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Horse Racing Week 4 NCAA Football Best Bets: Saturday, September 24th
It’s time for another weekend of college football action, and our resident US sports guru Ej Garr is ready to deliver a pair of offers for Saturday. With a total and an underdog tip in mind, Ej is hoping to make up for the pair of plays that went array last weekend, and one thing he has proven he can do is to rebound with the best of them.
In this article:
- James Madison Dukes vs Appalachian State Mountaineers Preview
- James Madison Dukes vs Appalachian State Mountaineers Best Bet
- Wyoming Cowboys vs Brigham Young Cougars Preview
- Wyoming Cowboys vs Brigham Young Cougars Best Bet
James Madison Dukes vs Appalachian State Mountaineers Preview
September 24, 20:30 (UK time)
It is true, and I am still irked that both of my plays fell apart last weekend. Luckily, I rebound and bounce back as well as anyone you’ve met, and I am starting with a game from the Sun Belt Conference on Saturday and then flying out west for play #2.
I chose this game Harrisonburg, VA, because I finally get to preview a James Madison game for the first time in my life. This is the first season that the Dukes are playing at the FBS level, and if you don’t know how or why this team achieved their way here, let me help you out.
Over the last eight years, James Madison has been one of the more dominant programs at the FCS level, which is a step down from what is now the FBS. It used to be Division I and Division II back in the day, but now they are just separated by one letter instead.
The Dukes only earned one championship over the last eight years of success at the FCS level, and Head Coach Curt Cignetti is officially in year 4 with the program. All Cignetti did was get the Dukes to the semifinals of the FCS playoffs all 3 years on the sidelines, with one title game appearance as well. There may not be a title to his credit, but helping this program jump to the FBS is a monster achievement, and this team is here to play some solid football.
Cignetti took on the assignment of opening their 1st FBS schedule with West Virginia in Morgantown, and a 20 – 13 loss is certainly nothing to feel a lick of shame over. Since the opening day loss, the Dukes have outscored Middle Tennessee and Norfolk 107 – 14 and are riding a modest 2-game win streak into Boone, NC, to take on the Mountaineers.
Todd Centeio added his name to the transfer window after two seasons with Colorado State, where he made 13 starts and accumulated 3.165 passing yards. He also spent 2017 – 19 with Temple, but he wanted to spend his final senior campaign in a place where he could get solid playing time Centeio has thrown 9 TD passes and doesn’t have a blemish against him, so I would say he feels comfortable with his new squad.
Appalachian State has shone a light on a conference that has gained so much national respect over the last 20 years. Everyone knows that when the Mountaineers beat Michigan years ago that the Sun Belt Conference was starting to get mentioned more often, and now expansion has brought in the likes of James Madison and Marshall this year.
The Mountaineers pulled off another highlight win for the Sun Belt Conference this season when they went into College Station and took out Texas A&M on their field back on September 10, 17 – 14.
Nate Noel is still listed as questionable to play this weekend as he has missed the last two games for the Mountaineers. Chase Brice would much rather be able to hand him the ball, although Camerun Peoples knows how to tote a rock around. Peoples is averaging 5.3 YPC from 49 rushes that have seen him accumulate 261 rushing yards through 3 games.
James Madison Dukes vs Appalachian State Mountaineers Best Bet
Chase Brice has 9 TD passes for the Mountaineers and Todd Centeio can say the same. Between them, they will each be throwing the ball around the yard on Saturday as I expect nearly 1,000 passing yards of offense to come from this affair. Point to the points!
- Selection: Over 57.5
- Best odds: 1.89 (Pinnacle)
- Stakes: 4/10
More James Madison Dukes vs Appalachian State Mountaineers Tips
Wyoming Cowboys vs Brigham Young Cougars Preview
September 25, 03:15 (UK time)
The Wyoming Cowboys will be making the short trip down to Provo to face BYU, and the second I saw this line I knew this would be one of my offers for Saturday. That says +22.5 points, and I think the line setter might have hit his head on the way to work this week, and no one has corrected him yet.
If I am being honest, I was anticipating this line being closer to +12 or +13, so when I saw this stupid number, there was no way I was leaving it alone. Listen, I am not one to just post teams to cover a high line because I like to think my underdogs can provide a possible upset by outright winning the damn game. Yes, I just said I put underdogs on the board to hopefully find a win and not just to cover the line.
Wyoming looked so prepared last weekend against Air Force, and the Cowboys were +16.5 underdogs against the Falcons. No chance they could win that game either, right? Last I checked, when you only give up 14 points, and we are getting almost 17, it makes it easy to cover the spread. The outright win was just a bonus, but this team is playing with a ton of confidence right now, even though all three wins came at home in Laramie.
BYU isn’t going to run the ball 500 times this weekend, and I get that Wyoming struggled with Illinois when they played their first and only road game in 2022. BYU has a balanced offense with Jaren Hall running the show, so the Cowboys won’t be able to simply stack the line as they did against Air Force, which just runs the ball constantly. Hall was a 1st-Team All Indy Conference a season ago who made ten starts with a 20 – 5 TD to INT ratio while accumulating 2.583 passing yards.
Hall has thrown the ball for 827 yards through the air, and he’s added 64 yards on the ground to build on his season resume. Chase Roberts leads the team with 223 receiving yards from 15 snags, and he also has a passing TD to add some unpredictability to the offense.
The Cougars had high expectations last weekend, as they were supposed to give Oregon much more of a fight than they ended up giving them. BYU simply fell flat, and now they have more questions than answers after a 41- 20 defeat to the Ducks as 3-point dogs.
I hope that BYU overlooks a Wyoming team because they have Utah State and Notre Dame on deck, and the line setters are giving Wyoming no chance again this weekend. I remember the days when these two programs were rivals playing in the Mountain West Conference for years against each other. They haven’t met in the regular season since 2010. Wyoming was getting +10 in Provo that year and it was a 5-point game with a barking dog covering the line.
Wyoming Cowboys vs Brigham Young Cougars Best Bet
What will happen is that BYU will struggle with Wyoming at home, and the Cowboys will come close to winning this game outright. This game should reveal a 33 – 24 type of final score, so that line of +22.5 is an absolute joke, in my opinion!
- Selection: Wyoming +22.5
- Best odds: 1.91 (BWin)
- Stakes: 4/10
Odds as of 9:00 am September 22, 2022. Odds may now differ.
More Wyoming Cowboys vs Brigham Young Cougars Tips
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