Dragon's Week 5 College Football Pick

Football
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It’s crazy that we are already in week 5 of the College football season. We are in week 3 of Dragon’s college football pick and after a hot start, I have gone cold. But like any good shooter knows, the only way out is to shoot you’re way out so here I am again with a fresh lineup.

Record: 5-7

SMU+3.5 v. Memphis: The American Conference can produce great games from time to time, and this one could certainly line be in line to be one of those. Both quarterbacks taking the field are are studs that you likely have not seen. Shane Buechele is a name worth keeping an eye on. He’s already produced over 800 yards of offense. The scoreboard will be lighting up throughout the game and I like SMU to keep this one tight and likely pull the upset outright. SMU +3.5

Oklahoma -7.5 vs. Iowa St.: The Sooners blew another game to Kansas St. that’s 4 of the last 9. Oklahoma has also traditionally bounced back after those losses. It already feels like a lifetime ago that the Cyclones lost the opener to Louisiana. They bounced back with a close victory against TCU last week. Brock Purdy was an efficient going 18-23 for 211 yards. For the Sooners, Spencer Rattler has to be better if Oklahoma wants to get back on track. Against Kansas St. he was on the move often and had happy feet in the pocket, leading to 3 picks. If he can keep his wits about him while under pressure, the speed of his skill players will carry Oklahoma to the cover. Oklahoma -7.5

West Virginia +2.5 vs. Baylor: WVU did not give me my cover against a depleted Oklahoma State last week. I’m a gluten for punishment so I’m going back to the well again. Baylor has a massive win last week against Kansas, but I think it’s more fools gold. First, Kansas is not a good team. Second Baylor got a chunk of points off turnovers and special teams. You can’t depend on two TD’s from special teams every week. Because of that I like WVU to take care of business. WVU +3.5

Florida -16.5 v. South Carolina: Dan Mullin is building a powerhouse in Gainesville. Hoo fans got a taste of it in the Orange Bowl. Trask looks like he’s taken another step as a starting quarterback, last week’s stat line of 30/42 for 416 yards and 6 TD’s. The Gamecocks gave the Vols a scare last weekend in the opener, but The Gators are a much different animal. Florida -16.5

Notes on the Hoos: It’s Clemson week! That’s good for something. Last year the spread in the ACC Championship was Clemson -29. This year’s line is sitting at Clemson -28.5. And that feels about right. A lot has changed, but a lot remains the same between these two teams. Clemson is Clemson, and Virginia is still finding themselves. I’d expect them to scrap some of the tempo offense in an effort to control the clock and keep Lawrence and friends off the field. From a bettors standpoint, I think the Hoos could cover the 28 simply because this is an early season game, it’s unlikely Dabo will play his starters all four quarters if this get out of hand. In addition, without the national spotlight of a conference championship, Clemson is not playing to prove a point to the Playoff Committee. All of that plays in the Hoos favor. If Virginia wants to win, they are going to have to be far more efficient on offense. They do have what it takes to potentially make it close.

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There are rumors going around that Brennan’s roommate has COVID or something along those lines. Not sure if he has COVID but even if he’s been in contact wouldn’t he have to quarantine? If Brennan’s not able to go it will be interesting to see who the staff goes with. Lindell got mop-up duty but I would think Thompson gets the start.

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Woof… that’s not good at all. You’d hope that Brennan would have gotten out of there if there was any chance his roommate was sick and hopefully he’s tested and negative. As far as who gets the start… I think its Lindell. I feel like they know what they have in Thompson and how to deploy him, and QB is not one of those options.

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Im pretty sure the players get tested today and the results should be back sometime today. But who knows, we might not know till game time. In terms of Lindell, I would have no idea what to expect from him. I’m sure an accurate passer but not much of an athlete. I just think playing Clemson, a mobile quarterback would give us a better chance to win. Either way, it would be less than ideal but it would be interesting.

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That’s a tough tossup. Thompson is athletic and can move but his accuracy is suspect. I believe he hovered around 50% completion percentage at Miss St. and his one pass attempt last week looked horrible, with very poor mechanics. I don’t know anything about Lindell outside of what I saw of him last week, so that’s not a lot. Honestly either QB would be in trouble starting against Clemson, that’s not the type of defense you want to face in your first start. I’m worried and Brennan as it is, because he’s never faced anything like that and frankly struggled for most of last weeks game against an undermanned Duke team.

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True, There’s no right way to attack Clemson’s defense. (With either QB) Their young upfront but very talented and the secondary I would assume is very good. Whatever QB it is, we’ll need the defense to show up big time and we’ll need to get more from the WR’s and Poljan. especially Jana and Henry (who had some buzz coming out of camp) Not sure if Davis can save us like the last game. lol

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I think you just hit on the game plan right there. The defense is going to need all of those upperclassmen to show up on Saturday night. Can’t let the Clemson machine get rolling. Keeping drives alive on offense will be huge. I doubt Virginia will get the time in the pocket to wait for and create big plays, so the short and the timing routes will play a major role in finding success.

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Going to be an interesting evening of viewing in the Dragons house.

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2-2 I’ll take that! Also I have no idea what’s going on in the BIG12

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