LK’s College Football Week 2 Betting Slate

Fresno State took care of business against Georgia Southern and looks to keep the momentum going against Oregon State this week (Image via Craig Kohlruss/Fresno Bee)
By: Lucas Kochevar

My eyes are bleeding from all the football I’ve consumed this weekend. The appointment viewing of Arch being horrible, Alabama losing its fear factor and LSU making a statement in Clemson all created a week full of content for writers around the country. There are even a few underlying headlines that people aren’t talking about like Tulane being the best Group of Five team, the emergence of a couple freshman quarterbacks and a couple of big time Big 12 performances. Week two there are more guys that look to make their name and winners that need to be picked. With a 2-1 record last week, there’s a hunger for more winners on LK Sports Talk. It’s a lot more lackluster for this week’s slate, but still some juicy lines out there. 

Illinois @ Duke u49.5 

The under was the biggest winner of week one in college football as offenses struggled to get going. There could be an increase in offensive production this week, but Durham doesn’t feel like the location for it. Brett Bielema and Illinois poured it on against Western Illinois last week as they won 52-3, but they didn’t cover or hit the over. Duke’s score looks like a dominant win over Elon, but diving into it shows some late scores, 21 in the fourth quarter, helped them hit their over. The Blue Devils aren’t quite a finished product and facing a tough Illinois team doesn’t sound like the time for an offensive breakout game. This feels more like a business trip for Illinois as they’ll likely play a Big 10 style of football in a low-scoring win. 

Fresno State +3 @ Oregon State

It’s too early to follow any major trends in the college football world, but there’s something about how Oregon State played Saturday that screams at me. They faced off against Cal and their five-star freshman quarterback and took a beating. As a one-point favorite at home with an experienced transfer quarterback, they struggled to get anything going and lost. Oregon State might be in for a long year if this is the type of football they’re playing for a whole season. Meanwhile, Fresno State took care of Georgia Southern in a blowout win. They even competed with Kansas during week zero. Fading Oregon State could be a fruitful strategy this season and this is a great spot to start following that trend. 

Vanderbilt @ Virginia Tech u47.5 

It was a lucky number to get this one at 47.5 because it’s dropped two points since Wednesday because Vegas is realizing they were too generous here. The Hokies played in a big game against South Carolina last week as they lost, but the concerning part was the lack of offense from Brent Pry’s team. Kyron Drones was supposed to grow into his starting role at quarterback to lead the Hokies offense as a threatening unit, but his sporadic play doesn’t help their cause. Going up against another SEC defense won’t be an easy task. Vanderbilt’s offense also isn’t a high-flying offense that’ll run up and down the field. They love to run and teams that run the ball win games by grinding their opponents. That kind of game seems to be a likely outcome in Blacksburg on Saturday.