The Bantrym Board: College Football Week 2
Week 2 is loaded with games worth watching, but not necessarily betting. Only three picks made the Board, plus our thoughts on Ohio State-Texas, Oklahoma-Michigan, Cy-Hawk and more.
The Bantrym Board: College Football Week 2
Week 1 is in the books, and now we get a Week 2 slate with some massive games.
Ohio State-Texas. Oklahoma-Michigan. Cy-Hawk. There’s a lot I want to watch this weekend.
There’s just not a lot I want to bet.
I went through this board over and over again and kept coming back to the same thing: I don’t love it.
Last week we had five picks. This week, I’m not throwing two extra plays on the Board just so we can get back to five.
If I don’t like the value, I’m staying away.
So this week we’ve got three.
Alabama -10 at Kentucky — BEST BET USF +3.5 at Army Oregon -23 at Oklahoma State
Let’s get into it.
BEST BET: Alabama -10 at Kentucky
This is easily my favorite play of the week.
Alabama looked really good in Week 1.
They beat East Carolina 48-10, put up 487 yards of offense and held ECU to just 162 yards.
More importantly, I liked what I saw from Keelon Russell.
In his first start, Russell accounted for 342 total yards. He threw for 256 and added another 86 yards and a touchdown with his legs. Ryan Coleman-Williams also went for 130 yards on just five catches.
Obviously Kentucky is a completely different test than East Carolina. I get that.
I just think Alabama has way too much talent.
They have the roster to overpower Kentucky, and at -10, I don’t need Alabama to go out there and win 48-10 again.
I need them to win by 11.
I think they do more than that.
If Russell looks anything like he did last week and Alabama's defense travels, I don’t think Kentucky has enough offensively to keep up for four quarters.
Alabama -10. Best Bet.
USF +3.5 at Army
This is probably the pick I went back and forth on the most.
USF beat FIU 19-9 last week, but I’m not going to sit here and tell you the offense looked great. It didn’t.
They only put up 208 yards and scored one offensive touchdown.
But there were things I liked.
They didn’t turn the ball over, they only committed four penalties and they forced three FIU turnovers. They found a way to win despite leaving a lot out there offensively.
I think there’s more there.
Now they get Army, and everyone knows what Army wants to do.
Run the ball. Control the clock. Shorten the game. Make you play their style.
And weirdly enough, that's part of why I like USF +3.5.
I think this is going to be a close game.
If Army turns this into the ugly, possession-by-possession game they want, getting more than a field goal becomes pretty valuable.
And if USF can find another level offensively that we didn’t see against FIU, I think they have a real chance to win the game outright.
I’m not saying USF walks into West Point and blows Army out.
I’m saying I think they hang around all game, and I’ll gladly take the 3.5.
USF +3.5.
Oregon -23 at Oklahoma State
I think Oregon is about to take some anger out on Oklahoma State.
The Ducks beat Boise State 34-27 last week, and I actually think Boise deserves a lot of credit for making that game as close as it was.
Because Oregon still put up 497 yards of offense.
Dante Moore threw for 378 yards and three touchdowns. Jeremiah McClellan had 150 receiving yards.
Oregon moved the football. They just couldn’t completely put Boise away.
I don’t think that's happening again this week.
Oklahoma State lost 24-10 to Tulsa last week.
Four turnovers. Three failed fourth downs. Not much explosiveness offensively.
Now Oregon is coming to town.
Good luck.
I also think there’s a Dante Moore angle here.
If he wants to seriously put his name into the Heisman conversation, these are the games where he needs to put up stupid numbers.
Oregon had its scare against Boise. Now I think they're going to want to make a statement.
This feels like a game where Oregon gets rolling early and never really lets Oklahoma State back into it.
Oregon -23.
The Games I’m Staying Away From
The funny part about this week is that the games I’m most excited to watch aren't necessarily the games I want to bet.
And there are three in particular.
Oklahoma at Michigan: What the Hell Is Michigan?
This game could go one of two completely different directions.
Oklahoma could absolutely throttle Michigan.
Or Michigan could come out, look like the team everyone expected them to be, and make last week look like nothing more than them playing down to their competition.
Because last week was bad.
Michigan barely survived Western Michigan 13-12 and needed a Hail Mary from Bryce Underwood to avoid what would've been an absolutely brutal loss.
Underwood struggled. Michigan turned it over three times. Nothing about it looked right.
And now you get Brent Venables.
That's not exactly the guy I want scheming against my young quarterback when he's coming off a game like that.
Venables has made a career out of confusing quarterbacks with his defense, and we saw Oklahoma give Underwood problems last season too.
So this is going to tell us a lot.
Was Week 1 just Michigan sleepwalking against a team they thought they'd beat?
Or do they actually have serious problems?
I have no clue.
Which is exactly why I'm not betting it.
Ohio State at Texas: Game of the Year?
This is the one.
No. 1 Ohio State.
No. 4 Texas.
Austin.
Saturday night.
You could tell me this ends up being the best regular-season game we watch all year and I wouldn’t argue with you.
Arch Manning against Julian Sayin.
Cam Coleman and all those Texas weapons on one side. Jeremiah Smith on the other.
Two teams with legitimate national championship expectations.
If you forced me to pick a winner, I’d take Texas.
But I'm not confident enough to put money on it.
We've seen Texas get into these massive spots under Steve Sarkisian over the last few years and shit the bed.
Now they get another chance.
And more importantly, Arch gets his chance.
He threw for 305 yards and four touchdowns last week, but nobody is going to remember what Arch Manning did against Texas State if he can't do it in games like this.
This is the spotlight.
No. 1 team in the country. At home. Saturday night. Everyone watching.
Go make your name.
If Texas is actually winning a national championship this year, I think they need to win this game.
I think they will.
I’m just not betting on it.
Iowa State at Iowa: Absolutely Not
As an Iowa fan, I've seen this movie too many times.
Iowa could be the better team.
Iowa could be playing at Kinnick.
Iowa could be coming off a 40-0 win.
And somehow the Cy-Hawk game will still turn into the ugliest four hours of football you've ever watched.
Iowa is laying around 14.5.
No chance I'm touching that.
This rivalry is always weird. It's usually close. And Iowa has a special ability to play directly down to Iowa State regardless of how good either team actually is.
We also got burned taking the Iowa over last week.
I'm not going back for seconds.
If you absolutely forced me to bet something here, I'd probably take the under and prepare myself for another edition of El Assico.
Otherwise, I'll be watching this one as a fan.
One More to Watch: Missouri at Kansas
Don't completely overlook Friday night either.
The Border War is back.
No. 23 Missouri heads to Kansas in a rivalry game that should give us a pretty good idea of what both teams actually are this season.
I'm not putting anything on the Board here.
But rivalry game, Friday night, ranked team on the road?
Yeah.
I'll be watching.
The Week 2 Bantrym Board
⭐ BEST BET — Alabama -10 at Kentucky
USF +3.5 at Army
Oregon -23 at Oklahoma State
That's it.
Three picks.
I could've found two more games and talked myself into them just so we could put five on the graphic again.
I'm not doing that.
If we don't see the value, we don't force the pick.
Give me the three I actually like and let's see what happens.
We make the picks. We keep the receipts.