Sully's Big Blog! Commentary on College Football, Weekly Games, And Strange Statistics!

College Football Week III Games 9/18 & 9/19

This week’s games kick off on Friday, with Campbell University, a private Baptist University in Buies Creek, North Carolina at Coastal Carolina located in Conway, South Carolina.

Campbell lost last week to to Georgia Southern, 27-26, while Coastal Carolina took the their game right Kansas, beating the Jayhawks, 38-23!

There is no line on this game, as it is an FBS (85 scholarship program) vs an FCS (63 scholarships program). My source for point spreads is always the Vegas Hot$heets! http://www.vegashotsheet.com/LiveLines-NCAA.html

Also please note: we are not a gambling site and use only the opening line, in other words, we do not follow the money, which will move the line up or down throughout the week!

The Saturday Games @ 11:00

Tulsa AAC 0-0 @ Oklahoma State B-12 0-0: On ESPN; Ok State opens as a 20.5 favorite. The Cowboys lead the series 43-28-5 and have won 9 of the last 10 games! The B-12 needs a dominant win by the Cowboys!

Austin Peay OVC (FCS) 0-1 @ Cincinnati AAC 0-0: On ESPN+; No line, FBS vs FCS! Cincy has won 18 straight home openers and is 6-0 all time vs the Governors. For those of you who are wondering where the Hades is Austin Peay, it is located in Clarksville, TN!

Louisiana SBC 1-0 vs Georgia State SBC 0-0: On ESPN2; Louisiana opens as a 17 point favorite. This is a Sun Belt Conference game. Georgia State is 2-3 in their last five SBC openers and have lost 4 straight to Louisiana. The Ragin Cajuns won their opener by beating highly regarded Iowa State 31-13 in Ames, Iowa!

Syracuse ACC 0-1 @ Pitt ACC 1-0: On ACCN; Pitt opens as a 20.5 Favorite, Pittsburgh dismantled an over-matched Austin Peay, 55-0, last week, while Syracuse looked clueless against UNC, losing 31-6! The Panthers are 15-3 since 2002 vs the Orange, they have won 4 of the last 5 and 2 in a row! In 2016, Pitt won a wild game, 76-61. Let’s hope for something like that on Saturday!

Liberty (IND) 0-0 @ Western Kentucky C-USA 0-1: On ESPNU; WK, despite its opening loss @ Louisville, 35-21, opens as a 13 point favorite! That said, Liberty has beat Western Kentucky in their only 2 meetings, when both team were playing as FCS programs. Since Liberty has moved to the FBS, they have played 2 teams from C-USA and are 1-1 in those games. WK is 19-4 vs non P5 opponents in non-conference (NC) games!

Navy AAC 0-1 @ Tulane AAC 1-0: On ABC; Tulane has opened as an 8 point favorite! The Green Wave has been beached by the Midshipmen 6 of the last 7, winning for the 1st time in five tries in 2018, 29-28! Navy won last year’s game 41-38 @ home! 9-7!was manhandled in their opener by BYU, 55-3. Kenny Niumatalolo said after the game, they had not hit once in their prep for the Cougars, do to Covid. Based on the BYU result, Coach Niumatalolo said, they would be amending their approach. Good idea Kenny! Tulane beat South Alabama in their opener, scoring 21 unanswered after falling behind, 24-6 in the 3rd quarter.

Boston College ACC 0-0 @ Duke ACC 0-1: On ESPN3; Duke was a 6 point favorite when the line opened, I believe it has dropped to Duke by 3.5 or 4! Surprisingly, these Conference rivals have met only 3 times since 2009, while they are in different divisions, one would still expect more then 3 games in 11 years? The lack of games is related to the ACC having 7 teams in each division and playing only 8 conference games, 6 in the division and 2 divisional crossover games. BC won the 2010 game, 21-16, while Duke won in 2011, 20-19 and again in 2015, 9-7!

Houston AAC 0-0 @ Baylor B-12 0-0: 1st game for both teams, the line opened with Houston a -7.5 Dog! To say the B-12 needs a win would be a gross understatement, this game is a good start back for the B-12, as the AAC is regarded as the best conference in the G5 and Houston one of its better teams. Baylor and Houston have played 28 times, with the 1st meeting in 1950, a 34-7 Bears over the cougars , at Waco! The series now stands @ Baylor with 14 wins and Houston 13 and the teams have tied once! That said, they have not played since 1995, a 47-7 Baylor rout!

Saturday’s 12:30 Kickoff

Appalachian State SBC 1-0 @ Marshall C-USA 1-0: On CBSSN; App State opened as a 3.5 Favorite. Both teams won their opener, The Herd beat an FCS team, Eastern Kentucky, 59-0 on Sept 5th, while the Mountaineers got after UNC Charlotte, 35-20! These teams have played 22 times, with Appalachian State owning a 14 to 8 edge in wins. Their last meeting was in 2002 @ Huntington WV, a 50-17 Marshall win!

Saturday’s 1:30 Kickoff

South Florida AAC 1-0 @ ND ACC 1-0: On USA; This game opened with South Florida being a -24.5 Dog. These teams have met only once, in 2011, a 23-20 Bulls victory over the the Irish. In that game, USF forced the Irish into 5 turnovers while the Irish were unable to turn the Bulls! In their opener, USF beat an FCS team, the Citadel out of the Southern Conference (SoCon), 27-6! Notre Dame struggled with Duke, winning a hard fought, 27-13, victory. Check out the Irish Backs, Kyren Williams & Chris Tyree, they have the look of something special!

Saturday’s 2:00 Kickoff

Stephen F. Austin Southland Conference (SLC) 0-1 @ UTSA (USA) 1-0: On ESPN3; No Line, FBS vs FCS! SFA lost to UTEP, 24-14 in their opener, while Texas San Antonio won, 51-48, over Texas State, in 2 OT’s! These teams have no played in the last 11 years!

Saturday’s 2:30 Kickoffs

UNC Charlotte (C-USA) 0-1 @ North Carolina 1-0: On ESPN3; Charlotte opened as a 26.5 Dog! This is the 1st ever meeting between the 2 Carolina schools. Charlotte lost their opener to App State, yet played well, losing 35-20, but had the ball down 28-20 late in the 4th quarter. UNC has one of the best QB’s in the country in Sam Howell , you see the strength of his arm on the outs and his skill to read the D when he throws the ball over the middle. He is the real deal! The Tar Heels hammered Syracuse in their opener, 31-6,

UCF (AAC) 0-0 @ Georgia Tech (ACC) 1-0: On ABC; Central Florida open as 7.5 Favorite! This will be UCF’s 1st game, while GT had a great win last week beating Florida State, 16-13, a game they were not expected to win! These team have played 3 times, all won by GT, yet have not played since 2000. All 3 games were in Atlanta (GT Home Stadium) and Yellow Jacket Coach Geoff Collins is familiar with UCF having played them twice while @ Temple! That’s the good news, the bad news, Collins lost both times!

Florida Atlantic (C-USA) 0-0 @ Georgia Southern (SBC) 1-0: On ESPN; Florida Atlantic opens as a 5.5 Favorite! This is the 1st meeting between these programs! FAU is 1-11 in NC (non-conference) road games since 2014 and 14-23 vs current SBC teams! While GS is 7-0 vs C-USA after transitioning from the FCS to the FBS! Georgia Southern won its opened, 27-26 vs Campbell University, clearly not an impressive outing Eagles. This is FAU opener!

Saturday’s 3:00 Kickoffs

The Citadel 0-1 @ Clemson (ACC) 1-0: On ACCN (ACC Network), No Line (FCS vs FBS). Clemson is 33-0 vs FCS teams, the last 2 years they beat Furman, 48-7 & Wofford, 55-10 last year. The Citadel did play Alabama to a 10-10 half time tie in 2018, before falling 50-17! Turn out the lights on this one. However, I would recommend tuning in to watch Trevor Lawrence & Travis Etienne!

Troy (SBC) 0-0 @ Middle Tennessee State (C-USA) 0-1: On ESPN 2; Troy is a 3.5 Favorite! Troy & MT have met 20 times, the Blue Raiders have taken down the ‘Men of Troy’ 12 times while losing 8 of the contests. This is Troy’s 1st game of 2020, while MT was blasted by Army in their opener, 42-0!

Saturday’s 5:00 Kickoffs

SMU (AAC) 1-0 @ North Texas (C-USA) 1-0: On CBSSN; SMU is a 14.5 Favorite. SMU won its 1st game of 2020, 31-24, over Texas State, while North Texas outscored, an FCS opponent, Houston Baptist, 57-31. SMU is 32-6-1 in this series, as this is their 40th meeting. However, it should be noted, when NT is @ home, they are 6-1 vs the Mustangs!

Saturday’s 6:00 Kickoff

Central Arkansas (SLC) 1-1 @ Arkansas State (SBC) 1-1: On ESPN+ No line (FCS vs FBS) Both teams enter the contest at 1-1. Central Arkansas beat Austin Peay, 24-17 and lost to UAB, 45-35, while Arkansas State lost to Memphis, 37-24 and the upset Kansas State, 35-31. The last time these in state rivals met, 2016, the FCS team, Central Arkansas won, 28-24, and did so @ Arkansas State home site, Jonesboro, Arkansas!

Saturday’s 6:30 Kickoffs

Miami (ACC) 1-0 @ Louisville (ACC) 1-0: On ABC; The line opened with Miami a 2 Dog! This may be (is) the day’s best game. These teams have met 3 times since 2013, Louisville won the 1st 2 games, 36-9 in 2013 & 31-13 in 2014, Miami won last year’s game (2019), 52-27! Miami’s QB, D’Eriq King, a transfer from Houston, is a player to watch. Many think Miami will challenge UNC for the top spot in the Coastal Division and that Louisville is the 2nd best team in the Atlantic Division, behind only Clemson! This should be a fun game to watch!

Louisiana Tech (C-USA) 0-0 @ Southern Miss (C-USA) 0-1: On ESPN 2; The line opened with SM as a 3.5 Favorite! The Golden Eagles have taken down LT in 4 of the last 5 meetings, including 3 in a row! SM lost their opener to South Alabama, 32-21 and welcomes LT, to what will be their 1st game of the 2020 season!

Texas State (SBC) 0-2 @ UL Monroe (SBC) 0-1: On ESPNU; Texas State opened as 1 Point Favorite! Texas State has losted their 1st 2 games of the 2020 season, lost to SMU, 31-24 & to UTSA, 51-48, in 2 OT’s! ULM got popped by Army, 37-7, in their opener! The Warhawks are 12-4 vs TS, including winning the last 4 games by an average of 9.5 points!

Saturday’s 7:00 Kickoff

Wake Forest (ACC) 0-1 @ NC State (ACC) 0-0: On ACCN; NC State has opened as a 3 point Favorite! Last time the Demon Deacons traveled to Raleigh, NC, they shocked the 22nd ranked Wolfpack, 27-23! This was the Deacons’ 1st road win over a ranked opponent since 2008! WF has taken down State in 3 straight games, winning by an average of 14.6 PPG! This is the Wolfpack’s 1st game of 2020, while it is WF’s 2nd, losing to Clemson in their 1st outing, 37-13!

Saturday’s 8:00 Kickoff

Abilene Christian (SLC) 0-0 @ UTEP (C-USA) 1-1: On ESPN3; No Line, (FCS vs FBS). These Texas teams have not played since 1959, when UTEP was known as Texas Western. The name was changed in 1967 to U.T @ El Paso and now commonly referred to as UTEP! AC leads the all time series 3-2! The Wildcats beat the miners in that 1959 encounter, 28-22! UTEP is 1-1 having beat Stephen F. Austin, 24-14 and then getting busted up by Texas, 59-3! This is Abilene’s opener!

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