It’s always nice to win more than you lose, and Week 8 was a second straight winning week for this column. I turned in a 5-3 mark that was almost a very strong 6-2 if not for getting hooked on the Kansas-Baylor over. The season record now sits at 32-30-2.
As usual, here are the lines courtesy of our friends over at DraftKings.
And now, on with this week’s picks…
GEORGIA TECH (+24) at Florida State
Man, this is a huge line for any ACC team not named Clemson to cover. I have no idea who Georgia Tech is after a win at Pitt and a lifeless home loss to Virginia…but I’ll take 24 points here to find out.
Miami at VIRGINIA (+2)
I can’t bring myself to pick Miami for any other game on this schedule outside of maybe Georgia Tech and Pitt, depending on how the season plays out. As I’ve written many times, this team looks broken inside, and facing a suddenly-decent Brennan Armstrong on the road isn’t the answer to get right. I see another loss here, so UVA with points seems like free money.
KENTUCKY (+12) at Tennessee
Kentucky’s defense will be one of the better ones the Vols have faced this year, and we might actually see UT’s punter on the field on Saturday, which has become a bit like seeing Bigfoot this year. UK’s offense will also grind the pace of the game down a bit. It ultimately won’t matter, as Tennessee will win, but the Wildcats will do just enough to cover.
WAKE FOREST (-3.5) at Louisville
I’m not really sure why this line is this low, and while it makes me a little bit nervous, I’m not going to overthink this. Sam Hartman vs. Malik Cunningham will be fun, and we’ll see plenty of big plays by both offenses. but I trust the Hartman-led Wake offense to be a little more consistent.
Florida at GEORGIA (-22.5)
The Bulldogs seems to have recovered from that late September/early October “swoon” where they looked vulnerable. Meanwhile Florida is coming off of a close win against a bad Missouri team and having the doors blown off their defense by LSU. This will be somewhat of a game until halftime, and then Georgia will find the end zone on their first two second-half drives to blow it open.
Missouri at SOUTH CAROLINA (-4)
Speaking of getting right, that’s what the now RANKED Gamecocks have done. A win over Texas A&M marked the fourth straight for the Gamecocks and now they get the very mediocre Tigers at home in Williams-Brice Stadium. Spurs up on Saturday, y’all.
Stanford at UCLA; UNDER 66.5
I don’t really get why this total is so high. Stanford is not a good offensive team (coming off low-scoring, sluggish wins over Notre Dame and Arizona State), and it’s asking a lot of UCLA to do most of the heavy lifting and carry the Cardinal over that total.
BOSTON COLLEGE (-8) at UConn
Alright, Eagles. You gave Wake a decent fight on the road last week (well, at least for a little while before bowing out). It’s been a tough season, but this should be an opponent that BC can show up and whip. They don’t, but they still record a double digit win and cover here.
Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.