College Football Picks for Saturday 10/24/20

10/21/20

Hawaii at Fresno State  *OVER 66

Fresno State’s Junior QB transfer Jake Haener has limited game experience but finds a favorable spot to get the offense in gear vs Hawaii in both team’s season kickoff. Haener was brought over from Washington to throw as the Bulldogs have one of the top and deepest receiving corps in the Mountain West. Hawaii’s soft pass rush and struggles against the run should continue from last season as half of their statistical leading tacklers from 2019 did not return. On the offensive side, Hawaii finished in the Top 10 nationally in passing the last 2 years and they have a very capable group on the offensive line that returns 4 out of 5 starters from last season. Hawaii should be in run and gun mode from the start. Last year’s matchup saw a 41-38 Fresno State win. I expect many points once again.   

 

Georgia Tech at *Boston College -3.5

The BC Eagles return home after a road loss to ranked Virginia Tech. Don’t let the 40-14 loss to the Hokies give you pause laying the 3.5 points with BC this week. The game was a very competitive 17-14 in the middle of the third quarter until the wheels fell off. I expect BC to re-focus on their run defense as that was their undoing last week – along with several 2nd half turnovers on the offensive side of the ball. Georgia Tech finds itself in a somewhat tough road spot in what will be a chilly Saturday evening in Chestnut Hill. If you throw out their blowout loss on the road to Clemson last week, you go back two games when they were soundly defeated by a bad Syracuse team in New York. Georgia Tech and their freshman QB will obviously play better than they did vs Clemson, but not good enough to stay within a TD of BC. Lay the 3.5     

 

*UTEP +15 at UNC Charlotte

I like good defenses on the road catching a lot of points and this is what we have with UTEP as they visit Jerry Richardson Stadium on Saturday to take on UNC Charlotte. UTEP’s defense is superior to Charlotte’s in both yards vs the rush per game and yards vs the pass per game….and that’s even taking into account UTEP’s blowout loss to Texas who scored 59 points on the Miners in week 2.  Charlotte gets to play at home for the first time this season after drubbing a very bad North Texas defense 2 weeks ago. If Charlotte’s passing attack comes out hot – they are simply better offensively when QB Chris Reynolds is allowed to throw – the 49ers could put up some early points. However UTEP’s run defense will keep them in the game if they get behind as Charlotte coach Will Healy will play it safe and abandon the pass with a moderate lead. Take the points.

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