#HLSBets CFB Week 1 Recap, Rundown, Top 25 and More!
Intro - Rundown
Welcome back to #HLSBets on HLS Entertainment! We have an exciting weekend of college football to discuss! I want to dive straight into the rundown of games so go ahead and make sure to follow me on Twitter @HaroldLStokes so you do not miss out on the #HLSBets public sheets and you can DM me there for more info on joining the Bonus Sheet list so you get even more games and full breakdowns of them.
Our weekend kicked off early on Thursday with Oklahoma State entirely forgetting how to play defense in a game they should have won much easier, 58-44 over Central Michigan. West Virginia @ Pitt was a fun game where both Slovis and Jt Daniels proved they are still good QBs, JT just getting the shorter end of the stick of the weapons around him. Pitt won 38-31. Still on Thursday night Wake and Tennessee demolished their opponents VMI and Ball State 44-10 and 59-10 respectively. How good is Purdue? Or is the real question how bad is Penn State? Just another embarrassing game for the Nittany lions as they barely escape 35-31. We move on to Friday where Michigan State didn't blow them out of the water but they were well in control of WMU as they win 35-13. Kansas only has to it 3 wins to beat their 2.5 win total this season and they mark one off in s strong 56-10 victory over TNTC. Look at me in the eyes and try to tell me you know what school that is.
We move on to Saturday where we had just a giant slate of games, man I missed college football. Alabama handled Utah St 55-0 led by Heisman trophy winner Bryce Young showing off his legs for the first time leading the team in rushing. Notre Dame traveled to Ohio State for what most people thought was going to be a beat down, but Marcus Freeman's squad played hard and held what some thought an unstoppable offense in check. Ohio State won 21-10. We might all be in trouble when it comes to this next one. Georgia reloaded, Oregon led by Auburn transfer Bo Nix just had nothing for the Bulldogs. Georgia 49-3. Stetson Bennett might play himself into the Heisman race. Weather delays slowed down Texas A&M in their 31-0 victory over Sam Houston.
Anthony Richardson, welcome to the limelight. Richardson was a one man show carrying this Florida team up and down the field to upset Utah 29-26 in the Swamp. Michigan took care of business at home stomping Colorado St 51-7. Oklahoma looked great and earned themselves a spot as a team we should all keep an eye on as they beat UTEP 45-13. Keep an eye also on Reggie Grimes #14. Baylor stepped right into the role of the good team beating up on the bad team beating down Albany 69-10. NC State fell right into the trap a few predicted and came SO close to losing on the road to ECU. If it were not for some COSTLY mistakes by ECU NC State does not win this game 21-20.
Miami and USC both lit up the scoreboards demolishing their opponents Bethune and Rice 70-13 and 66-14. Braelon Allen caught everyone's eye with his 96-yard TD as Wisconsin beat Illinois State 38-10. In a surprisingly great game Cincy really impressed with their reloading as they hung around fighting but Arkansas won in the end 31-24. Will Levis put up some yards but did not really impress with Kentucky's 37-13 win over Miami Ohio. Houston survives a nailbiter triple overtime with UTSA 37-35. Rutgers traveled to Boston College to upset then 22-21. In my favorite game of the weekend UNC barely escaped their trip to App State in just an incredible drunk game where to START the 4th the score was 41-21 and ended 63-61.
Welcome to the big leagues James Madison, but you've been ready for this they walk away with the W over MTSU 44-7. I feel bad for Mississippi State fans who were on the edge of their seats ready to stomp Memphis after last year but were delayed over and over until the game finally concluded State won 49-23. Neither Spencer Rattler nor Quinn Ewers really went out there and impressed but both won their games and have to really step-up next week. South Carolina beat Georgia State 35-14, Texas beat Louisiana Monroe 52-10. The weekend stretched on with two ugly games that had some exciting moments. Sunday, we got the UGLY game between Florida State and LSU, where FSU blocking LSU's extra point ruined their 99-yard drive to tie the game up. FSU won 24-23. Clemson needs to hold open tryouts for Right Tackle. Their offense was not THAT bad, but DJ Uiagalelei was under pressure from the right CONSTANTLY. Either Georgia Tech has an incredible defensive line, or this OL has a long way to go. Clemson won 41-10. On to the new Top 25!
#HLSBets Week 1 Top 25
1. Georgia W 49-3 over Oregon (LW3)
2. Alabama W 55-0 over Utah State (LW1)
3. Ohio State W 21-10 over Notre Dame (LW2)
4. Clemson W 41-10 over Georgia Tech (LW4)
5. Michigan W 51-7 over Colorado (LW5)
6. Texas A&M W 31-0 over Sam Houston (LW7)
7. Oklahoma W 45-13 over UTEP (LW9)
8. Michigan State W 35-13 over Western Michigan (LW11)
9. NC State W 21-20 over ECU (LW8)
10. Notre Dame L 10-21 to Ohio State (LW12)
11. Florida W 29-26 over Utah (LWNR)
12. BYU W 50-21 over South Florida (LW14)
13. Utah L 26-29 to Florida (LW6)
14. Arkansas W 31-24 over Cincinnati (LW13)
15. Oregon L 3-49 to Georgia (LW10)
16. Oklahoma State W 58-44 over Central Michigan (LW15)
17. Miami W 70-13 over Bethune (LW16)
18. Baylor W 69-10 over Albany (LW17)
19. Texas W 52-10 over UL Monroe (LW18)
20. USC W 66-14 over Rice (LW19)
21. Tennessee W 59-10 over Ball State (LW20)
22. Wisconsin W 38-0 over Illinois St (LW21)
23. Kentucky W 37-13 over Miami Ohio (LW23)
24. Wake Forest W 44-10 over VMI (LW24)
25. Mississippi State W 49-23 over Memphis (LW25)
Fell Out: Penn State (LW22)
Bets I Should Have Won
Well, I can only hope and pray my list of grievances stay this small. This weekend #HLSBets went 20-1 on Saturday with my only loss being Ohio State failed to cover -16 against Notre Dame. They won 21-10. I am too happy to complain here on Saturday night, let's see if Sunday I get mad about the LSU vs FSU game as it is the final game on the #HLSBets Bonus Sheet.
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What a heck of a game. LSU's offense sputters but shows life late. Brian Kelly has a lot of work to do. Wish I could be more mad about it but it was a really fun game, and I went 20-3 on the weekend bringing my season total to 29-8 on the season. Let's ride.
Bets I Am Excited For
This week's BIAEF (idk why in my head it sounded like it would be read as BEEF, judge me for it I am keeping it) has to be Anthony Richardson's chance at winning the Heisman. His odds have already leaped up to +2000 and I laid a few down on that. If you watched that game you know he is a one man show doing it all. Assuming health, Richardson has a legitimate chance to pile up stats both through the air and on the ground as well as a ton of wins which will make him climb higher and higher. Could you imagine if the cocktail party gets upset?
Speaking of Georgia, their odds are moving fast and currently sit at +275 to win the CFP. So if you want to make money off their, inevitable, repeat get in now. There are plenty of obvious other choices to bet on if you want to bet the CFP champion, but I am taking a +2500 flier on USC to win the CFP because those odds are something I am happy to lay a little on just in case. Because we all know with the pairing of Williams and Addison this offense might have a punchers chance against everyone.
My last one for this week is I have seen what I need to see, App State is winning the Sun Belt and +200 is as high as that number is going to be. Taking my money now.
Heisman Frontrunners
CJ Stroud +200
Bryce Young +300
Caleb Williams +900
Will Anderson +1600
Was not some incredible game by Stroud but 223 and 2 TDs in a tight victory certainly does not hurt his Heisman campaign. BUT, his no yards on the ground might hurt him in the long term if he is going toe to toe with our next two in Young and Williams who both seem to be ready to let it loose running the ball. Bryce Young threw for 195 and FIVE TDs and then added another 100 yards and 1 TD on the ground. This puts Bryce FIRMLY in first place voting wise right now and should only climb if he has another good game against Texas this week. Caleb Williams has all the spotlight he could possibly ever need to win the Heisman being USC's QB, throwing for 249 and 2 TDs and running for 68 more yards on the ground. As long as USC is winning Caleb Williams has a legitimate shot at the Heisman. Voter bias is a very real thing, and it takes a very short glance at CFB history to see the bias USC gets. Let's see if Caleb Williams earns it.
Will Anderson had a better game than stats imply with his 5 total tackles tied second on the team and 1 tackle for a loss. I think Will Anderson has a real shot because of storylines tied to his incredible talent, but more importantly I want him to win. A defensive player winning the Heisman this year would be such a HUGE thing for CFB. Throughout CFB history only one player who primarily played defense has won the Heisman, Michigan's Charles Woodson. CFB is in a huge up turn right now between NIL, mega conferences, and CFP expansion, I think that it would be a good turn for us to start awarding more, deserving, defensive players the Heisman. There have been 85 Heisman Trophy winners, and only ONE mainly played defense. This is the change I am here for.
Sell Stock In
Utah
Arkansas
Regular Season CFB
Don't just jump ship, but Utah's undefeated playoff hopes are obviously dead. BUT they can still go 12-1 and possibly make the playoffs. They are just now much more dependent on Florida retaining success, because they (and the Pac12) will be compared to them all season long. This really was a worst-case scenario for the Pac12, if Utah ends up beating USC that could end up causing both to be argued out of a College Football Playoff berth.
Cincy deserves a ton of credit for this. I think a lot of us thought Arkansas had a chance to take their next step this year, not as some playoff attempt but a legitimate threat in the West to Alabama. This is obviously a huge week 1 overreaction, but this team showed they have a lot of work to do and they need to improve FAST. Their first half of the schedule is very tough, Cincy, South Carolina, @ Texas A&M, Alabama, @ Mississippi State and @ BYU. This schedule allows no time for rest or mistakes.
I ranted a lot on Twitter already so I will try to make my case briefly here. Expanding the CFP to 12 teams officially kills the thing that made CFB so special, the regular season. It was the only major sport in America where every single game actually mattered and had stakes, it was even ESPN's advertisement slogan for the sport. Now do not get it twisted, I am pro playoff and thought 4 was too few, but 6-8 was the answer not 12. Why is 12 so bad? 12 is too many because once you moved past 8 every single year for the past 25 that would have us with a minimum of two 2 loss teams making the playoffs. I am willing to bet that is how it would be for a very long stretch but that is just as far as I got. Who does that REALLY benefit? The Alabama/Ohio State's of the world who now can go 10-2, miss their conference championship and automatically make the playoffs every year. It no longer matters if Ole Miss or Texas A&M upsets Alabama because they will still make the playoffs even if both beat them.
Since the beginning of the CFP, at least one of the games each year was a victory by at least 17 points. That meaning that each year there is usually one very close game and the other there is a clearly better team. So in nearly a decade of its existence we have yet to have 4 close teams, and now we are expanding the field to 12? Do not believe for one second the reason they are doing this is to give more teams an opportunity to win, that is simply not the case. They are doing this because it will make them significantly more money in advertisement revenue having additional playoff games. They sacrificed what was special about college football for money.
Buy Stock In
Florida
Notre Dame
USC
Okay sorry that was a downer but that is the reason I chose to point Buy Stock In always second, I want to end on a high note. Nobody in CFB is higher right now than Anthony Richardson, Billy Napier and Florida. The hire was always smart but now even has nonbelievers buying in. Florida might have broken their Urban Meyer curse, and they have QB #15 Anthony Richardson leading them on the field and in climbing the Heisman voters ranks.
Notre Dame did an INCREDIBLE job hanging with Ohio State. Marcus Freeman should feel very happy with this squad right now as they performed above expectations. Everyone preseason was raving about how Ohio State's offense might be unstoppable this season with multiple Heisman contenders. This defense at minimum slowed them down better than anyone else can expect to do this season.
Lincoln Riley and USC had a strong start to the season beating up on Rice, as they should, and I just want to say it again now. This team will get overrated very quickly this season; we need to know right now this team has potential but don't just assume they are a playoff contender like I am sure some talking heads will try to say. This team won 4 games last year, they have to fight and earn that respect. That said, CFB is at its best when the Pac 12 is involved to make it a coast-to-coast sport on a national scale, I am rooting for this team to be great.
Outro-Games I'm Looking Forward To
Alabama @ Texas 11am Fox
South Carolina @ Arkansas 11am ESPN
Kentucky @ Florida 6pm
Baylor @ BYU 9:15pm ESPN
Mississippi State @ Arizona 10pm FS1
Those are some of my for sure watches this week as well as the #HLSBets games that will release later. It is funny how we go from an incredible week to immediately a "slower" week. Lots of cupcakes being played that everyone claims only the SEC does. I previously had put BC @ VT on this list but they both lost last week in embarassing fashion. One that didn't quite make this list is I hope USC beats Stanford by 50.
Thank you so much for reading! Be sure to follow me on Twitter @HaroldLStokes so you can see each week's free #HLSBets public sheet. You can dm me there for more information about joining the Bonus Bets sheet which includes even more games and a breakdown as to why we should bet those games. This week only RT this blog and dm me the game you are most looking forward to for a free game off this weekend's #HLSBets Bonus Sheet!
