College football player prop: Best back on the attack

With new coach Deion Sanders and Colorado upsetting No. 17 TCU as three-touchdown underdogs, the preseason rankings in college football took a major hit. But if you’ve been looking for a matchup of Top 25 teams here in Week 1, the wait ends on Sunday night when No. 5 LSU and No. 8 Florida State square off in Orlando. While it will be tough to duplicate the excitement of last year’s 24-23 victory by the Seminoles, the expectations for another close game align with our top prop:

The bet: Over 68½ rushing yards for Florida State running back Trey Benson (Bally’s)

After suffering a serious knee injury at Oregon and transferring to Tallahassee prior to last season, Benson had an uncertain future. But he showed some early flashes, including a three-touchdown game against Boston College that started with a 93-yard return of the opening kickoff, and gradually climbed the depth chart.

Over the back half of last season, Benson reached 80 rushing yards in five straight games and topped the century mark in four of them. He proved extremely difficult for a single defender to bring down, forcing missed tackles at the highest rate of any recent college player and totaling 79 on the season.

Now Benson faces an LSU defense that allowed 149 rushing yards per game a year ago. It will also be without stud defensive tackle Maason Smith, who is serving a one-game suspension for receiving money from an autograph-signing event shortly before that practice was made permissible by the NCAA.

Sign us up for Benson’s over cashing.