College Football Teaser Preview

The 2008 College Football season will be here before you know it.  We are busy at the moment compiling the 2008 PLAYBOOK Football Handicapper Yearbook magazine (on sale at newsstands nationwide July 8th).  Each week from now until the magazine debuts we will share with you a team preview excerpt , extracted directly from the magazine.  Enjoy...

ARIZONA STATE
Team Theme: CHEF DENNIS
The king of home cooking, Dennis Erickson, welcomes another fortuitous schedule in ’08 when his troops play host on seven occasions, including four in a row to open the campaign.  To amplify, Erickson is 48-28-3 ATS at home as a college football head coach, including 34-13 when playing off a double-digit win.  He is also a three-time PAC 10 Coach of the Year – with three different teams - and one of only two coaches to ever beat a No.1 ranked team three times in his career (Lou Holtz the other).  In what has become a solid pattern, Denny’s teams started 8-0 last season before fizzling to a 2-3 finish.  We weren’t surprised.  His teams are now 25-33-1 ATS from Game Ten out, including a dismal 6-17 as a visitor.  SR QB Rudy Carpenter is the nation’s second-best active quarterback in TD passes (65) and needs 2,620 passing yards to become ASU’s all-time leader.  It helps that his favorite target, WR Michael Jones, who led the nation in TD frequency, will return. Bon appetit.