CONGROVE COMPUTER RANKINGS

Saturday, September 5

EASTERN MICHIGAN (-4.5) by 16.94 over Army - Ron English debuts as head coach for EMU. Rich Ellerson has his debut with Army. Both teams are coming off 3-9 seasons. I don't have enough enthusiasm for EMU to agree with the computer's 17-point margin, but returning experience weighs heavily in the Eagles' favor and home field advantage doesn't hurt.

Kentucky (-10) by 17.14 over Miami, Ohio at Cincinnati - All the major preseason publications have both of these teams at or near the bottom of their respective divisions, but 10 points proved to be a weak opening line set by the oddsmakers. The Red Hawks lost last year's season opener at home to Vanderbilt by 21 points. This game will be the head coaching debut for Miami's Michael Haywood.

TEXAS (-36) by 39.28 over Louisiana-Monroe - Texas is opening at home against a Sun Belt team for the 6th straight season. The Longhorns won four of the previous five matchups with SBC teams by at least 42 points.

Lsu (-14) by 24.41 over WASHINGTON - After a down year, LSU is expected to be back in the mix for the SEC West title. The Huskies are coming off a disastrous 0-12 season and haven't posted a winning season since 2002. New head coach Steve Sarkisian inherits a Washington team that was outscored 463-159 last year.

Minnesota (-6) by 14.96 over SYRACUSE - Doug Marrone is the new head coach at Syracuse which has just two home wins over FBS teams in the last two seasons combined. Minnesota's Tim Brewster was 1-11 in his debut campaign in 2007, but improved to 7-6 last year. However, the Golden Gophers begin the season on a 5-game losing streak.

DOGS TO COVER
Mississippi (-17) by 6.76 over MEMPHIS - Ole Miss is 2-1 in its last three games at Memphis, and both wins were decided by 4 points or less.

UPSETS
Saturday, September 5

Buffalo by 0.36 over UTEP (-4.5) - Buffalo won 42-17 at home last year. The Bulls went on to finish 8-6 and win the MAC title while the Miners stumbled to 5-7 and missed the bowl season for the 3rd straight year. Buffalo announced August 25 that RB James Starks, the school's career rushing leader, would miss all of his senior season with a labral tear in his shoulder. The computer was 7-5 ATS with UTEP last season, and 8-4 with Buffalo.

Missouri by 5.70 over Illinois (-5.5) at St. Louis - Missouri has won 4 straight in the series, and 5 of the last 6. The Tigers have to overcome the losses of QB Chase Daniel, WR Jeremy Maclin and TE Chase Coffman.

New Mexico by 0.14 over Texas A&M (-11) - I don't agree with this, but I include all of the computer's upset picks. It had the Lobos picked by 9.38 last year and UNM lost by 6. This is the debut game for New Mexico head coach Mike Locksley.

Rice by 6.23 over UAB (-4.5) - The teams haven't met since 2006 when the Owls prevailed 34-33 at home. Record-setting QB-WR combination of Chase Clement and Jarett Dillard (51 TD's by the duo) is gone from Rice's lineup.