The College Football Blog: 2012 Week 11 Betting Lines

Last Week’s Record

Biggest 10 Games (Straight Up: 6-4; Vs. Spread: 4-6)

Overall (Straight Up: 45-11; Vs. Spread: 32-24; Moneyline Upsets: 1-1)

Season Record

Biggest 10 Games (Straight Up: 63-37; Vs. Spread: 45-55)

Overall (Straight Up: 393-118; Vs. Spread: 271-239; Moneyline Upsets: 20-19)

Week 10 Review: After finishing with a losing record ATS overall for the first time in a while last week, I was relieved to have a solid record ATS this week. However, picking ATS in the biggest 10 games continues to be a thorn in my balls. I’m running out of time in that category.

Week 11 Preview: This week isn’t loaded with obviously huge matchups. But as we know, total chaos can strike when we least expect it in this sport, particularly in the month of November. Throughout the season I’ve used a mixture of important matchups and rivalries to come up with the Biggest 10 Games of each week. This week I relied heavily on rivalry games. For one thing, it’s just the time of year that a lot of rivalry games are played. But to be honest there just aren’t that many huge matchups this week. Again, however, that doesn’t mean we won’t end up seeing some huge games this week. You just never know in this sport.

There are 56 games this week spread out from Tuesday through Saturday night. For the first time in several weeks there is 1 game featuring an FCS team this week, and in the coming weeks those games will start to return, as some teams now-a-days schedule what amounts to another bye week late in the year.

A couple of notes about the betting lines this week. Ordinarily the games are listed in fairly strict chronological order in this blog. This week some of the games are out of order because I typed in the matchups without spreads on Sunday night before all of the times were straightened out on Covers.com. It seemed like a waste of time to rearrange everything when I plugged in the spreads and made the picks on Tuesday.

The other thing is that for the first time this year—and the first time I can ever remember—there is one matchup for which I have been unable to find any kind of spread at all. Because there are several games early in the week, I really can’t afford to wait for a line that may not come until very late in the week, if at all. Whenever a game is taken off the board due to the status of one or more players I’m always able to find an early line to use. That has not been the case this week.

Unfortunately, the game in question is perhaps the biggest matchup of the weekend: Kansas State at TCU. KSU has kept extremely quiet about the status of star QB Collin Klein. Even the nature of Klein’s injury is somewhat of a mystery. The consensus seems to be that Klein suffered a concussion during the 2^nd half of last Saturday’s game. He took a shot while scoring a TD in the 3^rd quarter and remained on the sideline without a helmet for the rest of the night.

I’m assuming Klein will be able to play, but since everyone is basically in the dark on this one there are simply no lines out there. And since Klein’s status was obviously in doubt right from the start there aren’t any opening lines to use. All I have to go on is the spread listed by “The Linemakers,” which is certainly a reputable source, but it may not end up being an accurate reflection of the eventual point spreads listed by Vegas and everyone else. But for our purposes, it’ll have to do.

 

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Saturday

Game 1: Oregon State (+4.5) @ Stanford   

Pick: Oregon State beats the spread

Game 2: Northwestern (+11) @ Michigan  

Pick: Northwestern beats the spread

Game 3: Kent State (-6.5) @ Miami (Ohio) 

Pick: Miami (Ohio) beats the spread

Game 4: Central Michigan (-2.5) @ Eastern Michigan   

Pick: Central Michigan covers

Game 5: Penn State (+7.5) @ Nebraska  

Pick: Penn State beats the spread

Game 6: Texas A&M (+14) @ Alabama  

Pick: Texas A&M beats the spread

Game 7: Kansas State (-4.5) @ TCU 

Pick: Kansas State covers

Game 8: Mississippi State (+14.5) @ LSU

Pick: Mississippi State beats the spread

Game 9: Georgia (-15) @ Auburn   

Pick: Georgia covers

Game 10: Notre Dame (-18.5) @ Boston College 

Pick: Notre Dame covers

Other Games

Tuesday 

Ball State (+6.5) @ Toledo (BSU beats the spread)

Wednesday 

Bowling Green (+3) @ Ohio (Ohio covers)

Thursday

Louisiana-Monroe (+6.5) @ Arkansas State (ULM beats the spread)

Florida State (-14) @ Virginia Tech (FSU covers) 

Friday 

Pittsburgh (-3.5) @ Connecticut (Pitt covers)

Saturday

Utah (-1.5) @ Washington (Washington pulls off the upset)

Miami (+1) @ Virginia (Miami pulls off the upset)

Western Michigan (-2.5) @ Buffalo (Buffalo pulls off the upset)

Purdue (+5) @ Iowa (Purdue beats the spread)

Arkansas (+14) @ South Carolina (Arkansas beats the spread)

Kansas (+25) @ Texas Tech (Texas Tech covers)

Wisconsin (-7) @ Indiana (Wisconsin covers)

Army (+18) @ Rutgers (Rutgers covers)

Louisville (-3) @ Syracuse (Louisville covers)

Cincinnati (-10.5) @ Temple (Temple beats the spread)

Iowa State (+10.5) @ Texas (ISU beats the spread)

Louisiana-Lafayette (+26) @ Florida (ULL beats the spread)

Missouri (+3) @ Tennessee (Tennessee covers)

Georgia Tech (+9) @ North Carolina (UNC covers)

Florida Atlantic (+16.5) @ Western Kentucky (WK covers)

Colorado (+30.5) @ Arizona (Arizona covers)

Massachusetts (+17) @ Akron (Akron covers)

Wake Forest (+9) @ North Carolina State (WF beats the spread)

Wyoming (-1.5) @ New Mexico (Wyoming covers)

Maryland (+31) @ Clemson (Clemson covers)

West Virginia (+7.5) @ Oklahoma State (Oklahoma State covers)

Baylor (+21.5) @ Oklahoma (Baylor beats the spread)

Air Force (+9.5) @ San Diego State (SD State covers)

Arizona State (+9) @ USC (ASU beats the spread)

Minnesota (-3.5) @ Illinois (Minnesota covers)

San Jose State (-22.5) @ New Mexico State (SJS covers)

Navy (PK) @ Troy (Navy covers)

Marshall (-3) @ UAB (Marshall covers)

Tulsa (-2.5) @ Houston (Tulsa covers)

South Alabama (+9.5) @ North Texas (SA beats the spread)

Louisiana Tech (-20) @ Texas State (LT covers)

Central Florida (-14) @ UTEP (UTEP beats the spread)

Southern Mississippi (+13.5) @ SMU (SMU covers)

Tulane (-1.5) @ Memphis (Tulane covers)

Vanderbilt (+3) @ Mississippi (Mississippi covers)

UNLV (-2) @ Colorado State (CSU pulls off the upset)

Boise State (-29.5) @ Hawaii (Boise State covers)

Idaho (+38) @ BYU (BYU covers)

Oregon (-28) @ California (Oregon covers)

UCLA (-14.5) @ Washington State (UCLA covers)

Fresno State (-3.5) @ Nevada (Nevada pulls off the upset)