College Football Week 1: Minnesota vs Middle Tennessee State
Thursday night will start the week 1 schedule with Middle Tennessee St will host Minnesota on ESPNU with kick-off set for 7:35pm EST
. Online sportsbooks have opened with Minnesota as 1.5-point favorites in college football week 1 picks with an over/under total of 48.5. The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders are one of the favorites at sportsbooks in college football betting odds to win the Sun Belt Conference and are coming off a 10-3 season in which they won the New Orleans Bowl over Southern Miss 42-32. The Blue Raiders have 8 starters back on offense and 6 on defense. Leading the offensive returnees is senior QB Dwight Dasher who led the MTSU attack in rushing with 1,391 yards and 13 TD's along with 2,789 yards passing with 23 TD's to earn 2nd Team Sun Belt Conference honors.
Also back heading into college football odds for week 1 will be junior DD Kyles who was 2nd in rushing on the team last year with 879 yards and a 6.2 YPC average. The Blue Raiders seem to be a certainty to improve upon their 32 points per game of 2009. Randall McCray arrived from Wisconsin to coordinate the defense that allowed 24 PPG in 2009. Middle has gone 6-3 against the spread in college football odds as a home favorite since 2007 and 10-4 against the spread in Vegas odds for non conference action during that same time span.
The Minnesota Golden Gophers are coming off a 6-7 season that ended with an Insight Bowl loss to Iowa State. Tim Brewster enters his 4th year on the job with one of the hottest seats in the Big Ten and with just 2 starters back on a defense that allowed 24 PPG last year. The Gophers will have to try and outscore opponents and are led by senior QB Adam Weber who was inconsistent last year with a 13/15 TD/INT ratio. The Gophers look thin and have gone just 3-8 against the spread in non conference action with Brewster.
College Football Week 1: Minnesota vs Middle Tennessee State