College Football Picks Week 8

Win Totals: 0 units

Week 0: -2.5 units

Week 1: +10.4 units

Week 2: -14.74 units

Week 3: -18.27 units

Week 4: +4.89 units

Week 5: -5.09 units

Week 6: +5.45 units

Week 7: +1.85 units

Season Total: -18.01 units

Last week was solid once again. My moneyline picks are not performing great this year, I nearly hit Syracuse ML +450 but they fell victim to some poor game management down the stretch against Clemson.

Clemson @ Pittsburgh (Saturday, 2:30 PM Central)

This is the biggest game of the year in the ACC, nearly all computer ratings think these are the top two teams in the conference. I agree, although I think Pitt is substantially better- they had a fluky loss to Western Michigan, but their win over Tennessee looks better and better and they have one of the top passing games in the country. Clemson’s defense will be the toughest that Pitt has faced all year, but I think this line still weighs preseason priors too heavily.

Pittsburgh -3 -110 (2 units)

Nevada @ Fresno State (Saturday, 6:00 PM Central)

Fresno State got a brief moment in the spotlight in September when they knocked off UCLA. They’ve had some hiccups since, barely beating a bad UNLV team. Nevada is led by QB Carson Strong who I think will be selected in the first round of the NFL Draft this spring. However, Nevada’s last few results are a bit misleading, they played pretty even with Boise State and got lucky to win by double digits. I think Fresno should be closer to a TD favorite.

Fresno State -3.5 -110 (1 unit)

Rice @ UAB (Saturday, 2:30 PM Central)

These teams are both among the six Conference USA schools who announced this week they will be moving to the AAC in a few years. However, their football programs are in very different spots right now. I was dead wrong about Rice, I had them over 5.5 wins in the preseason and they’ve been a disaster. UAB still has one of the top defenses in college football and has already shut out both Jacksonville State and Southern Miss, both of whom are probably better than Rice. I like UAB as a heavy favorite here, Rice will struggle to score double digits.

UAB -23.5 -110 (1 unit)