Hello everyone, and welcome on into the Betting Pros Week eight College Football look Ahead with Thor Nystrom. I'm Thomas Viola and he's, of course Thorn Eistrum, and we're gonna be looking through what the week is going to be bringing us ahead in college football. We're already onto week eight or at Syracuse here we go. We're getting excited now beat NC State Bowl eligible after just six games.
Could not have imagined this start, and it brings us into our first game to talk about here for I mean, first off, how are you doing? And second off, SYRACU is gonna be able to take down Clemson.
I'm doing great. Yesterday we're recording on Sunday night. Saturday was fabulous. It had gotten as much hype, more hype than any other Saturday this season so far, and maybe even over last season Saturdays as well, and it somehow exceeded the hype. The games were just fabulous. Like the theater of it just I mean, like the two thirty slot Central time was amazing, but like the whole day was amazing, you know in terms of like having games up on your screen, and some of those games were
just instant classics. I'm looking at U Tennessee, Alabama, and then at night the dessert course of Utah USC was an incredible game as well. So it was just the whole thing, just a great college football Saturday. Excited to talk about the Lions. And as far as as Syracuse clems in, that's a tough matchup for all Syracuse, isn't.
It eleven and a half point dogs going into Clemson here, gonna be tough.
Yeah, Syracuse has caught it right both with the schedule. Early on they were able to ambush Louisville in the opener, and then you know, it hasn't been the hardest slate you know, to this point. And then you have this game Againstenzee State that you would have been the preseason circled as like this is gonna be a tough one. Once he Stayed had just lost Devin Larry and they were banged up as well, and they had to turn around on a you know, on a regular week whatever.
After that, they just sort of snuck by FSU with all these injuries. And then Yah, Syracuse of course, as you know, had essentially a two straight bye weeks. You'd had you were coming off the buy and then you played Wagner the week before. Circumstantially it worked out really well this one. This is gonna be a tough one Syracuse. Of course, as you know, they need to be led by the run game. This year, they can do way more of the passing. It's way more of a threat
than it was last year. But you still need to be led by the running foot in that. If Syracuse's run game goes away that entire offense, you take the tent pole out of the circus tent and the whole top comes down. Clemson's a team that's able to do that with their defensive front.
Now.
Then again, this was the theory of why they were going to blow out wake Forth earlier in the season, and they have in the past, but Clemson didn't do it this year. Clemson's offense has gotten better, but their defense, to personnel of it. People have been in, people have been out. They've not been as quite as consistent defensively as we thought coming in.
Their secondary has played better.
I will say that initially first couple weeks of the season, Clemson was getting torch through the air. That's gotten a little bit better. But if Clemson's able to take away that run game of Syracuse. They're gonna run away with
this thing. But we'll see about the health of their front who is active, who is one hundred percent where they're gonna be able to play the line share of the usage because because of circumstances cleansing their front seven vaunted for sure talent wise, the best in college football this season, but because of all the moving parts, they've had to minimize guys' roles, limits snaps, and or guys just being out.
So we'll see how that goes.
But if they're able to shut off the tap of a Syracuse run game, they're going to be in a really good spot here.
Yeah, I mean, I'm more than nervous. It's hard to be nervous when you're eleven and a half point dogs. You're just hoping that something can happen. We'll have to see in this game, and you can hit that nail on the head with let the success from yesterday, it was a fantastic day. I have another buddy who gives me a couple college football picks a week, and I just like he knows the sport enough where I'm following him pretty comfortably blind. And yesterday I just had the Inklan.
I was like, ah, you know what, I took four of them, put him in a little parlay. Ends up with a nice little bonus out of the day, which is good because I've taken a bath on NFL so far this Sunday. But speaking of teams that took a bath, here, Ohio State is going up against Iowa, and I think that this might be the game where we finally get more than a couple of touchdowns in an Iowa football game, don't you think here Thorn minus twenty nine in the Horseshoe with the Buckeyes.
Boy do I hope so? Because if not, this one could turn into a margin thing real quick.
It.
I mean, we're gonna know really early after the kickoff, probably in the first you know, half of the first quarter, whether Iowa can be viable whatsoever. Iowa obviously wants to turn it into a rock fight Ohio. Ohio State is going to try to impose a track meet on them. Can Iowa do the rock fight thing enough to stay close and or push it into the fourth quarter?
We'll see about that.
There's been games, In fact, I went to one in Kinnick Stadium that four or five years ago where Iowa was a heavy underdog to Ohio State. Nate Stanley was the quarterback Iowa ambush Ohio State. In that game, there was multiple pick six as a JT. Barrett and then Stanley. They didn't i would did not have to ask Stanley to force the ball and stuff like that and then put him in a bad situation because the game script then flipped into their direction.
But Iowa's offense, Thomas, as you know.
Is brutal, brutal, brual, brutal.
Their offensive line is not good. They're running back town his way down, and we know the quarterbacks one of the worst quarterbacks in all of the FBS going down to the G five. And their receiving course stinks too. The only kid that got is really Sam Laporte on offense. So you're, i mean, as an Iowa fan, you're you're
certainly concerned the line is justified. But Iowa there is a shot that they could at least impose the rock fight thing, And certainly with where you have this thing, with the margin of it, you can make an argument for Iowa. But that's what I'm going to be digging into in my my handicap this week.
With that game.
Yeah, I mean, I don't know that I was got. I think I'm completely with you on this one. I don't think that I was going to be able to keep this one as close as they need to. But twenty nine could be a lot, could be interesting. But let's move on to your team here, Kansas going up against Baylor. Baylor going to be eight and a half point favorites in this one. Baylor, there were so many good games yesterday. Did they get the win against BYU?
I forget well, well, Baylor, they they lost to BUYU earlier in the year, thinking overtime, I'm sorry, I'm.
Thinking of the Arkansas YU game there. Completely ignore me, completely ignore me.
Baylor played West Virginia on Thursday night and they Yeah, that's what it was.
Yeah.
And this is a topical point to this handicap because Baylor would have won that game if not for injuries suffered during it. They not only lost their best offensive player, Blake shape And who was I think Blake Shapin had his best career game against West Virginia, even though he got knocked out early in the third quarter of that game, like he threw for over three hundred yards, which he'd done, I think only once or twice before that, but the
efficiency and everything was there. That's what you were sort of hoping for looking at the handicap because West Virginia's pass defense.
Is so bad.
But Shaping goes down Baylor's backup Kyron Drones, who had been the QB three before Jerry Bohannan left and Baylor started to shove Jerry Bohannan out the door. But Drones, He's a good athlete, but he's incredibly raw as a passer right now, not only in terms of reading the defense itself, in the accuracy and the plays and stuff like that, but also the pocket presence also just general game awareness, which manifested the very end of that game,
their final drive. It's like he didn't realize he only needed to get the ball to like the opponent's thirty two yard line to try for a game tying field goal attempt that would afford, you know, push the game to overtime. He was doing things like, you know, scrambling around, taking up too much time or air mailing throwaways where it took you know, extra time off the clock, et cetera.
Blake shape and his status is very important.
And then While they lost their Baylor lost their best offensive player in that game. They also lost their best defensive player. Sayaki Eka. I hope I'm pronouncing that name correctly. He's their planet sized noseguard with three hundred and fifty pounds or whatever, and extremely active, you know, like a Vince will Fork type or the Danny Shelton type, you know, the kid from Washington a couple of years ago.
He's that kind of a player.
With him out, that Baylor was much easier as well to deal for West Virginia's offense, to deal with their defense, we got to check on shape and status. We got to check on ECA's status for sure. And Baylor already had to these health concerns with their skill talent on offense. Uh Tay McWilliams, the guy who is there they're projected starting running back coming out of camp, has barely played this year.
We'll see if if they're able to get him back.
But but one example of some of the injuries that that they have had, they also Craig Squirrel Squirrel Williams on Thursday against Western Virginia. He also got injured. So like they Baylor's had this this this small true freshman Richard Reese. This running back has sort of stepped up
with some of these running back injuries. But now when you have like if if if Squirrel Williams can't play and Tate McWilliams is not ready to come back yet, you'll have a guy uh in in Reese that does not have a frame for full college usage yet or maybe ever who Baylor may have to thrust into that role just because they won't have any depth, And then you're you're curious about the shape and thing as well. On the Kansas side, Jalen Daniels certainly is not going
to play. There was an interesting report by I believe it was Pete Thamil I hope, I'm I'm, I'm I'm remembering this right. I believe it's Pete Theamia that reported this, and apologies if I got the reporter wrong.
I'm pretty sure as him, but he reported on Saturday.
I believe that Daniels there the earliest possible date that he could return.
It was there. I think it was their.
First game in November November sixth or like something like that. And this winch to Jalen Daniels' point of last week when Jalen Daniels quote tweeted the reporter who from the Laurence Ternal World, the local newspaper of the Jayhawks, who had reported that Daniels was going to miss the rest of the season with a separated throwing shoulder, that he'd been diagnosed with that, and then Daniel's quote tweeted and
was like, well, that's news to me. So Thamil's report at least gives hope to the idea that that Daniels could come back this season. But you're not going to see him this week. We're gonna get Jason Bean again. Bean has analogous talent to Jay Daniels for sure, and he's experienced as well. It's just he is far more inconsistent. It all goes back to the decision making with him. When he's on the accuracy is there, the timing's on, you know, all that sort of stuff, and he has
the athleticism to augment it. Jason Bean was a track star in high school in Texas, arguably the fastest player on the Kansas roster, including the secondary, But the decision making could come.
And go with him.
He'll he'll you know, like once every quarter, so he'll have a decision where you're just like, what did you see there?
What was going through your head sort of a thing.
And you saw that, you saw that last game. But full credit to Kansas when he came in and there were the times when he had those head scratching decisions, but there were also the times when he was really good and Kansas clearly felt confident enough in him that they didn't turtle up when they were trying to go for the lead there, and when they had to play aggressive in that game, they kept firing and firing with him as their quarterback. Do you think they'll stay aggressive?
Yeah, selectively aggressive is the way I put it, because because Leopold system, you managed to stay efficient while you open up opportunities for the explosive plays and that's what we saw earlier this season. But yeah, your points well taken being sort of facilitated or helped out the Oklahoma
defense on a couple time beleaguered Oklahoma defense. That was sort of the frustrating thing on the Kansas side was there was a couple of decisions there that flipped the field that you know, again, you don't really know what he's seeing, and I mean, you know, you can go back to his previous work in previous years, But you can also just go back to the TCU game. Jason Bean was lights out in that game, barring like three plays, one of which turned into an interception. The other couple
were just as ugly. It's just the result of the play wasn't quite as bad. But again just the head scratching thing that the consistency for him is going to be super important. And how many of those dud plays you get, trying to minimize them as much as you can, but going up against this Baylor team that is I mean the whole depth chart right now, You're you're looking at the injury report. You want to see the updates
on those, but they are a badly beaten up team. However, whatever way you slice it, And if Blake Shape isn't starting, the drop off from Shape into drones certainly is bigger
than the dropoff from Daniels to Bean. And then if Baylor doesn't have their their planet sized war Daddy in the middle in Eka, it's going to be easier for Kansas to run, which will increase the efficiency of the Kansas offense, which again is going to facilitate the explosive plays If Kansas can't be efficient on offense, those explosive plays won't be there for him. That's the shoe that
they're led with. But if they can get that run game going, if they can get up and then being on the perimeter and stuff like that off the boot legs, that's how you open up these explosive play opportunities. We'll have to see on ECA status, but it's this is a game that could go either way.
That the open line of this thing.
I think this is a little bit puffed up considering Baylor's health concerns right now. Again, Shape and their best offensive player might not play. They have bad problems in the running back room right now whoever's gonna be active, and their best defensive player, a first round prospect in Eka, is also questionable right now. So this is a game you have to You're gonna have to look into the injury report all week and see on the statuses of the kids.
But at least as.
Far as what we know right now on Sunday night, that line seems a bit inflated for where Baylor is as a team and then what we've seen and then also where their health is right now.
It's gonna be an interesting one. I'm looking forward to it. But you know what else I'm looking forward to. We got LSU going up against ole Miss. Here LSU they were able to get it done down in the Swamp against the Gators. Now that come home to the Buyo where they have to take on an ole Miss team that's still seven to oher. The big teams that are getting the headlines in the SEC right now, obviously you've got Bama, Tennessee and Georgia. This Ole Miss team is
right up there with them. Do you think that they're for real? Are they kind of in a second tier below? Uh?
I'll say, uh real ish. I don't know if that would completely go to the category categorization that you're talking about. But I still have my concerns about Mississippi for sure. Their their offense has been a bit stop and start. Where they've they've sort of there's the stretches where they are not putting points on the board have been way more prolonged than you would have anticipated in the preseason.
The the overall tree.
Top stats haven't looked as bad parcause because lane in a couple of these games is poured on at the end. Although he didn't decide to do that last Saturday, or you know, yesterday when he could have he decided to take a knee in that one. But we've seen some of these other games he hadn't done that. But you
still have questions overall about the ole Miss offense. But I will say the talent there that we have projected of maybe there won't be that big of a drop off half Matt corrall Leaves and all the guys that they they had before, you know, the last era of the Rebels. We thought that this offense was going to be better, going to bring in Jackson, start bringing Zach Evans,
this Judkins kid. Now as you served, you know from the beginning of the season, had you serve Ulysses Bentley, who we thought would have a bigger role whatever, he's turned out to be his stud They have all the receivers as well.
Will that offense start to pick it up? We'll see.
Lane Kiffin is not amending his play calling strategy whatsoever in the meantime as as this new group is sort
of trying to pick it up. Remember, Lane Kiffin remade his roster as much, arguably as especially in the offensive side of the Ball as any roster before it in the history of college football outside of Lincoln Riley, Like Lane Kiffen went out and signed as many guys who are going to be starting for the next year as we had seen for a sitting head coach prior to that, right, like you know, and the rule change is obviously helped
facilitate this. But Lane Kiffin the portal king, and it wasn't that he brought players with him to where he went. He just remade that roster as we went. So I'm still hopeful that the the ole Miss offense will become what the some of its parts say it can be. In the meantime, their defense is playing a bit better than we thought it was, so they sort of made up the ground in that way. But ole Miss is on offense, they're still playing at the number one pace
in the entire country. They're still playing at that that breakneck pace, And I think Lane's just hoping that that it's eventually gonna that everything's gonna coal last because at the point that it does, that's how you can, potentially, to your to your first question, get yourself into a position where potentially you can take down one of those.
Those big Tigers of the the SEC.
But right now, with where the offense is, I I don't know that I would say that that they're cable of that.
Well, they might be, and they might have to work to take out on one of the big Tigers of the SEC, but they're actually getting their laying two points in LSU. Can they take up the LSU tires this weekend?
Yeah?
My spread on that game is Ole Miss minus too, So I'm I'm right there on the Vegas line this game. I'm going to handicap all week My initial lean would probably be towards Ole Mess just because I mean, the offense hasn't been consistent, but overall the team has been.
And then LSU, you've had this team where you see some you know, it's like sort of like every other week with them a little bit where some of these games you get the effort and they look really good, like yesterday when they traveled down to Florida and they controlled that entire game and they ended up winning by ten, but they were leading by more than that for a
large portion of that game. But then you have these other games where it's like like like Brian Kelly was lamenting after the Tennessee game, and we now know that Tennessee is awesome for sure, but it wasn't Tennessee didn't beat him by almost thirty points in Baton Rouge because of that. LFU helped them to do that as well.
You had the fumble of the opening, and then it didn't seem like LSU's effort was awesome the rest of that game or even the continuity of the strategy, and then it started to get away from them, and then it started to get ugly with LSU. You can't get your finger completely on the motivation of that team, et cetera.
But coming off of a big win, this would be the time for me where I'd sort of leaned the other way, especially with an Ole miss team that I'm starting to trust a little bit more overall, even though I don't completely trust that offense yet, but they have the pieces, like I said, and projected them to be better in the summer.
Now, how about this next game that we've got up here, It is going to be another banger. Texas and Oklahoma State. Okay State, they lost a TCU in that ridiculous overtime game forty three to forty. Now they have to come back and take on a Texas team that does look pretty back. Texas just going to continue on those upwards ascent. Yeah, they didn't get though, they didn't get what they were looking for versus Bama, but they still looked like a good team so far. And Quinn yours is playing ball.
Yeah.
The yesterday when Texas played Iowa State, it was the classic Texas sleepy spot coming off the week where everyone says Texas is back, and it was the classic Iowa State ambush spot meeting, and we saw it like it became a coin flip game at the end of the game. I actually think Texas got lucky there. There was It wasn't just one call. There was a couple of calls at the end of the game or no calls that a lot of people thought maybe should have gone the
other way. And there was the fumble where was Deckers his knee down, et cetera. Texas was either way, it's flice and Texas was very fortunate to escape with that win in a game where they at some points during the week they were a seventeen or a seventeen that point favorite in the market. I think it closed, you know, it's closer to like fifteen, because that then the sharps got involved and you know, realized what the spot was what it was.
You would figure at.
Least playing pop psychologists with the team, and I'll put that hat on. You'd figure that you're gonna get a more motivated Texas team this week. After the sleepy spot and after they almost just blew it against Iowa State, you'd figure you would get the better performance this week traveling to Oklahoma State. I happen to think that Oklahoma State a lot of what they're doing is smoking mirrors this team of Oklahoma State. But they're still doing it right.
Like they outplayed PCU for the large schwath of that game, and then it went against them at the very end. They ended up losing that one in the overtime. But they continue to exceed my expectations in this game. I don't think I could back like where the line open and where you anticipate it going. You know, it's a four and a half. My line on this game is Texas minus two. To me, it's closer to a coin flip. I can't lay over four points with Texas in this
spot one way or the other. We'll see what happens with the line this week, But for me right now, with where it is, it would be Oklahoma State stay away.
Yeah, I I like the I like the I like Okie State in this one too. They've looked like a tough team to me. But Texas they've been interesting as well. But this I was honestly surprised that this line was as low as it is at four and a half. And yet even then, you think that they should be closer to two. I'm with you, it's Okie State to pass for me. Now, how about we got to talk about the other team that was involved in that Oklahoma
State game TCU and Kansas State. Now k State getting five points against the horn Frogs, who are undefeated and all of a sudden, they're they're the Big twelve champs right now if they keep if they keep this up, they're gonna be right there. Do you think the TCU can get the job done? Are they for real or do you think that they're just waiting for one of these games where they're gonna slip up? But how do you think they can fare against Kansas State? Is five point favorites at home?
Straight up, you'd for sure lean TCU based on what you'd seen with where the line is. Vegas dropped this right on what my addressed line is. My addressed line in this game is TCU minus five point one. It opens a TCU minus five, so we're right on on that line. These two teams play opposite right like Kansas State wants they want to slow the game.
They want to run the ball more.
They forced a lot of usage to doce fun that they're they're running back and then the quarterback runs around, YadA YadA. TCU now they they have they do the air raid, but there's a bit of a melding where they also have the downhill running game and you have the shifty kid in and Keandrey Miller doing it as well. But their run game is really good as well. But the passing game has become awesome, and that that was the problem last year where tc just couldn't throw the ball.
Max Dugan, What a difference a day, Max, or what a difference a year makes, you know, going from Gary Patterson and the previous system now to Sonny Dike's in the air raid, Max Dugan looks like a totally different player and his viability through the air only helps what is probably his best not probably, it definitely is his best trait of his mobility because he's a tough runner, He's an athletic kid. It seems to have an instinct
for it as well. So I like, right now, as far as like you know, a you know, should you bet this game early in the week, No, because I, like I said, I think this line is right on.
It's a game that I'm gonna dig into this week.
Like I said, as far as the straight up thing, I would certainly lean TCU right now, But as far as the handicap, I'm gonna see what happens with this line this week, and then I'm gonna dig it, you know, a bit more into the antillary advanced metrics of the on field matchup between both these teams.
Now, the next game that we have up here, Minnesota versus Penn State Penn State LANG four in Happy Valley. Can the golfers make something happen here? Or is Penn State? Penn State feels to me like that team kind of like at that ole Miss level. They're not quite one of the top teams in the Big Ten. They're right below Ohio State and Michigan for me.
But what do you think, Yeah, I mean this one with the opening line here was gonna be interesting to me either way in sort of trying to suss out what what Vegas and was was either thinking about Tanner Morgan's injury the Minnesota quarterback, or what they anticipated the market thinking about it, and like I sort of thought this line actually, I thought this thing was gonna open up higher because my, my, just the line in this game is is Penn State minus three point four. But
that's with both teams at full strength. Tanner Morgan got knocked out in the Minnesota got upset by Illinois, yes on Saturday, and he went like they, I mean, he had to get carted off and then they took him to the hospital.
He was cleared to fly back with the team.
So Tanner Morgan is back in Minneapolis, but took a shot to the head almost assuredly is going to be in concussion protocol this week if he is diagnosed or if he was diagnosed with an official medical concussion. I don't think that news. There's no incentive for PJ. Fleck to say that. In fact, I know after the game he told the reporters that he you know, I don't know any of I don't know any details about Tanner's injury yet, whether that's true or not, there's no incentive
for him to tell the reporters whatever it was. If Morgan was indeed diagnosed with the concussion, and if he is indeed in.
The protocol, you would put him at way if he to play in this game.
And if he does not, Minnesota is about to go into a gunfight without a gun, sort of, because their offense is not passing explosion. They can't generate explosive plays with the pass either way, even when everyone's at full strength. But keep in mind, this is a team that lost Chris Hopman Bell by farther wide receiver one earlier in the season. They already weren't a great passing team even
before that. And now if Tanner Morgan's out and you go down to the second string kid who I'm not even gonna try to pronounce his name, the kid with the Greek last name. He was awful in the Illinois games, big part of the reason.
Why they lost.
So if if that's the case and Morgan doesn't play and you have to go to this red shirt freshman again, Minnesota's passing game is not going to be there, which will allow Penn State's nasty defense essentially to just stack the box against Minnesota and Moebrahim and tried to erase mo Ibrahim. Mo Ibrahim came back in the Illinois game. He had been withheld from the Purdue one. Some people thought he could have played, but he didn't. Fleck withheld him.
He came back for the Illinois game. He looked fully healthy. He was really the only bright spot for Minnesota on the entire day. We'll see how he can contend potentially with stack boxes in this one. But in lieu of Morgan's status right now, with it being so up in the air, I'm a bit surprised that this thing only
opened at minus four. I would have predicted if like beforehand, I would have thought more like five and a half, six, maybe even six and a half for Penn State, a little bit low in lieu of the Morgan thing.
I'm with you. I'm with you. I think that that's gonna be a big question mark and people need to keep an eye eye on it. But pretty obvious that we're going to see him not playing this week with concussion protocol right well.
To see you know, I mean the Gophers gave out zero lessons, zero information by design, most most teams don't, so we don't like at this time sitting here, we don't have any information about that. We don't know what Morgan was told by the doctors, We don't know what he is diagnosed with, we don't know what timeline he was given, and the coaching staff is not going to apprize us that it's It's one of those things. During
the week, we're just gonna have to pay attention. Hope we get some you know, get a handout from Fleck, you know, like of a of a status updated Tanner Morgan that has some validity to it and not a not a Sam Pittman kJ Jefferson update from a couple of weeks ago, where lots of I'm not trying to pick on Sam Pittman because a lot of coaches just all right lie about the health status of their injured quarterbacks. But for this game, if you're interested in betting on Minnesota,
you need to know if the status is TAYL. Morgan, because you cannot beat again on You cannot bet on Minnesota only getting four points in this game if Tannam Morgan is not going to play. You need to feel pretty confident about that that for this one right now where we're sitting, this is Penn State or stay away, and the Morgan status will inform the rest of it.
A couple other games that I want to get to here before we head out for and of course we have to talk about the big one here.
Well, they're no.
Longer the Kings. Tennessee saw to that for now Alabama and Mississippi State. Bama gets laying twenty two and a half points against Mississippi State here in this one, and should we just expect.
To bounce back.
Let's face it, this Bama team has not looked as sharp as they have in previous seasons yet. Bryce Young is still a little banged up. But Bama normally feels inevitable, and this year they have not felt that way to me for sure.
Yeah, there, you know, and we talked about this, you know before the Tennessee game. Their offensive line is down, their receiving corps is down, and then when you know, when Young is compromised, and he definitely was against Tennessee. Although gutty, gutty kid, I like a couple of weeks ago, I would have said one hundred percent. Bryce Young doesn't play in that game with the injury that I've been told that he had ac joints brain of your throwing shoulder.
It's always a two week plus injury. But Bryce Young came back with only missing one game. So credit to him. Tough kid. That is something that is going to be mentioned during his NFL evaluation that he toughed it out to come back and play in that enormous game for
Alabama and didn't look terrible at all. Right, it wasn't the Bryce Young at the peak of his powers, for sure, but he gave them the fighting chance where especially I mean I was saying this last week, but especially in hindsight, it was proven sure if you had Jalen Milroe in there, Tennessee was winning that game by two touchdowns or more. I mean, like Alabama wouldn't have been able to literally do anything through the air, and that's the only way
that you can attack the Tennessee defense. Bryce Young's status knowing trying to sort of read between the lines of the quotes you're getting from the Alabama side to see what percentage does he is very instructive to this handicap on either side of it. Alabama said after the game from I mean like Young and then the coaches, the whole party line was Bryce suffered no ill effects from this game whatsoever. Like he's you know, he's only gonna
get healthier from here going out. I don't know about that. We know that Nick Saban is happier to lie about this stuff than almost anyone. So again we'll have to see. You're gonna have to read between the lines a little bit of this one because Bryce young status is so important to that team. He definitely gonna play. It's just what you know, are you gonna get ninety eight percent? Brazing,
You're gonna get eighty two percent? Bryce Young, were in between whatever, knowing that you have the down offensive line, in the down receiving core whatever. On the Missipi State side, it seems that well, well the market in Vegas that the folks that drop these lines seems like they're still giving Alabama the tax and the credit on the spread. It seems like they are doing the opposite with Missippi State.
After Missippi State was installed as the road favorite in Lexington yesterday, when you know, we didn't know if Leaves was going to play initially early on in the week and then later in the week it you know he was going to play then whatever, But Missiby State still closed as the favorite and Kentucky control most of that game was not a great game for Missippi State. They did not acquit themselves. Well, the market is certainly going
to be out on them. I don't think that game has any sort of predictive value as far as like depressing a line like this going forward. My justed line in this game is Alabama minus sixteen point three. So between that and the opening line, I'm sure when a discrepancy of just a tick over six points of value on the Missippi State side, that's the way that I
would lean on this game for sure. Early on, if you have a full strength Bryce Young becomes a little bit different because then Alabama can put points on the board. Potentially it will. But the other thing I'll say is the thing that you want to attack on the Missippi State defense not the pass passing. It's the run defense
of theirs. That's what you're so I expect Jumior Gibbs to have a big game, but with Bryce Young again, with the status and everything else that I mentioned with Mississippi State's pass defense, they could be able to lock him down a little bit, perhaps better than Tennessee Dead. So right now, with where that line is, I lean the Missippi State side.
All Right, one more game that I want to ask you about here, certainly not one of the big contests with heavyweight teams here, San Diego State and Nevada are going to be playing against each other. And when I was entering the numbers for the for US and our rundown here, I had to go back and check this one three times just to make sure it wasn't a typo.
The total in this game, I know we normally talk about sides, is the one total I want to talk about because it's at thirty six for a college football game. Is this I get that these two teams are bad, but I mean, no one in their right mind has beenting under thirty six. But do you think that this total is where it should be?
Well, so mine was forty nine and a half, but again that's not accounting for the injuries. Like both these teams at full strength, right and they're not specifically on the San Diego State side. Now, San Diego State had the bye last week, so we need to recheck in on the status of some.
Of these guys.
But the last game San Diego State played, their quarterback room was so decimated by injuries they had to move a kid from safety to quarterback that week to start against I think it was Hawaii the week before last. Maiden Jalen Maiden, I believe his name, and he had come over. He had played quarterback early on his career, actually ironically at Missippi State, you know team you were just talking about, and then it transferred over to San Diego State.
He Missippi stated had been like, you're not a quarterback, and.
So he had gone to San Diego State and then he was gonna, you know, try to make his football career going forward as a safety. But then it was so bad at quarterback. They'd be like, Maiden, we need you to play quarterback. He did okay against Hawaii's defense, but Hawaii's defense is low level FCS quality.
I think it would be fair to say this one against Nevada.
I mean Nevada, it's more or less the same, but it's the quality opponent.
Nevada.
We've seen them now multiple times against really poor competition, have struggled to put up points last night, it was against Hawaii.
That was the late game.
Hawaii upset Nevada, and a big part of the reasons was because Nevada couldn't move the ball. Nevada shockingly, even though Nevada's best offensive players to Atawa, they're running back, they were struggling to run the ball.
The way they were generating forward movement.
Was just dumping the ball off to Tatawa in the receiving game and then having him run. I don't have the stats in front of me, but he had like six catches for like seventy yards. That was like the bulk of Nevada's yardage for the game. Nevada's going to have to figure that out. San Diego State's defense is way better than Hawaii's in San Diego State going back years and years and years, has always had a good run defense. So so Nevada's gonna have to figure that
thing out. But then on the other side of San Diego State, you're gonna have to look into the health of their quarterback room. They're gonna get Burmester back, if not that one of the backups, or is it going to be we're playing the safety at quarterback again, and that one could go any different way.
Like the Hawaii thing.
I think that probably went about as good as San Diego State could hope for and they sort of ground out this very close win.
You don't want to be doing that in more games than that.
So we'll see if San Diego State is able to start one of the guys that began the season as a quarterback, they're certainly gonna do that.
That would put in jeopardy the under.
But if San Diego State trotting out the safety again and they're playing this Nevada team that we know can't move the ball, and Nevada is their best thing is gonna be going into the strength of the San Diego State defense.
That's why this number is as low as it is.
Also could justify an under bet, so you got to check on the status there.
It's gonna be an interesting one. I look forward to that rock fight. I want to see some bad college football this week, for especially.
Especially the late night games. You know, like you watch the games all day and you're.
You know, it's it's like you go to Thanksgiving and you just stuff yourself all day, and then on Saturday night, like I'm always sort of ready to pass out, but I can't give up college football excuse I know it's still on. So I have a TV in my room, so I always turned the TV on and then shut the It's always the Hawaii game, so I'll just watch.
That in bed until I pass out or whatever.
Having these games as the late late games I always watch of and it's like, I actually sort of like the crappy basement games that the garbage games or whatever. Yeah, and the Battle Color out of State was was fabulous a couple of weeks ago, and this one should be good in that same bay as well.
For sure.
It's your impractical Jokers and George Lopez late night TV where nothing else is on and you're just desperate for anything, and you're like, let's go, we're watching this right now. But thor, if people want to watch some good college
football analysis, they're not done here, they can head on over. Well, they have to wait a couple days, but they can head on over and watch you and Scott Bogman on our Wednesday preview show, and then of course they can also follow up with you Saturday morning, bright and early at seven am Eastern seven am Pacific time, where you and Mike Mike Farrell are giving away your best picks for the Saturday Slate on our final on their Day of Breakdown, and of course they can follow you at
four KU on Twitter as well. Thor my friend, it's been a pleasure. Let's go Orange this week in Rock Chalk Jayhawk. We'll see you guys next week