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Last year Penn St. suffered an early loss to the Panthers before going on a 10-games winning streak. This year Pitt lost star RB James Conner to NFL and still searches its new identity. They needed an overtime to beat FCS Youngstown St. while Penn St. demolished Akron 52-0 and looked like everybody predicted: strong on defense and unstoppable on offense. This could turn into a blood bath very early.

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Army is on the rise. Black Knights have won four straight games dating back to last year and rushed for 513 yards last week against Fordham. This is where they have the edge against Buffalo. Bulls year after year get run over by teams. Defending the triple option is not a simple thing and although they did it last year it was against a QB (Ahmad Bradshaw) still learning the system.

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Arizona is on a 13-game winning streak and is starting Patrick Corbin. The lefty has won five straight starts with an ERA of 0.50. Corbin is 8-3, 2.64 ERA at Chase Field and won his both starts against the Padres at home in 2017.
SD is by far the worst hitting team against lefties this season. And they will start Sandy Lyles who was picked from the waivers by Colorado in August and was converted from a reliever to a starter. Last Saturday he dind't even make it through the fifth inning against the Dodgers.

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A historical night for the Boilermakers. Not only this is their first home of the season but the first ever to be played under the lights of Ross-Ade Stadium!
It didn't took long for the new head coach Jeff Brohm to return the hope in West Lafayette. Purdue went toe to toe last week with Louisville and was close to the upset. If they are going to return to a bowl game after a five years absence this is a must win game. With all the momentum from last week and emotions tonight I expect them to clinch a close one against the perennial MAC title contender which will play its first competitive game of the year (Ohio beat terrible FCS Hampton 59:0 in Week 1).

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Strange odds but I assume after yesterday's bonanza this is not an attractive match-up.
Both teams struggles mighty to move the ball in last year's meeting which ended 31:24 in OT. Things are not different in 2017. Sam Rosen will make his first start for UCLA in almost a year. Bruins' OL has a new coach but spring football didn't offer much optimism. Especially after Kenny Lacy was lost for the season.
For Texas A&M Kevin Sumlin coaches for his job. Aggies haven't even named a starter at QB and while the tun over UCLA last year but Jim Mora is a defensive guru and I expect him to correct this.

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USC lost almost all of the veteran receivers and QB Sam Darnold will have less ammunition. So for the time being Trojans will revert to the ground game. During spring football defense constantly outplayed offense and the D by all prognosis should be one of the stingiest in all NCAA. Running game takes time and if the D lives up to the hype I don't see a 2 TD and a FG in Q1 to go over.

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This is the first sport event in Houston after devastating storm Harvey and in such cases the team that needs an emotional lift wins. That's just the nature of MLB. Mets will return Matt Harvey from the DL but his rehab outings were barely optimistic. The Dark Knight reached only 93 MPH with his fastball and had major issues with control. Plus the Amazins had the third-worst offense in the Majors in August hitting just .233 and now with Conforto and Cespedes out for the season are even more depleted.

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North Carolina searches its first Opening Day win against a major conference team in 20 years. And should have a relatively easy task against Cal. Golden Bears fired coach Sony Dykes after going 5-7 in 2016. They are extremely inexperienced at O-Line with only 16 starts between all available players. And having a 9 AM PT start is a killer for a West Coast team which traveled the whole country and had just a day to adjust the internal clock.

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Huskies annihilated Rutgers last year 48:13 but I'm going to play it a little safe. Washington is more than a clear favorite but I'm not sure how long the starters will stay on the field. And while Rutgers were outscored 185:0 combined at home in 2016 by Michigan, Ohio St. and Michigan St. Scarlet Knights surely will have some more power on offense. Despite some players jumping early to NFL Washington will score early and often to start what they hope will be another playoff season.

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With QB Mason Rudolph OSU has the firepower to be one of the Top 5 offenses in the country but the problem for Cowboys always has been the defense. OSU allowed more than 5 YPP in 2016 and more than half of the starters are now gone. And this is the first game of the season on FS1, where shootouts are the norm.

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The revenge! Kevin Wilson was fired fired by Indiana in December amidst accusations of mistreating players. Now as a offensive coordinator of Ohio State he will do anything possible to stick it to his former bosses. Buckeyes were shut out by Clemson in playoffs they need to rehabilitate their image. And in four of five matches under Urban Meyer Ohio State put up at least 38 points on the board against the Hoosiers.

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Mets won Game 1 of the doubleheader but paid a big price. They burned the whole bullpen and with the starter Seth Lugo just coming off the DL and playing with a torn ligament in the elbow it's getting grim for the Amazins. They got McGowan from Triple-A Las Vegas for Game 2 but he he's a closer and has a limited experience in the majors.
Nats will start Tanner Roark who's 4-2, 3.38 ERA since the All-Star break and Mets' starting line-up has a .077 BAA against him.

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Nats rested almost all starters last night yet almost beat Jacob deGrom. Today there will be no restrains and with Gio Gonzalez on the mound Mets will have a hard time. The last time Gio lost against Mets at home it was August 5th 2014 in the midst of a two-moth stretch without a win. He's entering today on a six-game unbeaten streak with one run given up in last 27.2 IP.
After the injuries to Conforto and Cespedes last two days Mets have just one experienced and healthy outfielder and will field a line-up of players, majority of which were in Triple-A or Double-A just a month ago...

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For the second year in a row NCAA stages a match in Sydney. Last year California and Hawaii were involved in an air raid duel which produced 82 points. This year the pro style offense of Stanford will not get that far but rumors are coach David Shaw is about to present its modified Wildcat look which is designed above all to speed up the game.
Rice had a terrible 2016 season winning just 3 games and the seat of coach David Bailiff got a little warmer than usual. Owls lost at Stanford 41:17 last year and this should be indicative what to expect tomorrow.

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I usually don't double up but there has been no runs scored in the first inning during the whole series! With Patrick Corbin (Ari) having a 8.62 ERA in the first inning and Mike Fiers (Hou) with a 4.30 ERA it's time.

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Astros vs. Patrick Corbin sounds like a mismatch. Despite the awful August (5-10) Houston is still batting .269 during the month. Astros are #1 during the season in overall BAA (.289), third at home (.286) and fourth on Thursdays (.273).
For Patrick Corbin the season is still uneven. Spectacular at home (7-3, 2.87 ERA), incredibly awful away from Chase Field (2-8, 6.79 ERA, 1.72 WHIP, .333 opponents BAA).

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Odds are dropping so be fast to get 'em.
Cardinals are the second-best hitting team in August. With a BAA of .288 they trail only the Orioles. St. Louis average almost 10 hits [per game this month even when they lose. Cardinals had their eight-games winning streak snapped on Sunday but had a day off to recharge batteries and continue the playoff push.
Last year AL Cy Young winner Rick Porcello (6-14, 4.63 ERA) starts for Boston. He's been particularly bad at home (4-8, 5.24 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, .306 BAA) and in six of his last eight home starts the opponents finished with 9 or more hits.

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Stats wise this looks like a no brainer. Detroit's starter Matthew Boyd is not pitching well away from home. He's 3-3, 5.54 ERA but with a hefty 1.82 WHIP and a .327 BAA. On top of that in every of his 8 starts the opposing team has at least 9 hits. Combine it with the state of Tigers bullpen (5.18 ERA, .259 BAA, 1.45 WHIP) and the fact that Detroit arrived after midnight in Baltimore after spending most of the day in a rain delay at Yankees Stadium and the hot bats of Orioles (131 hits in last 13 games at Camden Yard) and I see a rosy day for Baltimore offense.

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To say that Diamondbacks' starter Patrick Corbin struggles in games away from home will be an understatement. The lefty had a respectable July (1-1, 3.18 ERA) but in each of his starts there was a lot of traffic on the bases. Corbin has a 1.63 WHIP and as he doesn't walk a lot of people (12 BB, 2 IBB in 48 IP) there are a lot of base hits. Cubs finished July with a .270 BAA and against lefties they are hitting .256.

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Usually I don't recommend backing a team 11 games under .500 but at least Padres know who they are. 28-16 at home they'll start Jhoulys Chacin who is 6-2, 2.05 ERA at PETCO Park. After the wholesale in the last 48 hours Twins officially abandoned the season. They hand the ball to Jose Berrios, without a win away from Target Field since June 10th and going 0-3, 10.59 ERA in the meantime.