Deke's Sports Ramblings

It was a wild day in College Football with top teams notching comeback victories.  Clemson battled back with a third-string QB to defeat pesky Syracuse and Ohio State went into Happy Valley and squeaked out a victory.  Notre Dame looked very strong in a statement victory over Stanford to stay unbeaten.  We are into conference play all over the nation and the national landscape is starting to take shape.  Let's dive into some interesting numbers and take an early look at next week's matchups. AP Top 25 1. Alabama 5-0 2. Georgia 5-0 3. Ohio State 5-0 (+1) 4. Clemson 5-0 (-1) 5. LSU 5-0 6. Notre Dame 5-0 (+2) 7. Oklahoma 5-0 (-1) 8. Auburn 4-1 (+2) 9. West Virginia 4-0 (+3) 10. Washington 4-1 (+1) 11. Penn State 4-1 (-2) 12. UCF 4-0 (+1) 13. Kentucky 5-0 (+4) 14. Stanford 4-1 (-7) 15. Michigan 4-1 (-1) 16. Wisconsin 3-1 (-1) 17. Miami (FL) 4-1 (-1) 18. Oregon 4-1 (+1) 19. Texas 4-1 (-1) 20. Michigan State (+1) 21. Colorado 4-...

ND's Ian Book had a stellar game taking over the  reins at Quarterback for Brandon Wimbush. Week 5 in College Football is here and we have two top ten matchups to look forward to this week.  Week 4 went very well as the column went 3-0 with a bit of luck at Kinnick Stadium.  Iowa shot themselves in the foot en route to a Wisconsin road victory to cover the spread.  Western Michigan easily covered over Georgia State and Texas came through once again not only covering the spread, but also winning outright at home against TCU.  A perfect treble last week pushes the column's record to 5-1 on the season good for 83.3%.  While regression will naturally happen, the process stays the same, so let's dive into my top plays for the week. West Virginia @ Texas Tech (+3.5) West Virginia Heisman-hopeful QB Will Grier has been very impressive thus far.  He is averaging a modest  372.3 passing yards a game with 14 touchdowns to three interceptions....

Welcome back to the second installment of my Trusty Treble College Football picks.  Last week's column went 2-1 as Indiana and Texas covered comfortably, while our underdog in the perfect sandwich spot ULM wasn't able to get the job done.  This week, I'll give you an insight on my top three plays and hopefully we can go 2-1 (or better) again this week. 1. Wisconsin -3 @ Iowa I absolutely love this spot for the Badgers.  Last week they lost at home against BYU 24-21 in a shocker.  If you read into the box score however, they definitely outplayed the Cougars.  Wisconsin out-gained BYU by 83 yards and had six more first downs.  BYU benefited from a +1 in the turnover battle and Wisconsin missed a game tying 42 yard field goal late in the game to possibly send the game into overtime.  When Vegas released its "Game of the Year" spreads during the summer, Wisconsin was favored by 10 against the Hawkeyes and I 100% believe that's what the line wou...

Welcome to a new segment on my blog where I highlight my top three plays from my betting card for the upcoming weekend.  On Thursday, Charlotte came through as an even money underdog and cashed the moneyline to kick off the weekend.  Hurricane Florence has wrecked havoc in the Carolinas and thus my Marshall (@South Carolina) and UNC (vs. UCF) bets have been cancelled. I am not going to include my Baylor PK against Duke play in the treble as the spread has moved to Baylor -6.5, thus the value is pretty much gone.  That is definitely my favorite play of the weekend, but I'll provide you with three others that I like. 1. ULM +27 (at Texas A&M) This is purely about the situational spot for Texas A&M.  Last week they lost a hard fought matchup with #2 Clemson.  Next week, they travel to Tuscaloosa to face #1 Alabama.  This is the top sandwich spot of the year for any team.  Texas A&M will be looking ahead to the Crimson Tide and...

Baylor CB Harrison Hand and company will look to feast on a backup QB against Duke this week Welcome back to the third installment of my College Football early look.  For Week 2, I ended up winning a little over two units after some of the late games didn't swing my way.  The matchups I wrote  about ended up going 9-7 last week with Duke, Kansas, and Colorado State all winning straight up as underdogs.  I had moneyline wagers on Duke and Kansas at nice payouts.  After posting my weekly articles, I usually end up adding several plays later in the week.  If you want to see all of my plays, including other sports and NFL, download the Action Network app and follow my plays  here  (mobile-only link).   We enter Week 3 and I feel that I have a really good grasp on many of the teams going forward with a two game sample size.  Around 3:00 every Sunday, BetOnline releases lines and this week especially I wanted to get early action...

Is it time to jump back on Khalil Tate and Arizona? Welcome back to the official breakdowns of the plays I will be making (or have already locked in).  If you haven't checked out my early look into Week 2, give it a  read .  Whenever books post their lines, it is important to have a stance on where the line should be before, so you can get the value before the number is bet up or down.  In my early look article I highlighted a lot of different situations that I liked and what plays stood out from my model.  Please keep in mind that some of the spreads I have are not available anymore as I locked in several wagers on Monday. Note: All lines taken from Bovada as of 9/6 and games are listed in order of time, not confidence. Mississippi State @ Kansas State Play: Mississippi State -9.5 Current Line: Mississippi State -8.5 Mississippi State comes into this matchup as my #11 ranked team in terms of power ratings.  I am very high on Joe Moorhead's...

It was quite the roller coaster ride during Week 1 of the College Football season.  I added several late plays to my card and ended up with slightly more action than I had planned.  There are so many variables and unknowns at the start of the football season.  I adjusted my model accordingly without overreacting to some of the surprising results.  As the season progresses, I like to think I have a better grasp on each team.  I ended up winning 0.83 units after all of the action I had in what could have been a much more profitable day.  My model went 72-12 straight up and an even 40-40-1 against the spread.  I am expecting more accurate spread results this week as we have some more data to work with and less unknowns. Going forward, I am going to provide the spread information from Vegas and my model for the following week's slate of games usually by Monday or Tuesday.  I will be including only FBS matchups for my model projection as I feel t...