College Football Handicapping Articles

NCAA Football Betting: Fading the Top 25 Weekly Free Picks Week 8
by Joey House - 10/20/2023

Welcome back, folks, to Week 8 of "Fade the Top 25", where we take a look at the action in the Top 25 to find the ranked teams that are primed for a non-cover, either by a straight-up loss or perhaps laying a boatload of points and squeak by. Due to a personal emergency last week, we could not get out an article. But we're back and ready to continue our season-long battle with "The Books."

Weekly Public Action Football Betting Report with Predictions (Eighth Edition)
by Joey House - 10/19/2023

Last week, the PAR picks went 2-2. The two big spreads with Penn State and Michigan both covered. The two losses, however, were very interesting. The Fresno State vs. Utah State game had its line open at six and moved down to Fresno State minus 4.5. Fresno won by a score of 37-32. All the early money wagers on Fresno lost, but the late money on Utah State also lost. The never-ending game between oddsmakers and bettors continues, with the sportsbooks winning that contest.

College Football Free Picks: Weekly Mid-Major Report and Predictions for Coastal Carolina (Chanticleers vs. Arkansas State)
by Matt Zitt - 10/19/2023

Coastal Carolina concludes its three-game Sun Belt road trip on Saturday night as the Chanticleers will visit Arkansas State. This stretch of three consecutive conference road games is the first in the history of the program. CCU is riding in with high emotions and confidence after a huge 27-24 win over the Appalachian State Mountaineers last week. That game was played on a Tuesday, so the Chants have had extra time to prepare and rest up.

College Football Free Picks: Weekly Mid-Major Report and Predictions for James Madison Week 8
by Joey House - 10/17/2023

The Dukes officially started their "Redemption Tour" as they soundly defeated Georgia Southern, the first team to beat them last year. The 41-13 victory this past Saturday was even more dominant than the score indicates, as the score was 41-6 until the Eagles scored a meaningless touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Dukes' head coach Curt Cignetti looked to be sending some kind of message as he left his first-string offense in the entire game.

NCAA Football Predictions: Week 8 Opening Line Report and Picks
by Joey House - 10/16/2023

Welcome to the Doc's Sports NCAA Opening Line Report, where we give you an early look at the upcoming week's essential games. I will also analyze the opening line of select games that caught my attention and briefly explain my initial lean. We had a decent week, going 2-1 on our actual plays, but the "lean-to" pick with Louisville dropped the ball. Michigan covered the over themselves, and the Kansas State-Texas Tech game was the shootout I envisioned.

Weekly Public Action Football Betting Report with Predictions (Seventh Edition)
by Joey House - 10/12/2023

In my research for this week, I found an article discussing the success of the betting public, or "squares," this year in the NFL. The article revealed that through the first five weeks of the season, the public has been right roughly 63% of the time.

College Football Free Picks: Weekly Mid-Major Report and Predictions for James Madison Week 7
by Joey House - 10/11/2023

JMU had its bye last week, and they rolled into it with a perfect record of 5-0. In just their second year of competition, they have managed to start both campaigns undefeated. Eight of the last 10 programs to leap from FCS to the FBS level (not including this season's debut by Jacksonville State and Sam Houston State) reside in the Sun Belt Conference. Those eight teams combined for a 38-58 (.396) first-year record. JMU's sterling 8-3 mark was second to only Georgia Southern's 9-3 record in 2014.

College Football Free Picks: Weekly Mid-Major Report and Predictions for Coastal Carolina (Chanticleers vs. Appalachian State)
by Matt Zitt - 10/9/2023

The Appalachian State Mountaineers (3-2) and their 20th-ranked pass defense will host the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (2-3) and their 25th-ranked pass attack on Tuesday night in a Sun Belt Conference showdown. In their last game, the Chanticleers took home a loss by the Georgia Southern Eagles by a final score of 38-28. QB Grayson McCall had one of his worst games of his career, throwing four interceptions.

NCAA Football Predictions: Week 7 Opening Line Report and Picks
by Joey House - 10/9/2023

Welcome to the Doc's Sports NCAA Opening Line Report, where we give you an early look at the upcoming week's important games. I'll analyze the opening line of select games that caught my attention and briefly explore my initial lean. We're slowly turning it around, going 2-2 this weekend and losing the Boston College game by half a point, known as "the hook." The only thing I hate more than paying the vig is losing by the hook.

College Football Totals Picks Week 6: Over or Under Predictions for Saturday
by Joey House - 10/6/2023

Any week when you turn a profit is a good week. We went 3-2 last weekend, with an increase of 3.4 units. Penn State pulled a little trickery to get their final touchdown. There was no need to worry about Oklahoma's opponent scoring. They covered the 48 points themselves (they won 50-20).

NCAA Football Betting: Fading the Top 25 Weekly Free Picks Week 6
by Joey House - 10/6/2023

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the football season passes. I've written six of these articles, and it seems like it was only yesterday when I was writing about USC vs. Nevada. We took a beating last week, going 1-4 ATS in our picks, as all of the heavy favorites (more than 19 points) we went against found ways to cover. You take your lumps, and you move on.

Weekly Public Action Football Betting Report with Predictions (Sixth Edition)
by Joey House - 10/5/2023

Welcome to the sixth week of the Public Action Report (PAR), where we identify games that feature reverse line movement and use that information to start handicapping them. PARs are a great way to continue your mid/late week gambling. They highlight when a line moves opposite, or "contrarian", to the money being wagered. This discrepancy can often be a valuable piece of information as it's usually best to fade the public's betting option whenever possible. Remember, Vegas wasn't built on winners.

NCAA Football Predictions: Week 6 Opening Line Report and Picks
by Joey House - 10/2/2023

Even though they've lost two in a row, Colorado will once again dominate the conversation as they came back from a second-half deficit of 41-14 and lost 48-41. Maybe the clockkeeper in Boulder didn't get the new rules memo about keeping time, because the Buffalos ran 90 plays and the Trojans 65 of their own. That's not including the combined 13 penalties, either.

NCAA Football Betting: Fading the Top 25 Weekly Free Picks Week 5
by Joey House - 9/29/2023

Due to technical difficulties, last week's "Fading the Top 25" went unpublished. While the picks wouldn't have been a clean sweep, we would not have suffered a loss, either, as our picks were 2-0-2. We would have won with Arkansas (+18) at No. 13 LSU (34-31 LSU win) and No. 21 Washington State (+3) vs. No. 14 Oregon State (38-35 Wash. St win) and pushed on the Rutgers (+24) at No. 2 Michigan and pushed with #6 Ohio State at #9 Notre Dame (+3).

College Football Totals Picks Week 5: Over or Under Predictions for Friday and Saturday
by Joey House - 9/29/2023

According to an article I found from an extremely reputable source, scoring through the first 5 weeks is down less than one point. The games have averaged 53.8 points per game, versus the 54.7 points per game all of last season. So, while there was some concern that the new clock rules would drastically alter scoring, that doesn't appear to be the case.

College Football Free Picks: Weekly Mid-Major Report and Predictions for Coastal Carolina (Chanticleers vs. Georgia Southern)
by Matt Zitt - 9/28/2023

The Chanticleers head into Saturday’s matchup with a 2-2 record after dropping a dud last week against Georgia State. The Chants never found their footing and trailed in the contest from the beginning of the game. Georgia State had a 17-3 lead at halftime after Coastal’s defense allowed a pair of 75-yard drives and a field goal right before the break. The Panthers were up 27-10 in the fourth quarter when their punter fumbled the snap and Abraham Temoney scooped up the loose ball and stepped two yards into the endzone to cut the deficit to 10 with seven minutes remaining in the game.

Weekly Public Action Football Betting Report with Predictions (Fifth Edition)
by Joey House - 9/28/2023

Welcome to the fifth week of the Public Action Report (PAR), where we identify games that feature reverse line movement and focus on handicapping them. PARs are a great way to continue your mid/late week gambling. They highlight when a line moves opposite, or "contrarian", to the money being wagered. This discrepancy can often be a valuable piece of information as it's usually best to fade the public's betting option whenever possible.

College Football Free Picks: Weekly Mid-Major Report and Predictions for James Madison Week 5
by Joey House - 9/27/2023

James Madison continued winning in every fashion possible, this time winning a wild 45-38 shootout at Utah State. The Dukes QB Jordan McCloud accounted for all six of the James Madison touchdowns, going 23-34 yards for 364 yards, 4 TDs, and 2 INTs, while chipping in 2 rushing TDs on 9 carries.

NCAA Football Predictions: Week 5 Opening Line Report and Picks
by Joey House - 9/25/2023

Welcome to the Doc's Sports NCAA Opening Line Report, where we give you an early look at the upcoming week's important games. I'll analyze the opening line of select games that caught my attention and give a brief analysis of my initial lean. While we didn't win every bet last weekend, we also didn't lose any either, going 2-0-1 ATS.

Weekly Public Action Football Betting Report with Predictions (Fourth Edition)
by Joey House - 9/21/2023

As I had written earlier in the Opening Line Report, for the first time since September 2006, there are six Top 25 matchups. As luck would have it, one of them qualifies for the PAR system. We will get a chance to observe this system in prime time on Saturday night. Last week's PAR picks were 2-2, splitting in both college and NFL.