College Football Picks Week 1: Miami Hurricanes vs. Maryland Terrapins on ESPN

Week 1 of the 2011 college football season comes to a close Monday night with an Atlantic Coast Conference opener between the Miami (FL) Hurricanes and Maryland Terrapins at Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium.

Kickoff from College Park, Md. is scheduled for 8:00 EDT and will be nationally-televised on ESPN.

The game will feature two of the ACC’s newest coaches in Maryland’s Randy Edsall and Miami’s Al Golden.  One of them has suffered through a tumultuous offseason that may lead to damaging sanctions down the road.

Golden spent five seasons turning around a downtrodden Temple program before becoming the 22nd head coach in Miami’s history.  It’s likely a decision that he’d like to have back.

Miami will be short-handed in its season opener due to an NCAA investigation that found several current team members taking money from a booster. 

The Hurricanes will be playing in their fifth Labor Day contest without the services of quarterback Jacory Harris and linebacker Sean Spence.  Stephen Morris is an experienced player under center—playing in six games (four starts) during his freshman campaign.  He threw for 1,240 yards and actually finished 2010 with a team-high 125.01 quarterback efficiency rating.

It’s important to note that Miami is 3-1 in four previous tries in this spot, and all of the first six Labor Day games involving one or two ACC teams have been decided by six or fewer points.

Bettors will certainly find the Hurricanes appealing due to that stat, as they are also 7-3 ATS as a road underdog of 3.5 to seven points.

Edsall comes over after leading Connecticut to the program’s first BCS game last January and has some experience in matching up with teams from his new conference.  The Huskies produced a 4-8 straight-up record against ACC foes during his time in Storrs.

Terrapins sophomore quarterback Danny O’Brien, the 2010 ACC Rookie of the Year, will be running a new offense implemented by coordinator Gary Crowton.  It’s a scheme that led LSU to average 38.4 points offensively en route to winning the national title.

The offense welcomes back three linemen from a unit that finished the 2010 campaign ranked 29th-nationally in scoring at 32.2 points a game.  O’Brien threw 22 touchdown passes—good for second in school history for a single season.

Maryland has opened up against a conference opponent just once in the last 17 years, registering a 23-7 win over the North Carolina Tar Heels in 2001.

Bettors will find that the Terrapins are 1-3 ATS in the last four meetings with the Hurricanes, covering last year’s 26-20 road loss as 10-point underdogs.

In taking a closer look at the 2010 contest—Miami finished with a 504-255 total yards and 36:42-to-23:18 time of possession advantage.  Those are numbers worthy of taking the underdog, no matter what the situation may be in South Florida.

Recommendation:  Miami (FL) Hurricanes (+4)