Sports Handicapper Scott Rickenbach's Picks & Predictions

Afternoon Annihilation - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #951 Saturday 8* OVER the total in Chicago Cubs vs St Louis Cardinals @ 2:20 ET -  The final tally for yesterday's game was ridiculous for those of you (like me) that bet the over in this divisional match-up. Lack of clutch hitting and a ton of wasted opportunities. The Cubs and Cardinals ended up with the teams combining to leave 21 men on base and go 2 for 20 with runners in scoring position! Additionally, the Cubs hit into 4 double plays (one via line drive for good measure). I love coming right back with the over after a game like this and the situation is perfect for it. Of course we have a big number to work with here but it is well-deserved. It will be a mild afternoon at Wrigley Field with the wind blowing out at a strong clip It is one of those games that is simply set up to be absolutely nuts! The Cubs start Jose Quintana and he is struggling with a 7.65 ERA over his last 5 starts. The Cardinals are starting Dakota Hudson and he has been pitching very well of late but now he is in the wrong place at the wrong time as an afternoon game at Wrigley Field with conditions like this will get nuts in a hurry! Hudson has held hitters to a .229 average when he is at home but has allowed opponents to hit .270 on the road. Last season he had a 5.54 ERA in road games. 8* OVER the total in Chicago Cubs

Day Game Smash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #953 Saturday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Cincinnati Reds vs New York Mets @ 4:10 ET - Both the Reds Anthony DeSclafani and Mets Zach Wheeler come into this game pitching very well. So why the relatively big number posted on a National League match-up with playoff implications (for New York)? Exactly! Don't let the rather big number scare you away here. It is a warm afternoon more like late summer than early fall in Cincinnati. In day games with weather conditions like the ball jumps off bats at Great American Ball Park and that is precisely what I am expecting here. Also, DeSclafani has a 4.78 ERA in his 13 day game starts this season. Wheeler has a 5.05 ERA in his 13 afternoon game starts his season. Both pitchers have performed better at night compared to day game action this season. Also, Wheeler gave up 4 earned runs in 6 innings in his lone start against the Reds this season. As for DeSclafani, lefties have a .485 slugging percentage against him this season and the Mets are loaded on that side of the plate. As for the bullpens, the Reds pen imploded last night and that continued their late season trend. As for the Mets pen, it ranks as one of the worst in the majors and was also a bit shaky again last night. 10* OVER the total in Cincinnati

Game of the Week - Rickenbach CFL Rotation #686 Saturday 10* Top Play Montreal Alouettes (+) vs Winnipeg Blue Bombers @ 4 ET - Love this situation. The Blue Bombers opened up around a pick'em in this game so, of course, the markets jumped all over one of the best teams in the CFL and this line has moved to a -3. Keep in mind, Winnipeg is off a bye week but has a game versus Hamilton on deck. Why does that matter? The Tiger-Cats are the #1 team in the East and also handed Winnipeg their first loss of the season! Don't be surprised if the Bombers make the mistake of looking right past the Alouettes in this one. That will prove to be a mistake because, as strong as Winnipeg is this season, they are still just a .500 team on the road. Montreal has a winning record at home and has been getting strong QB play from Vernon Adams. Of course Winnipeg has been dealing with the QB injury to Matt Nichols. They do get RB Andrew Harris back this week but the Als have a great rusher of their own in William Stanback. They will call this one an upset but, from a situational perspective, truly the home team is the one that should win this game and I won't be surprised when they do. The Alouettes are off a loss and respond here as they catch the Blue Bombers in the right situation to knock them off. 10* MONTREAL

Game of the Month - Rickenbach CFB Rotation #351 Saturday 10* Top Play Colorado Buffaloes (+) @ Arizona State Sun Devils @ 10 ET - Tough spot for ASU. I know on one hand they do have revenge against the Buffaloes since they lost to them last season. However, on the other hand, the Sun Devils are off an emotional come from behind win at Michigan State last week and they won the game in dramatic fashion. Give Arizona State credit for "finding a way" last week but also note that the Spartans play-calling on offense is horrific for a top tier Big Ten program that should have much better performance in that regard. Even with that, Michigan State still outgained ASU by nearly 200 yards. With Arizona State off an upset win and the Buffaloes off an upset loss at home, this one sets up well. Keep in mind, Colorado had beaten Nebraska the week before and that followed demolishing Colorado State in their season opener. The Buffaloes also have a bye week on deck and have a very dangerous offense that is going to test an ASU defense that is highly over-rated right now. Yes the Sun Devils have some great numbers on the season but I already mentioned Michigan State's horrible play-calling above and note that Arizona State's first two games were against Kent State and Sacramento State! The Sun Devils defense is going to be stretched out in this game like it hasn't been stretched yet this season and I expect the Buffaloes to give them trouble all game long. Look for Arizona State to drop to 6-12 ATS as a home favorite of 7.5 to 10 points. 10* COLORADO

Total of the Week - Rickenbach CFB Rotation #375 Saturday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Texas Longhorns vs Oklahoma State Cowboys @ 7:30 ET - Good weather expected in Austin this evening and I am looking for a ton of points in a game featuring two very potent offenses and two suspect defenses. Keep in mind the UT defense returned only 3 starters this season and the Longhorns D was much stronger last season and still allowed 38 points or more against Oklahoma (twice) and Oklahoma State and West Virginia. This season, Texas already allowed 45 to LSU. As for the Horns offense, they are averaging 43.7 points per game this season! The Cowboys won't be able to stop them but their own potent offense certainly should stay red hot here. OSU is averaging 49.3 points per game this season. The Cowboys are off a road win at Tulsa last week and Oklahoma State has gone 8-0 to the over their last 8 when they enter a game off a road win. Texas is 3-1 to the over in a home game with a posted total of 70 points or more. In other words, don't let the big number scare you. Also, the Horns, after scoring 37 points or more in 3 straight games, are 19-8 to the over. Additionally, the Longhorns are 3-1 to the over as a home favorite of 7 points or less. Oklahoma State's defense returned only 5 starters this season from a unit that allowed 37.1 points per game over the final 10 games last year. The Cowboys already allowed 36 points to Oregon State earlier this season and this is now the toughest offense they have faced by far. 10* OVER the total in Texas

Contrarian Crusher - Rickenbach CFB Rotation #324 Saturday 8* Illinois Illini (+) vs Nebraska Cornhuskers @ 8 ET - I know the Illini are not a very good football team but this is the perfect "flat spot" for fading Huskers and Nebraska has a penchant for underachieving in a spot like this. Note that the Cornhuskers are off a dominating home win over Northern Illinois. However, in their only challenging game this season they blew a big lead at Colorado and lost outright. Now, of course I am not saying that the Illni are on par with the Buffaloes (not at all) but I am saying I like having Illinois getting nearly two touchdowns with Nebraska coming off a big home win and with a huge home game versus Ohio State on deck! While the Cornhuskers were happy with their performance last week versus Northern Illinois, the Illini are coming off a very disappointing home loss to Eastern Michigan. Simply put, Illinois is in "response mode" here and they have averaged scoring 35 points per game this season. The Illini had allowed only 13 points per game in their first two games before their disappointing 34-31 loss to the Eagles. Look for the home dog to respond big here and the Cornhuskers get caught still celebrating last week's win over the Huskies plus looking forward to facing the Buckeyes next week. As a result, Nebraska is in an dogfight here and I expect the Illini to fall short by just a single score in this one. 8* ILLINOIS

Daytime Dominator - Rickenbach CFB Rotation #320 Saturday 8* Pittsburgh Panthers (+) vs Central Florida Golden Knights @ 3:30 ET - Pittsburgh is the kind of team that is very physical and likes to play "smash mouth" football and this is particularly true when you face them in their house. Yes, the Panthers are off a big game at Penn State last week but the positive they have going for them early this season is that Pitt has never left the state of PA. As for UCF, they are far away from home for this one and really aren't used to facing teams from Power 5 Conferences in back to back weeks. They hosted a Pac-12 foe (Stanford) last week and now face an ACC foe this week in Pittsburgh. The Panthers only have Delaware on deck and their fully focused on this game after getting blasted at Central Florida last season. By the way, the Panthers entered this season 7-1 ATS when playing with revenge against a team that is off a SU/ATS win the prior week. That system fits here as UCF blasted the Cardinal last week. The Golden Knights do have their AAC opener on deck and this is the first time this season they have to leave the state of Florida. Plus how good is this UCF team really? They've played Florida A & M, Florida Atlantic, and a normally strong Stanford team that truly seems to have fallen apart this season. Look for the scrappy home dog Panthers to keep this game much closer than many are expect. 8* PITTSBURGH

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach CFB Rotation #317 Saturday 8* OVER the total in Indiana Hoosiers vs Connecticut Huskies @ Noon ET - The Hoosiers offense is ready to explode on their home field after being held to just 10 points last week. That tough performance was courtesy of facing a powerful Ohio State defense but now Indiana faces a Connecticut team that allowed 50 points per game last season! The Hoosiers need (and want) a huge win here before resuming Big Ten action next week. That said, Indiana will not take their foot off the gas in this one and they'll be piling up points all game long. Connecticut's offense averaged 22 points last season and 24 points the season before. The Hoosiers defense is their weakness and the Huskies are averaging 23.5 points per game this season and coming off a bye week. As you can see, UConn should put up some points here. As for Indiana, they had averaged 43 points per game in their first two games this season and they'll bounce back after being bottled up by the Buckeyes last week. 8* OVER the total in Indiana