College Football Handicapping – Early October Bye Weeks

Evaluating Teams Schedules and Early October Bye Weeks

Here is the list of college football teams with October bye weeks during the first two weekends of October, along with their opponents before and after the bye week.  In college football, this is a real benefit to the rested and prepared team and especially playing at home, so review the schedule and the post-bye situational system that is usually quite strong.

This is another piece to add to your handicapping arsenal, but know that you still must evaluate the motivation, match-ups, injuries, statistical profiles, adjusted power ratings and betting lines before you blindly bet on these rested teams off a bye.

Note that the following teams play Saturday, Oct. 7 off a bye the previous week:

Missouri, Michigan, Purdue, Utah, Arizona, Oklahoma, TCU, West Virginia, Kansas, Virginia, Tulane, Boise State, Toledo, Western Kentucky, Old Dominion, UTSA, UAB, Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Louisiana, Idaho

2017 Bye Week Schedule – Early October

Bye	Team	Conference	Pre Bye	Post Bye	Previous Results & Notes
7-Oct	Mississippi State	SEC	at Auburn	BYU	MSU rushing for 252 YPG in Sept
7-Oct	Tennessee	SEC	Georgia	South Carolina	Last 5 yrs vs SC games have been decided by 3 pts or less
7-Oct	Indiana	Big Ten	at Penn State	Michigan (HC)	21-straight losses to Michigan
7-Oct	Rutgers	Big Ten	Ohio State	at Illinois	Blew 27-10 4th qtr lead to Illinois in 2005 in 33-30 home loss
7-Oct	UCLA	Pac 12	Colorado	at Arizona	UCLA has won 5-straight over Arizona w/4 by double-digits
7-Oct	Arizona State	Pac 12	at Stanford	Washington	ASU 3-2 in Sept allowing 36 PPG. Wash’ton 5-0 allow 11 PPG
7-Oct	Oklahoma State	Big 12	at Texas Tech	Baylor (HC)	OKL State has lost 3-str to Baylor
7-Oct	Baylor	Big 12	at Kansas	at Oklahoma State	Baylor 0-5 in Sept allowing 36 PPG & 472 YPG
7-Oct	Georgia Tech	ACC	North Carolina	at Miami (Thurs)	GT 3-1 SU and 4-0 ATS in Sept. 2-0 in ACC leads Coastal Div
7-Oct	Massachusetts	Independent	Ohio	at USF	first ever meeting with USF
7-Oct	Wyoming	MWC	Texas State	at Utah State	1-1 last 2 yrs vs Utah State with both 80+ pts scored
7-Oct	New Mexico	MWC	Air Force	at Fresno State	1-6 at Fresno State. Did not play last 2 yrs
7-Oct	North Texas	Conf USA	at So. Miss	UTSA	Lost 3 of last 4 to UTSA
7-Oct	South Alabama	Sun Belt	at Louisiana Tech	at Troy	So. Alabama 1-4 in Sept & Troy 4-1
14-Oct	Kentucky	SEC	Missouri	at Mississippi	Kentucky 4-1 in Sept best start
14-Oct	Penn State	Big Ten	at Northwestern	Michigan	Penn State 5-0 in Sept scoring 207 pts & allowing 47
14-Oct	Iowa	Big Ten	Illinois	at Northwestern	Iowa 10-2 last 12 away games after loss to MSU on Sept 30
14-Oct	Wake Forest	ACC	at Clemson	at Georgia Tech	Wake is 1-5 vs GT in Atlanta with last win in 2002
14-Oct	Virginia Tech	ACC	at Boston College	North Carolina (HC)	VT beat NC 34-3 LY in a heavy rain
14-Oct	Notre Dame	Independent	at North Carolina	USC	1-2 vs USC last 3 yrs with all three scores 63+ points
14-Oct	Cincinnati	AAC	UCF	SMU (HC)	2-0 vs SMU in AAC
14-Oct	SMU	AAC	at Houston	at Cincinnati	SMU 4-1 SU & 5-0 ATS in Sept ave 48 PPG
14-Oct	Ball State	MAC	at Akron	Central Michigan (HC)	Lost last 2 to CMU by3 points or less
14-Oct	Florida Atlantic	Conf USA	at Old Dominion	North Texas	4-straight losses to North Texas by double digits
14-Oct	Louisiana Tech	Conf USA	at UAB	So. Miss	La. Tech 3-2 in Sept allowing 16, 17, 22 pts last 3 in Sept
14-Oct	Rice	Conf USA	Army	at UTSA	Rice 1-4 in Sept & UTSA 3-0 allowing 41 total points

Article posted at osga.com.