Welcome to the latest edition of the Newsweek Sports Betting newsletter, which you can start receiving in your inbox by subscribing here. Right now, here’s what your free subscription entails:
- College football weekend preview (every Thursday evening)
- NFL weekend preview (every Friday morning at 8 a.m. ET)
- College Football ATS picks (every Saturday morning at 10 a.m. ET)
- NFL ATS picks (every Sunday morning at 10 a.m. ET)
Below is this morning’s edition, which is available below, to subscribers only.
Welcome back to the college football newsletter that seems to be getting hot at the right time.
Five of the seven bets we recommended in this space last Saturday morning cashed, including a couple of underdogs.
And ICYMI, our first Thursday installment correctly suggested Tulane -6.5 over ECU on Thursday night and USF on the moneyline over North Texas last night.
In addition to our three favorite ATS picks of the day, we like Illinois Team Total Under 16.5 in Ohio State-Illinois, MIZ RB Ahmad Hardy 110+ rushing yards in Alabama-Missouri and Oregon -7.5 in this afternoon’s headliner between the Hoosiers and Ducks in Eugene.
Read the full case for each of those bets at the link below:
TCU (-2.5) at Kansas State
Kickoff: 3:30 p.m. ET (FOX)
I’m high on QB Josh Hoover and the Horned Frogs, and I expect another close loss today by 2-4 Kansas State, which is reeling halfway through a season that began with high expectations.
QB Avery Johnson and the Wildcats are just too inconsistent on offense for me to take them over a TCU team that can move the ball on anyone when it avoids turnovers.
Pick: TCU -2.5 (best odds: -105 at DK)
South Carolina at No. 11 LSU (-8.5)
Kickoff: 7:45 p.m. ET (SEC Network)
I don’t feel great about the LSU offense, by any means, but I do love the Tigers’ D, which once again played well against high-flying Ole Miss last week, albeit in a loss.
The Gamecocks have a dangerous quarterback in LaNorris Sellers, but I expect the South Carolina offense to struggle on the road against a defense that has delivered one impressive showing after another.
I don’t feel strongly about the spread in this contest, but I do like the under, especially at 44.5 at DraftKings.
Pick: Under 44.5 (best odds: -112 at DK)
No. 21 Arizona State at Utah (-9.5)
Kickoff: 10:15 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Reigning Big 12 champ Arizona State will be without star QB Sam Leavitt. With Leavitt sidelined, sixth-year QB Jeff Sims — who previously played for Georgia Tech and Nebraska — will be under center for the Sun Devils.
Sims is making his first start at one of the most difficult road venues in the nation: Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City. Sims is a good athlete who could make some plays early, but Utah is good enough defensively to force the journeyman signal-caller into some mistakes. I expect the Utes to eventually pull away and win this one by two touchdowns.
If you like Utah — whose only loss came against a Texas Tech team that looks better every week — at -9.5, move quickly, because several books have already made Kyle Whittingham’s team a double-digit favorite following the news that Leavitt is out.
Pick: Utah -9.5 (best odds: -112 at DraftKings)
