By Jonathan Lee and Bart Lopez
There are four picks this week including two by new analyst Bart Lopez. He will join Jonathan in making expert picks all season long.
JON’S EXPERT PICKS
Wisconsin -20.5 vs. Oregon State
Every year people underestimate Mike Riley’s Beavers. His teams get better over the course of the season and are usually filled with veteran players. This is not one of the years that his team deserves the benefit of the doubt. Oregon State has been wracked by graduation losses for two consecutive seasons. This season the Beavers are playing an unprecedented number of freshmen, but will be without their best one – starting running back Malcolm Agnew – against Wisconsin. Agnew’s two replacements are also true freshmen. Add on the fact that there is a quarterback controversy between Ryan Katz and Sean Mannion (another freshman) and you have an inexperienced team in disarray. Wisconsin meanwhile looked like world beaters in Week 1. While the Badgers also showed some defensive issues, the Beavers are not equipped to exploit them. I fully expect Wisconsin to roll at home in Camp Randall.
Houston @ North Texas OVER 63.5 Points
This is a high total to take the Over, but conditions and college football betting trends are favorable for this one. North Texas opens a new home stadium, and will be pumped to play a team some consider a fringy BCS sleeper. Houston is coming off 38 points against UCLA, and more importantly saw Case Keenum healthy and firing darts all over the field. Houston should have no trouble scoring points against a weak North Texas defense, but the Mean Green might at least be able to be a bit frisky being at home to add to the Over. AccuScore's college football betting system did well Week 1 in Totals correctly picking 57 percent of games. Houston has also gone Over the betting total line in 9 of its last 12 games while AccuScore has a record of 9-2 in those games as well.
BART’S COLLEGE FOOTBALL PICKS
Utah (+9.5) at USC
The first college football pick of week two is USC failing to cover the spread at home against Utah. The hot trend for this point spread is Utah losing by less than 9.5 points and covering 57.6 percent of the time. Unfortunately for this game, history will not be of any use in making a pick. The last time these two teams faced was in the 2001 Las Vegas Bowl (Utah won 10-6). The Trojans have an impressive predicted winning percentage at 63.5 percent, but it looks like the Utes will be able to keep the game close, within a touchdown. In addition, USC has not fared against the spread while at home, with an ATS record of 1-5-1, giving Utah the edge.
Florida International at Louisville OVER 48
This pick is an AccuScore hot trend with the forecasted over percentage falling at 56.0%. Louisville quarterback Will Stein is predicted to put together a solid game, passing for 199.9 yards with two passing touchdowns and .5 rushing, with just under one interception. In addition, teammate Victor Anderson is forecasted to improve on his week one performance with 95.2 yards rushing and .5 touchdowns. With those two anchoring the offense the Cardinals are predicted to score 28.8 points against an unimpressive Panthers defense. Florida International, despite only having a 38.6 percent predicted winning percentage, is forecasted to muster up 23.8 points in the loss behind quarterback Wesley Carroll and running back Darriet Perry. The two players alone are predicted to score just under two touchdowns in the air and on the ground.
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Go to the college football expert picks for game forecasts and previews for every game of the college football season
