Week 1 college football line moves 

September, 2, 2010

I have chosen Paul Stone to help me break down the biggest line moves during college football's opening gambit this weekend. Not because he is a Texas native who has forgotten more about football than I will ever know. Nor is it because he is so sharp the Las Vegas Review-Journal hires him to write a column about college pigskin handicapping, even though he spends all season in the Lone Star State. It's because he is the kind of guy who, while driving and doing my interview, pulls over so he can look up some stats to make this little slice of blogging as useful as possible for you, the degenerate gambler.

Since it's been several months, you may not recall the drill here in my section of Insider. On Thursdays during the football season I write about the five college games that have had the most intriguing line moves during the week. I choose the games based on reader questions, conversations I am hearing from sharps and by tracking which games are swinging to and fro the most.

The idea is to give you something to think about in the final 48 hours -- or less if I cover a Thursday night game -- before kickoff. Maybe you'll discover a trend or learn something about a player or recognize why sharps think a team is a fraud that you didn't know before. Maybe you'll just crib from it for bar talk to make people think you've got a guy in Vegas. Or maybe you'll just use it for advice and then make some horribly bad decisions that cost you your bank account or your job or your relationship.

Whichever, hope you enjoy -- the column and the season.

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