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Week 1 2026 College Football Picks for the 10 Best Games! · Winning Cures Everything | College Football

0:00
Speaker 1: It took a long time, but we made it. We're
0:04
Speaker 1: feeling good. Week zero is out of the way. It's
0:06
Speaker 1: time to get into week one. Let's not waste time.
0:09
Speaker 1: Let's do this quickly. Welcome in Winning Cures Everything. It's
0:16
Speaker 1: a college football podcast. I'm your host, Gary Seegers at
0:19
Speaker 1: GaryWCE on all the different socials. Hopefully you had a
0:23
Speaker 1: wonderful week zero. We are up in that department. Uh,
0:27
Speaker 1: The picks on the official show, 5-3 against the spread
0:30
Speaker 1: last week. Had some surprising wins. Had some shocking final covers.
0:37
Speaker 1: Thank you, Stanford. If you know, you know. But I'm
0:41
Speaker 1: feeling good going into this week. If you haven't already,
0:44
Speaker 1: subscribe to the channel. Of course, like the video. You
0:46
Speaker 1: guys know what to do. Don't forget about Three Dog
0:48
Speaker 1: Thursday coming out every Thursday morning. TJ Reeves and usually
0:53
Speaker 1: Jason Powers. But TJ will always be hosting that show.
0:57
Speaker 1: And it is a wonderful, wonderful discussion about the week
1:02
Speaker 1: that's coming up. Don't forget about the audio podcast. Of course,
1:05
Speaker 1: yesterday's reaction show is up on the podcast feed. Audio
1:10
Speaker 1: only on some of these. So make sure you are
1:12
Speaker 1: subscribed over there as well. Tell your friends about it,
1:14
Speaker 1: all that good stuff. With that said, I don't like
1:17
Speaker 1: to take a long time on these. I give you
1:19
Speaker 1: my picks on these games. I toss it up. You
1:22
Speaker 1: can decide for yourselves. But I'm going to tell you
1:24
Speaker 1: what I would do And then, of course, buymeacoffee.com slash
1:27
Speaker 1: winningcures is where you will get my official plays as
1:31
Speaker 1: the season progresses. And we're up in that department as well.
1:35
Speaker 1: So with that said, let's dive into the 10 best
1:38
Speaker 1: games of week one for the 2026 college football season.
1:41
Speaker 1: All right, game number one, and we're going to Death Valley. Yes,
1:46
Speaker 1: the one in Baton Rouge. I'm not going to say
1:48
Speaker 1: it's the real one. I'm just going to say it's
1:51
Speaker 1: Death Valley. Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Saturday, September 5th. This one, 7.30 p.m.
1:55
Speaker 1: Eastern Time, 6.30 God's Time Zone, of course. ABC inside
2:00
Speaker 1: of Tiger Stadium. LSU opened minus 11. FanDuel had minus 11.5
2:06
Speaker 1: back in April. Currently, LSU a 10.5-point favorite. That thing
2:10
Speaker 1: got down to 9.5 at one point. It's back up again.
2:13
Speaker 1: Total 51.5. Good gracious. My number on this, the model
2:19
Speaker 1: has it 11.2, so I'm right around the number. this
2:24
Speaker 1: is the beginning of the Lane Kiffin era. This is huge.
2:27
Speaker 1: You know, fired Brian Kelly last October, ate the $ 54
2:30
Speaker 1: million buyout, pulled Kiffin away from playoff bound Ole Miss.
2:35
Speaker 1: There's a lot there. This is the first time that
2:37
Speaker 1: Clemson has ever played in Baton Rouge, at least from
2:42
Speaker 1: what I could read. Y'all correct me in the comments
2:45
Speaker 1: if that's wrong, but from what I could tell, yeah.
2:48
Speaker 1: LSU won this home opener for Clemson last year, 17-10,
2:52
Speaker 1: This is the back half of the home and home there. Clemson,
2:54
Speaker 1: of course, unranked. There are some injuries for Clemson. Wide
2:58
Speaker 1: receiver TJ Moore is day-to-day. Missed both fall scrimmages as
3:01
Speaker 1: a precaution. He is expected to play, but we'll see.
3:05
Speaker 1: Clemson safety Polo Anderson out for the season. No. 2
3:08
Speaker 1: signee in Clemson's 2026 class. He got hurt on the
3:11
Speaker 1: punt team. And Clemson linebacker Joseph Roberto II, he's out
3:16
Speaker 1: for the season. That's going to be interesting. Very interesting.
3:22
Speaker 1: Last season, both of these teams, heavy under teams. 5-8
3:26
Speaker 1: for Clemson, 4-9 for LSU. I wonder about this one.
3:37
Speaker 1: Both teams were among the worst ATS in their leagues
3:40
Speaker 1: last year. LSU was 4-9 against the spread. Clemson was
3:44
Speaker 1: also 5-8 against the spread. Both of them were terrible.
3:47
Speaker 1: Interesting thing to note... Clemson 2-0 as an underdog in 2025.
3:52
Speaker 1: One at South Carolina, one at Louisville. They were getting
3:56
Speaker 1: two and a half points in each. All six Clemson
3:59
Speaker 1: losses last year came as a favorite, so they are
4:01
Speaker 1: not in that position now. But the last time that
4:05
Speaker 1: they were double-digit dogs, they did not cover. And that
4:08
Speaker 1: was against Georgia, and they got demolished in that game, 34-3.
4:13
Speaker 1: So now you're a double-digit dog to an SEC team
4:17
Speaker 1: on the road. Yeah. This was, what, 2024 against Georgia?
4:24
Speaker 1: The line is kind of shifting back and forth around
4:26
Speaker 1: that 10 mark. Let's talk about what we're looking at here.
4:31
Speaker 1: Do I trust Dabo in positions like this? Yeah, sometimes.
4:35
Speaker 1: I just don't know if he's got the roster here.
4:37
Speaker 1: The question on the LSU side has nothing to do
4:41
Speaker 1: with the level of player or the level of coaching
4:43
Speaker 1: that they have. It's can they get it all together
4:46
Speaker 1: at the right time. And you start looking at the
4:50
Speaker 1: roster talent, LSU No. 6, Clemson actually No. 14 if
4:54
Speaker 1: you look at overall roster. The issue for Clemson, of course, coaching.
4:59
Speaker 1: Chad Morris comes in. He is still rated as the No.
5:04
Speaker 1: 21 offensive coordinator based on what he has done in
5:06
Speaker 1: the past. The issue is he hasn't done it in
5:08
Speaker 1: a long time. Charlie Weiss Jr., you saw what he
5:12
Speaker 1: was capable of doing with Ole Miss last year. How
5:14
Speaker 1: much of that was Trinidad Chambliss and Kiwan Lacey? and
5:18
Speaker 1: those wide receivers versus Charlie Weiss actually being able to
5:21
Speaker 1: dial up plays. Obviously, Lane Kiffin, offensive savant. Blake Baker,
5:25
Speaker 1: the defensive coordinator for LSU. They kept him around. Tom
5:29
Speaker 1: Allen is the DC for Clemson. But you start looking
5:33
Speaker 1: at all the different units on the field, and LSU
5:36
Speaker 1: has the advantage everywhere except for their running back unit
5:40
Speaker 1: against the linebackers for Clemson. LSU with the better quarterback,
5:45
Speaker 1: we think. although we have not seen Sam Leavitt in
5:47
Speaker 1: quite a while. LSU's offensive line, I imagine it will gel.
5:52
Speaker 1: We don't know that for certain, but they certainly got
5:54
Speaker 1: the hosses up front to be able to do things.
5:56
Speaker 1: And Clemson's defensive line, I don't know if they can
6:00
Speaker 1: stack up against them, but that's why we play the games, right,
6:02
Speaker 1: is what it is. LSU's skill talent against Clemson's back seven, yeah,
6:07
Speaker 1: also not great as far as an advantage for Clemson.
6:11
Speaker 1: Clemson has no real advantage in this game. They don't
6:14
Speaker 1: have home field. They don't have the better roster. They
6:17
Speaker 1: don't have the more modern, up-to-date coaches. The only advantage
6:21
Speaker 1: that Clemson has is they got a lot of dudes
6:23
Speaker 1: in their program that have been with the program for
6:25
Speaker 1: a very long time, so they understand the expectations. With LSU,
6:30
Speaker 1: it's a lot of new faces. I think LSU is
6:35
Speaker 1: going to come out guns blazing. And I feel like
6:39
Speaker 1: everybody kind of thinks that. I think Clemson has inexperienced
6:44
Speaker 1: quarterbacks and inexperienced quarterbacks going up against Blake Baker in
6:48
Speaker 1: Tiger Stadium at night sounds like a recipe for disaster.
6:54
Speaker 1: I think there will be multiple Clemson issues. Now, I
6:57
Speaker 1: think Clemson will hold their own and they will look okay,
7:01
Speaker 1: but a 13-14 point loss to a brand new LSU
7:06
Speaker 1: squad on the road in Death Valley at night is
7:09
Speaker 1: not awful. I don't think it's terrible. I don't think
7:12
Speaker 1: it's the worst thing in the world. And I think
7:14
Speaker 1: they can still look somewhat competent while also losing the
7:19
Speaker 1: game and not being able to cover the spread. If
7:22
Speaker 1: this thing gets back down to nine and a half,
7:24
Speaker 1: I'm going to feel great about taking LSU. But as
7:26
Speaker 1: it sits right now, I will lay the 10 and
7:29
Speaker 1: a half with LSU and trust that they will be
7:32
Speaker 1: able to get it done at home. So game number one,
7:35
Speaker 1: give me LSU minus 10 and a half And actually,
7:39
Speaker 1: let me double check this. Because while we're doing the show,
7:43
Speaker 1: I want to make sure that I've got the best number.
7:46
Speaker 1: But we are going Saturday night. Yep, best number is 10.5.
7:52
Speaker 1: All right, LSU minus 10.5. We'll roll with it for
7:56
Speaker 1: pick number one. Game number two, we're going down to Tallahassee.
8:00
Speaker 1: This one's on Monday night, Labor Day evening, 7.30 p.m. Eastern, 6.30
8:04
Speaker 1: God's Time Zone. Of course, ESPN. Doak Campbell Stadium and
8:09
Speaker 1: Florida State did not look very good in Week 0
8:13
Speaker 1: at all against New Mexico State. Now, how much of
8:15
Speaker 1: that was looking ahead? How much of that was just
8:19
Speaker 1: not being ready to play? How much was them not
8:22
Speaker 1: having the roster to be able to do much? When
8:25
Speaker 1: I look at the overall roster, they are pretty normal
8:30
Speaker 1: with SMU. Pretty right there, even. Even, that's the word
8:33
Speaker 1: I'm looking for. Good gracious. The line right now has
8:40
Speaker 1: SMU favored by 2.5. It dipped to SMU minus 1.5
8:45
Speaker 1: in mid-June. It's back to 2.5 now. There is a 3.5
8:49
Speaker 1: out there at a couple of different spots. So a
8:52
Speaker 1: lot of people didn't like what they saw with Florida State.
8:56
Speaker 1: Total is 52.5 on this. Norville's seat is just scorching
9:02
Speaker 1: hot right now. Back-to-back losing seasons, 5 and 7 last year,
9:06
Speaker 1: even though the offensive numbers certainly look good. The buyout
9:10
Speaker 1: is the thing that's keeping him there. You don't look
9:13
Speaker 1: good in week zero. You get beat this week and
9:16
Speaker 1: then you get beat going to Alabama in a couple weeks. Huh. Like,
9:22
Speaker 1: not great. Not great. The quarterback change, like Ashton Daniels,
9:26
Speaker 1: I think, did okay. He was fine. Curious what he's
9:30
Speaker 1: going to look like here. SMU, like, ranked top 20
9:34
Speaker 1: in the AP. They return their fifth-year quarterback, Kevin Jennings.
9:38
Speaker 1: They're breaking in two new coordinators. Of course, Lashley lost
9:40
Speaker 1: both top lieutenants there. That maybe is the best Florida
9:45
Speaker 1: State argument here, that they were sleepwalking through their first game,
9:50
Speaker 1: and now they're at home, they're ready to rock and roll,
9:54
Speaker 1: and SMU is still going to be breaking in new
9:56
Speaker 1: coordinators that have not been coordinators. Maybe. If you look
10:01
Speaker 1: at the advanced stats, Florida State actually outperformed SMU last year,
10:05
Speaker 1: but let's not get that twisted. This team blew out
10:08
Speaker 1: terrible teams, got a surprising week one win over Alabama,
10:13
Speaker 1: which will show you that, yeah, stuff like this happens sometimes.
10:19
Speaker 1: And You start looking at the power ratings and whatnot,
10:21
Speaker 1: like these two teams should be pretty even. I am
10:25
Speaker 1: so curious about this. SMU has the defensive line advantage.
10:31
Speaker 1: They are pretty even as far as the offensive line.
10:35
Speaker 1: You know, there's a few spots like SMU I don't
10:37
Speaker 1: know if I trust their running backs yet. There's all
10:40
Speaker 1: kinds of things. Florida State's cornerback Carson Hobbs out for
10:43
Speaker 1: the season. That was confirmed by Norville. This is the
10:48
Speaker 1: biggest split on the board. Florida State went 5-2 at
10:51
Speaker 1: home and 0-5 on the road in 2025. Does that continue?
10:55
Speaker 1: I mean, they're at home in Tallahassee. I'm curious about SMU.
11:02
Speaker 1: They were heavy unders last year, went under in 9
11:04
Speaker 1: of 13 games. Maybe it's a slower, more conservative September.
11:12
Speaker 1: It's not a high total anyway, 53.5. Yeah. Oh yeah,
11:18
Speaker 1: that thing moved since I started talking. So it's up
11:21
Speaker 1: to 53.5 now. So there's people that think there's going
11:25
Speaker 1: to be points here. But man, I'm curious. Florida State did,
11:30
Speaker 1: or sorry, SMU did blow out Florida State in 2024.
11:36
Speaker 1: My number before last week, and I have not changed
11:38
Speaker 1: my power rating because I don't know what to make
11:41
Speaker 1: of what I saw in Week 0. But my number
11:44
Speaker 1: has Florida State favored. I don't feel great about it.
11:49
Speaker 1: I think everybody saw the same thing that I did.
11:52
Speaker 1: There was a lot of miscommunication. Their defense did not
11:55
Speaker 1: play well. But I just wonder how much of that
11:59
Speaker 1: is you're not fired up for that one because you
12:01
Speaker 1: know it doesn't matter. You're going to win the game.
12:05
Speaker 1: How do you do here? To make a pick on this,
12:13
Speaker 1: I would not play this game. We have no idea
12:16
Speaker 1: what to expect. But if it's Monday Night Standalone spot,
12:19
Speaker 1: you're going to play something. I would roll with SMU
12:27
Speaker 1: to cover the two and a half. I don't trust
12:29
Speaker 1: Florida State. I don't think they looked very good. There
12:32
Speaker 1: was a lot of miscommunication. There were a lot of
12:34
Speaker 1: errors in that game. Turnover by Ashton Daniels. I don't
12:38
Speaker 1: think they can play clean enough. And while there are
12:41
Speaker 1: a lot of changes for SMU, I do trust Rhett Lashley,
12:45
Speaker 1: and I think they've got a good roster overall. I
12:48
Speaker 1: expect good things. So pick for game number two. I
12:51
Speaker 1: will take SMU minus two and a half. Game number three,
12:55
Speaker 1: this one on Sunday evening in Nissan Stadium in Nashville.
13:00
Speaker 1: It's the Music City kickoff, Ole Miss and Louisville. Opened
13:05
Speaker 1: at Ole Miss minus six and a half. FanDuel had
13:07
Speaker 1: minus eight and a half back in April. The current
13:11
Speaker 1: is still Ole Miss minus six and a half. A
13:13
Speaker 1: little surprising on that. It has not moved very much. Total, 55.5
13:19
Speaker 1: to 56.5, depending on where you get it. There's no
13:22
Speaker 1: real movement in like three months at all. It's the
13:25
Speaker 1: only ranked-on-ranked game of Week 1. Louisville is in the
13:29
Speaker 1: top 25. Ole Miss inside the top 10. Trinidad Chambliss,
13:33
Speaker 1: of course, going to be back. Keewon Lacy going to
13:35
Speaker 1: be back. This is Pete Golding's first season. Like, first
13:40
Speaker 1: full season. Obviously, he coached in the playoff. You know, FBS...
13:46
Speaker 1: leader in total yardage last year for Ole Miss, they
13:49
Speaker 1: got some of the pieces back, some of the more
13:51
Speaker 1: important pieces back. They bring in Baker from East Carolina
13:57
Speaker 1: as their new offensive coordinator. Is he going to be
14:00
Speaker 1: as successful with Chambliss and Lacey as Charlie Weiss Jr. was?
14:06
Speaker 1: Brian Brown is the former Louisville defensive coordinator. He is...
14:14
Speaker 1: Let's see, he is now Ole Miss' defensive coordinator. So
14:18
Speaker 1: we'll see what's going on. There's a little bit of
14:20
Speaker 1: overlap with that. And Louisville's T.J. Banks, he's going to
14:25
Speaker 1: be playing some against his former team in Ole Miss.
14:28
Speaker 1: So a few things back and forth here just to
14:31
Speaker 1: pay attention to with that. Jeff Brom, three straight nine-plus
14:35
Speaker 1: win seasons. Brand-new quarterback there, Lincoln Keenholz. Y'all correct me
14:40
Speaker 1: in the chat. Is it Keen or is it Kein?
14:43
Speaker 1: Y'all tell me. Either way. Louisville fourth nationally in sacks
14:47
Speaker 1: when the game was tied in 2025. Been hearing some
14:52
Speaker 1: weird stuff about Isaac Brown. I don't know if he, like,
14:55
Speaker 1: I think he's going to play. I think they'll be fine.
14:59
Speaker 1: We'll see. I don't know. There's been zero line movement.
15:03
Speaker 1: Nobody really knows what to feel about this. You have
15:05
Speaker 1: a very experienced coach in Jeff Braum. You have a
15:10
Speaker 1: significantly more talented roster in Ole Miss. But as far
15:13
Speaker 1: as experience, etc., Braum brought in some really experienced dudes.
15:18
Speaker 1: Louisville has the better defensive line than Ole Miss' offensive line.
15:23
Speaker 1: Ole Miss has the better defensive line versus Louisville's offensive line.
15:27
Speaker 1: We don't exactly know what to make of the Louisville quarterback.
15:30
Speaker 1: We do know what to expect out of the Ole
15:33
Speaker 1: Miss quarterback. As far as running backs go, both are outstanding,
15:38
Speaker 1: so long as Brown plays. Isaac Brown, so long as
15:41
Speaker 1: he plays, should be good, but even his backup is fantastic.
15:46
Speaker 1: Louisville's secondary, pretty good. Their back seven, pretty good. Their
15:51
Speaker 1: linebacking core is better than I expected. The only weakness
15:57
Speaker 1: here really is the offensive line for Louisville, and their
16:00
Speaker 1: quarterback is an unknown. That's just about it. I don't know.
16:06
Speaker 1: I'm very interested here. I tend to believe that the
16:12
Speaker 1: better roster... I have less questions about Ole Miss than
16:16
Speaker 1: I do about Louisville, and I think that they can
16:19
Speaker 1: take over this ballgame based on the fact that one
16:23
Speaker 1: of them has been there, has been in playoff games.
16:26
Speaker 1: That quarterback, Chambliss, he has played in a national semifinal.
16:31
Speaker 1: He has done big things. He showed up big against Georgia.
16:34
Speaker 1: If he can do that there, regardless of who's calling
16:36
Speaker 1: plays for him, I think that he will be able
16:39
Speaker 1: to handle things against Louisville and Louisville. Jeff Brom's bunch.
16:44
Speaker 1: They've got a good defensive roster based on experience, based
16:47
Speaker 1: on snaps played, all that kind of stuff. I don't
16:51
Speaker 1: feel great about their defensive coordinators and really what they're
16:57
Speaker 1: going to be able to do against Chambliss. We'll see, obviously.
17:02
Speaker 1: I'm going to roll with Ole Miss on this. It's
17:05
Speaker 1: not one that I feel great about playing, so it's
17:07
Speaker 1: not an official pick, but As far as the show
17:11
Speaker 1: is concerned, give me Ole Miss minus six and a half.
17:15
Speaker 1: Game number four, Boise State is going to Oregon on Saturday.
17:19
Speaker 1: This one, of course, 2.30 p.m. Central Time, God's time
17:22
Speaker 1: zone on CBS, Autzen Stadium. This thing was 17 and
17:28
Speaker 1: a half back in May, late May. It's out to
17:32
Speaker 1: 24 and a half by early June, and it has
17:34
Speaker 1: kind of just sat there. So that's the number that
17:35
Speaker 1: we're looking at here, uh, Yeah, Oregon minus 24.5. Make
17:42
Speaker 1: sure that this thing is not updated while I'm recording. Nope,
17:45
Speaker 1: of course, it hasn't moved. Because why would it? It
17:47
Speaker 1: hadn't moved in months. Total is 51.5 to 52, depending
17:51
Speaker 1: on where you get it. Very interesting. Oregon is number
17:56
Speaker 1: two in the AP poll. Boise is making their Pac-12 debut,
18:01
Speaker 1: which is so funny to think about Boise being in
18:04
Speaker 1: the Pac-12 category. and Oregon not. And I see on
18:08
Speaker 1: the screen that I need to update where my teams
18:12
Speaker 1: are playing because I still have Boise as a Mountain
18:15
Speaker 1: West conference team. Oh, my good gracious. Okay, so Boise
18:23
Speaker 1: 3-1 all-time against Oregon. Had upsets in 2008, 2009, and 2017.
18:26
Speaker 1: Oregon's only series win was 37-34 in 2024. That was
18:27
Speaker 1: Dylan Gabriel against Ashton Genting. Fantastic ballgame. Oregon lost both
18:39
Speaker 1: of their coordinators. Will Stein, of course, going over to Kentucky.
18:42
Speaker 1: And defensive coordinator Tosh LaPoi took the Cal head job.
18:46
Speaker 1: They are also replacing multiple players. Obviously, the tight end,
18:50
Speaker 1: Kenyon Sadiq. Safety, Dylan Theanaman. But they got a bunch
18:54
Speaker 1: of dudes. I mean, they have recruited so well. They
18:56
Speaker 1: are number four in the country in full roster talent.
19:00
Speaker 1: Boise is number 72. Boise, as far as talent is concerned...
19:04
Speaker 1: will not be able to compete in this game. It
19:05
Speaker 1: is going to have to be coaching and Oregon mistakes.
19:09
Speaker 1: That's how Boise can stay in this ballgame. Boise didn't
19:13
Speaker 1: play well last year. Number 119 in explosive margin. They
19:17
Speaker 1: were number 34 in success margin, number 52 in PPA margin.
19:22
Speaker 1: They just didn't look great last year. They were 8-6
19:28
Speaker 1: against the spread overall, 6-8 under lean there. Oregon went
19:37
Speaker 1: 5-0 straight up on the road. They were 7-1 in
19:40
Speaker 1: Autzen last year. Boise's non-conference straight up record was 3-3.
19:48
Speaker 1: Why did I write that down? They couldn't have gone
19:50
Speaker 1: 3-3 last year. That's weird. Anyway, screw that number. Ignore
19:55
Speaker 1: that one. This is... Does Oregon care about this one?
20:03
Speaker 1: Oregon does have Oklahoma State next. Their season doesn't really
20:07
Speaker 1: get going until... week four against USC. I believe that's
20:13
Speaker 1: week four. They've got the advantage everywhere. Better quarterback, like
20:18
Speaker 1: way better quarterback, but way better offensive line. The running
20:24
Speaker 1: back room is interesting. Not a lot of experience there
20:26
Speaker 1: for Oregon, but more highly rated, et cetera, obviously. Better skill,
20:32
Speaker 1: better defensive line versus Boise's offensive line. Like they, I
20:37
Speaker 1: think Oregon can just lean on them. And I would
20:41
Speaker 1: kind of expect that here. Their back seven is awesome.
20:44
Speaker 1: Their linebackers are awesome. Their defensive line is awesome. The
20:47
Speaker 1: offensive line is great. I think they're going to get
20:49
Speaker 1: the running backs a lot of tread here. I think...
20:55
Speaker 1: If I had... My number has Oregon minus 26.7. So
20:59
Speaker 1: covering the 24.5. I think the game means more for Boise.
21:06
Speaker 1: Because if you're going to make the playoff, I would
21:08
Speaker 1: think that you need to... stay in it. Now granted
21:11
Speaker 1: Tulane got smoked by Ole Miss last year and still
21:14
Speaker 1: made it to the playoff and then got smoked by
21:16
Speaker 1: Ole Miss again but I think with only one G5
21:20
Speaker 1: spot up for grabs you were going to want to
21:27
Speaker 1: you're probably not going to get rolled here and I
21:31
Speaker 1: don't know about the relationship between Dan Lanning and Spencer
21:34
Speaker 1: Danielson but I I don't know Like, this is a
21:40
Speaker 1: Pac-12 favorite that is going to Autzen. Oregon's probably fired
21:44
Speaker 1: up to make sure that the way that things ended
21:47
Speaker 1: last year doesn't continue. But, man, I don't know what
21:53
Speaker 1: to expect out of their new coordinators. I have no idea.
21:57
Speaker 1: And Boise does have pretty good coaching. Spencer Danielson, Nate Potter,
22:01
Speaker 1: Eric Shenander. Shenander? It's a weird number. I will... I
22:10
Speaker 1: will go with Oregon calling off the dogs. Even though
22:15
Speaker 1: my number has a 26.7. You know what? Let me
22:18
Speaker 1: take that back. I'm going to go with the favorite again.
22:22
Speaker 1: Give me Oregon to cover 24.5. No, I don't think
22:25
Speaker 1: they really necessarily care about this game. But I have
22:29
Speaker 1: not been in love with Boise for a little while now.
22:34
Speaker 1: I think Oregon comes out guns a-blazing because... How about this?
22:40
Speaker 1: We're going to switch it up again. That's why I
22:43
Speaker 1: record these shows like this. Oregon first half, Boise full game.
22:48
Speaker 1: So give me Boise plus 24 and a half and
22:51
Speaker 1: whatever the first half number is for... And we don't
22:57
Speaker 1: have one yet. So whenever that number comes out, I'll
23:00
Speaker 1: probably take Oregon first half and then we'll go from there.
23:04
Speaker 1: But Boise full game plus 24 and a half, not
23:07
Speaker 1: an official play. I don't feel great about it. But
23:11
Speaker 1: we're going to roll with the Broncos. Are you tired
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23:40
Speaker 1: All right, real quick, if you haven't subscribed, go ahead
23:43
Speaker 1: and do that for me. Subscribe to the channel, all
23:44
Speaker 1: that good stuff. And, of course, Monday night, which is
23:48
Speaker 1: the night that this is being released, make sure and
23:51
Speaker 1: tune in to VSYN, 11 p.m. Central Time. I'm going
23:54
Speaker 1: to be on with Dustin talking Week 1 college football lines.
23:57
Speaker 1: It should be a good time. So check out VSYN,
24:00
Speaker 1: subscribe to the channel, and, of course, subscribe to the
24:03
Speaker 1: podcast as well, the audio version. And go check out buymeacoffee.com
24:08
Speaker 1: slash winningcures as well. Game number five, Saturday, this one
24:12
Speaker 1: at 2.30 p.m. Central Time, God's Time Zone, ABC in Atlanta.
24:19
Speaker 1: Mercedes-Benz Stadium. That's right. Auburn and Baylor. And this one's weird.
24:25
Speaker 1: The reason why this one is in Atlanta is Aflac.
24:30
Speaker 1: It is the Aflac kickoff, and it was supposed to
24:33
Speaker 1: be an Auburn home game. You know, they played in
24:34
Speaker 1: Waco last year. Auburn won that one 38-24. Completely different
24:39
Speaker 1: Auburn team this go-round. Obviously, Alex Golesh's debut. But Auburn
24:44
Speaker 1: sold it to Aflac. $ 4 million up front, $ 4 million
24:48
Speaker 1: more if Auburn sells its allotment. Aflac creating NIL earning
24:52
Speaker 1: channels for Auburn players. It is a first in the sport.
24:56
Speaker 1: So it dropped Auburn from seven home games to six
24:59
Speaker 1: this season. Hugh Freeze made the call. Golesh inherited it.
25:05
Speaker 1: We'll see. We'll see what that means. It sounds cool.
25:08
Speaker 1: But you're giving up a home game. I'm not a
25:10
Speaker 1: fan of that. So either way, looking at the numbers
25:14
Speaker 1: right now, Auburn favored by 7 at most places. Let's
25:18
Speaker 1: make sure that's right. Yeah, currently favored by 7. Total
25:22
Speaker 1: is 59.5. And we'll double check that as well. I
25:27
Speaker 1: shut it down right as we were getting there. But
25:31
Speaker 1: even still, you look at the numbers on the screen
25:34
Speaker 1: and it's kind of hard to tell. to understand why
25:38
Speaker 1: anybody would be going with the dog here. If it
25:42
Speaker 1: was still, yeah, 59.5 is the total. If it was
25:46
Speaker 1: still Hugh Freeze and what they were doing last year,
25:50
Speaker 1: then okay. I believe that Alex Golesh is a very
25:53
Speaker 1: good head coach. He's bringing in a ton of experienced
25:58
Speaker 1: guys with him. DJ Durkin, still a defensive coordinator. The
26:04
Speaker 1: roster looks good. They're number 20 in on three full
26:07
Speaker 1: roster talent. Baylor is number 36 in that, but I
26:11
Speaker 1: don't like Baylor's talent profile. There's not a spot on
26:18
Speaker 1: the field where Auburn doesn't have the advantage as far
26:20
Speaker 1: as position units. I mean, look at quarterback, way more
26:25
Speaker 1: experience with Byron Brown. Do I think DJ Lagway has
26:28
Speaker 1: the ability to pop up and be good? better on
26:32
Speaker 1: a day than Byron Brown? Yes, absolutely. Has he shown
26:36
Speaker 1: it to us that often? No. So, you know, and
26:40
Speaker 1: when you look at offensive line and defensive line for
26:42
Speaker 1: both sides, I mean, it's night and day difference. Night
26:46
Speaker 1: and day difference. Now, there is a little bit of
26:48
Speaker 1: a storyline with this. Byron Brown, USF quarterback last year,
26:53
Speaker 1: beat DJ Lagway as quarterback at Florida. That was an
26:56
Speaker 1: 18-16 game in the swamp, and that kind of was
26:59
Speaker 1: the death knell for Billy Napier at Florida. Even still,
27:04
Speaker 1: Auburn running back Bryson Washington, he transferred in from Baylor,
27:07
Speaker 1: so that's interesting. Golesh said publicly that Auburn fans are
27:12
Speaker 1: not as fired up with this game being out of Jordan-Hare.
27:18
Speaker 1: Baylor coverage has somehow turned that into an edge. I
27:22
Speaker 1: don't think it's going to matter. Baylor was 2-10 against
27:25
Speaker 1: the spread last year. They were 5-7 straight up, but
27:27
Speaker 1: 2-10 against the spread Auburn 4-8 against the spread. Both
27:31
Speaker 1: teams went 5-7 straight up. Auburn was 4-0 straight up
27:35
Speaker 1: in non-conference play. They were just bad in SEC play.
27:40
Speaker 1: They are night and day different this year as far
27:44
Speaker 1: as their roster is concerned. The number has not moved
27:48
Speaker 1: really at all in four months. I found that interesting.
27:53
Speaker 1: I expected something different. Looking at these two teams, the
27:58
Speaker 1: fact that this is still a 7 on the board,
28:00
Speaker 1: I'd see no reason not to take Auburn. I feel
28:05
Speaker 1: really good about this. This may end up being one
28:06
Speaker 1: of my best bets if it stays at 7. I'll
28:10
Speaker 1: go ahead and tell you I've already placed a little
28:14
Speaker 1: wager on Auburn. But my number has it at Auburn
28:17
Speaker 1: minus 8.8. I think it should be actually worse than that.
28:21
Speaker 1: I don't expect a lot of Baylor players. fans there,
28:23
Speaker 1: and I don't expect great things out of a new
28:27
Speaker 1: roster with Baylor because I don't think they're going to
28:29
Speaker 1: be very good. I don't think the roster's very good.
28:31
Speaker 1: So I don't know that this necessarily means Auburn will
28:34
Speaker 1: be good for the rest of the year. Obviously, the
28:36
Speaker 1: schedule is different, but at least as far as this
28:41
Speaker 1: game is concerned, decided advantage to the Tigers. I'll take
28:46
Speaker 1: Auburn minus seven in this one. Game number six, this
28:51
Speaker 1: one on Sunday evening. We already talked about another Sunday game,
28:54
Speaker 1: but this one also happening as well. NBC has Notre
28:58
Speaker 1: Dame and Wisconsin from Lambeau Field in Green Bay. This
29:03
Speaker 1: is awesome. This one opened back in January as Notre
29:08
Speaker 1: Dame minus 19.5. It dipped all the way down to 16.5.
29:10
Speaker 1: It was minus 18.5 in early April, and currently right now,
29:16
Speaker 1: Notre Dame favored by 20.5 with a total of 47.5
29:19
Speaker 1: on this one. I think the venue is the story here, right?
29:26
Speaker 1: Only the third college football game ever played at Lambeau Field.
29:28
Speaker 1: Wisconsin beat LSU when LSU was No. 5 back in 2016.
29:33
Speaker 1: Before that, St. Norbert versus Fordham in 1983. This game
29:36
Speaker 1: was originally set for... 2020. It was scrapped by COVID,
29:41
Speaker 1: rescheduled to 2026, and then moved from Saturday to Sunday
29:44
Speaker 1: for NBC. So, it's not a standalone spot, but it
29:48
Speaker 1: is interesting, if nothing else. Interesting, if nothing else. Notre
29:53
Speaker 1: Dame leads the country in returning production. Now, adjusted returning
29:58
Speaker 1: production is a little bit different. But they're number three there.
30:03
Speaker 1: Bill Connolly says that they are leading in returning production.
30:06
Speaker 1: I've got a slightly different number. Luke Fickle needs to
30:11
Speaker 1: be competitive here. I don't know if you guys are
30:14
Speaker 1: dealing with allergies now that we're getting closer to September,
30:17
Speaker 1: but it is my time of year, and that's exactly
30:19
Speaker 1: what happens every freaking year. So I'll be scratching my
30:22
Speaker 1: nose some so that I don't have to waste a
30:23
Speaker 1: lot of time with stops and whatnot, like I just
30:26
Speaker 1: did by explaining that. Anyway, Luke Fickle needs this. right?
30:31
Speaker 1: He has not been great, but the AD at Wisconsin
30:34
Speaker 1: who has since left and, uh, taken a job with
30:37
Speaker 1: the big 10, but he explained that, yeah, as an administration,
30:41
Speaker 1: we did not give him all the tools that he
30:43
Speaker 1: needed to be successful. And of course it probably did
30:47
Speaker 1: not help that they have had their starting quarterback get
30:49
Speaker 1: injured early in the season for the last two years.
30:53
Speaker 1: This year, uh, Colton Joseph, uh, Oh, I got that name, right?
31:01
Speaker 1: I just put down Joseph. Yeah. Colton Joseph, uh, dual
31:04
Speaker 1: transfer from old dominion. He is the new quarterback. He
31:09
Speaker 1: shined last year. Now, how much of that was offensive coordinator,
31:12
Speaker 1: Kevin Decker? How much of that was Colton Joseph? We'll
31:14
Speaker 1: obviously see, uh, Wisconsin's offensive coordinator, Jeff Grimes. He has
31:18
Speaker 1: been kind of all over the place known as an
31:21
Speaker 1: offensive line guy, but we'll see what this looks like
31:26
Speaker 1: with him. I'm kind of surprised they didn't swap, uh,
31:29
Speaker 1: But I'm curious. Wisconsin's 2026 schedule much softer. We're not
31:34
Speaker 1: going to talk too much about their schedule. The injuries here,
31:38
Speaker 1: Notre Dame wide receiver Quincy Porter, he's likely out. Former
31:40
Speaker 1: five-star from Ohio State. Minor procedure in late August. Came
31:45
Speaker 1: back from winter. Left patella surgery. Notre Dame's receiver room
31:48
Speaker 1: is pretty thin. So this may hurt more than a
31:53
Speaker 1: typical wide receiver three. We'll see. Looking at... what these
31:59
Speaker 1: two teams did last season, Wisconsin went two and 10
32:06
Speaker 1: to the under, or sorry, well, I guess 10 and two,
32:08
Speaker 1: 10 unders in 12 games last year. Uh, they scored
32:12
Speaker 1: 154 points all season, the fewest of any power four team,
32:17
Speaker 1: but yeah, this offense could be a little bit different
32:22
Speaker 1: with Joseph at quarterback. Notre Dame, uh, went just six
32:26
Speaker 1: and six against the spread, despite going 10 and two, uh,
32:29
Speaker 1: not an elite cover team. However, if you look at
32:32
Speaker 1: Marcus Freeman's full body of work, they do cover a lot,
32:35
Speaker 1: especially as a favorite. I'm curious. This is a three
32:42
Speaker 1: touchdown spread with a sub 50 total, and it expects
32:46
Speaker 1: Notre Dame to win, you know, without a track meet.
32:50
Speaker 1: They're The run game for Notre Dame started slow against
32:54
Speaker 1: Miami last year. Does Wisconsin have the dudes on the
32:57
Speaker 1: defensive line to be able to slow them down? And
33:00
Speaker 1: I don't know. They've got a pretty good linebacking crew.
33:04
Speaker 1: The back seven's pretty good. Defensive line, iffy. I think
33:10
Speaker 1: that's the easiest way to put that. But Notre Dame
33:12
Speaker 1: has a pretty decided advantage, especially at the line of scrimmage,
33:16
Speaker 1: but pretty much everywhere. I'm curious about it. I'll say that.
33:23
Speaker 1: You better hope C.J. Carr doesn't get hurt. That's another thing.
33:27
Speaker 1: This feels like a ton of points for a game
33:29
Speaker 1: against Wisconsin, but Notre Dame is absolutely rolling. Maybe the
33:34
Speaker 1: best offensive coordinator in college football with Mike Denbrock. They
33:40
Speaker 1: have a lot of dudes back. Chris Ashe, after the
33:43
Speaker 1: first two games last year, which were complete disasters, they
33:48
Speaker 1: were absolutely skyrocketing. last year. That defense was unbelievable. So
33:55
Speaker 1: I wouldn't necessarily, if Wisconsin doesn't show up on offense
33:57
Speaker 1: in this game, I wouldn't necessarily blame that on Jeff Grimes.
34:03
Speaker 1: But I mean, this is big boy football. I don't
34:07
Speaker 1: like the 20 and a half, even though my model
34:10
Speaker 1: has Notre Dame favored by 22.6. This feels like a
34:13
Speaker 1: game where Notre Dame gets up and then maybe Wisconsin
34:20
Speaker 1: can find a way to Stick around in it, right? So,
34:24
Speaker 1: if this thing goes over 21, I'll probably make it
34:26
Speaker 1: an official play. For now, just for actual show purposes,
34:32
Speaker 1: I'll take Wisconsin plus 20.5 just to keep it within
34:38
Speaker 1: those three touchdowns. Could this be a 35-17 game? Absolutely.
34:45
Speaker 1: And that's 18 points. It's enough of a beating, but
34:49
Speaker 1: it's not 20.5. So, When you've got a dog with
34:52
Speaker 1: a total in the 40s, sorry, when you've got a
34:56
Speaker 1: double-digit dog, a almost three-touchdown dog with a total in
35:00
Speaker 1: the 40s, I'm almost always going to take the dog. So,
35:05
Speaker 1: we will roll Wisconsin plus 20.5 for show purposes. Game
35:10
Speaker 1: number seven, we've got a Saturday night late-night showdown. Pac-12
35:15
Speaker 1: after dark for anybody. However, this is a Big Ten
35:18
Speaker 1: team and an ACC team, so Make it make sense, everybody.
35:23
Speaker 1: Make it make sense. Cal and UCLA, 9.30 p.m. Central Time,
35:28
Speaker 1: God's time zone on ESPN. It's at Cal Memorial Stadium
35:31
Speaker 1: in Berkeley. Cal opened in February as a 5.5-point favorite.
35:35
Speaker 1: They were a 3.5-point favorite in April. In late May
35:39
Speaker 1: and in the middle of July, Cal was a 1.5-point favorite. Currently,
35:44
Speaker 1: there has been so much love. for UCLA, that they
35:48
Speaker 1: are now a 1.5 point favorite with a total of 53.5.
35:53
Speaker 1: Make sure that's still accurate. And, yeah. 53.5. And, I mean,
36:02
Speaker 1: there's even offshores that have UCLA favored by 2.5. There's
36:07
Speaker 1: a lot of love for Bob Chesney out there. These
36:09
Speaker 1: are two brand new coaches. Tosh Lupoi is the new
36:11
Speaker 1: coach at Cal. He was the defensive coordinator at Oregon,
36:14
Speaker 1: of course. Bob Chesney was the head coach at James Madison.
36:18
Speaker 1: Took them to the playoff last year. And actually stayed
36:21
Speaker 1: in the game with Oregon. Is what it is. So,
36:25
Speaker 1: Nico Yamileva, back at UCLA. He's going to be their
36:27
Speaker 1: starting quarterback. Of course, JKS. Jaron Kiawe-Sangapulatelli. I think I
36:36
Speaker 1: got it. I think I friggin' got it. That was
36:38
Speaker 1: LePoy's biggest retention. He is back at Cal as the
36:40
Speaker 1: quarterback there. So, these are both Fantastic. What a quarterback
36:45
Speaker 1: matchup this is. I didn't even think about that. What
36:49
Speaker 1: a name matchup. Man. Nico and JKS. Let's go. Chesney
36:56
Speaker 1: is a fantastic coach. Lupoi, I'm curious about. Very curious.
37:01
Speaker 1: He's a great recruiter. How's he going to be as
37:04
Speaker 1: a coach? That's going to be intriguing. I do understand
37:10
Speaker 1: where everybody's coming from as far as As far as
37:14
Speaker 1: the UCLA love. However, when you look at home field
37:21
Speaker 1: and everything else, home field is really the only reason
37:26
Speaker 1: why Cal would be favored in this game. But they're
37:29
Speaker 1: two pretty tight teams. As far as the power rating goes,
37:31
Speaker 1: I've got UCLA close to a 4. I've got Cal
37:34
Speaker 1: at like 2.12. My home field, I've got them at 2.6
37:38
Speaker 1: for Cal. So my number has Cal favored by. 8 points.
37:45
Speaker 1: Do I think that... This UCLA thing is so different
37:52
Speaker 1: from last year. There's nothing you can take from last
37:54
Speaker 1: season that will tell you anything about this season. But
37:59
Speaker 1: with Cal, they got some dudes back. They're number 70
38:02
Speaker 1: in returning production. And by the way, UCLA number 10
38:05
Speaker 1: in adjusted returning production. They brought in a ton of
38:08
Speaker 1: experienced dudes. And when you look at this matchup, the
38:13
Speaker 1: lines of scrimmage almost... almost dead equal. But when you
38:17
Speaker 1: look at skill position, back seven, et cetera, that all
38:22
Speaker 1: screams UCLA, screams UCLA. Um, I'm, this is going to
38:31
Speaker 1: be a really heavy Cal crowd. Uh, Ron Rivera is
38:37
Speaker 1: the GM there. Of course, former NFL head coach. He
38:39
Speaker 1: has been pushing for a sellout, uh, Most of the
38:43
Speaker 1: tickets are gone. I think it is going to end
38:45
Speaker 1: up being a sellout. How much does that end up helping?
38:49
Speaker 1: I'm curious. Cal running back Adam Muhammad faces UCLA again.
38:59
Speaker 1: I'm so curious about this game. I don't know which
39:01
Speaker 1: way to go on this. If you look at last
39:03
Speaker 1: year's numbers, UCLA went 0-3 straight up in non-conference play
39:06
Speaker 1: in 2025. 1-5 on the road. The market priced in
39:10
Speaker 1: a total roster replacement. If the Cal sellout gets announced,
39:21
Speaker 1: because Cal is typically really good at home, however, this
39:24
Speaker 1: is another West Coast team, so I don't know what
39:26
Speaker 1: difference that's going to make. Seven points. of drift between
39:33
Speaker 1: February and now, since this thing was announced. I mean,
39:39
Speaker 1: this is, it feels like that could be too much.
39:43
Speaker 1: It could be too much. So, do I like UCLA
39:46
Speaker 1: overall more? Yes. Do I maybe like JKS back with
39:54
Speaker 1: a bunch of his guys right off the bat? A
39:58
Speaker 1: little more, at least in the first game? Yeah, kind of.
40:02
Speaker 1: So I'm going to trust my number on this one.
40:03
Speaker 1: This is not one that I'm actually going to play.
40:05
Speaker 1: I'm going to watch the crap out of this and
40:07
Speaker 1: get some data points. That's what week one and week
40:10
Speaker 1: zero are for. Data points. You don't have to bet
40:13
Speaker 1: everything on the board. But by God, this is going
40:15
Speaker 1: to be a fun football game. I will take Cal
40:18
Speaker 1: plus two and a half. is the best I can
40:21
Speaker 1: get out there. Yeah. Cal plus two and a half
40:25
Speaker 1: at home. Probably toss them into a money line round robin.
40:29
Speaker 1: We'll see what goes from there. But yeah, Cal plus
40:31
Speaker 1: two and a half. Game number eight in primetime neon.
40:36
Speaker 1: Dion goes down to the ATL. Georgia Tech hosting Colorado.
40:42
Speaker 1: It's a fun name matchup. This one Thursday, September 3rd.
40:44
Speaker 1: So it's going to kind of kick things off on
40:46
Speaker 1: ESPN for us. 7 p.m. Central Time. God's time zone,
40:49
Speaker 1: of course. Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta. This one's not
40:52
Speaker 1: going to be at Mercedes-Benz. Georgia Tech is a 7.5 point,
40:56
Speaker 1: or opened a 7.5 point favorite. Let's see where we
41:01
Speaker 1: are as far as the number goes right now. And 6.5.
41:06
Speaker 1: There's been some Colorado love. Been some Colorado love. Total,
41:09
Speaker 1: it's 50.5. There are some 51s out there. It's a rematch.
41:14
Speaker 1: Georgia Tech won 27-20 last year in Boulder. This is
41:18
Speaker 1: a different Georgia Tech team. You got a Mendoza brother there, right?
41:22
Speaker 1: He transferred over from Indiana. It's not Fernando. But you
41:26
Speaker 1: don't have your all-everything offensive coordinator in Buster Faulkner. He
41:32
Speaker 1: took his quarterback, Aaron Filo, with him. And we don't
41:37
Speaker 1: know what to expect from this offense other than we
41:39
Speaker 1: think they're going to run the ball a lot because
41:41
Speaker 1: they got some dudes at running back. They got dudes.
41:45
Speaker 1: Deion Sanders in his fourth season now, 16-21. They went
41:48
Speaker 1: 3-9 last year after a 9-win season the year before that.
41:52
Speaker 1: Brennan Marion is the new offensive coordinator. That go-go offense
41:56
Speaker 1: is fun, and it's tough to stop. And Georgia Tech
41:59
Speaker 1: has a pretty average defense, but Brennan Marion has made
42:07
Speaker 1: some average defenses look foolish before. So that is something
42:10
Speaker 1: to pay attention to. Both steps are completely rebuilt. Colorado
42:14
Speaker 1: added in defensive coordinator Chris Marv. He's pretty good, I think.
42:19
Speaker 1: George Godsey is the offensive coordinator for Brent Key, and
42:23
Speaker 1: then Jason Seymour is the defensive coordinator. And DeAndre Hopkins
42:29
Speaker 1: is now an assistant wide receiver coach. I just like
42:32
Speaker 1: throwing that name out there because Hopkins is awesome. Julian
42:34
Speaker 1: Lewis is going to be Colorado's quarterback. He made some
42:39
Speaker 1: Interesting statements in the offseason about how last year they
42:41
Speaker 1: didn't even really game plan or watch film to prepare
42:44
Speaker 1: for games. That kind of tracks with how bad that
42:48
Speaker 1: team was last year. Colorado is small. Like, really small
42:53
Speaker 1: at skill positions. Like a bunch of 5'8, 5'9, guys
42:57
Speaker 1: catching touchdown passes and running the ball. It's interesting. But
43:01
Speaker 1: if you look at the experience and the recruiting ratings
43:07
Speaker 1: and all that kind of stuff, I know that they lost...
43:08
Speaker 1: their big all-time everything left tackle. But I've got them
43:13
Speaker 1: the number 28 defensive line in the country. Georgia Tech's
43:17
Speaker 1: offensive line number 40. Colorado's offensive line number 43. Georgia
43:22
Speaker 1: Tech's defensive line number 63. I'm intrigued. Colorado is number
43:28
Speaker 1: 26 in on three full roster talent. This team was bad,
43:35
Speaker 1: bad last year. And they brought in some real deal coordinators,
43:41
Speaker 1: and I don't really know what to make of it.
43:43
Speaker 1: I don't know what to do with this. ACC Network,
43:50
Speaker 1: this is something interesting that popped up in my reading.
43:53
Speaker 1: ACC Network's Eric McLean, he predicted that Tech would run
43:57
Speaker 1: the ball 50 times and called Colorado a JV team.
44:02
Speaker 1: If that ain't bulletin board material, I don't know what is.
44:05
Speaker 1: I have no idea. Georgia Tech went 9-4 last year.
44:08
Speaker 1: They did get some preseason AP votes, but on paper,
44:14
Speaker 1: Colorado looks like the overall better team. Just to me.
44:18
Speaker 1: Colorado went 0-5 straight up on the road in 2025.
44:20
Speaker 1: They were 1-8 in Big 12 play. Georgia Tech was
44:23
Speaker 1: 4-1 straight up away from Atlanta, 5-1 at home. Tech
44:29
Speaker 1: went over quite a bit of the time, 8-5 to
44:32
Speaker 1: the over. Colorado was 5-7 against the spread. five and
44:36
Speaker 1: seven to the, uh, over. They were three and nine
44:39
Speaker 1: straight up. Total is ticked down a point off of
44:43
Speaker 1: the open. I, I think they're expecting tech to run
44:47
Speaker 1: the ball a lot, but if Colorado gets out early,
44:51
Speaker 1: I don't know if Georgia Tech's got the weapons. Like I'm,
44:55
Speaker 1: I'm curious about this. So this is going to be
44:57
Speaker 1: an interesting game. Uh, my number has Georgia Tech minus 4.3.
45:01
Speaker 1: I like this a lot more when it was seven, uh,
45:04
Speaker 1: But I'll lean Colorado here. I think this one could
45:06
Speaker 1: get very interesting. You know, there's always weird stuff that
45:09
Speaker 1: happens early in the year. But I'll roll Colorado plus
45:13
Speaker 1: six and a half, just trusting my assessment of the
45:16
Speaker 1: roster at this point. It's not an official play. Obviously,
45:20
Speaker 1: you can go to buymeacoffee.com slash winningcures to get those
45:23
Speaker 1: later on in the week once I've really had time
45:25
Speaker 1: to filter through with these numbers. But yeah, as far
45:29
Speaker 1: as the show goes, Colorado plus six and a half. Shirts, hoodies, hats,
45:35
Speaker 1: and more. The latest WCE merch is now available. Support
45:39
Speaker 1: and rep your favorite college football show today. Just visit winningcureseverything.com
45:44
Speaker 1: slash store. If you can't watch the show live, no problem.
45:48
Speaker 1: Subscribe to the Winning Cures Everything audio podcast and never
45:51
Speaker 1: miss an episode. Of course, make sure that you leave
45:54
Speaker 1: a five-star review. And don't forget, it's available everywhere you
45:58
Speaker 1: get podcasts. Game number nine, this one on Friday night.
46:03
Speaker 1: The Miami Hurricanes, runners-up for the national championship last year.
46:07
Speaker 1: They are headed to Stanford, who had maybe the most
46:12
Speaker 1: exciting game of Week 0. Found a way to come
46:15
Speaker 1: back against Stanford. Davis-Wade Stadium, like Mississippi State. Davis-Warren doing
46:22
Speaker 1: things for that Stanford offense. Passed for over 300 yards.
46:25
Speaker 1: Not bad. This one's going to be fun. This one,
46:29
Speaker 1: 8 p.m. Central Time, God's time zone. On ESPN, it's
46:33
Speaker 1: in Palo Alto, and Miami opened as a 21.5-point favorite.
46:37
Speaker 1: They are now out to a 24.5-point favorite, and let
46:41
Speaker 1: me take that back. That has now bounced back to 24,
46:46
Speaker 1: and there are some 23.5s out there. Yay. Yay. Why not?
46:53
Speaker 1: Why not? Okay. Total, 47.5 to 48.5, depending on where
46:58
Speaker 1: you get it. Miami, AP number seven. Program record 13
47:03
Speaker 1: wins season last year. National championship game appearance. They beat
47:06
Speaker 1: Ohio State. They beat Texas A & M on the road.
47:08
Speaker 1: They beat Ole Miss in the Fiesta Bowl. This is awesome.
47:13
Speaker 1: Awesome to open up a Friday night with a team
47:15
Speaker 1: like this. Darian Mensah, the Duke quarterback, he comes over.
47:18
Speaker 1: He's going to run the offense for Miami. Edge Damon
47:21
Speaker 1: Wilson II comes over from Missouri. He's going to take
47:24
Speaker 1: over for some of those pass rushers that have since
47:26
Speaker 1: gone to the NFL. And Jackson Cantwell is another hyped newcomer.
47:31
Speaker 1: He is going to be on that offensive line. Cooper Barclay,
47:35
Speaker 1: wide receiver. Ian Malachi, Tony. Going to be awesome. Miami
47:40
Speaker 1: won this matchup 42-7 last year. Stanford went 4-8 with
47:44
Speaker 1: a number coach. They are in a full rebuild. It
47:47
Speaker 1: is Stanford's second game. They opened Week 0 against Hawaii.
47:57
Speaker 1: Miami is coming in kind of cold. A lot of
48:01
Speaker 1: travel here. A lot of travel. Miami covers over 2,500
48:05
Speaker 1: miles with a three-hour body clock shift for a 6 p.m.
48:08
Speaker 1: local kick. I'm intrigued. Miami did go 11-5 against the
48:13
Speaker 1: spread last year. It was the best cover rate in
48:16
Speaker 1: the ACC. 7-1 straight up in non-conference play. It's a
48:19
Speaker 1: team that does typically beat the number. And, you know,
48:25
Speaker 1: Stanford went 4-2 at home last year, but... Not against
48:30
Speaker 1: teams like this. Miami totals went under 9 of 16
48:34
Speaker 1: times last year. 48.5 is low for a 24.5 point spread,
48:40
Speaker 1: which I think is why some people have been buying
48:42
Speaker 1: the dog back a little bit. From what I was
48:50
Speaker 1: able to see with the Stanford-Hawaii game, and we're going
48:53
Speaker 1: to start talking about that, because if you look at
48:55
Speaker 1: these rosters, Stanford number 50, in full on three roster talent.
49:03
Speaker 1: Miami is number eight. And they're in a single position
49:06
Speaker 1: on the field that Miami is not going to have
49:07
Speaker 1: the advantage. I mean, it won't even be close. The
49:12
Speaker 1: defensive line for Miami is light years ahead of what
49:17
Speaker 1: Stanford was able to do against Hawaii. So while Stanford
49:19
Speaker 1: looked pretty good against Hawaii, they're not going to be
49:23
Speaker 1: able to do anything against this Miami defense. And Miami's offense,
49:26
Speaker 1: I think, is going to be better than they were
49:29
Speaker 1: last year. Shannon Dawson has another quarterback that can absolutely
49:32
Speaker 1: fling it, Cam Ward style. And the defense, Corey Heatherman,
49:37
Speaker 1: this is going to be the second year with that dude.
49:39
Speaker 1: He came over from Minnesota. This defense is, they are
49:43
Speaker 1: going to be so good. Like, I am so fully
49:46
Speaker 1: bought in on this Miami team. And I know they
49:48
Speaker 1: got a lot of new pieces. Number 47 in adjusted
49:51
Speaker 1: returning production. But I really buy into this defense being awesome. Stanford, yeah,
50:00
Speaker 1: it was a lot of fun to see them do
50:02
Speaker 1: good things against Hawaii. They looked like a competent football team.
50:04
Speaker 1: That's good. That does not mean that you were going
50:06
Speaker 1: to hang within 24 points of Miami. So my number
50:09
Speaker 1: is right on the number. I've got Miami minus 24.1.
50:13
Speaker 1: If this thing is 23.5 at FanDuel and BetMGM and
50:19
Speaker 1: et cetera, we'll stick with that number 23.5. If it's
50:24
Speaker 1: going to stay there, I'm going to take Miami. It's
50:29
Speaker 1: a short week for Stanford, but they were able to
50:33
Speaker 1: run the football anytime they wanted to. Anytime they needed
50:38
Speaker 1: to against Hawaii. You can't do that against this Miami
50:43
Speaker 1: defensive line. And if you can't run the ball, I
50:46
Speaker 1: don't expect Davis Warren to be able to do anything
50:50
Speaker 1: throwing the ball. And so I would expect some turnovers.
50:54
Speaker 1: I would expect the Stanford team to come back down
50:56
Speaker 1: to earth drastically here. And I think Miami is going
51:00
Speaker 1: to put up some points. I think they're going to
51:02
Speaker 1: look really good. This is a Friday game. That means
51:04
Speaker 1: their next game is a Saturday. So they'll have a
51:07
Speaker 1: long week the next week. They haven't played yet. I
51:11
Speaker 1: think they're going to come out swinging. So give me
51:14
Speaker 1: Miami minus 23 and a half. Game number 10, last
51:19
Speaker 1: game of my 10 biggest. And this one is interesting
51:24
Speaker 1: for a lot of different reasons, right? This UNLV traveling
51:27
Speaker 1: to Hawaii. This one, of course, on Saturday evening. 9 p.m.
51:31
Speaker 1: Central Time on The CW. It's in Honolulu. It's UNLV
51:38
Speaker 1: in Hawaii. And UNLV is right now a three-point favorite
51:45
Speaker 1: on the road. Just to confirm before I tell you
51:50
Speaker 1: all what it is while I'm recording. Yeah, three-point favorite
51:52
Speaker 1: for UNLV. Total of 58.5 on this one. And the
51:57
Speaker 1: situational spot is just enormous. Both of these teams played
52:02
Speaker 1: last week. Hawaii went to Stanford, lost emotional last minute.
52:06
Speaker 1: UNLV played at home against Memphis, lost emotional last minute
52:10
Speaker 1: kind of thing. Hawaii has a huge home field advantage,
52:19
Speaker 1: especially over at Blue Chip Analytics. They really have a
52:25
Speaker 1: big advantage here. My number on this has UNLV minus 3.4.
52:30
Speaker 1: And when you're looking at the lines of scrimmage, the
52:34
Speaker 1: only real advantage here is UNLV with their offensive line
52:38
Speaker 1: going up against Hawaii's defensive line. But UNLV did have
52:42
Speaker 1: an injury to their center in the game against Memphis.
52:46
Speaker 1: And I don't know how much that's going to hurt them.
52:50
Speaker 1: My numbers have not been updated with that injury because
52:52
Speaker 1: I don't know if he's actually going to be out
52:54
Speaker 1: or not. We'll see. But UNLV's defensive line, not great.
53:00
Speaker 1: Hawaii is not great at running the football. Michael Alejandro
53:04
Speaker 1: is a better quarterback than I think Jackson Arnold is.
53:08
Speaker 1: But UNLV showed well against a Memphis team that I
53:12
Speaker 1: think could give a lot of P4 teams problems based
53:15
Speaker 1: on their line of scrimmage. I don't think Hawaii's defense
53:18
Speaker 1: is going to be able to do what Memphis has done.
53:21
Speaker 1: And UNLV still put up 460 yards. So Dan Mullen
53:25
Speaker 1: against Timmy Chang is a phenomenal defense. Offensive coaching matchup.
53:29
Speaker 1: I expect points galore here, especially with the fact that
53:32
Speaker 1: both of them have already played and both of them
53:34
Speaker 1: are desperate. Right? They both need to win here in serious,
53:39
Speaker 1: serious ways. UNLV, I mean, they're the Mountain West favorite. Like,
53:44
Speaker 1: I fully expect big things out of them, but I
53:47
Speaker 1: also know that Timmy Chang is awesome at home against
53:51
Speaker 1: the spread. But I don't know what to make of this.
53:57
Speaker 1: Short week, long travel, etc. This is a road favorite.
54:06
Speaker 1: This is going to be a lot of fun. This
54:08
Speaker 1: is going to be a lot of fun with this game.
54:10
Speaker 1: UNLV has some serious skill advantage in this one. Their
54:14
Speaker 1: running backs, their wide receivers. Their wide receivers are freaking awesome.
54:17
Speaker 1: And I don't know that Jackson Arnold is great, but
54:20
Speaker 1: he can put the ball where it needs to be
54:22
Speaker 1: to let those receivers cook. And as long as he's
54:25
Speaker 1: got any kind of protection... then he should be fine
54:28
Speaker 1: against this Hawaii defense. I think Hawaii is going to
54:31
Speaker 1: give up points in droves. I would lean over the 58.5
54:37
Speaker 1: on this, but the fact that this thing is sitting
54:43
Speaker 1: at 3, if I had to go a certain way,
54:46
Speaker 1: I'm not going to make an official play on this one,
54:48
Speaker 1: but this is another one that's just going to be
54:50
Speaker 1: a lot of fun to have on the screen. I
54:52
Speaker 1: will go UNLV. Based on what I have seen, UNLV
54:57
Speaker 1: can cook up ways to get points. Hawaii will also
55:01
Speaker 1: be able to cook up ways to get points, but
55:04
Speaker 1: I think UNLV is a... Well, this will tell you
55:09
Speaker 1: everything you need to know. UNLV is No. 83 in
55:12
Speaker 1: on-three full-roster talent. Hawaii No. 114. I think Dan Mullen
55:19
Speaker 1: is an excellent offensive coach, and I think they're going
55:22
Speaker 1: to put up a ton of numbers here. Corey Dennis...
55:25
Speaker 1: Fantastic offensive coordinator for UNLV. This is going to be
55:28
Speaker 1: a lot of fun. A whole lot of fun here.
55:32
Speaker 1: Last year, Hawaii was 9-4 against the spread. I'm betting
55:38
Speaker 1: they're not going to be that this year. I'll take UNLV.
55:41
Speaker 1: UNLV minus three on the road. If this was three
55:44
Speaker 1: and a half, I might go the other direction, even
55:47
Speaker 1: with my number being UNLV minus 3.4. But I'll go
55:50
Speaker 1: with the model here. I will take UNLV to cover
55:52
Speaker 1: the three points on the road. Desperate Game in the
55:56
Speaker 1: Mountain West is going to be a lot of fun.
55:58
Speaker 1: A whole lot of fun. Again, if you have not already,
56:02
Speaker 1: hit that subscribe button. Hit the like button for me.
56:04
Speaker 1: I would certainly appreciate that. We're going to have another
56:07
Speaker 1: video later this week. Of course, don't forget about Three
56:09
Speaker 1: Dog Thursday as well on Thursdays. And I do another
56:12
Speaker 1: podcast that is audio only at the end of the week.
56:15
Speaker 1: And we do a reaction podcast as well. Next week
56:17
Speaker 1: is going to be a little weird. I'll go ahead
56:18
Speaker 1: and tell you. I'm not sure exactly what day I'm
56:21
Speaker 1: going to be doing this. I will be out of
56:22
Speaker 1: town over Labor Day weekend. I will be watching games.
56:25
Speaker 1: I will be doing my numbers. I will put some
56:27
Speaker 1: of that stuff out on Buy Me a Coffee. But
56:31
Speaker 1: I'll be out of town, and then I'm coming back
56:34
Speaker 1: for one night. I'll try and record the pod, get
56:37
Speaker 1: the video out, the first video anyway. Tuesday night of
56:40
Speaker 1: next week, I will be watching ACDC with Foo Fighters
56:46
Speaker 1: as the openers. So I am excited about it. Don't forget,
56:49
Speaker 1: of course, Monday night, tonight, I guess, as you're watching this,
56:53
Speaker 1: I will be on VSEN with Dustin. So 11 p.m.
56:57
Speaker 1: Central Time. Make sure and check that out. Let's go
57:00
Speaker 1: through the recap right quick. Taking LSU minus 10.5. I'm
57:03
Speaker 1: going SMU minus 2.5. Ole Miss minus 6.5. Boise plus 24.5.
57:07
Speaker 1: Auburn minus 7. Wisconsin plus 20.5. I like Cal plus 2.5.
57:09
Speaker 1: Colorado plus 6.5. I like Miami, minus 23.5. And I
57:24
Speaker 1: like UNLV, minus 3. Remember, not official plays. You get
57:29
Speaker 1: those over at buymeacoffee.com slash winningcures. But I'm excited about it. Subscribe,
57:34
Speaker 1: share the show out, tell your friends. Jump in the comments.
57:37
Speaker 1: Tell me what you think about these picks. I want
57:39
Speaker 1: to know what you're picking this week. I will have
57:41
Speaker 1: 15 more games up in the next day or two.
57:45
Speaker 1: Going to go through some more just like this. And
57:47
Speaker 1: probably going to do them a little quicker than I
57:49
Speaker 1: did these. Even still... It's week one, baby. We are
57:53
Speaker 1: so back. We are back, and I am ready to
57:55
Speaker 1: rock and roll. With that said, take care of yourself,
57:59
Speaker 1: take care of each other, God bless college football, and
58:01
Speaker 1: hopefully all of your tickets cash this week. Thanks for
58:05
Speaker 1: listening to Winning Cures Everything. Subscribe, leave a review or comment,
58:09
Speaker 1: follow at GaryWCE on X, and check out the web store.