College Football Odds 2015 Season Week 1 Review

Posted by Daniel Strum on Tuesday,September 8, 2015 10:27, EDT in

The arrival of September 3 meant that college football was back in swing for the enjoyment of NCAA Football betting fans. Michigan fell to Utah on college football’s first night. Baylor had a tough time dispatching SMU the next night, and Texas fell hard to Notre Dame the night after that. However, these weren’t the only games in play during Week 1. Let’s see who the big winners and losers in were.

Let’s Take A Look at the College Football Odds 2015 Season Week 1 Review

Winner #1:

South Carolina linebacker Skai Moore. We expected his team’s opener with North Carolina to be a low-scoring affair between two teams that have good defenses and strong running games. We didn’t expect Moore to have two interceptions in the end zone to preserve the Gamecocks’ 17-13 win.

Marquise Williams, the Tarheels’ quarterback, looked like he threw picks on the same play twice. It would have been nice if South Carolina had had this defensive gumption in their 2014 opener against Texas A&M. Either way, though, South Carolina looks tough in the SEC East now.

Loser #1:

Utah State. Yes, the Aggies did win their opener, but the other team was FCS opponent Southern Utah, and the final score was a tawdry 12-9. Utah State only picked up 250 yards of offense. Quarterback Chuck Keeton only averaged 3.3 yards per passing attempt. After each of the first three quarters, the scores were 6-2, 6-5 and 9-5 – all with Southern Utah in the lead. What saved the Aggies? An 88-yard punt return by receiver Andrew Rodriguez with just under 5 minutes remaining in the game.

Without that, Utah State probably would have fallen to an FCS team in Week 1. They had been projected to finish near the top of the standings in the Mountain West, but they have some work to do.

Winner #2:

Baylor quarterback Seth Russell. He did throw for 376 yards and run for 59 more, accounting for six total touchdowns in his debut as the Bears’ starting quarterback. His first pass went 42 yards down the field to Corey Coleman, demonstrating both strength and accuracy. He is more athletic than his predecessor Bryce Petty had been, which means that the Baylor offense will have a more varied personality.

Loser #2:

Stanford. Did you bet on the Cardinal to be in the College Football Playoff? It looks like that dream is already over, now that Stanford has fallen to Northwestern, losing 16-6 in Week 1. It’s worth pointing out that Northwestern has gone through a ton of difficulties the past two years. There used to be a time when Northwestern was usually seen as a dark horse possibility in the Big Ten, and this is a nice return to respectability for them. They whipped the Cardinal all over the front line, which no one had expected. Northwestern was able to run the ball up the middle and had big plays in the air too. Northwestern won all of the physical battles.

At Stanford, there is some worry about the conservative play calls from head coach David Shaw.He has failed to develop quarterback Kevin Hogan, and the physical running game that has become a Stanford calling card was absent. When the Cardinal threw the ball, accuracy was a problem – and receivers also had quite a few drops. If Stanford plans to be competitive in the Pac-12 North, they need to turn things around quickly.