How joyous it is to have a full week of college football games in the mirror to odd-and-end about!
* One of my favorite follows on Twitter is a writer for the Atlantic named Amanda Mull. She's not a sportswriter, but she does tweet about sports a great deal. Her latest sports-related tweet as of this writing is: "if you do not like talking about deion sanders i'm sorry but we're gonna have to keep talking about deion sanders i think."
Yes, we are. Deion Sanders is clearly a gifted coach. A rare breed. Remember, he only got the Colorado job after turning around Jackson State. I understand his name gives him a huge advantage on the recruiting trail — Jackson State was pulling in recruits way out of their lane — but I don't care. Regardless of the personnel that was brought in, to gel them into a team that goes from perhaps the worst P5 team in the country last year (only Northwestern has a counterargument) to a team that beats a national championship finalist on the road in Week 1 is simply incredible.
But I cannot staaaaaand the guy. Even among the overinflated egos of the college coaching community, he stands out. He comes across as the worst kind of TV evangelist, and did even in his early 20s. So yes, I wish we didn't have to keep talking about Deion Sanders, but we do.
Before Deion, I used to randomly kind of root for Colorado, but I can't while he's in charge. So my hope is that his success at Colorado quickly makes the job a stepping stone, and he goes on to coach in the NFL or a different school I don't mind mind rooting against.
That wish worked out perfectly with Luke Fickell, another coach I cannot stand. He parlayed his success at Cincinnati into a job at Wisconsin, a team I already dislike. Do me one more favor, God.
* Not a great week for upsets. It's been a very long time since no FBS team beat an FCS in Weeks 0 or 1, but that's where we find ourselves. I am sad.
* Isn't it crazy how we are definitely getting a playoff of Colorado, Florida State, Duke, and Cal? Who would have thought?
* How about some picks against the spread?
Kansas (-3) against Illinois. This past week, I bet against Kansas, taking Missouri State against them at +29.5. Missouri State usually acquits itself well in the toughest FCS conference, and isn't it possible the Kansas we saw last year was a mirage?
It's not a mirage. Kansas beat the Bears down in the second half 31-7 on the way to covering. I'm not making that mistake again, especially at home against an Illinois team that struggled mightily to beat Toledo last week.
Sam Houston (+14) over Air Force. Speaking of not making the same mistakes, I have bet against Air Force quite a few times over the past few years, and have won those bets somewhere in the vicinity of 0% of the time. Sam Houston was decent against BYU. They lost, but they held BYU's run attack to 3.3 yards per carry. That bodes well for the run-heaviness Air Force will bring. The Bearkats lost that BYU game by 14, the precise number of this line, and I think BYU is probably better than Air Force.
Utah (-8.5) over Baylor. Perhaps no P5 team looked worse in week 1 than Baylor, who got soundly beaten by Texas State, a squad that usually in the bottom half of their conference, the Sun Belt. This line opened at 4 and I weep that I didn't grab this line then. It's going to keep going up, get it while it's still just 8.5
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