College football has finally arrived! Memphis and UNLV take us home on Saturday night in a nationally televised game to wrap up Week 0 from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas at 10pm ET. Let’s breakdown betting the game below.
Memphis Tigers at UNLV Rebels – 10pm ET
Dan Mullen is in his second season at UNLV, following an impressive 10-4 debut in which he took the Rebels to the Mountain West Title Game — a loss at Boise State. That team returns eight starters from last season, and while they are moving on to new quarterbacks, they have experience in the room.
Jackson Arnold and Alex Orji both have experience at major programs, with Arnold playing at Auburn and Oklahoma, and Orji at Michigan. Arnold will get the start, but both quarterbacks are expected to play.
Memphis has a ton of moving parts, with Charles Huff taking over at head coach with his third program in three years — from Marshall to Southern Miss to Memphis. While I like Huff, the Tigers have a whopping 75 new players this season. Many of them have followed Huff throughout his stops, and I’m not convinced the Sun Belt talent will be up to par right away.
I lean to UNLV as the side, particularly with the spread dropping a couple points in the week leading up to the game. But my stronger play is on the total. Sharp money has come in on the under for the game, which I feel is the correct side. Again, lots of new pieces in place for the Tigers, and UNLV rotating at QB could create issues getting into a rhythm.
Rather than play the total for the game, I’m looking towards a slow start in the first half. Arnold and Orji do not exactly light it up through the air, and are prone to run the ball. Look for the Rebels to chew some clock when they have the ball, and Memphis to have some growing pains.
I’ll back the 1H UNDER 28.5 in the nightcap in Vegas.
CFB Pick: Memphis/UNLV 1H UNDER 28.5 (-118)
