The best bets from this Saturday's college football slate
The college football season is now well under way and with it, our weekly college football picks.
Last week we came up with our third consecutive winning week with the help of a miracle cover from the Florida Gators and an up-and-down performance from Alabama. This week we'll look to keep those winning ways going.
It's another tough week out there — conference play is about to make college football even more stressful for die-hard fans and there are a ton of ranked teams heading out on the road leaving us with many home underdogs that could put together something special in prime time.
We've narrowed it down to our seven best bets of the week and will see if we can come out ahead of the bookies once again.
All lines courtesy of the Westgate Las Vegas Superbook.
Florida (-2) over Kentucky
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Florida did not look impressive offensively last week but they were able to pull out a miracle cover for bettors with the help of a last second Hail Mary being answered by the gambling gods. This line is too low and it smells like a trap game, but Florida is currently sporting a 30-game win streak against the Wildcats dating back to 1986. All streaks have to end at some point, but few trends in gambling go back that far.
Alabama (-18.5) over Vanderbilt
Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
We've cashed our bets for two consecutive weeks by betting against Alabama covering big numbers against lesser-known schools, and following that trend on a surging, 3-0 Vanderbilt team is a tempting offer. But facing their first SEC opponent on a national stage, this is a good spot to pick Alabama to put it all together and lay the smack down on the Commodores. Nick Saban has only done what he needed to do to win these past couple of weeks, but with murmurs of Clemson jumping Bama in the rankings, expect the Crimson Tide to come out and make a statement.
Penn State (-12.5) over Iowa
AP Photo/Chris Knight
Iowa is known throughout the Big Ten for playing spoiler to teams that think of themselves as championship-bound, and most recently accomplished the feat last season against a second-ranked Michigan squad. Penn State also knows this fact all too well, most notably losing in Iowa City in 2008 after coming into town undefeated and ranked third in the nation. While the Nittany Lions beat up on the Hawkeyes last year as a bit of long-awaited revenge, there's still a bit of lingering desire to bury Iowa in their home town. At the very least, they'll know not to take Iowa too lightly.
All of this said, if you like to bet with karma on your side, betting against Iowa and the best new tradition in college sports might not be the best place to put your money.
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