For the University of Pittsburgh Panthers there are good reasons to be happy and good reasons not to be as happy as they enter the season opener of the 2010 college football betting season. The good news is that the Panthers will begin the 2010 NCAA football betting action ranked as the 15th best team in the country, according to the AP Poll.
The bad news is that that ranking means very little once the teams step on the field and the college football betting odds makers have made them a 3-point underdog in their first game against the University of Utah Runnin’ Utes on September 2nd.
This team seems like the Rodney Dangerfield of the Big East. What else can it do? It’s coming off an impressive 10-3 season in which it finished 5-2 in the conference and had a shot at one of the major BCS college football betting bowl games before losing its last two games by a whisker.
Add to that the fact that this team is returning one of the top RBs in the nation with a very solid O-line blocking for him. RB Dion Lewis rushed for the second best single season yardage total in school history last season (1,799), second only to the record setting Heisman winning season of the legendary Tony Dorsett (2,150). He’ll be one of the front runners for the Heisman this season and will carry a major portion of the offensive load.
The challenge for Utah will be stopping Lewis as the Panthers new QB, Tino Sunseri, will be starting his first game and isn’t likely he is going to be asked to do a whole lot. Utah can expect a healthy dose of the run game.
Fortunately for the Utes their strongest position on the field is the D-Line and if this unit can shut down Lewis, or at least keep him in check; it’s very easy to see Utah stretching its home win streak to 18 games.
Kickoff for this Thursday matchup is set for 8:355 Eastern Time and sbg sportsbook opened with the Utes as a 3.0-point favorite with an over/under total at 49.
