Looking into our crystal (foot)ball for Hallow'een weekend!

Let's start north of the border!

In 2016, the Canadian Football League has been dominated by the often-dominating Calgary Stampeders, who lost their first game and haven't lost since. They went into their first of two byes (in mid-July) at 1-1-1, having lucked into a tie with the Ottawa RedBlacks, who lead the West still today. 

They haven't lost since.

Their final game of the regular season comes Sunday night, at 5-11 Montreal, and the odds of the horses not finishing the season on a fifteen-game winning streak at 16-1-1 are longer than Mr. Trump's of winning the election November 8th. FOLLOWING FOOTBALL has Calgary as 10 point favorites, but personally, I'd double that. 

We also have Edmonton winning on the road at Hamilton by 3, and if so that's probably a preview of the first round of playoffs on November 15th... Ottawa travels to surprising Winnipeg, and although they're leading the East, they enter this game as an 8-point underdog on our books... finally, the British Columbia Lions go to surging Saskatchewan, hoping to hold the RoughRiders off (BC is a four point favorite in our books) and stay up with Winnipeg for homefield advantage in the first round, where they'll fight for the right to be dismembered by Calgary in the division finals the next week.

What about the NFL?

Here's where we differ significantly from the Vegas odds...we think Arizona beats Carolina by 2, unlike Vegas, who favors the home team by 2...we have Kansas City by seven over the Colts, not just two...the Jets by five over Cleveland, not 2 1/2...Seattle by eight over the Saints, not three...and we like Oakland over Tampa by 1, not the other way around. Otherwise, we're pretty much in sync with their lines: Tennessee over Jax, ATL over Green Bay, Pats over the Bills, Cincy over Washington, Dallas over Philly, Denver over SD, Houston over Detroit, and Minnesota recovering to beat the Bears.

Let's move to the FBS collegiate teams, by conference:

ACC) Clemson by 3 over FSU (line is - 4.5); Georgia Tech by just 1 1/2 over Duke (line is 6 1/2); we favor Pitt by half a point over VaTech (line is 4.5 towards the Hokies); and our big upset pick is Notre Dame over Miami by 2 (the line is Miami by six).

Big Ten) The three most interesting games are Illinois over Minnesota by one on our board; Wisconsin by 8 over Nebraska (line opened at nine); and Michigan whomps MSU (the line keeps going up - if it's over 24, take MSU),

Big 12) Our upset pick is Oklahoma St over West Virginia by two (the line favors WVU by 4). We also like Baylor at Texas by 3-4.

Pac 12) With Las Vegas sinning sitting in the middle of Pac-12 territory, you sometimes get odds that don't match reality because there are too many local fans of certain teams. USC is one of those - betting on the underside of their spread is usually a good idea just because that's how Vegas sets those odds. We have USC by 7.5 over Cal; Vegas has the spread at sixteen points! Similarly, we have UW over Utah by four, Vegas favors them by ten. (It's possible they're right on that one - we'll have to see!)

SEC) Two major upsets in the SEC where we are WAY different than the oddsmakers - we like Georgia over Florida by one (the line is FL by 7.5) and Ole Miss over Auburn by four (the line was swayed by Arkansas quitting on their 56-3 loss to Auburn last week, favoring the Tigers by nine!).

AAC) Three important games in the American conference this weekend - Houston is favored by nine over UCF; we have the line at 17. We disagree completely on the other two: we like SMU by 2.5; Vegas likes Tulane by 2.5; and in the most critical game, we'll take the Naval Academy (-2) over USF (who's favored -8).

C-USA) No significant differences from the Vegas lines in our forecasts: we think Southern Miss and MTSU should only be one TD favorites instead of two over Marshall and FIU, respectively.

MWC)  See previous comments about certain teams: Boise St is one of them, as the oddsmakers seem to think they're 14 points better than Wyoming (we have it at -4). New Mexico -0.5 @ Hawaii should be interesting, but not as much as the dead man walking in Fresno St: FF says +7, Vegas says +14 against Air Force, and this time I'm thinking Vegas is right: the coaching situation's worth at least that extra TD.

SunBelt) The only interesting game is Thursday's App St @ GA Southern; we have ASU -1, and the oddsmakers have them -5.

Finally, here are the most interesting FCS games, with OUR point spreads and predictions for comparison:

Big Sky) Montana @ Eastern WA (- 3); Weber St @ North Dakota (- 10). Colonial) Maine @ William & Mary (- 7); Stony Brook @ New Hampshire (- 6). MVC) The biggest game - North Dakota St as an underdog @ Northern Iowa (- 0.5!); Western Illinois@ South Dakota (+ 1). NEC) St. Francis (PA) @ Sacred Heart (-5); and CCSU @ Robert Morris (even). OVC) Eastern Illinois @ Jacksonville St (- 16, and they're probably the closest competition); EKU @ UT-Martin (- 2). Patriot) The big one - Fordham @ Lehigh (- 6). Pioneer) Both unbeaten in the PFL, San Diego @ Marist (+ 10.5). Southland) SFA @ Incarnate Word (even!). Ivy League) Two fascinating games: the oft-times title game, Harvard @ Dartmouth (even!), and the only time in history when Yale @ Columbia is Columbia - 2! MEAC) Three close games: SC St @ Hampton (- 2), Morgan St @ Norfolk St (- 1), and Howard @ our personal favorites, Savannah St (- 2). SWAC) Southern @ Alcorn St (+ 4), PV A&M  @ Jackson St (+ 4), and the annual neutral site clash between Alabama A&M and Alabama State (-3).