Fresno State Rutgers Spread, Line & College Football Picks

August 28, 2008

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Get your Labor Day started early with some betting on the college football odds on Fresno State and Rutgers.  The early line has Rutgers as a 4.5 favorite spread over Fresno State.

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights will play host to the Fresno State Bulldogs on Monday, September 1st at 4 PM EST while being televised live on ESPN.  Rutgers isn’t playing a lot of tough teams outside of the Big East, but Fresno State should provide a challenge.  Fresno State is never afraid to take on tough teams, and Pat Hill is happy to get a big name school on live TV on a holiday.  The Bulldogs had some tough teams to face last year, in the WAC it was Boise State and Hawaii but they also lost to Oregon and Texas A&M (even though the game against the Aggies went to three overtimes.)  Even with those losses the Bulldogs still made the Humanitarian Bowl, where they beat Georgia Tech 40-28.  Last year Rutgers got off to a hot start and won their first three games by a total of 138-27, but then the team struggled to defeat all of the top teams in the conference to finish in the middle of the Big East pack.

Tom Brandstater will be the man under center this year for Fresno State after managing the game nicely in 2007.  He had a 63% completion rate and 15 passing scores even though the Bulldogs were run first, pass second.  His main target is tight end Bear Pascoe, the only Bulldgo who was All-WAC First Team.  Ryan Matthews and Lonyae Miller will manage the ball carrying, and they combined for 21 touchdowns a year ago.

The Bulldog run defense struggled a year ago, ending up 85th in the nation with more than 181 ypg allowed on the ground.  The strength of the team was the pass rush with 2.8 sacks per game, and 7.6 tackles for loss per gae, good for second in the WAC.  Jon Monga and Wilson Ramos are experienced on the front line, but other than that it’s a bunch of fresh faces.  There is concern at linebacker, where top tackler Marcus Riley will need to be replaced.  The secondary is fairly loaded and will be able to make players if the front four can get some heat on the opposing passers.  You can bet the +4.5 line on Fresno State at JustBet.

Rutgers knew how to put points on the board last year, as they became just the eigth team in school history to rack up 300 points.  The team is going to have to find a way to move the ball without Ray Rice though, who was one of the best running backs in the schools long history.  Kordell Young will be the one to carry the ball for the Scarlet Knights this year.  Mike Teel is experienced at quarterback as he managed the offense who averaged more than 450 ypg last year.  He’ll be relied on to do more passing this year with Rice gone and he’ll have plenty of receivers to throw to with Tiquan Underwood and Kenny Britt, who both finished in the top three in Big East receiving yards last year.

Last year Rutgers was almost impossible to pass against, ranking fifth in the nation with only 170.6 ypg allowed through the air.  Because of those numbers the team allowed only 327.6 ypg in total, which was good for 17th in the nation.  However, this year’s team will have to replace a lot of the big names that supported the load a year ago.  There are a lot of fresh faces on the line, which will make a pass rush tougher to come by.  The linebacker position will also be in rebuilding mode, but the secondary should be in good hands with two-time All-Big East cornerback Courtney Greene providing support.

Predicted Score:

Fresno State 28
Rutgers 32

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Written by admin · Filed Under College Football 

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