Not mine but I thought a pretty interesting perspective on 2 games. Hopefully formats ok:
We had 2 teams not show up to play football in the opener in Southern Miss and MTSU. I bet against both. One of those coaches will likely be fired today and the other I believe is going through the motions.
I have a feeling Syracuse will be another one of these teams. While some teams were excited to get at it with camp at the beginning of August, the entire Syracuse team sat out in protest due to COVID. While I’m not saying they shouldn’t care about their health, this shows the mindset and attitude difference between them and other teams who were excited to get back to playing football. In any sport, and a physical one especially, your attitude determines your success.
In the off-season, they hired a DC and then he left for Mississippi State, so they had to hire another DC. They’re switching to a 3-3-5, with no spring against a top 10 offense.
A number of their players seem caught up in all the distractions and football isn’t their main priority. 2 weeks prior to the season starting a number of players still hadn’t decided if they were opting out or not. Babers was saying they need to make up their mind soon.
Here is a few quotes from players:
“Why am I playing in a country to entertain people that don’t care about our well being unless we’re on the field,”
“F— playing sports, we don’t need to distract them from sh—”
Now this only 2 players, but this energy will be mirrored by the entire team and we have evidence of that by the team sitting out at the start of camp.
“Babers declined to delve into how his players currently feel about taking the field in 2020. Only redshirt freshman defensive lineman Cooper Dawson has officially opted out, though a source previously told The Post-Standard | Syracuse.com that at least four projected contributors, including three starters, were not planning to play as of last week.”
When you have a team that is excited to play football vs a team who is focused on other things, a top 10 offense against a weak defense implementing a new defense with no spring, a mediocre offense losing 3 of their top 4 WR and bringing in a new OC with no spring, playing against what should be an improved UNC defense in year 2 who dealt with injuries, in a game with tons of plays, you have the potential for a blow-out. How players and teams deal with the chaos of this season comes down to the coaching staff and I have a feeling Babers doesn’t have this under control and is in over his head. This type of subjective opinion isn’t and might not get factored into the line.
We’ll see on Saturday. I laid UNC through -20.5. The Heels played enough close games last year. They open this season up in roll city fashion.
Back to the Army well. They get their second fade team in a row. Laid as much as Army -17 as I could.
ULM is in a tough situation. They had an 11 day break up of camp due to covid starting on Aug 20. They had to deal with the hurricane. They were prepping for Troy in their first game, but then that was cancelled, so they def weren’t prepping for Army during the early camp. Then they come back September 1st and their DC quits. They have 11 days to prepare for option, get in shape, get back in rhythm, etc. Their rush D was brutal last year, they lose their entire front 7, DE Sykes was ruled ineligible, and their top LB has opted out.. Oddly enough, they have done well vs the Georgia Southern option in the past few year, as a negative. Army offense looked sharp in the opener and ULM has zero chance of stopping them. I think Army will be a little more explosive here than they were vs MTSU as well.
ULM returns only 29% of their production on offense, losing do-it-all QB Evans. Not only that, but they lose their OC, and didn’t get a full spring and had their summer camp broken up. Not sure what their QB is going to look like, but not expecting anything great from this offense, with the lack of important practice time. Again having an 11 day break up in the middle of your camp is just brutal, along with only getting 5 days of camp in the spring makes this a tall task. I don’t expect them to muster much against this decent Army defense that was stout in their shut-out opener. Army already has 1 game under their belt, is oozing with confidence, while ULM is trying to figure things out. It also appears Army made an excellent DC hire in Woody.
Hate laying big chalk with Army, but it’s warranted here. ULM has the potential to be the worst team in the country this year. I’d play through 20.5 and I’m loaded at -17.