South Florida at Pittsburgh Line


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This Thursday the South Florida Bulls will go on the road to take on the Pittsburgh Panthers in  a Big East showdown. The Bulls improved to 4-0 with a 52-24 win at home against UTEP last Saturday and are currently ranked No. 16 in the AP Top 25.  The Panthers fell to 2-2 overall after falling to Notre Dame 12-15. It was the second straight game where Pittsburgh blew a fourth quarter lead.  The Bulls will look to snap a 3-game losing streak against Pittsburgh.

Looking at the week 5 college football lines, oddsmakers currently have South Florida favored by 2.5-points over Pittsburgh.

South Florida Bulls:

After upsetting Notre Dame 23-20 on the road in the season opener, South Florida has dominated there last three games over very easy competition. Not to take anything away from their 4-0 start, but this team still has a lot to prove.  The win over Notre Dame was a bit of a fluke, as the Irish outgained South Florida 508 t 254 in total yards. Notre Dame committed 5 turnovers, one of which was returned 96 yards for a touchdown.

The easy non-conference schedule has the Bulls offense looking a lot better than it actually is. They are averaging 45.5 points and 522 yards of total offense.  Starting quarterback B.J. Daniels has completed 66.1% of his passes for 1,071 yards with eight touchdowns to just one interception,  but was just 18 of 30 for 128 yards in the game against Notre Dame.  Darell Scott is the leading rusher with 348 yards and five touchdowns, while Sterling Griffin leads the team with 22 receptions for 248 yards.

It will be interesting to see how the Bulls try an attack the Panthers defense Thursday. Pittsburgh had played extremely well against the run before allowing Notre Dame to roll off 182 yards on the ground last week. The pass defense on the other hand has not been all that great, allowing just over 306 yards a game.

Pittsburgh Panthers:

The Panthers are coming off a two heartbreaking losses, but the season is not lost for this team as they can still bring home the Big East crown. Pittsburgh didn’t exactly impress in their first two wins over Buffalo (35-16) and Maine (35-29), but have to feel like they should have at least one more win. Pittsburgh was absolutely dominating Iowa on the road, before blowing a 27-10 fourth quarter lead. This past week they had a 12-7 lead over the Irish, but gave up a late touchdown and were unable to respond.

The Panthers offense has had its ups and downs to start the season. Running back Ray Graham had 322 yards and six touchdowns in the first two games of the season, but has been held under 100 yards and without a touchdown in each of the last two games. Starting quarterback Tino Sunseri has completed at least 60% of his passes in each of the last three games, but has just three touchdowns to four interceptions over that stretch.

Wide outs Devin Street and Mike Shanahan each have over 200 yards and a touchdown on 17 catches a piece, but Suneri’s really likes to dump the ball off to Graham in the flats. Graham leads the team with 21 catches.

I expect South Florida to key on Graham and force someone else beat them in this game. The Bulls defense appears to be well matched for Pittsburgh’s running game, as they come in allowing just 82 yards a game on the ground.

Betting Trends:

South Florida is 5-0 ATS in their last 5 road games, but just 4-9 ATS in their last 13 games following a S.U. win.

Pittsburgh is 10-1 ATS in their last 11 games following a S.U. loss. but are just 1-5-1 ATS in their last 7 Thursday games.

Steve Janus went 6-1 in college football last week. Be sure to stop back and see who he has picked to win in week 5.

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