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CFB Week 6: How to bet the big games

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Last week's slate didn't disappoint unless you had higher hopes for Arkansas or Ole Miss. A 3-2 effort keeps us at 60% (9-6) ahead of our early week looks at the biggest games in college football.

Stanford at No. 22 Arizona State (-11.5, 51.5)

We're trying our best to keep the Pac-12 relevant, but they're not making it easy. Stanford knocked off Oregon, which means there are no longer any undefeated teams remaining out west.

On the plus side, Stanford gets some cache as it heads to the desert to take on Arizona State, which worked over UCLA in one of our winners last week. The Sun Devils' talented group can start their march back to national relevance with a win Friday night.

The Cardinal shouldn't be able to keep up with Jayden Daniels as easily as they were able to contain Anthony Brown. So, though 11.5 is a lot to lay here, I'll take Arizona State to run it up late on Stanford.

Pick: Arizona State -11.5

No. 21 Texas vs. No. 6 Oklahoma (-3, 63.5)

There's plenty at stake for both teams in the latest edition of the Red River rivalry. A win for either Oklahoma or Texas in the Cotton Bowl creates a path to the College Football Playoff, thanks to conference-wide troubles in the ACC and Pac-12.

Casey Thompson should have been playing this whole time, and now that he's under center and Bijan Robinson is doing jaw-dropping things with the ball and his feet, Oklahoma is finally going to get some comeuppance for its flirtations with disaster. The Longhorns get the outright win to jump into the Big-12 driver's seat.

Pick: Texas +3

No. 2 Georgia at No. 18 Auburn (+14.5, 46)

Georgia's defense is outrageous. It took roughly five minutes for Arkansas backers to realize they were in trouble on Saturday, as the Razorbacks probably needed a few more quarters to score.

I'm not sure how Auburn is supposed to score, as its offense tends to be its best when Bo Nix is running for his life. And with respect to the Tigers' two stud running backs, they're not running on the Bulldogs. Georgia may not have much room on offense, either, so I'd lean to the under instead of laying the points on the road, as the defense will travel better than either of the Georgia quarterbacks.

Pick: Under 46

No. 4 Penn State at No. 3 Iowa (-2, 42)

These two teams cracked the top five after being a lot better than we thought. I feel I've had a good handle on Iowa lately, both betting on and against it. It's a fade for me this week, as I'm going to rely on Sean Clifford to not turn it over in a hostile environment at Kinnick Stadium (a scary sentence to write).

This is the best defense Iowa has faced, as it took advantage of turnovers at Maryland last week and at Iowa State early in the season, barreling in for touchdowns on short fields. Penn State is battle-tested, but we hope to get the full three points before pulling the trigger.

Pick: Penn State +2

No. 1 Alabama at Texas A&M (+17.5, 51.5)

We treated ourselves last week by betting on Alabama, and we're going back to that. Like Georgia, the Crimson Tide go on the road after crushing the will of a conference foe that was out of its depth as an undefeated.

Texas A&M was never the top-10 team it was ranked as, but it's also not as bad as the unranked spot it's been relegated to. Zach Calzada struggled again last week, and the Aggies' defense isn't as good as they'd hoped. If Alabama can get all the way up for another game after dispatching its old pal, Lane Kiffin, betting on the Crimson Tide may be a fun strategy again.

Pick: Alabama -17.5

Matt Russell is a betting writer for theScore. If there's a bad beat to be had, Matt will find it. Find him on Twitter @mrussauthentic.

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