peytonc

Fresno State games are officially appointment television, even the ones that aren't going to end until well after 2 a.m. on the East Coast. The Bulldogs' game against Oregon was all tied up with three minutes remaining. Against UNLV, they trailed with five minutes remaining before winning by eight. And the Fresno-UCLA game was an instant classic with two lead-changing touchdowns in the final minute.

Against a decent Hawaii offense, we could be treated to another high-scoring affair with some late drama. It's more likely, however, that Jake Haener and Co. simply outscore the Rainbow Warriors. The Heisman hopeful is averaging 3.6 touchdowns per game, and Hawaii is going to have a hard time keeping up with that aerial assault. Getting Fresno State here below 2 TD's feels like the right side in this one.

Prediction: Fresno State 45, Hawaii 27

Clippers have lost back to back games against the Pelicans and Suns and are still banged up. The Nuggets are hot winning four games in a row. Michael Porter Jr has played well and he is going to be the difference here. Wrong team favored, give me the 4.5 points.

Over the last two games the Pistons are only averaging 102.5 points per game. For the Hornets, LaMelo Ball is questionable for this game, but even if he goes, it’s hard to imagine he will play that many minutes. The Hornets offense is going to struggle and this one should be low scoring.

The Cavs have been more competitive lately, but they're still losing nonetheless, and they're losing on the road by an average of 9.4 points. The Hornets are on the end of a back to back here, but should be able to handle Cleveland's 30th ranked offense.

The Cowboys just won 94-90 as 6 point underdogs on Saturday. The Sooners did just about everything right but play defense in the overtime loss. This game is back in Stillwater so the line has come down to OU -1 at most books. I played Ok State in the first game catching 6, because I predicted a close one and liked the points. But I'm flipping and going OU here as I think they are marginally the better team and will make the adjustments on defense to get this road win. OU -1 (slight lean).

At the end of the day it's who you think can score more points? For me it’s the Bills and their playmakers should be the difference. I’m talking about Cole Beasley, Stefon Diggs, and even Devin Singletary. Look for the second-year running back to get double digit carries and make some noise in this one. Baltimore 24 - Buffalo 27

Colorado State looked terrible against Fresno St to start the year and Wyoming throttled a good Hawaii team. From the small sample size I like Wyoming here.

Maryland is coming into this season with a lot of problems as they lost most of their offense and defensive starters from a mediocre year last year. Look for that to make a major difference in the game here as the Terrapins are unable to keep pace with what should be a good showing from a veteran Northwestern team.

The Over/Under is relatively high tonight, coming in at 237.5. The total has gone Under in six of the last nine Rockets games and in seven of their last nine games against the Spurs, the Under has come in

Michigan State -5.5 is the better team here - Nate Reuvers is going to give the Spartans a test, but the combo of Winston and Tillman will be too much. The Spartans are the far superior team on paper and rank 34th in offensive efficiency, compared to 126th for the Badgers.

Jermaine Samuels status for this game is still up in the air but Villanova is playing on another level right now. The Wildcats are a ridiculous 20-0 straight up in their last 20 games in Philadelphia and Creighton is 3-3 on the road this season. Nova picked up a five-point win in the last meeting and that is with them shooting just 6-of-33 from the three-point line. This line is just over five and considering how they've played as of late, there is no reason to believe Villanova will not come away with a bigger win at home.

Tom Brady expected to play against Cowboys despite elbow injury - as reported by the Boston Herald.

Lot at stake tonight for both teams - the Texans and Colts are both in the playoff picture through 10 games with identical 6-4 records. The Texans are over due for a complete game and while this one will be close I like the marginally better team here at home but the hook on this line scared me off the Texans bet. Two average offenses and two average defense and both teams have a host of injuries, the total of 46.5 is bit high here IMO. Texans 23, Colts 20.

These two are averaging 33 & 28 pts/g and 28 pts allowed. AF struggles to defend the pass & Col St definitely can’t defend the run. AF good at holding the ball but that drops on the road by a big margin.

USF has a great passing D but the probel is that Cinci runs and USF is one of the worst at defending the run. Cinci 3rd best at forcing turnovers, while USF is ranked 105 at giving it away. South Florida has been a perma-fade all year and nothing changes tonight.

I never take big spreads so hopefully this doesn't bite me in the ASS but S Alabama can’t score avg only 8 points at home & ranked 111 & 121 in opp rushing yards/g & rushing y/p & 114th in opp red zone scores. LAF held Tx St to 3 & Coastal to 7. Give me ULL -27.5 and UNDER 53.5.

Every team that has faced Vandy’s defense has tallied more yards in the area their offense emphasizes (ie. rushing or passing). UNLV was a rushing attack but their running QB went down and their true freshman QB threw it 55 times against Boise State. I think they throw it a lot and try to exploit the secondary. On offense, I think Vaughn goes off- three TDs and near 200 yards. It will open up the passing game, and it will be the game that gets us all excited that the offense has figured it out.

But hey, a win is a win is a win.

The Pick: OVER 57.5
The Score: Vanderbilt 44, UNLV 28

Take the OVER and the Cardinals in this matchup. The Falcons defense is giving up large numbers of points each game and the Kliff Kingsbury - Kylder Murray experiment has actually looked improved and putting up solid numbers the last 2 weeks.

Cashner had a nice run of three quality starts going, but in his last outing he gave up five earned on eight hits in 5.0 innings. But Cashner is still the better pitcher here as Pomeranz is 0-3 in his last four games and gave up five earned on eight hits in 2.2 innings to the D-Backs his last time out. Offensively these two teams are statistically similar and I trust Cashner a little more here, so getting +110 on your money is the value bet here today.

This is a matchup between two of the league’s more balanced and potent offenses. However, this hasn’t shown out on a consistent basis in the series with their respective defenses being more of a factor. This should remain the case in Game 7 with a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals hanging in the balance. The under is also 5-2 in the last seven meetings, I'll follow the trends and take the UNDER 209.5 today

Both these team are a couple of games away from the leaders in the MAC Conference East so this is an important game when looking at the standings. Kent St pulled in back-to-back wins over W Michigan and E Michigan but had a huge loss to Akron. Cent Michigan doesn't have the scoring defense like the Zips but they shouldn't have trouble trading blows on the offensive end. Central Michigan scores an average of 6 points more when playing at home and the Golden Flashes only average 72 on the road. I think this will be a heck of a shoot out and you might take a gander at the overs if they haven't moved too much. I have to lean on the Chippewas to cover though.

More than a side pick here I'm taking the overs. UNLV has run over in 5-2 of their last 7 and Wyoming has gone over in 20 of the last 24 games (after scoring less then 50 points the previous game). I like those odds. I look for this one to go over 154.

I was surprised when this line came out. I fully expected Iowa to be favored by at least 6 points. Maryland has trouble putting points on the board when playing on the road. On the flip side, Iowa is one of the best shooting teams in the league right now, they are great at home AND they just whooped the Wolverines by 15 points. Give me the Hawkeyes.

I'll be taking the Thunder in this one. Pelicans were just ass whipped by Orlando and rightly so. The Pelicans clearly didn't show up to play. OK City has been winning and they have the momentum where the Pelicans are starting to unravel. I have to wonder how much of this has to do with the Davis drama. Hot hand is the Thunder and I expect them to cover.