Arkansas State vs Central Arkansas 9/4/21 College Football Picks, Odds, Predictions

The Arkansas State Red Wolves face the Central Arkansas Bears Saturday, September 4 in week 1 college football action from Centennial Bank Stadium. This will be the first game of the year for both teams. Central Arkansas is coming off a 5-4 campaign last fall, winning three of their last four games. As for Arkansas State, they went 4-7 last year, finishing in third place in their division. Check back all season long for free college football picks at Sports Chat Place. 

Central Arkansas opted out of the spring season and managed to get in nine games last fall. The Bears finished 4-5 in those games, losing three of their first five before a late-season surge that produced better results. Central AR posted wins over Missouri State, Missouri Western and Eastern Kentucky in their final quartet. 

Head coach Nathan Brown will be back on the Central Arkansas sideline for his fourth season this year, as will offensive coordinator Ken Collums. The Bears get a new face at defensive coordinator, bringing in Matt Kitchens to run that unit. 

Over on the Arkansas State side, they managed a disappointing 4-7 record last year, with a 2-6 mark in Sun Belt play. That result left the Wolves in third place in the West Division, behind Louisiana (7-1) and South Alabama (3-5). 

Arkansas State started the year off fairly well with a 3-2 record, but then hit a five-game losing streak that squashed any hope at competing for the division. The good news is that the Red Wolves finished strong with a 48-15 win over Louisiana-Monroe on December 5. 

The over is 5-1 in the Bears’ last six overall and 5-1 in their last six non-conference games. The over is 5-1 in Central AR’s last six on turf and 5-1 in their last six road games. 

Meanwhile, the Red Wolves are 4-0 ATS in their last four non-conference games and 5-2 ATS in their last seven home games. AR State is 1-4 ATS in their last five on turf and the over is 5-2 in their last seven at home. 

PICK: I’m going to stick with the Red Wolves here, and this should be an interesting game all around. Arkansas State led the Sun Belt in total offense last year but they were fifth in scoring with 490 yards and 33 points per game. Arkansas State loses their top two receivers, but they’ll make up for that with a great crop of talent coming in via transfer. 

As for the Bears, they should be stronger this year as well. QB Breylin Smith has great targets in Tyler Hudson and Lujuan Winningham, so we can expect a healthy dose of shots down the field. I like Central Arkansas to hang around in this one before the Red Wolves eventually bang out a cover.