Welcome back to another fun season of Friday Bet$ For Realz as some of your favorite Pencil Storm characters share actual bets they are making on NCAA and NFL football. Depending on our bank accounts we will be checking in throughout the 2025-26 with our blazing hot takes and sure-fire winners. However, it’s important to remember that sports betting is for suckers, so as long as you are cool with that.. Let’s Boogie!
BIG $ (Pencil Storm Browns Beat Writer)
Welcome to Vegas’ favorite time of the year - Football. The books get a week to build lines after months of trying to keep up with the daily treadmill of play-off hockey and basketball and my (and my balance's) personal fave, baseball.
Even with the diminishing odds, the innocent hope of crafting Saturday and Sunday morning picks is one of life's little joys. So here is a few for Saturday and a future to whet the week one whistle:
The loss of NFL wr's will probably lead Arch to use his legs. A couple meetings with Caleb and Sonny could greatly impact the game. Natty hangover be damned, tease the Buckeyes to -6.5.
Marcus isn’t fooling around. Love is ready to rumble and CJ Carr is going to have a stellar debut - tease the Irish to -6.5 over Carson's Canes.
As for a future, I’m going big game hunting. Georgia has USC transfer and former All American, wr/kr/pr Zach Branch coming in. He is a pure electric factory who Lincoln Riley could not properly utilize. He should explode this season . I'm taking the +20000 flyer on his heisman chances this year.
should be a great weekend,
best of luck fade or tail.
Brian Phillips (Former Radio Morning Show Host CD101)
First, if I were firing in futures I like Alabama for the national title. Louisville is a solid dark horse in the ACC. For a totally insane future, how about Southern Miss to go worst to first to win the Sun Belt.
Ok a few picks for this weekend……
Friday
Charlotte +4.5 over App State
Saturday
Southern Miss +13.5 over Miss State
Alabama -13.5 over Florida State
UTEP +5.5
Utah -5.5 over UCLA
Jeremy Porter (Pencil Storm Co-Editor in Chief, rock and roll musician, Mexican fast-food enthusiast, proudly representing that state to the north in hostile online territory MICHIGAN GO BLUE!)
I like Michigan State -21 against Western in East Lansing.
OSU -1 against Texas? I’ll take Texas, because I had the best BBQ of my life and a killer avocado martini in Austin, and I live near Ann Arbor. I know that’s one step removed from “I like the color of their uniforms” but I’m betting with my heart, not my head, and sticking with it.
Michigan -34.5 against New Mexico seems ok, but who knows what’s up with this Michigan team. They could be competitors or they could be a disaster. We’re flying blind here. I may put a couple bucks on UM just to make it interesting, but I gotta see how the season starts to play out before I go all-in.
Now BRING ON THE NFL!
Colin Gawel (Pencilstorm guy / musician solo and with Watershed)
To give you an idea of what kind of gambler I am, I should note I’m still milking my free $365 given to me by Bet 365 as a promotion two years ago. I don’t do high stakes and generally I only bet on games to enhance the value of the games I plan on watching anyway.
Having said that, I kinda go crazy preparing for the college football season. I buy the Phil Steele magazine with type so small I need a magnifying glass and listen to every CFP gambling podcast I can. I don’t listen for the gambling advice exactly, I just find the game breakdowns way more in depth and insightful than Steven A. Smith or Dave Portnoy screaming in my face. These gambling nerds break down some serious statistics and X & O’s and I dig that shit. So…
Week one I did the stupidest thing imaginable and played a 4-team parlay. Otherwise known as the “Art Schlichter Special”. But seriously, there is NO WAY I DO NOT CASH THIS. RIGHT? RIGHT?????
Alabama -13.5 vs FSU, Utah -6 vs UCLA, Notre Dame -2.5 vs Miami, TCU -3.5 vs UNC. It pays +1400
As for futures I did a 3-team parlay: Penn State, Clemson and Alabama to make the playoffs +268
And Michigan, Oregon, Miami and Tennessee to NOT make the playoffs +683
And Bama to win it all +1300