August Marks the Thrill of College Football Season: Week 1 Lines

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00:00Welcome to the month of August, which means college football season begins this month.

00:05Let's bring in Bill Bender from Sporting News to go with the very latest.

00:08And Bill, all the college football teams are back officially on the field, I guess in a wink-wink, nod-nod way.

00:13We know that they've been doing stuff behind the scenes, but they're getting ready now for the beginning of the season.

00:18Week zero, just a few weeks away, and then the huge showdowns, of course, coming week one in college football.

00:23Can't wait to get into it with you.

00:24No, three weeks away from that Dublin game between Kansas State and Iowa State.

00:30I'm super excited.

00:31We've got a lot of content coming at Sporting News, and our preseason All-American team will be out next week.

00:36And I'll just give it right away right now.

00:39There are a lot of Texas and a lot of Ohio State guys on that team, and they play in week one.

00:45It's going to be a lot of fun.

00:47And it feels like the odds makers are telling us that it is a dead heat between these two teams

00:53for the number one team in the country, at least at the beginning of the season.

00:56We know things can go sideways at any time.

00:58But how about opening up between arguably the two top two or top three teams in the country

01:04with Ohio State at home taking on Texas, total 50 and a half.

01:10I mean, this is just as big as it gets to open up Labor Day weekend.

01:13It's going to be fantastic.

01:15Yeah, the last time Texas was in Columbus was 20 years ago, and you ask anybody around here

01:20where they were, and they'll know that was the game where Vince Young threw a late touchdown to Lima Swede.

01:25They won 25 to 22.

01:28Ohio State was really the only defense that held that Texas offense down that season.

01:32And, you know, the rules are reversed in a little bit.

01:35Everybody's looking forward to Arch Manning.

01:37I will say this about Texas the last two years, 25 and 5, 10 and 5 against ranked teams.

01:44They do have to rebuild the offensive line around Arch, but, man, they've got playmakers.

01:48Whether it's Ryan Wingo or C.J. Baxter or Trey Wisner, they've got plenty of guys surrounding Arch

01:55that are going to make plays.

01:57So this Texas offense should be super exciting.

02:00The schedule's a little bit tougher.

02:01They do play at your Florida Gators at Georgia at Ohio State.

02:05But, man, there's a lot of talent rolling through Austin right now.

02:09Yeah, and it could be somebody from that game ends up winning the Heisman Trophy Award,

02:13although I don't think you could ever win or lose the Heisman in one week.

02:17That's unfair because it's just so early in the season, and we tend to be prisoners of the moment.

02:21But opening up, Arch Manning is going to be the favorite to win the Heisman this season,

02:25even if this changes before week one.

02:27I could see Kate Klubnick or Nussmeyer jumping up maybe a little bit,

02:31but I think Arch is still going to be the favorite.

02:33But after week one, if Ohio State wins and Jeremiah Smith catches three touchdowns,

02:37I mean, Bill, that's going to flip.

02:41Yeah, and we had a receiver, Devontae Smith, win it in 2020.

02:44Jeremiah Smith would have to have that kind of season,

02:46where you're looking at 18 to 20 touchdowns, 1,500 yards, however many catches.

02:52Remember, he does have to share because they have a loaded receiving room

02:56with Carnell Tate, with Brandon Ennis.

02:59You know, this is the same kind of thing that Jackson Smith and Jigba

03:02and Marvin Harrison Jr. ran into.

03:04Yeah, they're super good.

03:05And Jeremiah Smith, I'd make the argument right now,

03:07he's the best player in college football.

03:09But he has to make those big plays in the Texas game, in the Michigan game,

03:13in the Penn State game, in order to win the Heisman Trophy.

03:16He is a good bet.

03:18If you don't like Arch, I mean, Craig, the hard part to me is picking an SEC quarterback.

03:23Is it Lenora Sellers?

03:24Is it Garrett Nussmeyer?

03:26Is it DJ Lagway, even though he's got the injury right now?

03:29There are a lot of talented quarterbacks that could pop up in the SEC this year.

03:33Yeah, I'm going to pick Sellers to win the Heisman this year, Bill.

03:37I think he's very much flying under the radar.

03:39I loved what I saw from him last year.

03:41Okay, so in terms of Texas, let's just hit them real quick with their win total,

03:45nine and a half among the top in all of college football this season.

03:49But the reason why, you know, somebody would say, Bill, why is it not ten and a half?

03:52You know, why is it not ten?

03:53I mean, the reason why, Bill, is because of this crazy schedule that Texas has.

03:57I mean, in the SEC and out of conference, I don't know how you could put that number on them

04:01to make the college football playoff minus 310 to win the SEC plus 280.

04:06You like any of those?

04:07Well, thinking logically, then you have to, with the nine and a half,

04:11you have to say they're getting a split against Georgia and Ohio State.

04:15And they've got to play at the road in both of those games.

04:18Georgia beat them twice last year.

04:20Ohio State beat them.

04:21So let's say they lose both of those games on the road.

04:23Do you think they're going to win the rest of them?

04:25They do play at Florida.

04:26They've got to play Oklahoma.

04:27They've got the rivalry game against Texas A&M.

04:30There aren't a lot of breaks for the Longhorns.

04:33That said, I think they're going to go at least ten and two.

04:36I do.

04:36And I think they'll have a chance to play for the SEC championship again.

04:40You know, whether or not you like Texas, which the media pool did,

04:43or Georgia, who I think actually Georgia's flying under the radar, believe it or not.

04:48I still think they have a super talented roster around Gunnar Stockton and that defense.

04:52And, you know, Kirby's been telling them all summer that nobody believes in him.

04:56He's the master of that.

04:57You know that.

04:58So I think there is some value in Georgia as well.

05:02So if that noon game isn't enough for you, you can take a break during the day, I suppose,

05:07and skip some games.

05:08But you've got to come back at night for the showdown between LSU and Clemson.

05:12That's a 7.30 p.m. Eastern game.

05:15We've already heard a little war of words about who's better and what field is better to play on

05:19and who's hot and who's not.

05:21Clemson, by the way, Bill, I will say, supposed to be better this year.

05:25I know the last couple of years have been shaky.

05:26Supposed to be a better season for them.

05:28They're three-and-a-half point favorites, total 57-and-a-half.

05:32Ton of pressure on LSU, I think, to stay in this game and win.

05:35But then again, if Clemson doesn't win, pressure's on them, too, for the rest of the year.

05:39The line surprises me a little bit.

05:41I thought it might be around, like, two-and-a-half or one-and-a-half,

05:43even though it's Clemson at home and all of those things you said are true.

05:47They have three or four first-round picks, Peter Woods, T.J. Parker, on a loaded defensive line.

05:53I think they'll win the game, but I'm leery of the fact that they lost to three SEC schools last year.

05:59LSU does have a ton of talent around Garrett Nussmeyer.

06:02They work the portal a lot.

06:03And there's more pressure, I think, on LSU, just because they haven't won an opener since 2019.

06:11And that was the national championship season.

06:13They've had some really visible season-opening losses since.

06:17So, for Clemson, I think it's a kind of put-your-foot-in-the-ground show.

06:22Who has the real Death Valley?

06:23By the way, if I'm a Clemson bookstore, I'm making a ton of Death Valley Junior T-shirts to wear to that game.

06:29And, you know, I think it's going to be a lot of fun that night.

06:32I do, too.

06:33By the way, let's skip ahead, guys, to the win total for LSU.

06:38Eight-and-a-half, I'm seeing here on the FanDuel Sportsbook.

06:41Plus 650 to win the SEC.

06:43Boy, the oddsmakers are certainly telling us that LSU, I mean, they could be good, but they're hedging their bets here a little bit.

06:50It feels like there's a chance that LSU may be not as good as they want to be this year.

06:54I think they could get the nine wins and their fan base not be happy.

06:58You know, they're used to winning nine, ten games.

07:00So, this is a big year for Brian Kelly.

07:01They can't lose four games again.

07:03Yeah, what a great bill.

07:04Great to catch up with you.

07:05We'll see you next week as we get closer to week zero.

07:07Thanks for coming on.

07:08Hey, thank you.

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