College football player prop: Unleashing a strong-armed slinger

With the dog days of August coming to a close and the start of the NFL season still a week away, the NCAA rightfully occupies center stage. We appreciate that the CBS Sports Network has shown CFL games on the last several Thursdays, but tonight’s offering is a collegiate clash between two East Coast schools with canine mascots. Although the UConn Huskies showed some bite last season, they are two-touchdown home underdogs to the NC State Wolfpack, whose leader is the subject of our top prop:

The bet: Over 251½ passing yards for NC State quarterback Brennan Armstrong (Bally’s)

Playing his fifth season for Virginia in 2022, Armstrong was decidedly uninspiring. He threw for half as many yards (2,210) as he had the previous year (4,449) and his passing touchdowns dropped from 31 to 7.

However, Armstrong’s regression was largely attributable to the arrival of head coach Tony Elliott and the departure of offensive coordinator Robert Anae, who spent last season at Syracuse. Longtime NC State coach Dave Doeren has hired Anae to be his team’s new OC, and the reunion with Armstrong figures to produce a prolific air attack.

In that 2021 season, Armstrong averaged better than 400 passing yards per game. He threw for more than 330 in every contest but one, and that outlier still saw him top this number. Looking to revitalize his draft stock, the grad transfer gets to open against an inexperienced UConn defense that returns just one starter in the secondary.

With Aune doggedly dialing up pass plays, Armstrong and his receivers should be able to make the Huskies roll over.