College Football Odds: Week 1 Southern Miss at South Carolina Picks

2010 college football odds kick-off with an ESPN prime time telecast as the South Carolina Gamecocks host the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles. Kick-off Thursday night is set for 7:30pm EST and online sportsbooks have opened with South Carolina as a 14-point favorite at home with an over/under betting total of 46 in week 1 college football picks. Southern Miss is coming off back-to-back bowl seasons under head coach Larry Fedora, who enters his third year on the job with what is considered to be his most talented team heading into 2010 college football betting odds since taking the job.

Fedora’s challenge will be getting that young talent up to speed as Southern Miss will be highly inexperienced on offense with just 3 starters returning. Luckily one of those veterans is junior QB Austin Davis, who had a sparkling 16/3 TD/INT ratio last year. Davis’ favorite target, junior wide receiver Demander Brown, also returns after averaging 17 yards per catch with 9 TD’s last year. The defense is highly experienced with 9 starters returning to a unit that looks to cut down on the 26 PPG allowed in college football odds last year. Southern Miss has gone 4-2 against the spread under Fedora as a road underdog. Steve Spurrier enters his 6th season on the job at South Carolina with what most observers consider to be his finest team and with his best chance of winning the SEC East since he took over the program.

Spurrier is known for his offensive genius which makes it ironic that he has never developed a top shelf quarterback at South Carolina. Junior Stephen Garcia returns in 2010 Vegas odds to lead an offense with 8 other starters back. Garcia was up and down season last year as he finished with a 17/10 TD/INT ratio. Defense has actually been good at USC under Spurrier and is expected to be an asset as 7 starters return. South Carolina covered 3 out of 4 non conference games last year but was 1-2 against the spread in college football picks as a home favorite.