Welcome back, oh great and wonderful college football fans, to episode 695 or the first Friday of fall! While not true everywhere in the country, the southeast is finally being blessed with non-scorching temperatures. Football teams (and fans) won’t have to endure triple-digit heat indexes this weekend.
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Last night, our Week 4 kickoff game featured an old FCS rivalry between Liberty (3-1/50) and Coastal (1-3/131). The Chanticleers looked good in the first half taking a 17-10 lead into the break, but Liberty poured it on late, scoring 24 unanswered to take the win 34-17. The GCR picked LIB to win and cover-2.5. We predicted a 10.0-point win, which was still covered. In the beta test of a new method for predicting the cover, the algorithm showed LIB-13.5 which was still covered. More to come on that front as this initial testing phase will be complete this weekend.
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Tonight we have 6 games on the docket starting with Army (1-1/97) at Temple (1-2/130), with a 4:00 (all times Eastern) kickoff in an American Conference challenge. That’s followed by a trio of 7:00 games. They include a second AAC game with Navy (1-1/101) invading UAB (1-2/122) along with FCS Howard (1-2/249) taking on Rutgers (0-3/137) in what’s been a disappointing year for the Scarlet Knights, and an Ivy League tryst when Harvard (1-0/74) and Brown (1-0/116) meet at a neutral site (Pawtucket, RI). We close the night with two Core 4 Conference matchups. At 8:00, the Big Ten kicks off with Northwestern (2-0/20) at Indiana (3-0/19). This is a must watch game with IND favored by 20.5 points while the GCR current method places the point differential at 7.0. The new method is less than 0.5. Indiana earned the trophy last season, but their strength of schedule this year is 205th in the country (out of 266). Untested sometimes leads to unexpected results (see South Carolina facing Mississippi St last weekend). Our nightcap is Clemson (2-1/60) at California (2-1/77) at 10:30. Here are all the details.
| Time (ET) | Games of September 25th | Conference | Vegas | GCR | Cover | TV |
| 4:00 | Army (1-1/97) at Temple (1-2/130) | AAC | ARMY -3.5 | ARMY | ARMY | ESPN |
| 7:00 | Navy (1-1/101) at UAB (1-2/122) | AAC | NAVY -6.5 | NAVY | UAB | ESPN |
| 7:00 | Howard (1-2/249) at Rutgers (0-3/137) | MEAC/B10 | RUTG -43.5 | RUTG | HOW | Big Ten Network |
| 7:00 | Harvard (1-0/74) / Brown (1-0/116) (N) | IVY | HARV -13.5 | HARV | BRO | ESPN2 |
| 8:00 | Northwestern (2-0/20) at Indiana (3-0/19) | B10 | IND -20.5 | IND | NW | Fox |
| 10:30 | Clemson (2-1/60) at California (2-1/77) | ACC | CLEM -1.5 | CLEM | CAL | ESPN |
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That’s it for today. Tune in tomorrow for a full slate of games as we (already!) approach the (almost) 1/3 mark of the season. Thank you for taking the time to read our content. Thank you for taking the time to offer suggestions or ask questions. Thank you for taking the time to share our blog with others. Happy Friday Night Football, JoJo and G.
