Every week I place a bridgejumper parlay -- a parlay with so many guaranteed moneyline wins that if the parlay didn't cash, I'd jump off a bridge. Obviously the payoff isn't usually great. Sometimes $100 to win $50, sometimes worse than that. Since Week 1 lines aren't all up yet, it's hard to say if some games will be offered, or if some games will even be worth it (-40000 isn't worth it to me to include it, since it only adds a few pennies here or there).That said, here are some teams that will not lose in Week 1. All are home teams, which is obviously a big factor to consider. What do you think? Who is the riskiest team in this parlay? Anyone you'd include and swap out instead?
- Wake Forest over Presbyterian
- Rutgers over Norfolk State
- Ohio State over Marshall
- Florida State over Samford
- Penn State over Youngstown State
- Florida over Miami (OH)
- West Virginia over Coastal Carolina
- Georgia Tech over South Carolina State
- Clemson over North Texas
- Baylor over Sam Houston State
- Alabama over San Jose State
- Texas A&M over Stephen F Austin
- Nebraska over Western Kentucky
- Iowa over Eastern Illinois
Teams I won't use
- Virginia vs. Richmond - UVA HC Mike London coached at Richmond before this, so that roster is full of kids he recruited. I could definitely see an undertalented UVA team struggling against Richmond, especially after losing outright to William & Mary last year.
- Maryland vs. Navy - Last time these two teams played, Maryland eked out a win. Navy's gotten better since then and Maryland hasn't. This game is at M&T Stadium in Baltimore, so it'll have a 50/50 crowd, too. I definitely can see Navy winning this outright.
- Indiana vs. Towson - Crappy FBS team against crappy FCS team, not worth the risk.
- Minnesota vs. Middle Tennessee State - MTSU was good last year, and it's at MTSU this year. I'm not touching it.
- USC vs. Hawaii - USC won't be dominating teams week in and week out, and although I expect them to win, it's at Hawaii and I think that could throw them off.
- Oregon vs. New Mexico - While I think Oregon is a legit power, New Mexico has been harboring talented kids who flunked out or transferred out of other high-major schools (including Illinois). It remains to be seen if HC Mike Locksley is a good coach, but he's a great recruiter and he's pooling some serious talent there, including RB Lamaar Thomas (Ohio State) and WR Deon Long (WVU).
- Texas vs. Rice - Though Rice sucks and Texas will be good like they usually are, it's at Rice. No reason to risk that.
- Duke vs. Elon - Duke is getting better, but it's going to take a while before I can trust them with my money, even against a FCS team.
