CBS gets the biggest game to bet on college football this Saturday afternoon in the Southeastern Conference matchup of Alabama at Arkansas. SBG opened with the #1 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide as a 7-point road favorite over the #10 Arkansas Razorbacks with an over/under of 55. Kickoff is at 3:35 PM Eastern.
Pair of 3-0 Teams
The defending BCS champion Crimson Tide has a record of 3-0 both straight up and against the spread and is coming off a 62-13 blowout win at Duke last week as 23.5-point road favorites.
Arkansas is also 3-0 straight up bust just 1-2 against the spread as they finally got their first payout of the season in spectacular fashion in a 31-24 win at Georgia as 1.5-point dogs as they went over the total for the 2nd time this season.
Heisman Candidates on Both Sides
Alabama boasts last year’s Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram, who finally played in his first game of the season last week and was in All American form has he ran for 151 yards on 9 attempts and 2 touchdowns. Senior quarterback Greg McElroy has been sharp with a 73% completion rate and an 11.9 yards per attempt average with a 6/1 touchdown to interception ratio.
Arkansas boasts one of the top quarterbacks in the land with junior Ryan Mallet, who connected with Greg Childs for a 40-yard touchdown pass with 15 seconds remaining in the game last week to get the money for the Razorbacks. Mallet leads a passing attack that is one of the most dangerous in all of college football betting and ranked 3rd in the country. Mallet has completed 70% of his passes for 1081 yards and 10.8 yards per attempt with 9 touchdowns and just 2 interceptions.
Keys to the Game
Arkansas has gotten a surprisingly good performance from their defense that ranks 10th overall and 5th for points allowed. But the Razorbacks did blow a 14-point 4th quarter lead at Georgia last week which is cause for concern for those who may bet on college football with them. Alabama’s defense is the proven commodity and ranked 2nd in the country for points allowed but they have not faced a quarterback like Mallet so far in 2010.
Although attention will go to the offensive stats, defense will decide this game.