The Fraud Five – Week One

By Mike Kern

September 3, 2019

It’s the anxiously-awaited return of the one and only Fraud Five, because college football fans across the universe need me on that wall. Besides, it’s way too much fun.

So away we go.

  1. Tennessee – The Volunteers paid Georgia State nearly a million dollars to visit Neyland Stadium. As 25-point underdogs, the Panthers went back to Atlanta with a 38-30 victory. Yo. SEC teams had won their last 82 games when favored by at least that much. It was the Panthers first win over a Power Five school. The Panthers went 2-10 last year and were picked to finish fourth in the five-team Sun Belt East. When they met in 2012 Tennessee had won 51-13. Good thing Peyton Manning was in the house.
  2. Missouri – The Tigers were leading by 14 early at home against Wyoming, which was a 17-point underdog. But they gave up 27 in the second quarter and went down 37-31. Good thing they scored 14 in the final period.
  3. South Florida – Didn’t expect the Bulls to win at Wisconsin, where they were 12-point dogs. But neither did I expect them to go down 49-zip. Neither I’m sure did the powers that be in the AAC.
  4. Florida State – I know Boise State is good. And the spread was only a touchdown. But the Noles were up 24-6 after 20 minutes. They lost 36-31. Sorry, I’m not the biggest Willie Taggart fan.
  5. Iowa State – I know, the Cyclones won. And I rarely do this to a team that wins. But it was week one and the pickings were rather slim. So here they are, because the rules insist someone has to be. They were ranked to start a season for the first time since 1978. But they needed a late field goal to force overtime against Northern Iowa, which is ranked 18th in FCS. And they did manage to win on a touchdown in triple OT, 29-26. Yet not before they almost fumbled the ball away at the goal line. It still goes down on the right side of the ledger, which I guess is all the counts. Right?

Worth Mentioning: Connecticut beat FCS Wagner, 24-21. Which means the Huskies have already matched their win total from a year ago.

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