PIGSKIN PARADISE
YES, THE Profit is back, but there’s no need for a long song and dance to start this season. If college football finally figured out how to cut the fat, it’s only right that I follow suit.
For so many years, the country’s best teams opened with Pop Warner opponents, ensuring any early rust wouldn’t put their national title hopes in danger before Labor Day.
But this year, Alabama opens with USC. Mississippi faces Florida State. Notre Dame takes on Texas. LSU travels to Wisconsin (although to Green Bay, not Madison). Texas A&M hosts UCLA.
Schools have recognized the importance of strength of schedule as a key factor of the playoff, creating bowl matchups early enough to actually mean something. Week 1 is no longer another homecoming.
Perhaps the best game of all pits Oklahoma against Houston, the lone non-Power 5 team with a decent chance to break into the playoff. While the Sooners are a strong national championship contender, only the Cougars can see their dream die with a loss this week.
Houston returns the core of a oneloss team capable of putting 50 points on any opponent. However, playing in the AAC, the Cougars’ soft schedule makes Saturday their best shot to prove what they could do if allowed in a power conference.
Playing in its backyard, Houston (+11½) will show that opportunity is all that separates them from the country’s top teams, leaving the outcome of this shootout in doubt until the final minutes.
VANDERBILT (-4½) over South Carolina: Steve Spurrier didn’t bolt so quickly last season because things were going to get better anytime soon.
Kansas State (+14½) over STANFORD: Christian McCaffrey’s all-around brilliance will produce another unforgettable season, but the loss of Kevin Hogan at quar- terback won’t force defenses to stay quite as honest.
Boston College (+3) over Georgia Tech: No amount of Guinness would make this worth watching. But, if you’re up early or in Dublin, Ireland, you’ll catch one of the few defenses equipped to stop the Yellow Jackets’ triple-option attack. Last year, BC ranked second in the nation in run defense.
Bowling Green (+28) over OHIO STATE: With no quarterback controversy this season, J.T. Barrett will earn an invitation to the Heisman Trophy ceremony, but Urban Meyer won’t leave him in long enough to embarrass the school where he started his legendary career.
Hawaii (+40) over MICHIGAN: The loaded Wolverines’ defense is capable of pitching a shutout and will turn the season opener into a three-hour celebration of Jim Harbaugh. Still, Michigan only surpassed 41 points in regulation once last season.
WASHINGTON (-26½) over Rutgers: The Chris Ash era begins on the road against the 14th-ranked Huskies, who will look completely worthy of the massive hype generated by their Pac-12-best defense and a balanced offense led by quarterback Jake Browning. “We’re ready to go and just really excited to find out where we’re at as a program,” Ash recently said.
Spoiler alert: The Scarlet Knights are right where they left off — at the bottom of the Big 10.
Ucla (+3) over TEXAS A&M: The better team is getting points and Bruins quarterback Josh Rosen doesn’t think the presence of 100,000-plus A&M fans is adequate reasoning: “After about 50,000 people, it all sounds the same,” the star sophomore told reporters this week. Kyle Field will only be louder now, but Rosen will remain unfazed.
Wisconsin (+10) over Lsu: Leonard Fournette is the most talented player in the country, but quarterback Brandon Harris remains too unreliable to lay double-digit points in a road game against a legitimate power-conference opponent.
North Carolina (+2½) over Georgia: Mark Richt averaged nearly 10 wins per season over the past 15 years at Georgia. Now, Kirby Smart will quickly learn how hard life is without Nick Saban.
Alabama (-11½) over Usc: The title defense begins at a site (Arlington, Texas) where the Crimson Tide won two games last season against ranked teams by an average of 28 points. Whatever lead Alabama amasses won’t be enough for offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin, who will be out for blood against the school that fired him on an airport tarmac.
AUBURN (+7½) over Clemson: Always stay away from the play backed by 75 percent of the public, even if they’re backing Deshaun Watson.
Arizona (-1) over Byu: Playing in their home state tilts the scales in an evenly matched, high-scoring duel between Wildcats quarterback Anu Solomon and Cougars quarterback Taysom Hill.
Notre Dame (-3½) over TEXAS: The location has changed from the Fighting Irish’s 38-3 seasonopening win over the Longhorns last year, but not enough else has to stop Charlie Strong from heading towards the early season hot seat.
Ole Miss (+4) over Florida State: The Seminoles will win, and may end up repeating the result in every game this season, but a talented SEC foe with an experienced quarterback isn’t the ideal matchup for redshirt freshman Deondre Francois’s first start under center.
BEST BETS: Houston, Bowling Green, Wisconsin
2014-15 RECORD: 262-245-6