By Tim Birkmeyer Story time. Back when the AAF graced us with some spring football, my friends and I chose to support the Orlando Apollo, which I was happy with because they were coached by Steve Spurrier. After the league disbanded (sadly), we were watching our Ravens on a Sunday the next fall together and thought it would be awesome if we could do it on a Saturday too for college. My friends went to UMBC who do not have a football team (but they have a basketball team, right UVA?). Now, I went to South Carolina, so I already do that and have convinced my friends to make that their SEC team (sorry guys) but they wanted a team we could all really get behind like we did the Apollo. After a great conversation over some beers, we decided on Boise State. We chose the Broncos because they are blue and orange like the Apollo, have an awesome field, play in a mid-major conference, will not play any of our teams (likely) except for a bowl game, and they are a pretty decent team but not good enough where it seems like we are hopping on the bandwagon. We ordered jerseys and they came in, so I’ll be rocking my Hank Bachmeier jersey for the games. We also decided on choosing a Pac-12 team so we have another team to root for late at night, but we chose separately and I went with Colorado. You’re probably asking, “What does this have to do with gambling today?” Well, before the season started, I bet Colorado OVER 1.5 Wins and they are 2-0 so it hit in Colorado’s first two games as they beat UCLA and Stanford. Which is good because their game this week got cancelled. Speaking of this week, it’s time to get into the picks. I will provide you with five (5) picks that will all be winners. We have a lot of games postponed or cancelled, but still a great slate of games featuring a top 10 Big 10 matchup at noon (the SEC in me has no idea why Big 10 loves noon games) and we got Bedlam at night. Here are today’s picks: *Note/Disclaimer: I am by no means a gambling genius. Please take my picks with an air of caution and please bet responsibly.* Ohio State Team Total OVER 42.5 Points (-115)  The last time I wrote a gambling guide for a Saturday, this was also the first pick of the day, and Ohio State scored 52 against Nebraska. Today, they have a matchup with Indiana who is (technically) a top 10 team. I think Ohio State wins big, and so does Vegas. Indiana has beaten Penn State, Rutgers, Michigan, and Michigan State who have combined for 3 wins. Ohio State is one of the best teams in the country, are well-rested, and averaging 50.5 points at home this season. Easy money. Coastal Carolina (-4.5) vs. Appalachian State (-107)  Once again, Coastal Carolina to cover was the second pick a few weeks ago and as we know from my MACtion post is that time is a flat circle. This is the Chanticleers’ biggest test to date, Appalachian State at home. The Mountaineers and 6-1 and 4-0 in the conference right behind Coastal Carolina’s 7-0 and 5-0 conference record. I’m going with the home team and “Cinderella” story and think the Chanticleers will win and cover, as their 5-1-1 ATS record would suggest. App St. is 1-6 ATS, but take that with a grain of salt because a lot of games were spreads of 20+ and they were still winning by double digits. I will likely hedge and put an App St. ML in a parlay, but let’s go with the Chanticleers in this one. Cincinnati and UCF OVER 65.5 Points (-107)   Do I even need to explain why? This game might get to 100, so might do some live betting as well during this game. Both teams are averaging 40+ points per game and UCF is averaging over 600 yards per game offensively. Cincinnati is one of the best teams in the nation with a solid defense, but I think UCF’s offense could be too much. And we don’t need them to hit their averages, 34-33 would hit this over.  Oklahoma St. and Oklahoma OVER 60 points (-107)  Death. Taxes. Betting the Over in Bedlam. And this year, it’s a reasonable number to hit unlike previous years where we have seen 70+. Oklahoma State has a pretty good defense, which is a huge compliment for a Big 12 Team. But, Oklahoma is on a roll, scoring 62 points in their last two games and averaging 49.5 points at home (48.3 points if you take away them being the “home” team against Texas). On the other side, Oklahoma Stat has one of the best Running Backs in the country and averaging 28 points per game. And again, we don’t need this to be a 55-49 shootout, we just need 31-30 for this to hit. The Big O Parlay: Ohio St., Oregon, Oklahoma MLs (-150)  Honestly, wanted to have a creative name for a parlay and saw these three teams were heavily favored and all at home, so I threw this together and the line is not terrible. Plus, these three schools are the three biggest teams starting with O in the last decade, so the name is fitting. Ohio State should have no problems with Indiana, Oregon should take care of UCLA, and Oklahoma is going to teach their rival a lesson tonight. So these are the 5 picks for today. The good news is with having an odd number of picks is that you either win or lose, there are no ties (well, we could push, but that won’t happen). I’ll probably do another bet or two, especially if we win some of the earlier bets, so follow me on Twitter and I might tweet them out for you. Once again, please […]