Coastal invited monster to party
Normally, it takes two college football programs somewhere in the neighborhood of five to 20 years to schedule a matchup of significance. But in 2020, the normal time period has been condensed to roughly 48 hours.
With Liberty unable to play due to COVID, BYU makes the trek crosscountry on short notice. Before rumors of positive tests swung Coastal Carolina to a double-digit favorite against Liberty, the line hovered around a touchdown. With this new matchup, the home team will now be getting 10 points. Quite a shift.
In terms of résumés, this is about as clean as a football game gets. Both teams are currently 9-0. BYU is 8-1 against the spread, and Coastal lags just behind at 7-1-1. While the existence of this game is unquestionably a win for the sport — a win it could certainly use considering the way postponements have become the story — the end result might say otherwise.
BYU is bigger, faster and has the advantage at quarterback. Coastal has been great, but an upset and perhaps even a cover will not come
Kramer
Texas A&M at Auburn Edwards: Auburn is undefeated in four home games with a 3-1 ATS record this season, winning those games by 13 points or more. Bo Nix is a completely different player at Jordan-Hare Stadium, where he has an 8-to-1 touch-down-to-interception ratio this year.
Auburn has won three consecutive games over the Aggies, who looked awful in a 20-7 home win over LSU last week. Jimbo Fisher’s team generated only 267 yards of total offense, and Kellen Mond, who has enjoyed an outstanding season, struggled mightily against a suspect LSU defense that gave up 48 points to Auburn.
In 10 games as a home underdog during Gus Malzahn’s tenure, Auburn has compiled a 7-3 ATS record. The underdog has won outright in four of the last six games in this rivalry.
Edwards’ recommendation: Auburn +5.5 (and a much smaller taste of Auburn +180 on the moneyline).
Missouri at Arkansas Edwards: Missouri is 3-1 straight up and 4-0 ATS at home, with its lone outright defeat at Faurot Field coming against unbeaten and top-ranked Alabama. Redshirt freshman quarterback Connor Bazelak hasn’t been intercepted at home all season, and senior running back Larry Rountree has rushed for 119, 126 and 160 yards in the Tigers’ last three home contests.
Missouri has won four games in a row over Arkansas, which saw senior RB Rakeem Boyd, a third-team All-SEC selection in 2019, opt out of the rest of the season this week. The Razorbacks had to postpone last week’s game due to a COVID outbreak, so it remains uncertain if they could be missing some players on Saturday. Whatever the case, we like Missouri laying the small number at home.