College Football Best Bets: Florida State vs. Georgia Tech
Transcript
00:05College football is just four days away. It's the Irish opener
00:10and the Dublin debut between 10th ranked Florida State and
00:14Georgia Tech in ACC affair over in Ireland to help get you set.
00:20It is almost and I mean almost we are just one week away from
00:24mouth in the south season. That is Mark Zinno technically not
00:29in the south. Although Florida State Georgia Tech and SMU hell
00:32from the southern part of the United States, but mouth in the
00:35south is the SEC expertise out of Mark Zinno, but we get you
00:40ready for college football. Nonetheless, as we are just four
00:44days away from the start of 2024 Zinno as always we appreciate
00:48the time. Thank you for being here on this Wednesday to
00:51forecast week 0 on the early line. Does this look like the
00:55face and the smile of a guy who's ready for college football
00:57to be here? Because baseball is Jeff just had enough. I grew
01:00up so ready. Oh, we're looking at football, especially after
01:03the time is going to happen. Yeah. Yeah. Listen, I was going
01:07to ask Zinno. You didn't seem all that happy in the commercial
01:10break to be joining Donnie and myself. I was wondering what
01:13the reason was. Is it because the week 0 slates a little bit
01:17lackluster or did you stay up all night last night for all
01:20four hours and five minutes and the 12 innings to see your
01:24Yankees lose? No. Well, I mean, I knew that was a fait accompli
01:28as soon as that game started and as soon as they got to the
01:30extra innings, I knew we were in trouble. So I mean, you only
01:33score three runs in nine innings, which the Yankees have
01:35done repeatedly over the last three games. Yeah, we it's it
01:39didn't feel good going into it. So part of me is actually
01:41hoping the Yankees blow it and boom gets fired because that
01:43would be the best Christmas present. I have about that.
01:46Listen, we're going Major League map with Mark Zinno up next
01:49to round out this second half hour of our two. So let's
01:53start with fun things and that's college football on the
01:56horizon. The Irish opener between 10th ranked Florida
01:59State and Georgia Tech and Zinno one of the stories
02:02entering this ACC showdown in Dublin has been the line
02:06movement. We have seen over the past week or so 13 and a half
02:11at open in favor of FSU. It's down by a full field goal. Only
02:16ten and a half points in favor of the Knowles a 10th ranked
02:19team nationally in the AP preseason poll. So what do you
02:23attribute this substantial line movement to
02:28is it Alex Atkins the offensive coordinator and offensive line
02:31coach not being able to be on the sidelines because he's
02:33serving a suspension. Is it believing in Haynes King and
02:37this Georgia Tech offense and a revamped sort of Georgia Tech
02:40look. I don't know. Is it the fact that along with the
02:45offense quarter not being there. You have a new quarterback
02:47and you're going overseas and the travel and all those things
02:50but guys the line movement here to me is is peculiar, but
02:55don't be surprised to see some buyback as we get closer to
02:58the weekend on Florida State. I'm curious to see if we hit
03:02the bottom of the market here with this number at ten and a
03:04half and it's going to start to go back in the other direction.
03:07I mean if a 10 popped up I would grab it immediately. I'm on
03:11Florida State. I'm on Florida State the whole way. I think
03:13this is playable to Florida State minus 13 and a half guys
03:17Georgia Tech last year. Okay out of a hundred and thirty
03:21college football teams. Their total defense was ranked a
03:24hundred and twentieth out of a hundred thirty total college
03:27football teams. Their run defense was ranked a hundred
03:29and twenty eighth in the nation. Now, I understand that they
03:34have hired Tyler Santucci from Duke and Duke had the best
03:37defense in the ACC last year, but you know, he didn't bring
03:40with him the players. He hasn't been able to recruit
03:44anybody. He hasn't been able to you know, bring people into to
03:47play in this defense like even if Georgia Tech's defense,
03:51let's just call it is better. Are they still one of the 3040
03:56worst defenses in the country? Yes, like I mean, are we really
04:01assuming that Florida State doesn't have the just better
04:05horses in the barn at this point in time to go out and beat him
04:08and it's Haynes King. I mean, I think Haynes King is talented.
04:11I think he's done well for Georgia Tech, but he's still a
04:13little mistake prone. I mean, there's enough here for me to
04:16go back to Seminoles. I'm not really scared by the line
04:19movement feels like a gift. It could be an overreaction and
04:22when you talk about three points from the opening line of
04:24thirteen and a half, you're probably getting some good
04:26value here on Florida State. I'm going to take it. I don't
04:28think I'll wait for a 10. It's not going to matter at that
04:30point. I'm going to need 11. Anyway, so I think the Seminoles
04:34are the right side here. I think their defensive front is
04:36still intact and still very good and I'm not worried about
04:40Georgia Tech their defense. I don't think he's going to be
04:42able to slow down the offense in their run game in the transfer
04:46from Alabama. Marcus Ben would say on a day-to-day basis. He's
04:50worried about the fragility here of the Florida State players
04:53and their coaching staff are getting hammered in the Orange
04:55Bowl last year by 60 points. I tend to set that aside here
04:59when taking a look at this game. So if we are how do you get
05:01ready for this game as a handicapper overseas two teams
05:04playing an ACC opener in Dublin? Is there any advantages
05:08or disadvantages? Because is that why people are just saying
05:11let me lean towards the points because it's overseas and
05:13technically we don't know what we're getting out of Florida
05:15State. I mean that and you know, I guess the travel and
05:20from what I understand to the weather isn't supposed to be
05:22bad like you're looking at the weather reports don't look like
05:25it's going to rain. The weather may be favorable and that may
05:28help Georgia Tech out a little bit as far as you know, not
05:33having to force the run issue so much. So I think there's
05:37that and look what's coaching staff. Do you truly trust more?
05:40I guess what the boils down to it doesn't matter that Alex
05:42Atkins is a coach in this game. You've had three or four weeks
05:45to get ready for this game. Like I still trust Mike Morell
05:48in Florida State a lot more than Brent Key and Georgia Tech
05:51and that's not a slide on Brent Key. They just again. This is
05:53a more experienced team with flat-out better athletes. I
05:58know Georgia Tech is taking care of Florida State in the past
06:01couple of meetings. They've been able to upset them and
06:04play well against them. But none of that matters in this spot
06:07here. It's different players different everything. So again,
06:10I just have to look objectively at the rosters and the players
06:14and trust that Florida State is better horses in the barn and
06:18that the travel won't affect it because guess what both teams
06:20are traveling. It should affect both of them equally in theory.
06:22The yellow jacket seven and two against the spread as an
06:26underdog last year, maybe influencing how the betting
06:30public is looking at this game. I think is the number
06:33continues to come down. You're getting some ripe opportunities
06:36on the knolls, you know elsewhere on the week 0 Saturday
06:39slate again, not the most illustrious or robust. We have
06:42seen in years past, but still it's college football. Also
06:47speaking of line movement SMU was a 27 and a half point
06:51favorite against Nevada that line now down to 25 and a hook
06:55the Wolfpack have only won two games each of the past two
06:58college football seasons and Rhett Lashley and the Stangs
07:01coming off an 11 win in a a AC championship season a year
07:07ago. Now in ACC school is SMU of the other games on week 0
07:13what gets your attention the most? I mean SMU's team total
07:19was it is a direction. I would look in especially with this
07:21number coming down. Hey, remember how bad Georgia Tech's
07:24defense was last year total defense on her 20th. You know
07:27who had a worst defense of Georgia Tech last year Nevada
07:31and this is a passing offense from SMPU with Preston Stone
07:3528 touchdowns last year six picks returning all seven top
07:39receivers to this offense. This is a throw fast-paced offense
07:44here that the Mustangs are bringing into the ACC. This is
07:48a spotty where again, I'm not 100% sold on the SMU defense
07:53per se, but I can look at this offense and go. I don't think
07:58they should have a problem scoring points here and getting
08:00to 40 against Nevada. It will be a little bit nerve-wracking
08:04but this isn't their first ACC game yet. That's a different
08:08conversation when they step up Nevada's sort of in the same
08:11class and I think that SMU is just a notch better than Nevada
08:15at this point. By the way, Del State Hawaii 40 and a half
08:19points. It's up to now at the FanDuel Sportsbook and also I
08:22did see yesterday a couple people retweeting around that
08:24Delaware State had missed their plane out to the lie. So
08:27already some scheduling snafu's and what's expected to be a
08:30blowout. That's neither here nor there. If we do look at the
08:32championship national odds here, Georgia at a plus 280 price.
08:36Is it going to be SEC here that reigns King at the end of the
08:39season your mark? I mean if you're looking at Texas and
08:44Alabama as well and that makes it hard to not think the SEC
08:49is the favorite even Ole Miss obviously with the odds that
08:53they have but I would tend to think it's an SEC's title to
08:58lose or looking at by conference unless Oregon has
09:02gotten markedly better without Bo Nix this year and the
09:05transfer that they have, you know, that could upset the
09:08apple cart there with the other team. I'd look at for the six
09:12best prices hail from the SEC eight of the top ten from the
09:16Big Ten or the SEC as well. It's a new era in college
09:21football.