Under the Radar College Football Bets (Saturday Night)
After a long offseason wait, the 2019-20 college football season has finally arrived with an intriguing doubleheader set for the opening Saturday night. First up, the Miami Hurricanes will clash with the state rival No. 8 Florida Gators in a matchup with major implications for both teams at the Camping World Stadium. Later that night, the Aloha Stadium in Honolulu will host a showdown between the Arizona Wildcats and Hawaii Rainbow Warriors in another intriguing matchup.
While most people are picking the sides for these games, we have two total plays for you that are flying under the radar.
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Florida Gators vs. Miami Hurricanes
The Hurricanes will have the opportunity to make an immediate splash in the first game of the Manny Diaz era. However, I’m not entirely sure who wins this game, so my pick is on the total.
In terms of the side, we have two teams that somewhat mirror each other. Both teams should field good defenses and both teams have questionable offenses due to the quarterbacks. Florida is further ahead, though, as Feleipe Franks has at least shown us something – even if he’s been inconsistent. There’s a lot of hype around his growth. I’m still skeptical but we’ll find out on Saturday.
As for Miami, they’re going with Jarren Williams at quarterback and he has no in-game experience. This position was a problem for the team last year, so it probably won’t get much worse, but it’s likely that they have trouble moving the ball in this spot.
The Gators have a deep stable of quality running backs led by Lamical Perine that they will unleash against the Hurricanes. Florida registered at least 200 rushing yards in nine different games last season. That’s likely their gameplan. Miami should employ the same. That means we should see more of a defensive struggle in this one and an under.
Pick: Under 48.5
Arizona Wildcats @ Hawaii Rainbow Warriors
Odds: Arizona -11 at PointsBet
The Rainbow Warriors are absolutely loaded on the offensive side of the football. Unfortunately for Hawaii, they also have an absolutely brutal schedule. The home side will look to overcome the first major challenge on their slate with a big win against Arizona in their opener.
The Rainbow Warriors have a deep cast of explosive weapons at wide receiver that should put up big numbers against a suspect Wildcats secondary. Kevin Sumlin has done his best to address deficiencies on that side of the football but ultimately that group still has its limitations. The question is can Arizona’s offense keep up?
Khalil Tate shouldn’t have any issues lighting up the Hawaii secondary in this one. Tate is coming off an injury-shortened season, so he will be chomping at the bit for the opportunity to redeem his self this year. He will also get a ton of help from running back J.J. Taylor, who returns after rushing for 1,434 yards last season.
This is a big number and I wouldn’t be surprised if Hawaii covers. However, for our under the radar play in this spot, I like the over. We’ve already seen the line shoot up by four points but I’m still expecting a shootout in this one, approaching 80 points.
Pick: Over 74.5
Dave Golokhov is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Dave, check out his archive and follow him @davegolokhov.