College Football Big Games

Here are some of the bigger games for the 1st week of college football and their lines at Sportsbook.com

#8 West Virginia Mountaineers -9 (1-0) at East Carolina Pirates (1-0) 4:30 PM ET Saturday September 6, 2008 on ESPN
The Mountaineers come into this road game playing a team that could not be any more confident, as the Pirates beat then #17 Virginia Tech 27-22 after blocking a punt and returning it for a TD at the end of the game. The win was a big one and the Pirates are legit, as they also won a bowl game in 2007. The Mountaineers had an easier time in their opening game beating Villanova 48-21. West Virginia QB Pat White was stud in that game, as he had an impressive completion percentage of 75.8% throwing for 208 yards with 5 TD's and 1 INT and rushing for 63 yards. East Carolina Patrick Pinkney even had a better completion percentage at 82.6% throwing for 211 yards and 1 TD. The Mountaineers have to play better D, as they gave up 3 TD's to a lowly Villanova team. The Mountaineers can't take the Pirates lightly and their D has to play better, as this is their first big test of the season.

Miami Hurricanes (1-0) at #5 Florida Gators -21 (1-0) 8 PM ET Saturday September 6, 2008 on ESPN
Last week the Hurricanes beat Charleston Southern 52-7, while the Gators beat up on the Hawaii Rainbows 56-10. Even though Heisman winner QB Tim Tebow did not have a rushing TD for the first time in over a year, he was 9/14 for 137 yards and 1 TD and rushed for 47 yards. Miami QB Jacory Harris was 16/26 for 190 yards and 1 TD in the first start for the highly touted freshman. The Gators D has to contain Miami RB Javarris James (73 yds 1 TD), who played well in part time duty in the Hurricane thrashing. Miami only allowed 7 points in their opening game, but it is not a stretch that saying that Florida has a better offense than Charleston Southern. The Hurricanes are improved and they can let the country know it if they beat the Gators or even make it a close game.

Stanford Cardinal (1-0) at #15 Arizona State Sun Devils -14 (1-0) 10:00 PM ET, September 6, 2008
The Cardinal come into this game after beating the Oregon State Beavers 36-28, while the Sun Devils beat the Lumberjacks of Northern Arizona 30-13. The Sun Devils were not very convincing in beating a Division 1AA school, even though ASU QB Rudy Carpenter (388 yds 1 TD) played well. The Cardinal will have a tough time containing Carpenter and ASU stud WR Michael Jones, who had a huge game in the opener with 6 catches for 162 yards. The Sun Devils have to contain Stanford RB Toby Gerhart (147 yds 2 TD), who is the Cardinal main weapon. ASU has to play better than they did in their home opener, as the Cardinal are a decent team that is playing with confidence. This is also the Pac 10 opener for the Sun Devils, as the Cardinal have a leg up already in the tough conference with their opening win.