College football Week 2: What we learned to help us win more bets

Trouble at the Top

Alabama barely won at Texas, Notre Dame lost at home and so did Texas A&M. Florida showed they are not ready for their closeup either. All in all, there were not many instances where a top team played really well against an opponent that was able to challenge them. Georgia is going to be at the top of the rankings this week and they probably should have won by more against Samford too. The Dawgs might be the only truly elite team this year. Or Alabama and Ohio State might dominate the way they are expected to. Small sample size but it is something to keep an eye on. 

Betting takeaway ... go easy on those big numbers. If things are not cooking on both sides of the ball it is hard to beat teams by 20+ points against real competition. 

All in on Sun Belt

If you recall some past articles I was bullish on the likes of App State and Coastal Carolina. It looked like the Sun Belt was going to be a two- team race but after this past week, their conference season is going to be a true gauntlet. Marshall looks like a great addition and James Madison is stepping up to FBS with success too. There are still nonconference games you should probably keep an eye on over the next few weeks as we gear up for a very competitive conference race. 

Betting takeaway ... Don't be shy just because you don't know a ton about these teams. The markets don't either. Only 1 Sun Belt team is 0-2 ATS. 

Iowa ... Really?

For the second week in a row, the Hawkeyes mustered next to no offense. This past week they did actually get into the end zone against Iowa State but lost 10-7 (kudos to Matt Campbell for getting the W). The Iowa offense has to get better, right? The Big Ten West is not very intimidating so I still have general confidence in the win total of this team but they are making it hard and it is not like the coach is going to fire his offensive coordinator son mid-season.

Betting takeaway ... Just forget about Iowa for now. Better late to the party than too soon. 

USC & Miami...Yeah!!

I know I wrote about USC last week after they trounced Rice. Well, this week they did the same to Stanford, on the road, so we are getting a lot of proof of concept for Lincoln Riley quickly. Miami has not been as impressive but both of these programs are tracking well and showing they can be what they once were. It is so enjoyable too as it is nice to look outside the SEC. Sorry Texas A&M, we are not going to let you keep fooling us. Ignore the final score, they were dominated by App State.

Betting takeaway ... don't get shy about big numbers with the Trojans and Hurricanes, their offenses are legit and their defenses emerging. 

Matt Wiesenfeld has been handicapping games and espousing sports wisdom online for more than a decade, writing thousands of articles to help bettors understand and play the market. Matt loves to bet on, write about, and engage on MLB, the NFL, NBA, college football, and college basketball.