College Football Kicks Off Thursday — Get the Thursday Pick of the Week *Updated with latest Injuries

Well football fans, it’s finally here. College Football Christmas Week! Excitement is boiling over as there are 128 undefeated teams at this point. Practice runs on the grill have been implemented. Tailgate plans are a big fat YESSIR for the college football fans who have been patiently waiting for this week for 7 long months.

Most position battles have been settled at this point and game preparation is underway. There are nine Division 1 matchup games being played on Thursday. Some matchups are of the cupcake variety while others will require teams to hit the ground running for some big boy football.

The first game of the day pits South Carolina against North Carolina on a neutral field in Charlotte, NC. You might think that gives the home team advantage to the team that hails from Chapel Hill, but Columbia is actually an hour closer to Charlotte. It’s an interesting SEC vs ACC matchup early in the year. North Carolina returns 10 of 11 starters from an offense that played lights out last year. The only problem for North Carolina last year was that their defense couldn’t stop a Pop Warner third string running back. Enter Gene Chizik, the the new defensive coordinator for North Carolina.  In case you don’t remember, coach Chizik took over a 5-7 Auburn team and two years later won the 2010 National Championship. Coach Chizik is switching to a 4-3 set from the 4-2-5 hybrid employed last year when UNC allowed 497.8 yards per game. If Chizik’s defense can show immediate dividends, South Carolina may have their hands full. Otherwise, it may come down to the team that has the football last. (Want to see who is picked to win? Get a season subscription today!)

Thursday Pick of the Week:
TCU vs Minnesota (TCU favored by 15 points)

Click on the picture above to see the game breakdown

Weather: MOSTLY FAIR, SOUTH WIND 7-12. GAME TEMP 82, RH 66% HEAT INDEX 86

Injury Report:

TCU —

[WR] 08/22/2015 – Josh Doctson probable Thursday vs. Minnesota U ( Hand )

[WR/PR] 08/22/2015 – Cameron Echols-Luper has left team ( Personal )

[WR] 08/27/2015 – Deante’ Gray doubtful Thursday vs. Minnesota U ( Knee )

[DB] 08/13/2015 – George Baltimore out for season ( Shoulder )

[CB] 09/03/2015 – DeShawn Raymond doubtful Thursday vs. Minnesota U ( Undisclosed )

[DT] 09/02/2015 – Davion Pierson “?” Thursday vs. Minnesota U ( Undisclosed )

DE] 09/02/2015 – James McFarland doubtful Thursday vs. Minnesota U ( Undisclosed )

DE] 09/02/2015 – Mike Tuaua “?” Thursday vs. Minnesota U ( Undisclosed )

[DB] 09/02/2015 – Torrance Mosley “?” Thursday vs. Minnesota U ( Groin )

Minnesota —

[TE] 09/02/2015 – Duke Anyanwu expected to miss Thursday vs. TCU ( Knee )

[TE] 08/15/2015 – Lincoln Plsek “?” Thursday vs. TCU ( Back )

Summary:

TCU returns senior Heisman contender QB Trevone Boykin, two junior RBs who combined for 1500 yards rushing and receivers that accounted for 3392 yards last year. With the always stout TCU defense, combined with Minnesota’s subpar defense, TCU should more than cover this spread just as the computer program/algorithm predicts. Update: TCU seems to be having some late breaking injuries. They are all on the defensive side of the ball. As long as the TCU offense is not impacted, the TCU pick against the spread will be fine. TCU will look to be scoring as many points as possible after the bad taste from being left out of the playoffs last year.

If you would like to see the predictions and injury reports for all of Thursday’s games, along with the entire slate of games each week for the rest of the season, please sign up for the Season Subscription Membership for a one time fee of $20.