Week 1 kind of kicked my butt. It turns out that fading Colorado because I’m not a huge Deion Sanders fan is not exactly a great strategy for picking winners.

As a brief recap, we went 1-2 last week.

Colorado not only covered the +20.5 spread, but they won outright in a high scoring bout. The question folks have right now is if Colorado is the real deal, or if the TCU team we saw on Saturday is a mere shell of the Horned Frogs that found themselves in the National Championship last year.

Ohio State -30.5 also was a miss. It’s hard to cover a 30.5 point spread when you only put up 23 points. In fact, some might say it’s impossible. The offense looked very rusty and IU played aggressive on the defensive side of the ball giving Ohio State’s new offensive line fits throughout the game.

Kyle McCord didn’t exactly pick up where C.J. Stroud left off, but that was to be expected. What wasn’t expected was the lack of production from Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka. The two potential first rounders combined for 5 catches and 34 yards. It’s worth noting that Marvin Harrison Jr. did real in a 25 yard touchdown that was called back. It was noted after the game that the touchdown should have stood and that there should not have been a penalty thrown for stepping out of bounds.

The lone win from the weekend came from the Stanford Cardinals as they covered the -3 spread in the wee hours of the night.

Is 1-2 where we wanted to be? No. But we can always get back on track with some absolute nuclear 5 head locks. Like last week, and all weeks moving forward, we pick three and ride. Let’s begin.

Nebraska at Colorado (-2.5)

Last week we bet against Colorado and the reasoning wasn’t exactly great. I still don’t like Deion, but their performance was impressive. Shedeur Sanders put on a record breaking performance under center and proved that he deserved the starting position and that Deion’s luggage is indeed Louis.

Travis Hunter also put on a show playing both sides of the ball and recording 144 total snaps in the 98 degree Texas sun. He caught 11 catches for 119 yards and made an amazing diving INT to save a touchdown. The kid is an absolute STUD.

Nebraska, on the other hand, wasn’t able to get in the win column in their first game under Matt Rhule. Death, Taxes, Nebraska losing one score games.

Nebraska was originally an 8.5 point favorite before the Buffs impressive road win. The line is now in Colorado’s favor at -2.5.

One would think, after fading Colorado in week 1, that I would learn from my mistakes and take them to win by at least a field goal against a bottom tier Big 10 team.

But that would require growth and maturity which are two things I do not associate myself with.

So my dumb self is taking Nebraska ML. It’s not entirely a “I hate Deion” pick. I think Colorado will face a much tougher defense on Saturday than what TCU trotted on the field. While Minnesota doesn’t have a Sanders, Hunter, or Edwards, I still believe the defense proved to be solid and can set the tone up front against a Colorado line that has quite a bit to improve on.

On the offensive side, Nebraska will look to slow the game down and pound the rock. Colorado’s defense gave up 541 yards to a relatively rebuilt TCU offense. Nebraska will do their best to keep Sanders on the sideline as much as they can.

Nebraska will look to play fundamentally sound football and avoid the costly mistakes they made against Minnesota that cost them a chance to start off 1-0.

I think this is going to be a good game, but I’m going to take the value of Nebraska ML.

The Pick: Nebraska ML +125

Notre Dame (-7.5) @ NC State

Notre Dame has had a great start to the 2023 season. The Fighting Irish are led by 12th year senior Sam Hartman who has already thrown for 6 touchdowns and looks to be the best quarterback the ND offense has had since Brady Quinn.

Notre Dame made lightwork of the Midshipmen in Week 0 winning 42-3. Navy featured one of the best defenses in the country in 2022 (Source: Derrik Noel, ND fan). They followed that performance up beating the Boys and Girls club of Tennessee 56-3 in week 1.

The Leprechaun’s look to have their first true test as they travel North Carolina to face off against NC State.

NC State is coming off a decent season, finishing 3rd in the ACC. I was unable to find Notre Dame’s conference standings, but it’s worth noting that they have played in more ACC Championship games than NC State has, despite not being a part of the conference.

NC State will be solid, but not great, on both sides of the ball.

The offense will look to find it’s rhythm with OC Robert Anae calling the shots. Anae stated to the media that they’ll need to protect QB Brennan Armstrong and produce more explosive plays in order to hang with Notre Dame.

NC State has consistently featured a solid defensive unit under head coach Dave Doeren. They’ll look to continue that tradition with a strong secondary and fresh set of linebackers behind a strong front three.

Both sides off the ball will be the best unit’s Notre Dame has seen all season long.

This should be an exciting matchup to keep an eye on. I think Sam Hartman keeps the hot hand and redeems himself after falling to the Wolfpack last season at Wake Forest. Hartman threw 3 interceptions in a 30-21 loss.

I’m going to back the Irish but do plan to buy half a point to get them at -7.

The Pick: Notre Dame -7 (-126)

Texas @ Alabama (-6.5)

Is Texas back?

For the longest time, it feels like this question has been asked and the answer to that question usually revealed itself by week 3 or 4.

However, this year does feel different. They return a solid group of receivers and QB Quinn Ewers who should have a great front five to protect him throughout the year. Besides the idiotic decision by Ewers to cut that luscious mullet, things seem to be heading in the right direction for the Longhorns.

Defensively, they’ll be okay. Like Big 12 okay. When comparing the two sides of the ball, the offense will be the side carrying the boats for Texas.

Alabama comes into this season with a bit of a chip on their shoulder. Many felt that Alabama’s resume was stronger than Ohio State’s who took the last CFP slot last season. The Crimson Tide lost two games, on the road, to LSU and Tennessee. Both games went down to the wire. Both games were flat out amazing to watch as fans of the sport.

Now, why would the 2022 results matter? It proves that Alabama cannot afford a slip up in any way. A loss early to Texas would likely require Alabama to run the table in order to compete for one of the four CFP slots before the expansion to 12 teams in 2024.

The expectation for Saban’s teams is National Championships. They’re not interested in winning the Kiss Your Sister Bowl Game (well… maybe they are… never mind.)

While the expectations for Alabama are always high, there are more question marks with this team than we are accustomed to, especially on the offensive side.

When you look at the history of talent at receiver and running back for Alabama, it’s obvious why they’ve been so successful for the last decade. But Devonta Smith, Jameson Williams, and Jahmyr Gibbs aren’t walking through that door anytime soon.

Alabama will look to Jermaine Burton and JaCorey Brooks to lead the charge at receiver while they feature a more RBBC in the ground game.

The defense will feature a strong front three and some future Sunday Studs in the secondary. Anytime your defense features a guy name Kool-Aid McKinstry, you know you’re set up for success (it helps he’s a phenomenal corner who will make some NFL team very happy in the future).

This game is an amazing early season bout featuring a team desperate to take the next step as a program and a team who has been the standard for success and wants to remain that way.

“There’s an old saying in Tennessee – I know it’s in Texas, probably Tennessee – that says, fool me once, shame on – shame on you. Fool me – you can’t get fooled again.” – Socrates

For years I’ve been told that Texas is back. For years that hasn’t been the case. I won’t be fooled again. Bama wins a “We’re still Bama” statement game to get to 2-0.

The pick: Alabama -7

Wrapping Up

I’m excited about this weekend’s slate. A full day of College Football followed by week 1 of NFL football? There’s nothing better.

I will be at a wedding on Saturday, so I’ll be watching the Texas Alabama game in spurts on my phone while I work to get the stank out of these legs on the dance floor.

Let’s have another amazing weekend of College football.

Till next time,

Matty Blogs