JIMMY THE GREEK SAYS

jimmythegreek

The opening odds start here
Charlotte +4.5 over Georgia St:
Don't look now but the 49ers (2-0) from CUSA are really making a mark for themselves in a season showing so much promise. Last week, Charlotte steamrolled Gardner Webb 38-10 at Jerry Richardson Stadium. QB Chris Reynolds (4-60 15.0 1 TD) opened the scoring with a 37 yard scoring run while ChaVon McEachern (12-74 6.2 1 TD) and Calvin Camp (7-65 9.3 1 TD) each ran for scores of 13 and one yard respectfully. Shadrick Byrd (12-48 4.0 1 TD) made it 4 scores on the ground thanks to a 5 yard scoring run in the first half as the 49ers tallied 306 overall on the ground. Reynolds (10/17 103 1 TD 2 INT) was subpar throwing the ball, but this primarily run first squad carved up the Bulldogs secondary. Gardner Webb was shut out in the second half and managed just 214 total yards overall. The defense forced a turnover and limited Webb's Bailey Fisher to 49 yard whole completing just 5/19 passes. Narii Gather (16/82 5.1 1 TD) provided the only TD for the Bulldogs with a 14 yard run, and Austin McKay added a 45 yard field goal. Meanwhile, Georgia St was pummeled last week by North Carolina 59-17 at Kenan Memorial Stadium. Sam Howell (21/29 352 3 TD) had himself quite an afternoon responsible for 5 Tar Heels TD (11-104 9.5 2 TD). Howell got the Heels on the scoreboard early in the first half with a 22 yard TD run and later added a 62 yard scoring run to put North Carolina up 45-10 at the end of the third quarter. He also found Antoine Green (3-117 1 TD) on a 57 yard scoring pass in the first quarter. He also connected with Emery Simmons (3-73 1 TD) on a 30 yard scoring connection and a 5 yard TD pass to Josh Downs (8-73 1 TD) with the game well decided in the 4th quarter. Jacolby Criswell came in for mop up duty (2/2 54 1 TD) and found Bryson Nesbit for a 47 yard scoring pass to add insult to injury. UNC outgained Georgia St 607-271 while the defense forced 3 turnovers. Cornelious Brown V ( 12/26 68 1 INT) struggled all afternoon and couldn't find the end zone. Marcus Carroll (6-19 3.2 1 TD) and Brown V(9-17 1.9 1 TD) each scored on TD runs of 4 and 2 yards respectively, but it wasn't near enough as The Tar Heels came storming back from a difficult loss at Virginia Tech in week 1.

The 49ers head on the road in week 3 to the Sun Belt to face Georgia St (0-2) at Center Parc Credit Union Stadium Saturday evening. Reynolds (29/47 427 4 TD 2 INT) took bit of a step back against Garner Webb in terms of efficiency last week. However, he is still completing 62% of his passes and thus far has been only sacked once. Charlotte does have in their arsenal a very strong ground game led by Camp (16-107 6.7 1 TD). This offense isn't very explosive, but if anything a lot more balanced in the backfield as McEachern and Reynolds have each tallied 97 yards in their first 2 games and 4 players have rushed for 5 scores thus far. The defense is off to a good start as well led by Markees Watts 14 tackles and 3 sacks. Tyler Murray and Luke Martin each have 13 tackles and the roster thus far has cashed in on 4 forced fumbles. Charlotte is especially tough against the run while their secondary hasn't really been tested although looking a bit lackadaisical in their opener against Duke, most which say is a huge victory against an ACC non conference opponent.

Georgia St thus far has suffered 2 blowout losses to Army and UNC by a combined score of 102-27. BrownV (24/46 197 2 INT) has been relatively subpar this far and has not shown the promise to lead the Panthers to accuracy let alone efficiency. They have been meager in the running game, and have one potential playmaker in the receiving core in Jamari Thrash (9-105). Darren Grainger (6-58 9.7) and Destin Coates (24-58 2.4 1 TD) share rushing co-leaders, but the disparity is in the # of carries each has been called on. The offense has not been very productive, but it is early and Brown V will get at lest one more opportunity to help get the Panthers on the left side before conference play begins. The sophomore looks to shake off the rust against a Charlotte team looking to contend for the CUSA Championship.

Will Healy, Charlotte's head coach, is hopeful that Reynolds shakes off the rust from last week and can take advantage against a Georgia St squad that is averaging more than 50 points. Charlotte has amassed 44 first downs thus far, but has also been charged with 14 penalties, something they need to look to improve on before CUSA play finally takes effect. On the other hand, there are multiple gaps for GST to improve on, and Shawn Elliot may need to in addition to clamp down on defense, possibly pull a few trick plays and take come chances. Their defense was 8th in the country last season, but Brown V needs to be more accurate in addition to scramble out of the pocket on snaps that have no potential to producing big plays downfield.
 
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jimmythegreek

The opening odds start here
Maryland -6.5 over Illinois -125:
The undefeated Terrapins (2-0) begin Big 10 play this evening at Illinois (1-2) as a Nationally televised game on FS1. Last week, meek and humble Howard were shut out 62-0 at College Park. Tua's younger brother, Taulia Tagovailoa (22/27 274 3 TD) was near perfect against the Div 1-AA Bison, who allowed 574 yards of total Terrapin offense. Tagovailoa wasted no time in getting Maryland on the board just over 3:00 into the game when he found Dontay Demus Jr (6-128 1 TD) on a 14 yard TD pass. Tavon Fleet Davis (8-66 8.3 1 TD) then added a 17 yard scoring run and Taulia wound up completing 2 more scoring passes, one to Chigoziem Okonkwo, his only catch of the day, and Rakim Jarrett (6-67 1 TD) from 36 yards to open the second half. Roman Hemby (12-45 3.8 1 TD) scored a rushing TD from a yard out to close the scoring, Peny Boone (8-31 3.9 1 TD) , a 4 yard scamper to paydirt, and Colby McDonald (3-17 5.7 1 TD) from 11 yards out. The Terrapins held the ball for 38:00, tallied 32 first downs, and the defense yielded only 146 yards. Quinton Williams completed 10/27 passes for 67 yards with one INT. Howard was also held to just 79 yards on the ground and the Terps recorded 4 sacks while forcing 2 turnovers. Meanwhile, Illinois was drilled by Virginia in an early Big 10/ACC matchup last Saturday morning at 11am 42-14. Brennan Armstrong carved up the Fighting Illini (27/36 405 5 TD 1 INT) defense as the Cavaliers generated at least one TD every quarter. Jelani Woods caught 5 passes for 122 yards including a 32 yard TD pass to open the scoring. Dontavion Wicks then caught a 28 yard TD pass (3-69 2 TD) and then a 6 yard scoring pass just before the half for a 21-7 lead. The Cavs never let up in the second half and totaled 133 yards including a Thompson 11 yard rushing TD (4-24 6.0 1 TD). Illinois lost 3 fumbles and former Rutgers QB Artur Sitkowski (24/45 221 1 TD 1 INT) continued to show similar rust to his days back east and could never get a rhythm going with the offense. The closest the Illini got was in the beginning of the 3rd quarter at 21-14 when chase Brown ran it in from 21 yards out. Brown ran it just 7 times for 41 yards (5.9) despite the team amassing 116 rushing yards and 338 overall. Virginia also turned it over 3 times but also gained 556 yards of total offense.

Tagovailoa (48/63 606 6 TD) is off to a start Tua would be proud of. The Terps are 20th in the country and in passing yards with 340 and 536 overall. Demus Jr (12-261 2 TD) and Rakim Jarrett (12-189 2 TD) are Tagovailoa's top targets and both have proved to be big playmakers especially when it comes to speed and yards after catch, outrunning opposing secondaries. Fleet Davis (26-189 7.3 1 TD) is a one-man show on the ground, and will look to continue his success leading long successful potential scoring drives. Illinois defense has allowed an average of 34 points per game and with Maryland coming out of the gate really strong, it could be another issue tonight. it was apparent last week that frustration set in after a once close game, leading to penalties which gave the backups added but unnecessary motivation for one last score as the game was already in hand, Adding insult to injury was Calvin Hart Jr who was lost for the season with a knee injury depleting the depth chart for Illinois. Maryland will look to continue their balance in the backfield as well as in the passing game to expose the Fighting Illini often.

Sitkiowski (58/102 611 6 TD 1 INT) statistically is off to a nice start but needed to be efficient last week as conference play takes shape starting tonight. Top target Isaiah Williams (19-186 1 TD) is going to have to be a huge factor this evening. Maryland's pass defense allows just 179 passing yards this season and are top 20 against the rush giving up only 57.Illinois is near the bottom in the nation tallying just 360 total yards of offense. Their main weakness is depth in the receiving core although Deuce Spann (3-109) and Daniel Barker (8-90) each have scored 2 TD. Another achilles heel is the running game or lackthereof, with Mike Epstein (25-107 4.3 1 TD) only one of 2 backs finding the end zone thus far in 3 games. The Terrapins have plenty of speed on the outside as their defense has generated 6 sacks, 3 by Sam Okuayinonu. DB Tarheeb Still has 2 sacks and a team high 11 tackles, Nick Cross has 2 of their 5 team INT. Illinois will need Bret Bielema's game plan to include taking chances with Sitkowski and his backfield needing to factor as more of a presence matching wits with Maryland to have a chance in this one.

After the impressive come from behind win, things have quickly gone south for Illinois. The intensity factor tonight will be high in Champaign. A big reason why the defense is performing so poorly is the lack of havoc not doing enough to disrupt rhythm, and that includes not being able to stop their opponents on third down. Tagovailoa has not committed a turnover all season, and has an impressive dual threat downfield that could only further embarrass opposing pass defenses. The running game needs some depth to improve, but clearly Mike Locksley likes to set up the short running game on late downand distance by primarily using the aerial attack, something Illinois is hard pressed to stop.

Best of luck however you play!

YTD 2-2 .500 -.35
 
You've got the wrong team favored in the 1st game.

Kind of funny you posted these two as I am on Georgia St -4 and Illinois +7.5 fairly big.
 
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