Friday Forecasts: FCS coach a flexbone genius

Kennesaw State head coach Brian Bohannon talks into his head set during an NCAA college football game against Edward Waters, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2015, in Kennesaw, Ga. (AP Photo/Lisa Marie Pane)

Told you last week that it was preposterous to make Army a 31-point underdog against Oklahoma.

Anyway, enough gloating. Onto this week’s picks made with odds as of Thursday night from Vegasinsider.com.

1 — Samford +9 at Kennesaw State:

Kennesaw State first fielded a football team in 2015 and the Owls already are ranked No. 4 in the FCS national rankings.

Incredible.

How is that possible?

Well, KSU shook the right coaching tree, the most underrated coaching tree in college football.

Brian Bohannon, 47, is the latest from the Paul Johnson coaching tree to accomplish amazing things, following Navy’s Ken Niumatalolo and Army’s Jeff Monken.

Bohannon worked for Johnson for 16 years at Georgia Southern, Navy and Georgia Tech. Clearly, Bohannon was paying attention.

Hired in the spring of 2013, Bohannon’s organizational and evaluation skills and ability to teach the flexbone offense and recruit to that system enabled him to quickly assemble a competitive season. Somehow, Bohannon coached Kennesaw State to a 6-5 record in its debut season, improved to 8-3 in 2016 and 12-2 last season with a trip to the quarterfinal round of the FCS, where Sam Houston State bounced the Owls, 34-27.

KSU’s only other loss came at the hands of Samford, 28-23.

The Owls seek revenge Saturday.

Predicted score: Kennesaw State 38, Samford 31

Pick vs. spread: Samford

2 (Best bet) — Virginia Tech +5 at Duke: This a tough game for Ryan Willis to be making his first Hokies start. Duke ranks tied for 16th in the nation by giving up 15.3 points per game.

Predicted score: Duke 31, Virginia Tech 17

Pick vs. spread: Duke

3 — Oklahoma State -17 at Kansas: So let me get this straight: The Cowboys scored 17 points against Texas Tech and is favored by that many points on the road?

Too big a spread.

Predicted score: Oklahoma State 24, Kansas 17

Pick vs. spread: Kansas

Last week’s record: 2-1

Best bet record: 1-0

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