Ricky Dimon
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Get your popcorn ready for a big weekend on the college football gridiron. Two top-10 teams are sure to lose, as No. 2 Georgia goes up against No. 8 Arkansas and No. 7 Cincinnati runs into No. 9 Notre Dame. Another top-12 team is also assured of taking an ‘L,’ because top-ranked Alabama meets No. 12 Ole Miss. Will third-ranked Oregon be tested, too? We don’t think so.
Let’s take a look at some of our best bets for Week 5 of the college football season.
Oregon -8 over Stanford
Stanford lost at home to UCLA in Week 4, giving up 204 yards of rushing in the process. That has been a common theme for the Cardinal defense this season, as they have allowed at least 185 yards of rushing in each of their first 4 games. The offense has been fairly lousy altogether at 347.5 yards per game—including fewer than 113 on the ground. Stanford isn’t the same team that pulled off 4 wins in a row to end last season.
Oregon comes into this one ranked No. 3 following another victory last weekend against Arizona. The Ducks’ offense has been humming up to this point, averaging nearly 39 points per game on more than 203 yards rushing. Defensively, safety Bennett Williams already has 3 interceptions for a unit that’s allowing less than 20.0 ppg and has a staggering 13 total takeaways through 4 weeks. Oregon has covered in back-to-back road games, while Stanford is just 1-4 ATS in its past 5 at home.
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UConn +14.5 over Vanderbilt
This is the battle we have been waiting for; this is what people come to see. It’s 2 of the worst teams in the country going head-to-head to see which one is the actual worst of the worst in Division I football. UConn is 0-5, while Vanderbilt somehow managed to beat Colorado State and is 1-3. It’s hard to even quantify how bad of a game this will be between two horrendous teams; possibly the only edge in this game is coaching. Vanderbilt has a first-year head coach in Clark Lea, who came from Notre Dame as the defensive coordinator—and had success. UConn has an interim head coach in Lou Spanos.
Still, 2 touchdowns are a lot. The spread is too high for a game in which neither team has a capable offense. Vanderbilt averages 12.5 ppg and 284 yards per game; UConn averages 14.2 ppg and 219.5 yards. Take the points and have a good laugh while watching.
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Louisville vs Wake Forest Over 62
Wake Forest is seeing an average total of 53 ppg and has scored at least 35 points in all 4 of its games this season. QB Sam Hartman has 961 passing yards to go along with 9 touchdowns. He is at the helm of a balanced offense that is averaging 238.3 passing yards and 188.3 rushing yards. Meanwhile, Louisville games are averaging 57.3 points and the Cardinals have posted at least 24 points on every occasion. They pinned 31 on Florida State in the first half alone last weekend. Malik Cunningham leads the way with 998 passing yards, 264 rushing yards, and 13 total touchdowns. The total has gone over in 4 of the last 5 matchups between these programs and there has been an average of 81.3 ppg in those contests. Expect more fireworks on Saturday.
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At Pickswise we offer free expert College Football Picks and College Football Predictions for all games in the Power Five conferences and the top 25 teams outside of Power five, including our College Football Parlay picks each week.
