Skip to content

College Football Betting Preview: Week 9 picks

Jeremy Brevard / USA TODAY Sports

Each week during the college football season, theScore's Dane Belbeck will handicap the board and offer up a three-pack of picks.

Boston College at NC State (-15)

Boston College hasn't won a conference game since Nov. 29, 2014, and that isn't going to change this weekend against NC State. The Wolfpack are coming off a brutal two-game stretch featuring road contests against No. 3 Clemson and No. 5 Louisville, and host No. 12 Florida State next week. NC State needs this game to ensure their bowl eligibility, and our bet is they act accordingly. To put it bluntly, Boston College's offense is a dumpster fire, averaging only 11 points per game against ACC opponents. The Eagles will struggle to hit the 15-point mark, and the Wolfpack will easily hit the 30-plus plateau, something they have done in every home game this year that wasn't played in a hurricane. NC State 34, Boston College 10

No. 10 West Virginia at Oklahoma State (+4)

No. 10 West Virginia's defense has been on an absurd role as of late, holding the nation's second-ranked offense Texas Tech and 29th-ranked offense TCU to 17 and 10 points respectively. The Mountaineers will be asked to answer the bell yet again, traveling to Oklahoma State to face the 14th-best offense in the land. Three shutdown efforts in a row seems out of the question at this point, and the Cowboys as home underdogs is an attractive spot. Oklahoma State 31, West Virginia 24

No. 15 Auburn (-4) at Ole Miss

Auburn is the best running team in the SEC, averaging a whopping 302 yards per contest, while Ole Miss is last at stopping the run, allowing 226 yards a game, just 5 yards worse than Arkansas. The Tigers rolled the Razorbacks for an absurd 543 yards on the ground last week, and it's hard to believe they won't have similar success on the road versus the Rebels. If Auburn can limit Chad Kelly like LSU did last week, this one could get out of hand. Gus Malzahn and Auburn wins its fifth straight game behind another dominant rushing performance. Auburn 34, Ole Miss 27

Other games of note

UCF at Houston (-9)

Houston looked absolutely atrocious last weekend, getting stomped as 20-point favorites to SMU, while UCF posted a solid road win over UConn. There's a reason every struggling program in the country is falling all over themselves to get to Tom Herman, and that will show itself on Saturday in Houston. Herman will have the Cougars firing on all cylinders, and shutting down the Knights spread-based attack. Houston 41, UCF 24

No. 7 Nebraska (+9) at No. 11 Wisconsin

No. 11 Wisconsin's defense is exceptional, allowing just 14.3 points per contest, but will be without leading tackler Jack Cichy due to a torn pectoral muscle. Nebraska is undefeated on its way to the seventh spot in the recent AP poll, but has yet to face an opponent as good as the Badgers. Luckily for the Cornhuskers, the Badgers' terrible offense won't be able to create enough separation to cover the nine points. Wisconsin 17, Nebraska 14

Miami at Notre Dame (+2.5)

Notre Dame has to win four of its remaining five games to become bowl eligible. Anyone saying that in August would have been met with a round of laughter, but here we are. Has the defense recovered from its awful start in the first five weeks, or have they just played a game in a hurricane and against an offensively inept Stanford program the past two weeks? Brian Kelly is running out of people to blame in South Bend, but luckily for the embattled coach, he won't have to after the Fighting Irish get back on track with a win. Miami is 1-3 on the season against Power 5 teams, and will drop to 1-4 in South Bend on Saturday. Notre Dame 28, Miami 24

Picks Summary
NC State -15 (Gold)
Oklahoma State +4 (Silver)
Auburn -4 (Bronze)
Houston -9
Nebraska +9
Notre Dame +2.5

Season Record

Gold: 5-3
Silver: 3-3-2
Bronze: 5-3
Other: 14-10
Overall: 27-19-2

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox