Week 2 of the 2022 faculty soccer season was fraught with unseemly upsets, as can usually occur initially of a brand new yr. Will extra High 10 groups fall this week?
School soccer, Week 2. Historically, it’s chaos. It’s the weekend of David and Goliath, Buster Douglas and Mike Tyson, and Workforce USA vs Russia wrapped up in a single superb Saturday.
2022 was no exception. High 10 powerhouses Notre Dame, Texas A&M, and Baylor all had been toppled. Kentucky beat Florida for the third time in 5 years after three a long time of futility. Wisconsin was dismissed by Washington State, Georgia Southern managed to get Scott Frost fired at Nebraska, and No. 1 Alabama (now No. 2) was pushed to the brink by an unranked Texas workforce.
The Sun Belt Conference gave notice that they ain’t skeered’a nobody, (when will Energy-5 groups be taught to not schedule Applachian State early within the season?) and the SEC struggled to win a few of their out-of-conference video games.
Chaos, certainly.
As for my picks? Effectively, these had been a bit chaotic too.
Upset: I picked Pitt +6.5 in opposition to Tennessee. The Vols netted a 7-point victory in extra time. Rattling you, dumb faculty OT guidelines.
Lock: I took Mississippi State -11.5 over Arizona, and the Bulldogs rolled to a 22-point victory. I additionally predicted the over at 59.5, which fell just a few factors quick. A lot for additional credit score.
1-1 on the picks final week, taking a look at 3-1 on the season to this point. The recommendation to keep away from UK vs UF turned out to be worthwhile, as that recreation didn’t go in any respect as most thought, with Kentucky strolling out of Gainesville with a 10-point win.
Listed here are my picks for Week 3 with odds by way of FanDuel Sportsbook.
Matchup
Troy Trojans
1-1
Appalachian State Mountaineers
1-1
Saturday, Sept.17
3:30 PM ET
School Soccer Week 3 Upset Choose: Troy Trojans vs Appalachian State Mountaineers
ESPN School GameDay is coming to Boone, North Carolina, and your complete city is abuzz following App State’s enormous highway upset of then-No. 8 Texas A&M. Proper now, the mighty Mountaineers are feeling 7-foot tall and bulletproof, however be careful for Troy.
If there’s one other Group of 5 workforce who likes to play early-season spoiler as a lot as Appalachian State, it’s Troy, and the Trojans would love nothing greater than to destroy the get together in what’s now an enormous early-season in-conference recreation.
The road is App State by 12.5 proper now, and whereas it’s possible that Mountaineers do prevail on this recreation, it ought to find yourself being a good recreation. This can be gut-check time for each groups, and the primary one to blink will head dwelling with an enormous fats L.
Choose: Troy performs protection higher and App State is stronger on offense. Often, these immovable object-irresistible power video games find yourself in a game-winning FG to determine it so take Troy and the 12.5 factors.
BONUS UPSET PICK: Iowa is favored by 23.5 over Nevada. It is a Hawkeyes workforce who has solely scored 14 factors your complete season in opposition to South Dakota State and Iowa State. The Wolfpack could not win this recreation, however you may wager will probably be nearer than 23.5 factors.
Many groups start convention play this week, which implies locks are going to be harder to foretell in lots of instances. Right here’s one I feel you may take to the financial institution.
Matchup
Georgia Bulldogs
1-1
South Carolina Gamecocks
1-1
Saturday, Sept. 17
12:00 PM ET
School Soccer Week 3 Lock: Georgia Bulldogs vs South Carolina Gamecocks
In the event you’re considering 24.5 factors is simply too many to offer for the opening week of convention play and the Bulldogs’ first recreation of the season exterior the Georgia borders, assume once more.
The Bulldogs reportedly didn’t observe effectively the week earlier than the Samford recreation, and a number of the performances within the recreation had been lower than what Kirby Sensible had hoped for.
Or had been they?
Sensible is a grasp of phantasm and manipulation with regards to how he talks about is workforce publicly. Georgia was working essentially the most vanilla of vanilla playbooks in opposition to Samford and Sensible was primarily involved with getting reps for most of the backups whereas protecting the starters wholesome.
They had been in a position to just do that and nonetheless handle a 33-point shutout. Not many packages have that form of magic.
Georgia went 8-5 ATS final season with a 1-1 mark to this point this yr. South Carolina regarded sloppy and unprepared in opposition to a rugged however nonetheless creating Arkansas. Georgia is on one other degree, and will eviscerate the Gamecocks.
Choose: Georgia by 31, with at the least a two-touchdown lead at halftime
As talked about earlier, with convention play starting there can be a variety of groups who we don’t actually know who they’re or what they’ll actually do. Two of them are assembly in Louisville on Friday evening.
Matchup
Florida State Seminoles
2-0
Louisville Cardinals
1-1
Friday, Sept. 10=6
7:00 PM ET
School Soccer Week 3 Unhealthy Guess: Florida State Seminoles vs Louisville Cardinals
Florida State has followers believing once more, which is precisely why I’d keep away from this recreation. On paper, the Seminoles are clearly the higher workforce, and the way in which the ‘Noles have performed of their first two video games it’s onerous to not assume they’ve obtained a superb factor going.
However…Friday evening, after every week off, on the highway, in opposition to a Louisville workforce who used to thrive on Friday evening prime-time video games.
No thanks.
Throw into that blend the truth that FSU was 6-7 ATS final yr and Louisville was 6-6, and it’s clear that this isn’t a recreation bettors will need to have on their slips.
Choose: We need to imagine within the Seminoles, however one thing has me smelling potential upset right here. Choose’em, Dano.
The Strangest Factor We Noticed in School Soccer Week 2
In every week stuffed with unusual issues together with a rash of upsets and a serious program firing their head coach after simply two video games, there could have been nothing stranger than the roughing-the-passer-targeting-safety-intentional grounding play that turned out to be not one of the above, and possibly saved Alabama’s pores and skin in opposition to the Longhorns.
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