{"id":7361,"date":"2010-08-24T11:42:09","date_gmt":"2010-08-24T16:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/?p=7361"},"modified":"2010-08-24T11:42:09","modified_gmt":"2010-08-24T16:42:09","slug":"smu-will-shock-sports-bettors-in-college-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/2010\/08\/smu-will-shock-sports-bettors-in-college-football\/","title":{"rendered":"SMU Will Shock Sports Bettors in College Football"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unlike Miss Philippines Venus Raj, ScoresOddsPicks handicapping expert Shea Matthews does not stumble when it comes to picking fantasy football rankings<\/a> and rankings or college football picks.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not one of the bigtime conferences but Conference USA has plenty to offer in terms of sports betting<\/a> value and pure entertainment in 2010. It has the country\u2019s most explosive offense and some decent parity among the second-tier teams. How will it shake out this season?<\/p>\n

HOUSTON (1 to 19)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Few teams are as fun to watch as the Houston Cougars. They led the entire NCAA Division-I in scoring and total offense last season. Case Keenum will run the show under center and will likely help Houston remain a scoring machine since he\u2019s vying for a Heisman Trophy. Houston isn\u2019t invincible, however. Its \u201cD\u201d took a major beatdown from Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl last year. In fact, it ranked 115th<\/sup> overall. So we can\u2019t assume Conference USA belongs to the Cougars in a cakewalk.<\/p>\n

CENTRAL FLORIDA (11 to 2)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Central Florida is essentially the anti-Houston. It plays absolutely stellar defense, having ranked fourth in the country against the run last year. But will a lack of a reliable quarterback hurt UCF\u2019s college football betting<\/a> chances? I think so. Brett Hodges won\u2019t be easily replaced and star halfback Brynn Harvey is out indefinitely too. Where will the points come from?<\/p>\n

TULSA (6 to 1)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tulsa won the West in 2007 and 2008 but slipped to a 5-7 record last year. Conference USA usually goes to the tougher, smashmouth teams, not the flashier groups, so Tulsa may lose out because it lacks physicality.<\/p>\n

SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI (7 to 1)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Southern Miss is a real wildcard since it returns just three offensive starters. But wide receiver DeAndre Brown Jr. is considered the conference\u2019s best NFL prospect by most and could help Southern Miss field a respectable offense. Still, I\u2019m not so sure the \u201cD\u201d will hold up.<\/p>\n

UTEP (12 to 1)<\/strong><\/p>\n

UTEP is yet another team that shows offensive potential on paper but neglects the other side of the ball. Donald Buckram could have a big year in the backfield since almost all the team\u2019s starters return around him, but these guys allowed 33.5 points per game last season. Not good enough.<\/p>\n

SMU (14 to 1)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Are the 14 to 1 odds a misprint? This sports betting blog<\/a> wonders if SMU, not Central Florida, is Houston\u2019s biggest threat this season. The Mustangs are building an intriguing offense under June \u201crun and shoot\u201d Jones and quarterback Kyle Padron seems to grasp it well. SMU dominated Nevada in the Hawaii Bowl last year; was that a sign of things to come? These guys will score and, unlike some of the other \u201csexy\u201d Conference USA teams, they\u2019re at least respectable on defense.<\/p>\n

MARSHALL (16 to 1)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Marshall is probably my favorite sleeper betting pick. It plays good enough defense for this conference and could have a sneaky-good offense with Willy Korn coming over from Clemson. Don\u2019t forget about The Herd.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s free pick<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Houston is all style, no substance. Central Florida is the opposite. I like the more balanced team breakdown (and sportsbook<\/a> value) of SMU. Go with the Mustangs<\/strong> in 2010.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unlike Miss Philippines Venus Raj, ScoresOddsPicks handicapping expert Shea Matthews does not stumble when it comes to picking fantasy football rankings and rankings or college football picks. It\u2019s not one of the bigtime conferences but Conference USA has plenty to offer in terms of sports betting value and pure entertainment in 2010. It has the … Continue reading SMU Will Shock Sports Bettors in College Football<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports_betting_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7361"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7363,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7361\/revisions\/7363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}