Congratulations to all our members on a solid cash last night with the Auburn Tigers -1.5.  The pros at FivStarPick.com are hard at work again today crunching stats, trends, key matchups and injury reports to give our members the against the spread winner of West Virginia at Marshall.  The Mountaineers  are favored by 12-points over the Marshall Thundering Herd with a total of 46.5.

Since 2006 West Virginia has gone 3-1 against the spread against Marshall, winning by margins of 32, 25, 24 and 17.

The WVU squad might not be as good as the they have been over the last few seasons, but they do still have some horses in the stable. Running back Noel Devine is the star on offense and he showed that in last week’s 31-0 stomping of Coastal Carolina with 111 yards and one touchdown.

Geno Smith is the new WVU signal caller and he completed 20-of-27 passes for 216 yards and two touchdowns. Geno Smith is no Pat White in the fact that he’s not much of a runner, carrying four times for six yards last week, but he can throw the ball down field and has the touch of a pervert.

Defensively, the Mountaineers held Coastal Carolina to 186 yards and only nine first downs. Most would expect a tougher test tonight against the Thundering Herd, but I think we can all agree that The Herd looked terrible against Ohio State last Thursday.

The Buckeyes crushed The Herd 45-7 and held Marshall to 199 yards on offense and just 11 first downs. QB Brian Anderson saw most of the action and he completed 17-of-28 passes for 135 yards and an interception. The lone touchdown for the Herd came on a blocked field goal return.

Last year, WVU went 3-3 against the spread on the road, but only 1-3 against the spread as a double digit favorite. Marshall was 2-3 against the spread at home last season.  For you total players, clear skies and temperatures in the low seventies are expected at kickoff.  Could be a great night for scoring, but we just don’t know which Marshall will show up.  The free advice for tonight is to stay away from the Total.

This game is not an easy game to handicap, but the pros at FiveStarPick.com have broken down every stat, trend, injury report and weather forcast on this game to provide our members with a winning play.  Try FiveStarPick.com today for only ($19.99) and see if our talent for picking college and pro football winners exceeds your expectations.  We are the only sports handicapping service in the business that documents our last 30 plays, then displays them on our homepage for all to see.  It’s because we have nothing to hide…we just win games against the spread.  Join our family today and start your winning streak tonight.

Rick Riley – FiveStarPick.com

The pros at FivStarPick.com have been crunching stats, trends, key matchups and injury reports to give our members another winner tonight.  The Auburn Tigers are favored by 1.5 points over the Mississippi State Bulldogs with a total of 56.5.

The Mississippi State program fell on hard times when Sylvester Croom replaced Jackie Sherrill in 2004, but the optimism in Starkville was back when Dan Mullen entered the picture in 2009.

This optimism was never more evident than when the new squad brought out over 34,000 to their spring game, a state record.  In addition, the Bulldogs crushed Memphis in their season opener, 49-7.

MSU can run the ball.  They returned four starters to an offensive line that blocked the top rushing attack in the SEC last season. The question mark for Mississippi State, however, has always been at the QB position. That question might have been answered in new QB prospects Chris Relf and Tyler Russell.  Both looked sharp as they threw the ball with ease to Wide Receivers Brandon Heavens and Chad Bumphis, both recording 100 yard games. Russell was extremely impressive completing 13-for-16 passes for 256 yards and four touchdowns.

Now enter the Auburn Tigers.  There are several story lines at play tonight.  The first is the revenge factor as the Bulldogs were bloodied 49-24 in their 2009 SEC opener at Auburn.  The other story is the drama behind new Auburn QB Cam Newton.

Cam Newton led the Blinn Buccaneers to the junior college national title in 2009 while throwing for 2,833 yards and 38 touchdowns.  Newton began his collegiate career at the University of Florida as backup to Tim Tebow, but he had a run-in with the law over a stolen laptop that caused his time at Florida to come to an end.

After his stellar JC campaign, Dan Mullen thought Newton was ready to resume his Division 1-A college career at Mississippi State, he was shocked to find out Newton chose Auburn.  So tonight Mr. Newton will face an enthusiastic Mississippi State crowd eager to show the youngster he chose the wrong school.

Newton got his Auburn career off to a fantastic start last weekend with five touchdowns and 357 yards total offense; all while setting the school record for rushing yards for a quarterback after he finished with 171 yards on 15 carries.

Having said all that, this will not be an easy game to handicap, but the pros at FiveStarPick.com have broken down every stat, trend, injury report and weather forcast on this game to provide our members with a winning play.  Try FiveStarPick.com today for only ($19.99) and see if our talent for picking college and pro football winners exceeds your expectations.  We are the only sports handicapping service in the business that documents our last 30 plays, then displays them on our homepage for all to see.  It’s because we have nothing to hide…we just win games against the spread.  Join our family today and start your winning streak tonight.

Rick Riley – FiveStarPick.com

While you degenerate gamblers are sitting on the couch today waiting for kickoff, the pros at FivStarPick.com are crunching stats, trends, key matchups and injury reports to give our members another winner tonight.  The Virginia Tech Hokies are favored by 1.5 points over the Boise State Broncos at a nuetral field and we think this line is DEAD WRONG!

The 3rd ranked Broncos (highest ever ranking) might give them an easy path to the BCS Championship Game, but the hype surrounding this game really started at the beginning of August.  Boise State was initially posted as a 2.5-point favorite with a total of 51.  However, VATech has been getting pounded by the betting public moving the line to favor the Hokies by 1.5. 

Boise State has returned 21 of 22 starters from a year ago.  Last season the Broncos posted 14-0 mark with a team that had an offense ranked 10th in the nation in total offense (450.2 YPG) and the best scoring attack in the land (42.2 PPG) in 2009.  

Bronco QB Kellen Moore was second only to Tim Tebow last year in passing efficiency (161.7 rating) as he threw for 3,536 yards and 39 touchdowns. Moreover, Moore threw just three interceptions in 2009 behind an offensive line that surrendered just five sacks in all of ’09.

Virginia Tech comes into this game off a 10-3 campaign in 2009 that ended with a 37-14 crushing of Lane Kiffin and Tennessee in the Chik-fil-A Bowl.  That win over the Vols gave VATech its sixth-straight 10-win season, all of which have come in the ACC.

The Hokies return Tyrod Taylor under center. Taylor showed promise last year with 13 passing touchdowns, but threw two interceptions in his final two starts of 2009 and got sacked 11 times in his last five games.  Darren Evans will be returning after sitting out last season with an injury, so Ryan Williams will get some help in the backfield after a “2009 Rookie of the Year” campaign that saw him gain 1,655 yards on the ground with 21 scores.

On defense, the Hokies gave up just 295.5 YPG; good enough to secure a rank of 12th nationally. However, VATech is returning just 4 starters from their 2009 defensive unit.

This game is not an easy game to handicap, but the pros at FiveStarPick.com have broken down every stat, trend, injury report and weather forcast on this game to provide our members with a winning play.  Try FiveStarPick.com today for only ($19.99) and see if our talent for picking college and pro football winners exceeds your expectations.  We are the only sports handicapping service in the business that documents our last 30 plays, then displays them on our homepage for all to see.  It’s because we have nothing to hide…we just win games against the spread.  Join our family today and start your winning streak tonight.

Rick Riley – FiveStarPick.com

The pros at FivStarPick.com are looking forward to the start of the NCAA football season and our focus tonight is on Lane Kiffin and the USC Trojans traveling across the pond to take on the Hawaii Warriors.  Las Vegas sportsbooks list USC as 21 point road favorites with a total of 54.

Dismissed just four games into his 2008 NFL campaign with the Raiders, Lane Kiffin had three months to jockey for a head-coaching job at the collegiate level. When Phil Fulmer’s got released from Tennessee, AD Mike Hamilton pulled the trigger and took a chance on Kiffin.

Kiffin brought youth, flash and excitement to the Volunteers and a package deal with recruiting guru Ed Orgeron and legendary NFL defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin.

Hamilton got the short end of that stick.  In the first few weeks, Hamilton’s brash new coach falsely accused Florida of recruiting violations, then racked up six NCAA violations himself before coaching his first game for the Volunteers.

During a 7-6 season, Kiffin tweeted positive spin about close losses to Alabama and Florida, but 14 months into his stay in Knoxville, Kiffin left for his ‘dream job’ at USC.  In his wake he left behind a slue of broken promises and an ongoing NCAA investigation.

Shortly after taking over the helm as USC’s head coach, the Tojans got hammered with the worst penalties the NCAA has dealt out since SMU in the early 80s. The Trojans can’t go to a bowl game in 2010 or 2011, and they’ve had 30 scholarships stripped away.

USC finished 2009 with a horrible 4-9 record Against The Spread, meanwhile, Hawaii went 6-6 Against The Spread.

The Trojans return five starters on each side of the ball, including sophomore quarterback Matt Barkley, who started 12 of 13 games as a true freshman. Barkley threw for 2,735 yards and 15 touchdowns, but he was intercepted 14 times.

USC’s leading rusher (RB Joe McKnight) and receiver (WR Damian Williams) are gone. Senior RB Allen Bradford will step up to take the bulk of the carries after rushing for eight TDs and averaging 5.8 yards per carry last season.

The Warriors are returing five starters on offense and seven on defense. However, a pair of starters on the offensive line will be missing Thursday night. Junior center Matagisila Lefiti is out for the first three games of the season, while junior OG Brett Leonard isn’t expected to return until early October.

Junior Bryant Moniz has been named the starting QB for the Warriors, who won four of their last five games with Moniz under center last year. The lone loss in that stretch came against a Wisconsin team that was playing extremely well down the stretch.

Moniz posted a 14/10 touchdown-to-interception ratio last year. He has his favorite target and one of the WAC’s premier wideouts back in the mix. That would be senior Greg Salas, who had 106 receptions for 1,590 yards and eight TDs in ’09. Also, senior WR Kealoha Pilares returns after hauling in 66 catches for 690 yards and four TDs last season.

Now lets talk trends…Hawaii owns a 4-4 Against The Spread record in eight home underdog situations since head coack McMackin took over for June Jones in ’08. However, the Warriors are 0-3 versus the number as double-digit home ‘dogs.  USC was 1-5 Against The Spread as a road favorite last year and has failed to cover the number in nine of its last 12 road ‘chalk’ spots.

These schools met in the 2005 season opener with the Trojans rolling to a 63-17 victory as 36-point home favorites. They have won all six meetings against the Warriors, scoring 60 points or more in their last three encounters.

This game is not an easy game to handicap, but the pros at FiveStarPick.com have broken down every stat, trend, injury report and weather forcast on this game to provide our members with a winning play.  Try FiveStarPick.com today for only ($19.99) and see if our talent for picking college and pro football winners exceeds your expectations.  We are the only sports handicapping service in the business that documents our last 30 plays, then displays them on our homepage for all to see.  It’s because we have nothing to hide…we just win games against the spread.  Join our family today and start your winning streak tonight.

Rick Riley – FiveStarPick.com

The 2010 college football season comes to a close tonight for the pros at FiveStarPick.com and I have to say that it’s a very sad day for all of us.  We have been working overtime for our members today to analyze tonight’s BCS Championship Game between the Texas Longhorns and the Alabama Crimson Tide and we look forward to another spread winner in tonight’s finale.  Las Vegas Sportsbooks list  Alabama as 4-point favorites with a total of 45. Early action on Alabama pushed the line to as high as 5.5, but the betting public has since moved the line back down to 4 as more money has come in on the Longhorns.

Alabama (13-0 SU, 8-5 Against The Spread) is coming off an emotional win in the SEC Championship game against Florida.  It was the Tide’s best performance of the season as they crushed the Gators, 32-13, at the Georgia Dome. The Tide took the cash as a 5.5-point ‘dog and money-line backers hit a winner with a plus-170 return (risk $100 to get $170).

Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram was the star of the show rushing for 113 yards and three touchdowns on 28 carries. He also had two catches totalling 76 yards, one of those a 69-yard screen pass in the second quarter.  Junior quarterback Greg McElroy came into his own as well completing 12-of-18 passes for 232 yards and a touchdown with no turnovers. 

McElroy will need to take care of the football tonight if he expects to win a National Title tonight for the Tide.  McElroy has a 17/4 TD-INT ratio and has completed 61.1 percent of his passes for 2,450 yards on the season. Ingram rushed 249 times for 1,542 yards and 15 touchdowns, averaging 6.2 yards per carry on his season. Through the air, Julio Jones is McElroy’s top target and has 42 catches for 573 yards and four touchdowns against SEC secondaries.

Texas (13-0 straight up, 5-7-1 against the spread) had its hands full against Nebraska in the Big 12 Championship Game. The Longhorns managed a 13-12 win thanks to a 46-yard field goal as time expired. The win didn’t come without drama as Colt McCoy threw an incomplete pass with the clock at double zero.  The Cornhuskers began to rush the field to celebrate the upset, when all of a sudden, a second mysteriously reappeared on the clock. That was all the Longhorns needed. Regardless, Nebraska backers easily cashed as 14 point dogs.

Texas QB Colt McCoy was not on his game that night. He connected on 20-of-36 throws for 186 yards, but threw three interceptions. On the flip side, the Longhorn defense was incredible, limiting Nebraska to 106 yards of total offense.

But we expect McCoy to be back on form tonight.  Barring the Big 12 Championship Game, McCoy has connected on 70.5 percent of his passes for 3,512 yards with a 27/12 touchdown-to-interception ratio this season.  He also has senior wide receiver Jordan Shipley as his #1 target.  Shipley has 106 receptions for 1,363 yards and 11 touchdowns. It won’t be easy for Shipley tonight as he will have to face Alabama’s Javier Arenas, who is one of the SEC premier cover corners.

Now let’s talk trends…During Mac Brown’s tenure in Austin, Texas has been an underdog 16 times and have gone 11-5 against the spread. As for Alabama, it has a 7-1 Against The Spread record in its last eight games as a single-digit favorite. The Tide has seen the ‘under’ go 5-2-1 in its last eight games, while Texas has seen the ‘over’ go 3-1 in the Longhorns’ last four.

If you are wondering who will cover the spread in the BCS Championship, try FiveStarPick.com and eliminate the guesswork. For only $19.99 you can test us out and see if our talent for winners exceeds your expectations.  We are the only sports handicapping service in the business who documents wins and losses and displays them on our homepage for all to witness.  It’s because we have nothing to hide…we just win games against the spread.  Join our family today and start your winning streak tonight.

Rick Riley – FiveStarPick.com