We’re back… and so are some of our favorite college football wagers, one of which returns this second week of the 2024 college football season.
Regular visitors to these parts remember how we locked on to several trends that the college football landscape presented us. And—lookie here! One of those trends is good enough to pop up now.
In one of our other games, another, under-the-radar trend involving the opponent of a former national power is back—unlike that former national power. And we always embrace electric quarterbacks who take over games—and potential Heisman voters—by their mere presence.
New users get the best offers at Caesars Sportsbook. Sign up today.
Onward.
Our Old Friendly Trend is Back
Pro tip here. Unless you want this game as background noise for your Saturday afternoon nap until better games come along, find another game to watch. Because there’s a reason the Iowa Under returns as one of your favorite wagering go-tos. And why not? The Hawkeyes have hit the Under in 11 of their last 14 games. We return to Iowa and this lovely trend to find QB Cade McNamara back from injury. The Michigan transfer threw for 251 yards and three TDs in a 40-0 beating of Illinois State last week. But while McNamara is an upgrade from the offensively inept conga line of Iowa QBs last year, don’t let that score disabuse you of the notion that Iowa is, well, Iowa. That game was 6-0 at the half. Iowa State, meanwhile, rocked everyone to sleep with a 21-3 dispatching of North Dakota behind 267 yards and two TDs from QB Rocco Becht. With this being a rivalry game, neither of these two are going to do anything, you know, interesting to wake you up.
You could take the Hawkeyes and give the 2.5 points, considering Iowa State has never beaten a ranked Iowa team at Kinnick Stadium. But how can we pass up a wager that has hit nearly 79 percent of the time—with a 50 percent ROI? And we can nap through it along the way.
Best Bet: Under-35.5 (-110 at BetMGM)
Sign up at BetMGM and receive the Best Sportsbook offers Today!
There’s an Upset App (State) for This
The last time these two met was 2015, when Clemson hammered Appalachian State 41-10. But that might as well have happened in 1915, such are the changes on the college football landscape since then. And Clemson coach Dabo Swinney hasn’t exactly embraced those changes. He remains stubbornly against using the transfer portal to bring in players—even as 50 players have exited through the portal from his program. Meanwhile, according to Athlon’s Doug Barnett, no Clemson transfer has started a game for the Tigers since 2018. The wisdom/folly (depending on your perspective) of this came home to Clemson last week, when the Tigers were poleaxed, 34-3, by Georgia. Two of Georgia’s touchdown passes went to receivers who arrived in Athens via the portal: Colbie Young (Miami) and London Humphreys (Vanderbilt).
While Clemson has covered the spread at home its last three games, this is Appalachian State, one of the greatest upset architects this century. Head coach Shaun Clark lives for games like this; under him, the Mountaineers are 9-3-1 ATS as an underdog since 2019 and 3-1-1 last year, when they were 2-0 ATS as a double-digit underdog.
Trust that trend. Clemson is a likely winner, and yes, Appalachian State will never be mentioned in the same comparative sentence as Georgia when discussing great defenses. But do you trust that sputtering offense to cover two scores here? We don’t.
Best Bet: Appalachian State +18 (-110 at Bet365)
Second Chance Bet. Make your first deposit at BetRivers and place your first sports wager with real money. If your first wager loses, receive a Bonus Bet, equal to your stake, up to a maximum of $500. Bonus Bet will be awarded within 24 Hours of your qualifying wager settling as a loss.
Jayhawk Jalon is Back
Jalon Daniels is healthy. We’ll repeat ourselves—Jalon Daniels is healthy. When last we saw the fifth-year junior against Illinois, he was throwing for 277 yards on 21-of-29 passing for two first-quarter touchdowns. That was last year, after he was voted the Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year and before Daniels suffered a season-ending back injury three games in. Under coach Lance Leipold, the Jayhawks are 9-4 with Daniels on the field—and 7-7 without him. The last time Daniels played a full season, he completed 66.1 percent of his passes for 2,014 yards and 18 TDs to only four INTs. He ran for another 425 yards and seven TDs. This immediately puts Illinois on the back foot, because the Fighting Illini don’t have the firepower to deal with the multi-talented Daniels. Now, throw in RBs Devin Neal (a career 3,189 yards, 35 TDs) and Daniel Hishaw Jr. The pair combined for 218 yards and two TDs in last year’s game.
Illinois is an improved squad under Bret Bielema, so don’t expect the Jayhawks to rack up another six-sack performance. But they are 3-4 ATS as home underdogs and once again, are staring across the line at one of the top quarterbacks in the country.
Best Bet: Kansas -5.5 (-110 at Caesars Sportsbook)
