The final thoughts, a few predictions, and some investment advice to make your life a heck of a lot better than it currently is.
Week 8 Fearless Predictions, Game Previews
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After a weird week of big games that didn’t exactly fall flat, but didn’t quite live up the billing and hype, this is a placeholder weekend. There are life-changing battles, but maybe there’s another South Carolina-Georgia waiting to pop out.
This is all for spits, giggles, and entertainment purposes only, however, just in case you dabble …
Week 8 Final Thoughts, Investment Advice
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Florida Atlantic doesn’t do anything all that well, and it isn’t getting much of anything from the offensive line, but it seems to have found the formula that works. Marshall doesn’t have an offense, but it’s a good team to think there’s a shot it could pull this off outright – if you like the money line here … boom – but don’t expect a whole lot of points, and again, FAU has something figured out.
– CFN Game Preview, Prediction
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Revisionist history time on UNLV? Nah … blow off the win over Vanderbilt. This is still a mediocre-to-awful team about to deal with a Fresno State squad that’s trying to kickstart its season. The line went down from 16.5 to FSU -14.5 – it should’ve been going the other way.
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ACC Betting Advice, Final Thoughts
There’s a good chance Pitt is a whole lot better than we all thought. There’s good chance it somehow finds its way back into the ACC Championship. There’s a good chance Syracuse is just awful. There’s a good chance Pitt can win this thing and not cover the 3.5. The Orange are WAYYYYYY overdue to come up with a solid performance. The line might just go up to 4.5ish around gametime.
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The Florida State blowout included, who else thinks playtime is about over for Clemson and it’s about to really kick it into high gear. Louisville is playing well, it has the offense to throw at least a wee bit of a scare into the Tigers, but be really, really scared that your defending national champions started their ACC Reality Tour last week. The 24 is a lot to give up, but the defense is better than everyone thinks.
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Oh, like you have a handle on Boston College or NC State right now. Like nothing about this game. NC State is sort of better, but it’s a road game. BC’s AJ Dillon might run for 400 yards, but the Pack will load up without worrying about QB Anthony Brown playing. The line going down to State -3 helps, and the under on the 52 is probably right, but to be honest, that’s throwing darts when it comes to these two at the moment.
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You’re not going to like this … like Georgia Tech catching 18.5 against Miami. No, the Yellow Jackets might not score, and yes, the Hurricanes have found something over the last six quarters, but those are a TON of points to give away considering how offensively challenged these two are. Hopefully, you were one of those who got in when it was at 20 to bring the line down. More than that, this is a solid under play at 45.5.
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Don’t look now, but Virginia Tech is starting to play well. The line has held steady at North Carolina -3.5, and that’s about right. Go ahead and go hard whichever way you like it. The Hokies could rise up at home, but UNC is just flaky enough to pull this off … it’ll be close either way.
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Okay, Virginia. Enough. After two straight bad games from the offensive line, only giving away three now at home – it was at 3.5 – isn’t bad at all. The Cavaliers are better than they’ve shown against the Notre Dame and Miami lines – they’re overdue for a good performance.
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The Florida State-Wake Forest point total of 68 is right at where it should be. If you’re going to go either way, go with the over, considering neither of these defenses are going to stop the other’s offense. Not that you needed that extra point, but if you liked the Demon Deacons before at 2.5, LOVE them at 1.5.
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Week 8 Final Thoughts, Investment Advice
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Big 12 Betting Advice, Final Thoughts
Warning … I keep liking West Virginia to cover massive spreads, and it keeps on disappointing. The 33.5 the Mountaineers are giving away to Oklahoma are way, way too many. The Sooners are going to win – WVU just doesn’t like to score – but the Mountaineer D is JUST good enough to keep the machine to around 40ish points.
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Which Texas Tech team is going to show up? Do you really believe in Iowa State being this good on the road again? Not sure, and yeah. The Red Raider defense is way too flaky, and the Cyclones have been way too good. Expect more of a shootout than the 57 point total, but gulp hard on the Cyclones giving up seven.
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Can TCU PLEASE give us two good games in a row from this defense? Kansas State doesn’t have quite enough offense to go off if the Horned Frogs show up with the defense that’s as good as it’s supposed to be, but we’ve been hurt before. The 3.5 isn’t that many to give away on the road, but even at the midway point we still don’t quite have any normalcy out of either of these two.
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If you like Baylor to be Baylor, then in theory you should like the under on the 68.5 against Oklahoma State. The Bear defense has been just good enough to keep in control throughout the season. However, Oklahoma State at home has more firepower than BU has had to deal with so far. This can be sort of a shootout and still go under.
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Yes, Kansas gave Texas a nightmare of a time last season, and yes it might be a letdown game of sorts. Don’t worry that the world is jumping on the Jayhawks – this was a give at Texas -23, and it’s even nicer now at 21. If the Longhorns and their offense can’t cover that against a KU team that’s fine, but doesn’t really have the D, that’s not your fault.
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Week 8 Final Thoughts, Investment Advice
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Big Ten Betting Advice, Final Thoughts
Northwestern might not score. Start from there and figure out what you need from a rested Ohio State. The line has remained steady at OSU -27.5, and the Wildcats are able to muck it up a bit and keep scores low – look at the Wisconsin game – but the biggest concern is effort. Northwestern will get its doors blown off, and it’ll keep trying. Whatever. Expect the line to go up just before game time.
– CFN Game Preview, Prediction
– Bet on this, BetMGM latest line
A whole lot of reasonably smart people are begging America to go with Illinois at home catching 31 against Wisconsin. The problem continues to be a Badger D that you’d think would buckle just a wee bit once in a while, and outside of the win over Northwestern, it just doesn’t. Even so, the Illini O should come up with at least a few scoring drives, and Wisconsin should just be business-like, get up, take the win, and get out.
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As much as Purdue was the right play against Maryland last week – because it was way overdue for a big game – is now the opposite the other way against Iowa. The Hawkeyes have spent the last two games dealing with Michigan and Penn State – the offense would like to come out and play now. The 17.5 shouldn’t be any semblance of an issue.
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AT SOME POINT Rutgers has to be able to do SOMETHING … right? This whole Minnesota dominance thing has only come up over the last six quarters in the win over Illinois and last week’s whacking of Nebraska. Assume the Scarlet Knights can finally get one touchdown – that might just be enough to cover the 28.5 at home.
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Originally I thought the Terps could hang with and handle Indiana enough to win outright, and at least cover the 5.5 … nah. The world isn’t giving the Hoosiers quite enough credit, and it’s not dogging the painfully underwhelming Terps enough. It’ll be interesting to see where the line moves before kickoff, but the people who know Maryland seem to think this could be a way-easy call the other way – the team is just too banged up.
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Iowa was JUST a two-point conversion away from covering against Penn State. It was a ridiculous call to take the Nittany Lions to win in Iowa City and not cover the 3.5, but it almost happened. Keeping in mind that the last several Michigan-Penn State games have been ugly blowouts, assume a defensive fight, assume the Nittany Lion offense isn’t going to blow up, and LOVE that a Wolverine team that could win this outright is getting nine. Love the under on the 47 just as much.
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Week 8 Final Thoughts, Investment Advice
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Pac-12 Betting Advice, Final Thoughts
Seriously, betting world? How are you not stomping the under on the 52 between Oregon State – Cal. Have you not seen what the Bears are doing defensively? The Beaver offense might be a little bit scary, but it got slowed to a stop by Utah last week, and it’s not going to go off in Berkeley. Stay away from the line Cal around 11 is right, and it’s been going between 11.5 and 10.5.
– CFN Game Preview, Prediction
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When trying to choose between the flaky and the steady, assume the steady will be just that, and the flaky will do whatever it’s going to do. Has the Oregon defense given you any reason so far to assume that it’s not going to show up large against Washington? The Huskies can absolutely rise up and win this at home, but the Ducks appear to be special. Washington is great, but memories of the Stanford debacle are too fresh. Giving away three with Oregon isn’t asking for too much.
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Utah is a whole lot better than you think, but the public is going in big against Arizona State, moving the line from 12.5 to 14 in some places. The Utes have the defense to turn the lights out – there won’t be any sort of a Sun Devil running game – but be careful. Remember, Herm Edwards took his team to East Lansing to face a brutish Michigan State team, and won. He also took his squad to deal with Cal’s defense, and won. Utah, though, has the offense, too.
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Washington State is a whole lot of flash, and fun, and weird … and it’s not very good. Colorado has the offensive firepower to be a whole lot better than it was in the loss to Oregon last week, and it’s getting a TON of points. The Buffs were a great play at +11.5, and now it has gone up to 13. Be careful on the total, though – getting to 71 isn’t a given, even with these two Os.
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Can Khalil Tate finally come up with a decent game against USC? The Trojans are a way-different team at home, and they should be able to bomb away on the Arizona defense, but if you can get in on the Cats as double-digit dogs, do it. It’s a good chance to take just in case Tate goes off.
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Week 8 Final Thoughts, Investment Advice
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SEC Betting Advice, Final Thoughts
No, no, no, no, no … don’t start thinking that South Carolina all of a sudden has the team in place to go on a run, and don’t think that the Georgia game was an indication of anything. The Gamecock offense still doesn’t really work, and Florida – as banged up as it is – is still really good. The public seems to like USC – the line has gone down from Gators -5.5 to 5 – and that could soon look very, very silly if Florida’s head is in Columbia and not still in Baton Rouge.
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Arkansas has a funky way of hanging around with teams, and Auburn has a funky way of winning games and not coming up with massive blowouts – Mississippi State game aside. The Tigers have LSU next week, they can’t afford any more injuries at running back, and they should be able to get in, get the win, and get out without a lot of fanfare. The 19 the Hogs are getting – up from 16.5 -should be topped out.
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The LSU – Mississippi State line is creeping down just a wee bit. LSU was -18, it’s pushing down a wee bit to 17.5, and it all might not matter if the machine keeps on rolling. Don’t think here ….Mississippi State isn’t good, LSU is amazing, and every time it seems like Joe Burrow is about to have an off game, he doesn’t.
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I’m going to be really, really, really, really, REALLY ticked if Vanderbilt decides to play this week. It’s Vanderbilt. There was no looking ahead past UNLV – there’s no looking past anyone if you’re this team. Missouri started out at 21.5, and it has gone down to 21. Take Mizzou out of spite for what the Commodores did to the world against UNLV last week.
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Every time it seems like Georgia is about to kick it all in and be the amazing team we all think it is, it isn’t. However, the defense has been fine. Lost in the gack to South Carolina was how the Bulldog D managed to all but shut the O down, and it’s going to do the same to Kentucky. Come on, Georgia. You have too much talent for this to not be a total and complete wipeout.
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Who else is waiting on this whole Texas A&M thing to be good? The schedule has been tough, but the team isn’t rocking and rolling against anyone. It’s been an underwhelming season, and now it has to deal with a road game against an Ole Miss team that’s suddenly sort of fun. The line has gone up from 5.5 to 6 – if you like the Rebels, hammer away. However, A&M is WAY overdue for a strong performance.
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Speaking of underwhelming …
Alabama’s defense has been just okay, but hardly amazing. The 34.5 the Tide are giving away to Tennessee might seem like a whole lot, but there’s a reasonable shot that this is when the whole package works. Be sort of shocked if the Vols get to double-digit points, and go from there. That includes thinking about the under if you think Tennessee might be held to – say – six points.
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Week 8 Final Thoughts, Investment Advice
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