver last year.  He had 66 receptions for 939 yards and seven touchdowns last season, and he has been suspended for this game.  Utah checks in very healthy.

Keep in mind that Utah beat a very good Mountain West team in Colorado State 45-10 in the Las Vegas Bowl last year.  That's a Colorado State team that went 10-3 and was certainly better than Utah State.  I would even argue that the Rams were nearly as good as Boise State last year, and the Utes beat them by 35.

Utah is 13-1 in its last 14 meetings with Utah State.  Eight of its last nine wins in the series have come by 16 points or more.  The Utes are 38-17-2 ATS in their last 57 non-conference games, including 8-0 ATS in non-conference games over the past three seasons.  The Aggies are 0-4 ATS in their last four September games.  Bet Utah Friday.

20* Steelers/Patriots 2015 NFL Season Opener on Pittsburgh +7

There’s no doubt that Tom Brady is worth a few points. But four? That seems a little high to me. New England was only a 3-point favorite over Pittsburgh when it was assumed that Brady would be serving a four-game suspension to start the season. But now that Brady won his appeal and will play, oddsmakers have moved this line to New England -7. The value is now with the Steelers in this one in my opinion.

I always look to fade teams off a Super Bowl victory early in the season. They tend to not come back as motivated the following year, and their training camp is much more laid back than most other teams. When you’re on top of the world, it’s even harder to get back there because of overconfidence and always having a target on your back each week.

While New England will no doubt be good again this year, remember, it started just 2-2 last season as well. I don’t expect the Patriots to be firing on all cylinders right out of the gate, especially with all of the distractions from ‘Deflategate’. They haven’t had many game reps with Tom Brady in the preseason, and the ones they had weren’t very productive.

In his first two games of the preseason, four of his five drives were three-and-outs, while completing just 3-of-9 passes. He was even worse against the Panthers, throwing a pair of interceptions in Game 3. With Brady under center, they didn’t score a touchdown until his 12th possession of the preseason. Of course, it is just the preseason, but I really do expect this offense to be a little bit out of sync to open the year.

There’s no doubt the Steelers have concerns of their own offensively. Running back Le’Veon Bell will miss the first two games due to suspension, WR Martavis Bryant will miss the first four games due to suspension, and center Maurkice Pouncey won’t be able to return from an ankle injury until at least Week 12.

While concerning, this is still a Pittsburgh offense that ranked second in the NFL at 411.1 yards per game last season. I still expect it to find plenty of success against this New England defense. The Patriots certainly got worse on this side of the ball in the offseason by parting ways with CB Darrelle Revis, CB Brandon Browner, CB Kyle Arrington and DT Vince Wilfork. I would rate their secondary below-average now, and I expect Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown to have big games.

The Steelers will be energized defensively as they have gotten younger this offseason, letting go of Troy Polamalu, Ike Taylor and Jason Worilds. They have been using early draft picks on defense each of the past few seasons, and first-round pick Bud Dupree should be a factor from the start. They also get back a healthy Ryan Shazier at linebacker this year, who was a first-round pick last season. In fact, the Steelers could be starting four former first-round picks at linebacker this season. This youthful defense is the wild card, but I believe they start making progress this year after a couple of down years in a row defensively.

Pittsburgh is grabbing the headlines because of its injuries and suspensions, but New England has some sneaky important injuries and suspensions of its own.  Starting running back LeGarrette Blount is out due to suspension.  No. 2 receiver Brandon LaFell is out with a foot injury.  Starting center Bryan Stork is doubtful with a concussion, so the Patriots are also without their center, just like the Steelers are.  No. 1 receiver Julian Edelmen is expected to play, though he's nursing an ankle injury.  I just don't believe the Patriots will have the firepower offensively out of the gate to win this game by more than a touchdown to beat us.  Bet the Steelers Thursday.

15* LA Tech/WKU Conference USA ANNIHILATOR on Louisiana Tech -1.5

Louisiana Tech was easily the second-best team in Conference USA last season.  It won the West division and went on to face Marshall in the Championship Game, losing that contest by a final of 23-26 as 7-point underdogs.  That was a Marshall team that went 13-1 last year and rarely played any close games.

Now the Bulldogs return 13 starters this season and are clearly a threat to win Conference USA again.  They do lose QB Cody Sokol, but they brought in former No. 1 QB recruit in the country in Jeff Driskel, a Florida transfer.  This is Driskel's senior season and his last chance to shine, so he's going to be committed to this team.  Plus, it doesn't hurt that he's going from facing very tough SEC competition to Conference USA competition, which is like night and day.

It also doesn't hurt that Driskel has all of his top playmakers back from last year.  Leading rusher Kenneth Dixon (1,299 yards, 22 TD) and each of his top three receivers in Trent Taylor (64 receptions, 834 yards, 9 TD), Carlos Henderson (29, 569, 4 TD) and Paul Turner (42, 514, 4 TD) are also back.  The Bulldogs return six starters and each of their top two tacklers on defense from a unit that gave up a respectable 24.7 PPG last year as well.

Driskel and company put on a show in their 62-15 rout of Southern in the opener.  They led 52-8 at halftime before calling off the dogs.  That was plenty of time for Driskel to complete 12-of-15 passes for 274 yards and four touchdowns.  It was also enough time for Kenneth Dixon to rack up 171 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns on only 11 touches.  It's safe to say that this offense is going to be explosive again.

Western Kentucky does have 16 starters back from last year and is among the favorites to win Conference USA as well.  But I just do not trust this team, especially defensively, where they gave up 39.9 points and 510 yards per game last season.  Plus, the Hilltoppers were not impressive at all in their opener against the worst team from the SEC in Vanderbilt.

Sure, they won the game 14-12 as 2-point favorites, but the box score indicates that the Hilltoppers were dominated.  They simply benefited from three costly Vanderbilt turnovers.  They were outgained 246-393, or by 147 total yards.  Their running game produced only 37 yards on 23 carries for an average of 1.6 per carry.  Brandon Doughty was held to 209 passing yards and one touchdown, which are terrible numbers for him.  The Commodores, not known for their offense, racked up 393 yards on this soft defense.  I just believe it's a sign of things to come for the Hilltoppers in this game.

Plus, Louisiana Tech beat Western Kentucky 59-10 last year in a game that was every bit the 49-point blowout that the final score would indicate.  The Bulldogs outgained the Hilltoppers 517-297 for the game.  They held Doughty to 14-of-35 passing for 134 yards and one touchdown with four interceptions.  Sokol threw for 335 yards and five touchdowns in the win.  It's clear that Holtz and company have the antidote for this WKU offense. 

Can the Hilltoppers improve by 49 points from one season to the next? It's highly unlikely.  LA Tech is 9-0 ATS when playing with 6 or less days rest over the last two seasons.  WKU is 0-6 ATS off a game where it forced three or more turnovers over the last three years.  The Bulldogs are 5-0 ATS in their last five vs. a team with a winning record.  These three trends combine for a perfect 20-0 system backing the Bulldogs.  Take Louisiana Tech Thursday.

15* NL Thursday No-Doubt Rout on St. Louis Cardinals -137

The St. Louis Cardinals will be highly motivated for a win today against the Cincinnati Reds.  They have lost five of their last seven coming in to see their lead in the NL Central trimmed to 4.5 games.  They won't be taking the Reds lightly in this one.

Jamie Garcia has been brilliant this season, going 8-4 with a 1.89 ERA and 0.950 WHIP over 15 starts.  Garcia is 10-3 with a 3.06 ERA in 15 career starts against the Reds.  He'll be up against a Cincinnati team that has essentially quit, going 9-25 in its last 34 games overall.

The Reds counter with a youngster in John Lamb who has really struggled in limited action this year.  Lamb is 0-3 with a 6.11 ERA and 1.536 WHIP in five starts this year, including 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA and 1.750 WHIP in three home starts.

St. Louis is 16-1 (+14.7 Units) against the money line with a tired bullpen - throwing 13+ innings over the last 3 games this season.   The Cardinals are 7-0 in Garcia's last seven starts.  The Reds are 0-5 in Lamb's last five starts.  These three trends combine for a 28-1 system backing St. Louis.  Roll with the Cardinals Thursday.

20* AL East GAME OF THE MONTH on Toronto Blue Jays -121

Rarely will you get the opportunity to back the Toronto Blue Jays at this kind of price with the way they have been playing down the stretch.  They have gone 29-8 in their last 37 games overall and are clearly playing better than anyone else right now.  They are on a mission to win the AL East.

Drew Hutchison has really impressed me here of late, too.  He has allowed three earned runs or fewer in five of his last six starts.  He is 3-1 with a 3.50 ERA in his last four starts overall.  He'll be up against a Boston team that has nothing to play for at 60-79 on the season.

Joe Kelly has pitched well of late, too, but he's 9-6 with a 4.84 ERA and 1.425 WHIP in 23 starts this season, and 5-3 with a 4.96 ERA and 1.454 WHIP in 12 home starts.  Kelly is 0-1 with a 6.46 ERA in four career starts against Toronto as well.  He has allowed 15 runs in 17 2/3 innings in his last three starts against the Blue Jays, all of which have come this year.

The Blue Jays are 10-1 in Hutchison's last 11 starts against AL East opponents.  Toronto is 15-3 in Hutchison's last 18 starts after allowing two runs or less in their previous game.  The Red Sox are 19-40 in their last 59 home games vs. a team with a winning record.  Bet the Blue Jays Wednesday.

20* Mets/Nationals NL East ANNIHILATOR on Washington -112

The Washington Nationals are in must-win mode right now.  They trail the New York Mets by five games for the NL East lead and cannot afford to lose this head-to-head game Tuesday, especially after dropping Game 1.  It's safe to say that they won't be lacking any motivation.

Jordan Zimmerman has gone 12-8 with a 3.38 ERA and 1.208 WHIP in 28 starts this season, including 7-3 with a 2.52 ERA and 1.080 WHIP in 16 home starts.  He has been dominant in his last two, giving up just two earned runs over 13 innings.  Zimmerman has won four straight starts coming in.

Matt Harvey has certainly been good this season, going 12-7 with a 2.76 ERA in 25 starts, and 4-5 with a 3.08 ERA in 10 road starts.  But Harvey allowed four earned runs and 10 base runners in 6 1/3 innings to the Phillies in his last start.  He has since created a lot of buzz in the media about how he is likely to get shut down at some point after coming off Tommy John Surgery.

Zimmerman is 12-0 (+12.2 Units) against the money line in home games vs. an NL team with a batting average of .255 or worse in the second half of the season over the last two seasons.  The Mets are 6-24 in their last 30 games as a road underdog.  New York is 0-4 in Harvey's last four starts as a road underdog.  Washington is 44-15 in Zimmerman's last 59 home starts.  Bet the Nationals Tuesday.

20* Ohio State/VA Tech ESPN Monday No-Brainer on Virginia Tech +14

While I don’t expect the Buckeyes to overlook the Hokies again, I do believe Virginia Tech is fully capable of pulling off another upset. I am very high on the Hokies heading into 2015 because they return 16 starters and this will be one of Frank Beamer’s best teams yet. I predicted that they’d win the Coastal Division and make the ACC Championship Game this year coming into the season.

This is a Virginia Tech team that has won at least 10 games in eight straight seasons prior to failing to win more than eight each of the last three years. Beamer enters his 29th season in Blacksburg and desperately wants to get back to the top of the ACC, which has been a familiar spot for this program up until recently. With 58 lettermen back as well, this team has the depth and talent to do so.

The offense held the Hokies back last year, but it should be vastly improved in 2015 with eight starters back. Quarterback Michael Brewer is now a senior who will be more efficient in Year 2 of the system. He went 23-of-36 for 199 yards against the Buckeyes last season and will be able to lean on that performance to put together another solid one in the rematch. Each of the top three receivers from last year were freshmen, and all three are now sophomores and will have much better chemistry with Brewer.

But the reason Virginia Tech has a chance to pull the upset is its defense. It allowed 20.2 points and 344 yards per game last season and will be even stronger in 2015. That’s because eight starters return on this side of the ball. The entire defensive line returns intact and will be one of the best in the country. The secondary gave up just 199 yards per game and 47.7 percent completions to opposing quarterbacks last season, and now three starters are back, including future NFL star Kendall Fuller at corner.

Ohio State simply enters the 2015 season overvalued due to winning the National Championship. It will have a hard time living up to expectations now, and I believe if you went against the Buckeyes ATS in every game this season, you would come out on top. Some of the spreads they have set for their games are ridiculous, including this one. While there’s no denying that the Buckeyes have the easiest path to get to the four-team playoff because they play in the Big Ten, they just aren’t going to be as dominant as most think.

The Buckeyes will be missing some key players in this game. Defensive end Joey Bosa, H-Back Jalin Marshall, WR Corey Smith and H-Back Dontre Wilson are all suspended. Bosa is projected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NFL draft, so his loss is huge. Marshall (30 receptions, 499 yards, 6 TD), Wilson (21, 300, 3 TD) and Smith (20, 255) are three of the team’s top four returning receivers as well. These losses are huge and will put the Buckeyes at a big disadvantage in the opener. Keep in mind that Beamer is 10-2 ATS as a home underdog as the coach of Virginia Tech.  Bet Virginia Tech Monday.

15* NL Monday No-Doubt Rout on San Francisco Giants -104

The San Francisco Giants (71-66) are not about to throw in the towel even though they are well back in the NL West and NL wild card standings.  They still have a shot, and they have shown some resilience in winning each of their last two games following a 7-game losing streak.

The Arizona Diamondbacks (65-72) have realized that their fate is already sealed for a while now.  That's why they have not really shown up over the past couple weeks.  The Diamondbacks are 3-11 in their last 14 games overall and have lost four straight coming in.

Mike Leake is having a great season at 9-7 with a 3.49 ERA and 1.115 WHIP in 25 starts.  He has been at his best on the road, going 5-4 with a 2.29 ERA and 0.864 WHIP in 13 starts.  Leake is 0-1 with a 3.26 ERA and 0.724 WHIP in his last three starts for the Giants as well.

Leake has never lost to the Diamondbacks, going 4-0 with a 4.84 ERA and 1.164 WHIP over seven starts.  In his last start against them, he pitched 7 2/3 shutout innings while allowing only five base runners and striking out eight.  Take the Giants Monday.

20* AL Sunday No-Doubt Rout on Los Angeles Angels -125

The Los Angeles Angels trail the Texas Rangers by 3.5 games for the final wild card spot in the American League after losing Game 2 of this series yesterday by a single run.  I look for them to take this series with a Game 3 victory to pull closer to the Rangers for that wild card spot.

Hector Santiago has pitched very well all season, especially at home.  He is 3-2 with a 2.71 ERA and 1.180 WHIP in 14 home starts this year.  Santiago is 5-2 with a 3.60 ERA and 1.217 WHIP in 11 career starts against Texas as well.  He has allowed just five earned runs over 24 1/3 innings in four starts against the Rangers in 2015 for a 1.85 ERA.

Colby Lewis is 6-10 with a 5.83 ERA and 1.402 WHIP in 20 career starts against the Angels.  IN his last four starts against Los Angeles, Lewis has allowed 21 earned runs over 21 2/3 innings for an 8.72 ERA.

The Angels are 39-16 in their last 55 games as a favorite.  Los Angeles is 25-10 in its last 35 games as a favorite of -110 to -150.  The Angels are 5-1 in Santiago's last six starts as a favorite of -110 to -150.  The Rangers are 8-22 in the last 30 meetings, and 1-6 in Lewis' last seven starts against Los Angeles.  Take the Angels Sunday.

15* Purdue/Marshall Sunday Afternoon ANNIHILATOR on Purdue +7.5

This is the year that Purdue makes a big leap forward.  Darrell Hazell enters his 3rd season with the Boilermakers, and he's squarely on the hot seat after going 1-11 in his first season and 3-9 last year.  But all signs are pointing up for this team heading into 2015.

The Boilermakers actually made big improvements last year despite only improving by two wins.  They were outscored by 23.1 points per game in 2013, but just 7.9 points per game last year, making 15.2-point improvement.  Another big jump can be expected this year with a whopping 15 starters and 50 lettermen back and only 17 letter winners lost.  Coaches usually make their biggest jump in Year 3, and it will be no different for Hazell.

The offense improved by roughly 8 points and 62 yards per game from 2013 last year.  Another step forward should be taken with eight starters back on this side of the ball.  They return leading receiver Danny Anthrop, who had 616 receiving yards and four touchdowns despite missing the final three games last year.

The defense improved by 7.3 points and 44 yards per game from 2013 to 2014.  Again, another step forward can be expected with seven starters and four of their top five tacklers back.  There was concern about some injuries at linebacker, but all three returning starters at LB are expected to be ready to go against Marshall.

The Thundering Herd enter the 2015 season overvalued because of how well they did last season.  They went 13-1 last season, but the only relevant team they faced all year was Western Kentucky, and they lost that game.  Marshall's schedule was so easy that it was actually favored in every game and by double-digits 12 times.

After having 14 starters back last year, the Thundering Herd only have 11 starters returning in 2015.  They lose the school's all-time leading passer in Rakeem Cato (14,079 yards), which is the program's biggest loss since Randy Moss left for the NFL.  They also lose leading receiver Tommy Shulder (92 receptions, 1,138 yards, 9 TD), who had 55 more receptions than second place on the team.

The offense is sure to take a huge step back with those two losses, and the defense only have five starters back.  They lose their top two tacklers who each registered more than 100 tacklers last year.  They only have two returning starters among the front seven, so they are going to be much weaker up front defensively.

The value is clearly with the Big Ten team over the team from Conference USA in this one.  Most of the time, the Big Ten team would be favored in this situation.  But since Purdue only won four games the past two years combined, and Marshall won 13 games last year alone, the betting public is quick to jump on the Thundering Herd.  But these are two teams headed opposite directions entering 2015 folks.  The Boilermakers are on the rise, while the Thundering Herd are in rebuilding mode.  Bet Purdue Sunday.

15* MLB Saturday No-Doubt Rout on Los Angeles Angels +100

I backed the Angels yesterday with success and I'll back them again today as home underdogs to the Texas Rangers when they shouldn't be.  This is the most important series of the season for the Angels as they trail the Rangers now by 2.5 games for the final wild card spot in the AL even after yesterday's victory.  There's more work to do.

Jered Weaver has simply pitched too good at home this season to be an underdog.  Weaver is 3-2 with a 3.02 ERA and 1.184 WHIP in eight home starts this season.  Weaver is also 15-8 with a 3.55 ERA and 1.191 WHIP in 35 career starts against Texas.

Derek Holland is 6-6 with a 5.67 ERA and 1.438 WHIP in 18 career starts against the Angels.  He just recently returned from injury, and because he has pitched well in four starts, he's being overvalued here.

The Angels are 47-16 in Weaver's last 63 home starts.  Los Angeles is 5-0 in Weaver's last five starts as a home underdog.  Bet the Angels Saturday.

20* Wisconsin/Alabama ABC Saturday No-Brainer on Alabama -12

This one is pretty easy for me. The Alabama Crimson Tide are the supremely talented team, but I believe the questions surrounding the quarterback position have kept this line lower than it should be. When is the last time Alabama didn’t have good quarterback play? Not since Nick Saban has been here, and I’m sure whoever they go with will be more than good enough to lead them to a blowout win over the Badgers.

The questions for the Crimson Tide are on offense with just three returning starters and the loss of Amari Cooper, but the talent on this side of the ball is second to none. This is an offense that put up 36.9 points and 485 yards per game last season in the first year under coordinator Lane Kiffin. They will be explosive again with the new starters ready to step in and pick up where they left off.

But what really excites me about this Alabama team is the defense. It only gave up 18.4 points and 328 yards per game last year despite having only five starters back. Now, the Crimson Tide will have one of their best defenses of the Saban era with seven starters returning. Five of seven starters are back up front and will be prepared to stop Wisconsin’s rushing attack. The Crimson Tide only gave up 102 rushing yards per game and 3.2 per carry last season.

This is a match-up tailor made for the Crimson Tide. The only offenses they have struggled with through the years are ones that spread you out and pass it all over the field. Wisconsin doesn’t have that ability. It has one of the worst quarterback situations in the country. Senior Joel Stave completed just 53.4 percent of his passes for 1,350 yards with a 9-to-10 touchdown to interception ratio last year. He is back as the starter, and the Crimson Tide aren’t going to have to worry about the Badgers' passing game one bit with Stave at the helm.

Yes, the Badgers always have an explosive running game and a great offensive line. That should be the case again even though they lose Melvin Gordon and three starters along the offensive line. I don’t expect them to be as dominant on the ground as they were last year with the losses, but they will be good. But Alabama stops the run as well as almost anyone, so again, it’s just a perfect match-up for the Crimson Tide.

I do believe Wisconsin will have a solid defense this year after giving up just 20.8 points and 294 yards per game last season. It will be tough to match those numbers with only six starters back and the losses of three of their top five tacklers, but this will be a good unit. I do not expect them to hold Alabama to less than 30 points, though, and getting to 30 points will be more than enough for the Crimson Tide to cover this 10.5-point spread. Their defense isn’t going to allow more than 14 points.

Wisconsin may be overvalued here due to beating Auburn in the Outback Bowl last year.  But that was an Auburn team that was disappointed to be playing in a lesser bowl after making the National Championship Game the year before.  A better indication of what type of team the Badgers were was in their 59-0 loss to Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship.  Alabama lost to Ohio State as well, but led 21-6 early and only lost 35-42 in the four-team playoff.

Plays on favorites of 10.5 to 21 points (Alabama) who won 80% or more of their games last season, in non-conference games between two teams from major division 1-A conferences are 24-4 (85.7%) ATS over the last 10 seasons.

Alabama is simply on another level than Wisconsin with the way it has recruited over the last several years with the top classes in the country.  Wisconsin has talent, but it is adjusting to new systems under first-year head coach Paul Chryst.  Playing a team of Alabama's caliber is not a good way to break in new systems.  Roll with Alabama Saturday.

25* CFB Week 1 GAME OF THE YEAR on Texas A&M -3

I am very high on the Texas A&M Aggies this season and believe they are primed for a run at the SEC West title. They come into this season undervalued because they have gone from 11, to 9 to 8 wins in Sumlin’s first three seasons. But last year was expected to be a down year because they lost Johnny Manziel, Mike Evans and a plethora of talent.

After having just 11 returning starters each of the last two seasons, the Aggies are now a more veteran bunch as they return 16 starters in 2015. They were forced to play a ton of freshmen last year, but now those players are a year older and ready to take that next step. After all, Sumlin continues to come away with one elite recruiting class after another. It’s going to pay off sooner rather than later.

The Aggies played a freshman QB in Kyle Allen last year, and two of their top four receivers were freshmen as well. All three return and this is going to be one of the best receiving corps in the country. The Aggies still managed 35.2 points and 455 yards per game last year despite their youth, and now they should have no problem returning to close to the 44 points per game they averaged when Manziel was running the show.

But what really has me excited about this team is the defense. The Aggies managed to lure former LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis to oversee the play-calling duties. He steps into a great situation with eight returning starters on defense. This will be one of the most improved stop units in the country after allowing 28.1 points and 451 yards per game last year. Their best players was a freshman in Myles Garrett, who recorded 11.5 sacks and will be an even bigger beast as a sophomore.  He even played injured down the stretch last year, and teammates think so much of him that they have named him a captain.

I am certainly not down on the Arizona State Sun Devils this season with 16 returning starters as well, but I do believe they were very fortunate to win 10 games last year. They benefited from a +14 turnover differential, and despite going 6-3 in Pac-12 play, they were actually outgained by 15 yards per game against conference opponents last season.

I don’t expect their offense to be as good with the loss of QB Taylor Kelly and leading receiver Jaelen Strong (82 receptions, 1,165 yards, 10 TD). Their defense did not play all that well last season as they allowed 27.9 points and 417 yards per game. While they could be improved in that area, I don’t expect them to take as big of a leap forward as Texas A&M on this side of the ball. The Aggies have loads more talent defensively than the Sun Devils do when you look at the recruiting rankings.

Finally, Texas A&M will have a home-field advantage despite this game being played at a neutral site.  It's only about a 1.5-hour drive from College Station to Houston, which will be the site of this game.  Meanwhile, it's over 16 hours from Tempe, AZ to Houston.  It's safe to say that the Aggies will have a distinct advantage with the crowd.  Bet Texas A&M Saturday.

15* CFB Saturday Big Chalk BLOWOUT on Tennessee -21

I’m about as big on Tennessee this season as anyone. In fact, I have picked them to win the SEC East with a 10-2 record. The reason is pretty simple. Butch Jones has put together back-to-back Top 5 recruiting classes, so the talent is going to deliver the goods with this team sooner rather than later.

We saw it at the end of last year. The Vols went 4-1 over their final five games once Josh Dobbs took over as their starting quarterback. They scored 45 or more points three times during that stretch, and finished it by averaging 33.0 points per game. Dobbs completed 63.3 percent of his passes for 1,206 yards and nine touchdowns, while also rushing for 469 yards and eight scores. His dual-threat ability really opened up this offense.

Now Dobbs is a junior and he’s among a loaded roster that returns 18 starters and some of the best talent in the entire SEC.  Jones was forced to play 23 true freshmen last season, and now those guys are all a year older.  With the way this team finished last season by making a bowl and blowing out Iowa in it, that's a definite positive sign of things to come.

The offense is only going to pick up where it left off last year with 10 returning starters.  After having no returning starters on the offensive line last year, the Vols now return four starters up front.  Each of their receivers who factored into the passing game last year are back, as is leading rusher Jalen Hurd (899 yards, 5 TD).

The defense will continue to build on the strides it made last year. The Vols only allowed 24.2 points per game last season with five starters back, and now they have eight starters back on defense and should come close to the 20 PPG range.  They are very excited about their defensive line, which returns sophomore DE Derek Barnett (72 tackles, 21.5 for loss, 10 sacks).  The linebacker corps returns senior SLB Curt Maggitt (11 sacks), giving the Vols two double-digit sack guys back from last year.

This is the perfect storm because I’m also down on Bowling Green. The Falcons won the MAC East title last year but took advantage of a very soft division. They wound up losing to Northern Illinois 51-17 in the MAC Title game, which is more indicative of the type of team this really was, rather than an eight-game winner.

The Falcons do return 10 starters on offense and should be fine there, but the defense is what concerns me. They gave up 33.5 points and 494 yards per game last season with only five starters back. Now they return five starters again and I don’t see the numbers improving. That’s because they lose each of their top four tacklers and arguably their best four players on this side of the football.

Bowling Green was overwhelmed in its two non-conference road games last season. It lost 31-59 at Western Kentucky and 17-68 at Wisconsin. I believe this 2015 Tennessee team is better than both of those squads, and it’s not really even close. I look for the Falcons to get blown out of the building in their first non-conference road game of 2015 as well.  Bet Tennessee Saturday.

20* CFB Saturday No-Doubt Rout on Penn State -6.5

James Franklin had his work cut out for him in his first season at Penn State. He was coming off back-to-back improbable 9-4 campaigns at Vanderbilt, which is no small feat. He did have 12 returning starters to work with last year and reduced sanctions, but it was still a tall task to ask for him to win in his first season.  The Nittany Lions wound up finishing 7-6 after beating Boston College 31-30 in the Pinstripe Bowl. They took national champion Ohio State into double-overtime, which shows what they are capable of.

Things are looking up for Penn State entering 2015. It has 15 returning starters, went 2-6 in Big Ten play last year despite only getting outgained by 7.5 yards per game, and now it goes from having 64 scholarship players in 2014 to 83 in 2015. That will dramatically improve their depth at all positions.  It was amazing to see the Penn State faithful fill Beaver Stadium during the probation period over the last three years. Now, those fans should be rewarded with some solid football under Franklin going forward.

The offense is in line for massive improvement after averaging just 20.6 points per game last season.  QB Christian Hackenberg is among eight returning starters on offense.  While Hackenberg had a down season last year, most experts believe he will be the first QB taken in the 2016 NFL Draft. 

The reason he struggled so much was because of inexperience along the offensive line.  But after having just one O-line starter back last year, the Nittany Lions return four starters and add in two very highly touted linemen.  The skill positions are in good hands as well with leading rusher Akeel Lynch (678 yards, 4.6/carry, 4 TD) and each of their top two receivers back in DaeSean Hamilton (82 receptions, 899 yards, 2 TD) and Geno Lewis (55, 751, 2 TD).

Penn State had one of the best defenses in the nation last year.  It allowed just 18.6 points and 279 yards per game.  With seven starters and five of its top six tacklers back on defense, this is going to be one of the top stop units in the country again.

Temple should be improved this season, but not as much as Penn State.  The Owls went 6-6 last year and return 19 starters.  But they went 4-4 in American Athletic play despite getting outgained by 69.5 yards per game.  Their defense is going to be solid again with 10 starters back, but the offense just doesn't have that much talent.

The Owls only managed 23.1 points per game last season.  Quarterback PJ Walker is experienced with two years as a starter under his belt, but he regressed last year and was simply forced to do too much.  He won't have much luck against this Penn State defense, which again, is one of the best in the country.

Penn State is 31-0 in its last 31 meetings with Temple with its last loss coming in 1941.  It beat Temple 30-13 at home last year while outgaining the Owls 366-248 for the game.  The Nittany Lions rushed for 254 yards in a turnover fest that saw both QB's combine to throw six interceptions.  A similar result can be expected in the 2015 meeting with a 17-point road victory for the Nittany Lions just about right.

Franklin is 15-5 ATS in non-conference games in all games he has coached.  The Nittany Lions are 6-0 ATS in their last six non-conference games.  The Owls are 4-10 ATS in their last 14 vs. Big Ten opponents.  The talent gap between these teams is just enormous, but the spread isn't reflecting that, providing us with some nice value by laying the small number on the Nittany Lions.  Take Penn State Saturday.

25* AL West GAME OF THE YEAR on Los Angeles Angels -152

The Los Angeles Angels realize that this series against the Texas Rangers is their biggest of the entire 2015 season.  They trail the Rangers by 3.5 games for the final wild card spot in the American League, so it's now or never in this series for them.  I'll gladly back them in Game 1.

Garrett Richards is 12-10 with a 3.80 ERA and 1.236 WHIP in 25 starts this season.  He has been at his best at home, going 8-4 with a 3.09 ERA and 1.085 WHIP in 13 starts.  Better yet, Richards is 7-1 with a 2.84 ERA and 1.191 WHIP in three career starts against Texas.  The Angels are 6-0 in Richards' last six starts vs. Rangers.

Martin Perez is arguably the worst starter in the Rangers' rotation.  He has gone 2-3 with a 5.15 ERA and 1.443 WHIP in eight starts this year, unable to lock down a spot in the rotation because of his inconsistency.  Perez is 0-2 with a 4.50 ERA and 1.727 WHIP in four road starts as well.

The Angels are 14-2 (+11.4 Units) against the money line in home games vs. an AL starting pitcher whose WHIP is 1.400 to 1.500 over the last two seasons.  The Angels are 14-3 in Richards' last 17 starts as a favorite of -151 to -200.  Los Angeles is 37-15 in Richards' last 52 starts as a favorite.  Bet the Angels Friday.

15* Baylor/SMU ESPN Friday No-Brainer on UNDER 74

Last year, these teams played to a 45-0 game that was 29 points less than Friday’s posted total of 74. I can see a similar result, or something in the 52-17 range in favor of Baylor, which would still be UNDER the total. I simply believe that both teams are going to be better defensively this year.

The reason for Baylor fans to be excited is because this is going to be Art Briles’ best defense yet. While the offense gets all the hype, it’s the defense that has made the most strides in recent years. The Bears gave up 23.5 points and 360 yards per game in 2013, and 25.5 points and 382 yards per game in 2014. Now they return nine starters on defense, and I expect them to put up their best numbers of the Briles era in 2015.

The Bears have the best defensive line in the Big 12 with all four starters returning, led by athletic freak Shawn Oakman at defensive end, who earned 1st-team All-Big 12 honors last year. The linebacker corps does lose two starters, but the entire secondary returns intact. A strong defensive line and a strong secondary gives SMU little chance of being successful here.

I don’t expect Baylor to be as potent offensively this year. Yes, it does return nine starters on offense as well, but it loses QB Bryce Petty to the NFL. I’m not sold on Seth Russell as being anywhere near the passer that Petty was. Russell only completed 56.5 percent of his passes last year and did not impress me at all in the limited action he received in place of an injury Petty.

Simply put, SMU was horrible in all phases last year. It was especially poor on offense, putting up 11.1 points and 269 yards per game. It averaged just 100 rushing yards per game and 3.3 per carry. I do expect it to be better under the guidance of first-year head coach Chad Morris, who was the offensive coordinator at Clemson before coming here. But make no mistake, this SMU offense is still going to be one of the worst in the FBS.

One key factor here with backing the UNDER is that a blowout will lead to a very low-scoring second half. The same thing happened last year with Baylor jumping out to a 31-0 lead at half before calling off the dogs in the 45-0 win.  I expect Baylor to take its foot off the gas late in this game as well.

SMU will be lucky to score 10-14 points in this one against this superior Baylor defense. The Bears will simply run out the clock in the 4th quarter and get away from the up-tempo attack that will have gotten them a big lead. Take the UNDER in this game Friday.

20* Michigan/Utah 2015 CFB Season Opener on Michigan +5

Brady Hoke did not get the most out the talent he had on hand at Michigan.  The Wolverines went from 11 wins in his first season, to 8, 7 and 5 the next three years, which is simply unacceptable in Ann Arbor.  That's why they brought in Jim Harbaugh, which was the biggest offseason hire at any program.

Harbaugh had success as a quarterback here, and he's won everywhere he's gone as a head coach.  He went 29-6 at San Diego, 29-21 at Stanford, and 49-22-1 as the head coach of the NFL's San Francisco 49ers.  The guy is a proven winner who will get this program on the right track from Day 1.

Harbaugh steps into a great situation, too.  He inherits 15 returning starters and 50 lettermen while losing only 18 letter winners.  Make no mistake about it, Harbaugh will get the most out of these talented players.

He has been known as an offensive guru, and he'll certainly improve an offense that put up just 20.9 points and 333 yards per game last year.  Eight starters are back on offense, and he adds in Iowa transfer Jake Rudock at QB, who started 25 games for the Hawkeyes over two seasons.  It's not been announced whether Rudock or Shane Morris will start for competitive advantage reasons, but my best guess is Rudock.

To Hoke's credit, he did coach up the defense very well as the Wolverines allowed 22 or fewer points and 322 or fewer yards per game in three of his four seasons.  This is a stop unit that returns seven starters after allowing just 311 yards per game last season.  This will once again be one of the top defenses in the country because of the returning experience and talent on hand.

Utah comes into the season way overvalued.  The Utes went 9-4 last season and finished with a winning record in Pac-12 play for the first time as a member of the conference.  But they were actually outgained by 84.2 yards per game in Pac-12 play despite their 5-4 record, which was the worst yardage differential in the entire conference.  All five of their Pac-12 wins came by 6 points or less as well.

Michigan is going to be highly motivated following a 10-26 home loss to the Utes last season.  It actually outgained Utah 308-286 for the game, but finished -3 in turnover differential.  It committed four turnovers in the game, which was its Achilles heel all season last year as it finished -16 in turnover differential.  Harbaugh will demand that his quarterbacks take better care of the football, and the defense is sure to create more turnovers this year.

The biggest advantage for the Wolverines is that they have a bunch of new systems in place.  They have a new offensive coordinator in Tim Drevno, a new defensive coordinator in D.J. Durkin, and a new special teams coordinator in John Baxter.  Utah coach Kyle Whittingham cannot use game film from last year to game plan for the Wolverines.  I love the element of surprise that Michigan will have coming into this one.  Plus, Michigan knows what Utah is going to do after playing the Utes last year.  Utah's systems have not changed.

"It's just a hodgepodge of five, six or seven places," Whittingham told The Detroit Free Press' Mark Snyder. "We form the best-guess scenario. And that's what an opener is anyway, a best-guess scenario, we never really know. Even when you [face] a returning staff, there's still changes that come in the offseason in different schematics. But when you have a new staff, anything really is in the realm of possibility. We think we have a general idea of what to expect. You try to expose your players to everything you think they might see in fall camp. Build a game plan to accommodate all the possibilities."

Whittingham is 6-23 ATS as a favorite of 3.5 to 10 points as the coach of Utah.  Bet Michigan Thursday.

15* NFLX Thursday ANNIHILATOR on Pittsburgh Steelers -1

No Analysis For Preseason.  Picks are based off of team depth, especially QB depth, and coaching strategies among other situations.

15* MLB Thursday No-Doubt Rout on Pittsburgh Pirates -145

The Pittsburgh Pirates have now lost three straight games.  It's safe to say that they'll be highly motivated for a victory when they take on the Milwaukee Brewers tonight and look to avoid the sweep.  After all, this has been one of the most resilient teams in baseball.

In fact, Pittsburgh has not lost four in a row since May 13-16.  That's right, they've gone nearly four months without losing four straight games.  That streak will remain intact today as the Pirates take care of business behind their ace on the mound.

Francisco Liriano is having another brilliant season, going 9-6 with a 3.28 ERA and 1.165 WHIP over 25 starts.  The left-hander has been at his best on the road, going 5-2 with a 2.33 ERA and 1.127 WHIP in 10 starts away from home.  He has allowed just four earned runs over 14 innings in his last two starts against Milwaukee.

The Pirates are 11-1 in their last 12 when their opponent scores 5 runs or more in their previous game.  Liriano is 10-0 (+10.0 Units) against the money line in the second half of the season this season.  The Brewers are 5-16 in their last 21 games as an underdog.  Take the Pirates Thursday.

20* NL Wednesday No-Doubt Rout on Pittsburgh Pirates -141

The Pittsburgh Pirates will be highly motivated for a victory tonight following back-to-back losses.  This has been one of the most resilient teams in baseball, refusing to go on extended losing streak.  In fact, the last time they lost three in a row was all the way back on July 17-19.  They've only lost three in a row twice since mid-May.

Jeff Locke is far from a dominant starter, but he's good enough to get the job done.  His hast two road starts have been superb.  Locke allowed two runs in 7 innings of a 7-2 win at Miami, and one run in 5 1/3 innings of an 8-1 win at New York.  He'll be opposed by Zach Davies, who makes is season debut for the Brewers today.

Locke has gone 4-3 with a 3.48 ERA and 1.129 WHIP in 10 career starts against Milwaukee.  Better yet, he has gone 3-2 with a 2.40 ERA in his last six starts against the Brewers.  He has allowed three earned runs or less in all six starts, including two runs or fewer in five of them.

Plays on road favorites with a money line of -125 or more (PITTSBURGH) - revenging a loss vs opponent as a road favorite of -150 or more, a good team (54% to 62%) playing a team with a losing record are 49-10 (83.1%) ATS over the last five seasons.  The Pirates are 11-0 in their last 11 when their opponent scores 5 runs or more in their previous game.  Bet the Pirates Wednesday.

20* NL Central GAME OF THE MONTH on Pittsburgh Pirates -147

The Pittsburgh Pirates have been one of the most resilient teams in baseball.  They have gone 9-1 in their last 10 games following a loss, which have been few and far between.  They had yesterday off following a loss to the Rockies last time out, and I look for them to bounce back with a win in Game 1 of this series with lowly Milwaukee.

It doesn't hurt that the Pirates send their ace to the mound tonight in Gerrit Cole, who is 15-7 with a 2.49 ERA and 1.114 WHIP in 26 starts.  Cole has been his best on the road, going 7-4 with a 2.13 ERA and 1.115 WHIP in 13 starts away from home.  The right-hander is also 2-2 with a 3.23 ERA in six career starts against Milwaukee.

Jimmy Nelson has pitched reasonably well in his first season as a full-time starter for the Brewers.  He has gone 10-10 with a 3.87 ERA and 1.282 WHIP in 26 starts this season.  But he has struggled of late, going 1-1 with a 5.28 ERA and 1.696 WHIP in his last three starts.  Nelson allowed five earned runs and 12 base runners in 3 1/3 innings in his last start against the Indians.

Milwaukee is 0-9 (-9.0 Units) against the money line as a home underdog of +125 to +150 this season.  The Pirates are 10-1 in their last 11 after allowing 5 runs or more in their previous game.  Pittsburgh is 39-16 in Cole's last 55 starts.  The Brewers are 15-42 in their last 57 games vs. a starter with a WHIP less than 1.15.  Bet the Pirates Tuesday.

20* MLB Monday Late-Night BAILOUT on Los Angeles Angels -104

The Los Angeles Angels are in must-win mode from here on out.  They are 3.5 games back of the final wild card spot in the American League after getting swept by the Indians last series.  It's safe to say that they are going to be highly motivated for a win in Game 1 of this series with the AL-worst Oakland A's (57-74).

Hector Santiago has been one of the most underrated starters in baseball all season.  Santiago is 7-8 with a 3.13 ERA and 1.202 WHIP over 25 starts and one relief appearance this year.  But what really stands out to me is that he has never lost to the A's, going 3-0 with a 1.31 ERA and 1.089 WHIP in seven career starts against them.

Felix Doubront has gone 1-1 with a fortunate 3.70 ERA in spite of a 1.429 WHIP over six starts and three relief appearances this season.  He is nowhere near on Santiago's level, but he's getting treated like it with this line Monday.  I'll gladly back the Angels with a lot to play for here at nearly even money.

Oakland is 0-7 (-9.4 Units) against the money line after a game where they had 17 or more hits over the last two seasons.  The A's are pretty tired right now after going to extra innings with the Diamondbacks yesterday.  The Angels are 46-21 in their last 67 games as a road favorite.  The A's are 15-37 in their last 52 games vs. a left-handed starter.  Bet the Angels Monday.

20* Cubs/Dodgers ESPN Sunday Night BAILOUT on Chicago -117

The Chicago Cubs have lost four straight coming into this one.  It's safe to say they will be highly motivated for a victory tonight against the Los Angeles Dodgers to avoid the sweep and get back in the win column as they try and chase a playoff spot.

The last time they won, Jake Arrieta was the starter in an 8-5 win over the Giants.  Arrieta has been their ace all season, and he's been nothing short of spectacular.  The right-hander is 16-6 with a 2.22 ERA in 26 starts, 10-1 with a 1.94 ERA in 14 road starts, and 3-0 with a 0.96 ERA in his last three outings.

There's no question that Arrieta is the better starter in this one.  Alex Wood is 9-8 with a 3.70 ERA and 1.409 WHIP in 25 starts this season, and 3-3 with a 4.89 ERA and 1.609 WHIP in eight home starts.  Wood gave up four earned runs in 5 1/3 innings in his only career start against the Cubs last year.

Wood is 1-7 (-8.6 Units) against the money line after four or more consecutive team wins over the last two seasons.  Arrieta is 9-0 (+9.0 Units) against the money line as a road favorite of -110 or higher this season.  Arrieta is 9-0 (+9.1 Units) against the money line in road games vs. an NL team with an on base percentage .325 or worse this season.  Take this combined 18-0 system backing Arrieta and the Cubs straight to the bank tonight.  Bet the Cubs Sunday.

15* Cardinals/Raiders NFLX ANNIHILATOR on Oakland PK

No Analysis For Preseason.  Picks are based off of team depth, especially QB depth, and coaching strategies among other situations.

20* MLB Saturday No-Doubt Rout on New York Yankees -1.5 (-115)

The New York Yankees put an end to a 2-game skid with an emphatic 15-4 win over the Braves yesterday.  The Braves even had to pitch a positional player.  While the Yankees are playing for the AL East Title, the Braves have packed it in a long time ago.  They are 1-10 in their last 11 games overall with nine of those losses coming by two runs or more.

Yankees rookie Luis Severino has lived up to the hype in limited action this season.  He is 1-2 with a 2.74 ERA and 1.087 WHIP over four starts with 24 strikeouts in 23 innings.  This guy is one of the top young prospects in the game and has carried over his success from the minors.

Matt Wisler has been a big disappointment for the Braves.  Wisler is 5-4 with a 5.43 ERA and 1.593 WHIP in 12 starts this season, including 0-2 with a 7.81 ERA and 2.052 WHIP in his last three starts.

Atlanta is 0-11 (-12.3 Units) against the money line vs. an AL team with an on base percentage .320 or worse in the second half of the season over the last 2 seasons.  It is losing by an average of 3.2 runs per game in this spot.  Bet the Yankees on the Run Line Saturday.

15* NFLX Saturday ANNIHILATOR on Tampa Bay Buccaneers -2.5

No Analysis For Preseason.  Picks are based off of team depth, especially QB depth, and coaching strategies among other situations.

25* NFLX GAME OF THE YEAR on Minnesota Vikings +1.5

No Analysis For Preseason.  Picks are based off of team depth, especially QB depth, and coaching strategies among other situations.

15* NFLX Friday No-Brainer on Tennessee Titans +5.5

No Analysis For Preseason.  Picks are based off of team depth, especially QB depth, and coaching strategies among other situations.

20* MLB DOG OF THE WEEK on Los Angeles Angels +146

The Los Angeles Angels are showing some of their best value of the season tonight.  They are 1/2-game back in the wild card standings with a ton to play for.  The Indians are five games back and have little to play for at this point in the season.

Not only do the Angels have the better lineup in this one, I also believe they have the edge on the mound.  Andrew Heaney is an underrated starter because he's a rookie.  But he hasn't pitched like one, especially on the road.  Indeed, Heaney is 2-1 with a 2.13 ERA and 1.066 WHIP in four road starts this year, and 5-2 with a 3.39 ERA and 1.131 WHIP in 11 starts overall.

There's no question that Danny Salazar has figured it out this season at 11-7 with a 3.30 ERA in 23 starts fro the Indians.  But he has not fared well against the Angels, going 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA in three starts.  Salazar allowed 6 runs in a 12-3 loss in his only career home start against the Angels in 2014.

The Angels are 8-3 in Heaney's 11 starts this season.  Los Angeles is 7-2 in Heaney's last nine starts with a total set of 7.0-8.5.  The Angels are 5-1 in Heaney's last six starts vs. a team with a losing record.  The Indians are 5-16 in their last 21 games vs. a left-handed starter.  Cleveland is only hitting .240 against lefties and scoring 3.3 runs per game this season.  Bet the Angels Friday.

20* MLB Run Line GAME OF THE MONTH on Pittsburgh Pirates -1.5 (-115)

The Pittsburgh Pirates (76-49) are showing great value today even on the run line as favorites against the Miami Marlins (51-76).  The Marlins are 1-5 in their last six games overall with all five losses coming by two runs or more.  That trend will continue tonight.

Gerrit Cole is one of the best starters in baseball.  He has gone 14-7 with a 2.49 ERA and 1.128 WHIP in 25 starts this season, including 6-4 with a 2.22 ERA and 1.156 WHIP in 12 road starts.  Cole gave up two earned runs in 7 innings of a 5-2 win over the Marlins on May 27 in his only start against them in 2015.

Justin Nicolino has held his own in limited action this season for the Marlins, going 2-1 with a 3.77 ERA in five starts.  But he's 0-1 with a 5.71 ERA in three home starts.  Nicolino won't get any run support here as the Marlins have scored two or fewer runs in five of their last six games.

Miami is 11-20 against the run line (-14.2 Units) vs. teams outscoring opponents by 0.5 or more runs/game on the season this season.  The Marlins are 4-16 against the run line (-14.7 Units) after a game where they stranded 3 or less runners on base over the last two seasons.  The Pirates are 11-1 in Cole's last 12 starts vs. NL East foes.  Bet the Pirates on the Run Line Thursday.

20* NL Wednesday No-Doubt Rout on Arizona Diamondbacks +100

The Arizona Diamondbacks are highly motivated for a victory Wednesday as they host the St. Louis Cardinals once again.  They have lost the first two games of this series, but I believe they have the edge on the mound in Game 3 and will stop the bleeding as a result.

Patrick Corbin has gone 3-3 with a 4.09 ERA in nine starts this season.  But he has been a great starter at home in his career, including this year.  Corbin is 1-2 with a 3.13 ERA and 1.130 WHIP In four home starts with 23 strikeouts over 23 innings pitched and only two homers allowed.

John Lackey has been great at home this season for the Cardinals as well, but that's a non-factor here.  What matters is that Lackey is 2-5 with a 4.40 ERA and 1.298 WHIP in 12 road starts.  The Cardinals are 3-9 in Lackey's 12 road starts this season as well.

Lackey is 1-9 (-10.3 Units) against the money line in road games when playing against a team with a losing record in the second half of the season over the last three seasons.  The Cardinals are 3-13 in Lackey's last 16 road starts overall.  Arizona is 8-1 in Corbin's last nine starts vs. NL Central opponents.  Bet the Diamondbacks Wednesday.

20* AL Tuesday Night ANNIHILATOR on Los Angeles Angels -113

The Los Angeles Angels were just swept by the hottest team in baseball in the Toronto Blue Jays in their last series to fall out of the final wild card spot.  They are now 1.5 games behind the Rangers.  They had Monday off to regroup and refocus going into this series with the Detroit Tigers.

There has been plenty of speculation that the situation is not good in the Tigers' clubhouse right now.  They have lost four straight to fall 5.5 games back in the wild card race.  They played Monday in a 5-12 loss to the Reds to boot, which put an end to the Reds' 9-game losing streak.  So, the Angels will be the fresher team after having yesterday off while the Tigers did not.

Jered Weaver has a 4.34 ERA on the season in spite of a very solid 1.184 WHIP.  He has stepped up his game of late, going 1-1 with a 2.08 ERA and 0.866 WHIP in his last three starts.  Weaver is also 3-1 with a 2.73 ERA in his last five starts against Detroit, allowing 10 earned runs in 33 innings.

Alfredo Simon sports a 4.52 ERA and 1.383 WHIP in 23 starts this season in spite of his 11-7 record, which has been aided by great run support.  But Simon has never beaten the Angels, going 0-2 with a 6.17 ERA and 1.371 WHIP in two career starts against them.

The Angels are 44-21 in their last 65 games as a road favorite.  Los Angeles is 69-27 in Weaver's last 96 starts as a favorite.  The Tigers are 3-14 in their last 17 when their opponent allows 5 runs or more in their previous game.  Los Angeles is 14-3 against Detroit over the past three seasons.  Bet the Angels Tuesday.

20* NL Monday No-Doubt Rout on St. Louis Cardinals -116

We are getting the best team in baseball at a very generous price Monday.  The St. Louis Cardinals had lost two straight before salvaging the series with a 10-3 win over the Padres yesterday.  They will be motivated to get off to a much better start in this series against Arizona.

The Cardinals have the clear advantage on the mound in this one behind Lance Lynn, who is 9-8 with a 2.94 ERA in 23 starts this season.  Lynn has never lost to the Diamondbacks, going 2-0 with a 2.91 ERA in six career starts against them as well.

Robby Ray is 3-9 with a respectable 3.37 ERA in 15 starts for Arizona.  However, he has not been sharp at home, going 0-4 with a 4.45 ERA and 1.422 WHIP in six home starts.  In fact, the Diamondbacks are 0-6 in Ray's six home starts this season.

The Cardinals are 11-1 in Lynn's last 12 Monday starts.  Rays is 0-7 (-7.4 Units) against the money line vs. poor power teams - averaging 0.9 or less HR's/game this season.  Ray is 0-8 (-8.8 Units) against the money line at home when the total is 7 to 8.5 over the last 2 seasons.  Ray is 0-7 (-7.9 Units) against the money line in August games over the last 2 seasons.  These five trends combine for a 39-1 system backing St. Louis.  Bet the Cardinals Monday.

15* NFLX Sunday No-Brainer on St. Louis Rams +2.5

No Analysis For Preseason.  Picks are based off of team depth, especially QB depth, and coaching strategies among other situations.

20* NL Sunday No-Doubt Rout on New York Mets -119

The New York Mets have scored 14 runs in each of the first two games of this series with Colorado.  I look for the Mets to stay red hot at the plate and to get into the Rockies' bullpen early and often in this one once again.

Logan Verrett is getting a chance to make his first start of the season after pitching tremendously out of the bullpen thus far.  Verrett has posted a 0.68 ERA and 0.602 WHIP in 13 1/3 innings, allowing just one run and eight base runners while striking out 12.

David Hale has been the worst starter for Colorado this season.  He is 3-4 with a 6.17 ERA and 1.463 WHIP in nine starts this year, including 0-2 with a 7.41 ERA and 1.647 WHIP in his last three.  Hale has posted a 4.36 ERA and 1.742 WHIP in two career starts against New York as well.

The Mets are 10-1 in their last 11 games as a road favorite.  New York is 51-16 in its last 67 games as a favorite.  The Mets are 7-0 in their last seven games with a total set of 11 or higher.  The Rockies are 0-6 in Hale's last six starts.  Colorado is 2-10 in its last 12 games overall.  Bet the Mets Sunday.

20* NL Saturday No-Doubt Rout on New York Mets -121

The New York Mets have a lot to play for right now.  They are trying to win the NL East, and they are doing a good job of it at 65-56.  The Mets won 14-9 yesterday to really put a hurting on Colorado's bullpen.  The Rockies are 2-9 in their last 11 games overall.

Jon Niese has been at his best on the road with a 2.84 ERA in 11 road starts.  Niese is 2-0 with a 2.70 ERA in his last three starts as well.  He'll be opposed by Chris Rusin, who is 4-5 with a 3.99 ERA and 1.506 WHIP in 14 starts and four relief appearances in 2015.

The Mets are 9-1 in their last 10 games as a road favorite.  The Mets are 50-16 in their last 66 games as a favorite.  The Rockies are 1-10 in their last 11 games as an underdog of +110 to +150.  The Rockies are 0-6 in Rusin's last 6 starts as an underdog of +110 to +150.  Bet the Mets Saturday.

15* NFLX Saturday No-Brainer on Miami Dolphins PK

No Analysis For Preseason.  Picks are based off of team depth, especially QB depth, and coaching strategies among other situations.

15* NFLX Friday No-Doubt Rout on Atlanta Falcons +2

No Analysis For Preseason.  Picks are based off of team depth, especially QB depth, and coaching strategies among other situations.

25* American League GAME OF THE YEAR on Detroit Tigers -122

The Detroit Tigers are rolling now that they have a healthy Miguel Cabrera back in the middle of their lineup.  They have won four of five with their only loss coming by a run.  They are also 3-0 in their last three games, which haven't even been close as they've outscored the opposition 29-16 in the process.

Now Justin Verlander has found it again.  He has pitched 13 innings against Houston and Boston in his last two starts without allowing a single earned run and striking out 14.  Verlander has a 0.00 ERA in those two starts.  The right-hander is also 9-5 with a 3.41 ERA and 1.229 WHIP in 16 career starts against Texas.

Colby Lewis is getting way too much respect from oddsmakers here.  Lewis is 13-5 in spite of a 4.49 ERA on the season.  He sports a 4.95 ERA in his last three starts as well.  But what really stands out to me is that Lewis is 3-4 with a 6.14 ERA and 1.695 WHIP in nine career starts against Detroit.

Plays against road teams when the money line is +125 to -125 (TEXAS) - with a starting pitcher whose winning percentage is better than 70%, starting a well rested pitcher who is working on 5 or 6 days rest are 74-30 (71.2%, +43.6 units) over the last five seasons.

The Rangers are 2-10 in Lewis' last 12 starts vs. a team with a losing record.  The Tigers are 67-32 in Verlander's last 99 starts as a home favorite. Detroit is 7-2 in Verlander's last nine starts vs. Texas.  The Rangers are 0-4 in the last four meetings.  Bet the Tigers Friday.

15* NFLX Thursday No-Brainer on Buffalo Bills +3

No Analysis For Preseason.  Picks are based off of team depth, especially QB depth, and coaching strategies among other situations.

20* AL Thursday No-Doubt Rout on Detroit Tigers -106

The Detroit Tigers now have Miguel Cabrera back and are a completely different team with him.  They scored 25 runs with 40 hits at Wrigley Field in their two-game sweep of the Cubs the past two days.  I look for them to stay red hot at the plate against the Rangers tonight.

Alfredo Simon has been a very good starter for the Tigers at home this season.  SImon has gone 4-2 with a 3.92 ERA and 1.306 WHIP in 10 starts in Detroit with the Tigers going 7-3 in those contests.  This is a team that has some momentum now and needs to make a run if it wants to make the postseason.

The Rangers are being overvalued due to winning five of their last six.  Martin Perez simply isn't very good.  He's 1-2 with a 5.29 ERA and 1.454 WHIP in six starts this season.  Perez is 0-1 with a 7.94 ERA in his lone career start against Detroit.

Simon is 9-1 (+8.8 Units) against the money line after two or more consecutive wins over the last two seasons.  The Tigers are 38-18 in their last 56 home games vs. a left-handed starter.  Bet the Tigers Thursday.

20* MLB Wednesday Night Mound Mismatch on Los Angeles Angels -132

I have backed the Angels with success each of the past two nights as the oddsmakers have failed to give them the credit they deserve.  The Angels should be closer to a -200 favorite tonight, but instead we're getting them at -132, and we'll take advantage again.

Jered Weaver has a 4.60 ERA in spite of a 1.207 WHIP this season, so he has been unlucky to have a 4-9 record.  But Weaver has been at his best at home, going 2-2 with a 3.45 ERA and 1.241 WHIP in seven starts.  What stands out most to me, though, is that Weaver is 9-2 with a 2.15 ERA and 0.941 WHIP in 12 career starts against Chicago.

The White Sox have lost four of five and have little to play for at this point, unlike the Angels.  Jeff Samardzija is pitching like he doesn't care right now.  The right-hander is 0-3 with a 12.91 ERA and 1.890 WHIP in his last three starts.  Samardzija is also 1-2 with a 4.58 ERA in three career starts against Los Angeles.

Weaver is 23-4 (+14.7 Units) against the money line in home games vs. teams whose hitters draw 3 walks or less/game in the second half of the season for his career.  The White Sox are 15-37 in their last 52 road games vs. a team with a winning record, and 0-6 in their last six road games overall. 

The Angels are 37-18 in their last 55 home games.  Los Angeles is 46-16 in Weaver's last 62 home starts.  The Angels are 13-3 in their last 16 home meetings with the White Sox.  Los Angeles is 5-0 in Weaver's last five starts vs. Chicago.  Bet the Angels Wednesday.

20* MLB Tuesday No-Doubt Rout on Los Angeles Angels -163

I am willing to lay the big juice on the Angels today because I believe they are going to get on a roll now that they are back home from an awful 7-game road trip where they went 1-6.  I backed them with success last night in Game 1 of this series with Chicago, and I'll take them again in Game 2 tonight.

The Angels once again have a big edge on the mound behind Garrett Richards, who is 11-9 with a 3.55 ERA and 1.204 WHIP in 22 starts this season.  Richards has been superb at home, going 7-3 with a 2.53 ERA and 0.983 WHIP in 11 starts in Los Angeles.  Richards is 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA and 0.500 WHIP in one career start against Chicago as well.

John Danks has been one of the worst starters in baseball over the last few years as he just hasn't recovered from injury.  The left-hander is 6-9 with a 4.44 ERA and 1.418 WHIP in 22 starts this season.  He has been awful on the road, going 2-6 with a 5.76 ERA and 1.573 WHIP in 10 starts away from home.

The White Sox are 16-46 in their last 62 road games vs. a team with a home winning % of greater than .600, and 0-5 in their last five road games overall.  Chicago is 1-7 in Danks' last eight road starts vs. a team with a winning record.  The Angels are 25-8 in their last 33 home games vs. a left-handed starter.  The Angels are 53-21 in their last 74 home games vs. a team with a losing road record.  Los Angeles is 15-3 in Richards' last 18 home starts vs. a team with a losing record.  Bet the Angels Tuesday.

20* AL Monday No-Doubt Rout on Los Angeles Angels -137

The Los Angeles Angels are desperate for a victory.  They just finished off a 1-6 road stretch, but now they return home looking to get back on track.  They are still just 3.5 games out of first place in the AL West and 1/2 game out of the final wild card spot.

The Angels have a massive edge on the mound in this one.  Rookie Andrew Heaney has been spectacular in 2015, going 5-1 with a 2.53 ERA and 1.035 WHIP in nine starts.  The left-hander is 3-0 with a 2.84 ERA and 1.010 WHIP in five home starts, and the Angels are 5-0 in those five contests.

Carlos Rodon has not pitched well at all for the White Sox.  The left-hander is 5-4 with a 4.61 ERA and 1.603 WHIP in 16 starts and three relief appearances in 2015.  Rodon is 1-1 with a 7.36 ERA and 1.704 WHIP in his last three starts as well.

The White Sox are 16-45 in their last 61 road games vs. a team with a home winning % of greater than .600.  Chicago is 0-4 in its last four road games.  The Angels are 27-9 in their last 36 home games vs. a left-handed starter.  Los Angeles is 52-21 in its last 73 home games vs. a team with a losing road record.  The Angels are 7-1 in Heaney's last eight starts as a favorite.  Bet the Angels Monday.