College Football Betting: What We Learned in Week 9
November 6, 2009
Rocketman Sports has long been known as one of the strongest football handicappers in the business. Take a look at his article on what we should have discovered in week 9 of the season if you want to stay ahead with your football gambling for this weekend.
The Hokies are Overrated?
A week after blowing a second half lead at home to the Seminoles, sportsbooks expected the Tar Heels to get worked over by the 14th ranked Hokies of Virginia Tech. Well that surely wasn’t the case last Thursday night as North Carolina pulled the upset as 14.5 point road dogs. The Hokie offense was weak to say the least as they were only able to muster up 256 yards of total offense. Their strong running game was limited as they ran the ball 33 times for just 95 yards. Tyrod Taylor wasn’t much of a factor either as he only attempted 23 passes, connecting on 11 of them. Taylor tossed for just 161 yards and 0 scores. Va Tech also had difficulty containing the run on defense which has been their particular failing on that side of the football throughout the course of this season. the Tar Heels ran for 181 yards on 43 carries. Virginia Tech now has three losses on the year as they are 5-3 overall and 3-2 in ACC play. It can be argued after two straight conference losses that this team is a tad overrated.
Michigan is in disarray:
After getting out to a bright 4-0 start and looking like one of the better teams in the conference, the Wolverines have now lost 4 of their past 5 football games. Michigan is now 1-4 in conference play and no longer look like a team who can be recognized Big 10 challengers. Illinois didn’t do anything fancy as they absolutely hammered the ball right down the throat of the Michigan defense. The Illini ran the ball 56 times for a whopping 377 yards, averaging 6.7 yards per attempt. The Michigan defense yielded 500 yards of total offense in the 38-13 loss. Juice Williams didn’t have to bank much on his arm as he tossed just 11 passes, connecting on 8 of them for 123 yards and a touchdown. The Wolverines have significant issues on their front seven and they need to get resolved quickly as Michigan still has to play Wisconsin and Ohio State, two teams that really like to run the football.
Oregon is now the best 1 loss team:
The Ducks got off to a bad start as they were absolutely manhandled by Boise State in the season opener and then struggled to beat Purdue at home. Since the Boise loss however, they have reeled off 7 straight victories with their most recent being a 47-20 spanking against Southern Cal. This is a very talented Oregon team who is scoring points in clusters. They rank 9th in the country in points per game averaging 35.6 per game. It is amazing that they were able to rack up 613 yards against a pretty stout USC defense. They absolutely controlled the battle of the trenches and ran the ball 49 times for 391 yards. Yes, they almost ran for 400 yards against USC! Quarterback Jeremiah Massoli is looking more improved each week and he can beat you with his passing and running. He has excellent speed for a quarterback and is an explosive playmaker for this Oregon team. It will be fascinating to see how things end upfor the Ducks in the final standings as they really are the strongest one loss team in the nation right now.