Tom's Past Picks
This is one of those times when neither team deserves to be favored. If it was Auburn who was favored I'd be here telling you to take the Kentucky moneyline. I can't wait to see how hard both these teams try to lose this game.
The Badgers have played much better in recent weeks, but the performances coincide with a serious step down in competition. Penn State's a different beast, particularly along the lines of scrimmage where I believe it'll hold a significant edge here.
When the spread opened closer to a touchdown I was happy to take the Spartans, but now that it's down to 3.5 or 4 most places, I'd rather have Sparty outright. Michigan is yet to cover as a favorite this year, and I truly don't believe it's that much better than its rival.
I don't think the version we saw of Conner Weigman is the version we should expect here. That was an avalanche of a game, and LSU's defense has made legitimate improvements over the last month. As for the LSU offense, it's a unit that struggles to finish drives in the red zone because it cannot run the ball, and has to settle for too many field goal attempts.
I mentioned in the write-up on the under that LSU struggles to finish drives, but I still think its offense is superior to what we've seen from A&M this year. Kyle Field isn't an easy place to play, but LSU isn't an easy team to beat, either.
When I see the lines posted every week I swear the books still think this is last season's Arizona team. It isn't. I don't think West Virginia is incredible, but it can score enough on this defense to win this one.
I don't know if Utah making a change at offensive coordinator will fix anything, but it can't hurt considering how this offense has played. Also, Houston may stink, but I trust that Willie Fritz will have something cooked up because a win over Utah would still be a big win for his program. Just get us to 20-17, fellas!
A couple years ago, in Mario Cristobal's first season, Florida State whooped Miami 45-3. They didn't run up the score as much as Miami couldn't stop them, but with FSU down, and Mario Cristobal understanding the situation off the field (recruiting, recruiting, recruiting), I'm fairly confident he'll take the chance to run it up here if he can. Even if he doesn't, Miami's a vastly superior team right now.
Betting the under in any game involving New Mexico can be scary. This team loves 90-second touchdown drives, whether it's on offense or defense. But I think the Lobos will have a tougher time this week on the road against a Colorado State team that could get more conservative now that it's down its best receiver.
When Illinois went on the road to face Penn State its defensive gameplan was keep everything in front of you, limit big plays, and see if you can force turnovers. I expect a similar approach here as Illinois knows its only shot is to limit possessions against an explosive Oregon squad. I can see an Oregon blowout, or a close game. What I don't see happening often is a shootout.
The Gophers are probably better than Maryland and should be favored here, but at this price? That's a lot to ask of a Minnesota team that hasn't shown an ability to score points consistently.
Don't get me wrong, we aren't in line to see some kind of ugly 17-14 game in this spot, but I think 31-28 is far more likely than the kind of score we'll need to get over where this total is posted.
I know Baylor's offense put up a 50-burger last week, but that was an outlier performance. As for Oklahoma State, this team hasn't been anything resembling good when it has the ball.
Southern Miss has been a bad team all season and fired its coach last week. I don't think we'll see a New Coach Bounce as much as we'll see a team with almost nothing left to play for. Meanwhile, James Madison is one of the Sun Belt's best teams, and it's coming off a bad loss. It'll look to take it out on somebody.
I don't hate Temple and the points seeing as how East Carolina fired its coach during the week, but I think there's more value on taking the Owls outright.