Morning Coffee: Welcome to Week 0 in the NCAA

It’s a great time of the year for football fans.

Week 12 of the CFL season kicked off with the two-time defending Grey Cup champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers beating the Calgary Stampeders 31-29 in one of the most fantastic games of the season that went down to the wire.

Next up, we get a CFL doubleheader tonight on TSN, with the Toronto Argonauts hosting the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in another provincial showdown, before Michael O’Connor gets the start for the BC Lions against the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the late game.

Meanwhile, it’s the final stop before Week 1 of the NFL regular season, with a full slate of exhibition contests taking place this weekend.

If you didn’t notice, the Pittsburgh Steelers still haven’t announced their starting quarterback for Week 1 against the defending AFC Champion Cincinnati Bengals.

It’s also Week 0 for NCAA football fans.

We won’t get the main course until next week, but we have a full slate of college football games to bet on at FanDuel and can’t wait to get started.

As if a full plate of football isn’t enough, we also get the TOUR Championship, a full weekend of MLB action, the WNBA Playoffs, Premier League, MLS, and a trip to Daytona for the Wawa 250 Powered By Coca-Cola.

Sign me up.

Let’s start the weekend with another winner at FanDuel.

Here’s the Morning Coffee for Friday, Aug. 26, 2022.
 

Rays, Mets roll as Thursday’s FanDuel Best Bets cash

There is no better way to go into the weekend than riding a hot streak at FanDuel.

Drew Rasmussen delivered for anyone who tailed the picks I gave out in Thursday morning’s column, throwing nine strikeouts over 5.1 innings of one-run ball as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Los Angeles Angels 8-3.

No run in the first inning and Rays money line cashed.

Rasmussen improved to 6-1 with a 1.97 ERA at home this season.

While the Rays money line was never in doubt, the final pick that I gave out in Thursday’s column turned out to be a bigger sweat than I expected.

I saw the New York Mets as high as -450 on the money line versus the Colorado Rockies in Jacob deGrom’s return the mound opposite rookie Ryan Feltner.

I played the Mets -1.5 at FanDuel.

New York put three runs on the board in the third inning, and deGrom threw nine strikeouts over six innings of work.

It’s a good thing deGrom was dialled in, because the Mets didn’t score another run in the game en route to a 3-1 win.

MLB favourites went 6-3 at FanDuel on Thursday.

That includes the Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox combining for 11 runs in a wild slugfest that resulted in Toronto completing the three-game sweep at Fenway Park.

After going 3-0 with my best bets, I’m looking for another winner on FanDuel this morning, and I think I found one.

The late game between the Cleveland Guardians and Seattle Mariners features the lowest total on the board at FanDuel at seven runs.

Shane Bieber has allowed two runs or fewer in five straight outings, and hasn’t allowed a run in the first inning in 13 of his past 15 starts.

Logan Gilbert will get the nod for the Mariners, and he hasn’t allowed a run in the first inning in five of his last seven starts, with the only exceptions being games against the New York Yankees and the Houston Astros.

FanDuel expects a low-scoring affair tonight, and all I need is for the Guardians and Mariners to get through the first inning without a run for the NRFI to cash.

I’ll take No Runs First Inning -155 between Cleveland and Seattle as my FanDuel Best Bet for Friday’s slate.
 

Blue Bombers win thrilling Week 12 opener

If anyone doubted the two-time defending Grey Cup champions following their first loss of the season a couple of weeks ago, last night’s win was another reminder why they are still the best team in the league.

Zach Collaros went 19-of-26 for 294 yards and two touchdowns in a 31-29 win over Calgary.

This time around, it was Nic Demski that led the Bombers receiver core with eight catches for 117 yards and a touchdown.

While the Stampeders didn’t get the victory, head coach Dave Dickenson must be impressed with what he saw from quarterback Jake Maier, who went 23-of-28 for 294 yards and three touchdowns.

Calgary currently owns the third-best record in the CFL at 6-4, but with Nathan Rourke sidelined for the BC Lions with an injury, the door is wide open for Maier and the Stampeders to make a push for the second-best record in the league with a strong second half of the season.

Looking forward to tonight’s doubleheader, the Argonauts are currently a two-point favourite against the Tiger-Cats at FanDuel.

The total is 48.5.

O’Connor and the Lions are a 3.5-point favourite for the late game versus Saskatchewan. The total is 46.5.

Make sure you check back in with us at TSN.CA/EDGE later in the day for Aaron Korolnek’s best bets for tonight’s game in AK’s Prop Shop.

We’ll also get a FanDuel Same Game Parlay for both games from the CFL on TSN panel.
 

Welcome to Week 0

While the college football season kicks off with a decent slate of action on Saturday, we will have to wait another week to see Alabama versus Utah State, Ohio State versus Notre Dame, and Georgia versus Oregon.

I’ve already placed a handful of bets for this weekend’s games, but following some major market moves, there’s nothing on the board right now that I would give out as a FanDuel Best Bet.

For example, if you liked the New Mexico State as a trendy home underdog for their opener versus Nevada, then you had a chance to jump on them and get nearly two touchdowns on the spread.

Looking at the updated spread for that game on FanDuel this morning, the Aggies are currently +8.5.

There’s nothing wrong with dabbling on some live college football action at FanDuel this weekend, but if you’re betting sides and totals ahead of kickoff on Saturday, just keep in mind that some of the numbers you are seeing now have already moved substantially from where they opened at FanDuel.