NCAA College Football Betting Preview - Week 2

Friday, September 10, 2010

by BetUS.com

Week 1 of the college football season didn’t disappoint, with huge plays and upsets galore. Now that most teams have had the chance to shake the cobwebs off, NCAA football betting should be even more exciting this week. The schedule is loaded with extremely competitive games; here’s a look at a few tough tests for the two highest ranked teams in the country.

#18 Penn State Nittany Lions at #1 Alabama Crimson Tide

There will be no shortage of legendary coaches this Saturday when the Penn State Nittany Lions travel to Alabama to take on the Crimson Tide. The ageless Joe Paterno, who is coaching his 45th season this year, takes on Nick Saban, who has two National Championships with two different teams over the last seven years.

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Despite his remarkable 45-year tenure, Penn State’s season opener against Youngstown State marked the first time in Paterno’s coaching career that he started a true freshman quarterback in a season opener. That true freshman was Robert Bolden, an excellent athlete who had a very nice debut, going 20-of-29 with 239 passing yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. Bolden will try to carry the momentum of his strong start into Alabama.

The Nittany Lions have traveled well over the last two years, with an 8-1 SU and 7-1-1 ATS regular season record on the road. Last season, Penn State was a perfect 4-0 on the road both SU and ATS. It will be interesting to see how Penn State will fare as an underdog; remarkably, the Nittany Lions have been favored in every regular season game they have played since 2008. That won’t be the case this Saturday.

Alabama prepares for their challenging game against Penn State without two of their best players in defensive end Marcell Dareus and defending Heisman Trophy winning running back Mark Ingram. Dareus is serving the second game of a two-game suspension he received for attending an agent party, while Ingram is very doubtful with a left knee injury.

Even without the two stars, Nick Saban will have his team ready to go; you don’t earn the number one ranking in the country without having loads of talent and depth. Alabama’s 48-3 win over San Jose State last week covered the 39.5-point spread, which brought Alabama’s overall winning streak to 15 including last season’s undefeated campaign. The Crimson Tide were 9-4 ATS last season, including their win and cover over Texas in the National Championship.

#12 Miami Hurricanes at #2 Ohio State Buckeyes

Two of the nation’s most athletic teams will take the field Saturday when the Miami Hurricanes visit the Ohio State Buckeyes in the “Horseshoe”. One of the toughest games on Ohio State’s schedule this season, the Buckeyes will need a win to keep their National Championship hopes going strong.

The Miami Hurricanes got their easy game out of the way last week, cruising to a 45-0 win over Florida A&M. They now prepare for a brutal three game out-of-conference road trip that takes them to Ohio State, Pittsburgh, and Clemson. For the road trip to be successful, superstar quarterback Jacory Harris will have to be spectacular. He looked sharp in limited action against Florida A&M, going 12-of-15 for 210 passing yards and three touchdowns.

Miami has been a tricky team to bet on over the last few regular seasons. While they have put together a respectable 16-8 record SU, they are exactly .500 ATS at 12-12, without any obvious trends. As an underdog over the last two seasons, Miami is 2-2 SU, but a profitable 3-1 ATS.

Ohio State has been one of the most dominant teams in college football over the last few years, and is coming off their second straight 10-2 regular season. Many are predicting this will be the year the Buckeyes put it all together; with plenty of returning talent on both sides of the ball, led by Heisman hopeful quarterback Terrelle Pryor. Their Rose Bowl win over Oregon last season broke their bowl slump, and might have provided the boost of confidence they needed.

Not only was Ohio State strong straight up last season (10-2), but they also made their backers a nice profit going 9-3 ATS during the regular season and then winning outright as underdogs in the Rose Bowl. The Buckeyes are 11-0 SU (but only 5-6 ATS) in their last 11 games when favored at home. The last time they lost as home favorites was to Illinois on November 10, 2007.

Related Articles

• NCAA College Football Rankings – Week 1
• No 1 - Alabama Crimson Tide 2010 Preview
• NCAA Football Betting - Penn State Nittany Lions at Ohio State Buckeyes
• NCAA Football Odds: No 18 Penn State at No 1 Alabama
• Alabama Crimson Tide at Penn State Nittany Lions NCAA Betting Lines

Category

• NCAA Football Matchup

Tags

alabama crimson tide - heisman trophy - jacory harris - joe paterno - mark ingram - miami hurricanes - national championship - ncaa football betting - nick saban - ohio state buckeyes

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