Darian Mensah will make his first appearance in a Miami uniform on Friday.

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We had an up-and-down Week 0 on the betting trail. The day started great with the matchup between North Carolina and TCU, hitting the under with some room to spare. CJ Bailey and the Wolfpack certainly didn’t do any favors with my second bet of the week. With as much uncertainty as there is in Week 0, I think we’ll take going 1-1 to start the year.

Bet of the Week

Lets start with my favorite bet of the week. 

I’m taking the over in the Miami-Stanford matchup. Miami is coming into this season with a consensus Top 5 offense in the country, with some sites like On3 ranking them as high as one. Miami was the national runner-up last year with one of the top offenses in the nation, and all they’ve done this offseason is improve that unit. 

Darian Mensah from Duke is my pick for the Heisman and will likely be an improvement at quarterback. They return Malachi Toney and Mark Fletcher, both of whom are thought of as top guys at their position. Mensah’s top target from Duke last year, Cooper Barkate, followed him over to Miami as well. 

Stanford defense is nothing to write home about either. They had the worst passing defense in the country last year and Hawaii scored 27 points on the unit last week. I think Miami may hit the line of 47.5 on their own.

Pick: Miami Stanford over 47.5 points

Next up

Now let’s move on to a game that should be closer with Colorado and Georgia Tech. This game, to me, feels quite simple. 

Since Deion Sanders has been the coach at Colorado, it has struggled to stop the run as a defensive unit repeatedly. Georgia Tech comes into this game with a running back who was one of the top in the nation last year and was the top running back in the transfer portal. Justice Haynes can be an engine for the Yellow Jackets. This week I’m riding with Georgia Tech to cover the line of -6.5.

Pick: Georgia Tech covers -6.5 

Quick hitters

Arkansas State comes to Memphis this weekend and I find myself loving Memphis in this game. Memphis is coming off a big win where its defense showed why this team can be a legit threat in the CFP race. The Tigers will carry that momentum from Las Vegas into this week’s game and cover the 11.5-point spread.

I’ve got California covering against UCLA this weekend, as I keep finding myself coming back to how good Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele looked as a true freshman last year. He’ll continue the climb up the QB ranks and lead Cal to an outright win at home against UCLA.

I look at SMU against Florida State with confusion every time I see the spread listed at -3 for SMU. Kevin Jennings and the Mustangs will walk into Doak Campbell Stadium and show the Seminoles why they’re ranked top 20 to start the season. Lets roll with SMU -3.

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