Stanford Steve and The Bear: Week 9 college football picks, bets and nuggets
"Stanford Steve" Coughlin and Chris "The Bear" Fallica preview Week 9 of the 2022 college football season as only they can, offering their top bets, nuggets and totals worth wagering on. Take a look and see who the fellas like in the big
Ohio State Buckeyes at
Penn State Nittany Lions game.
Odds and lines are from Caesars Sportsbook unless otherwise noted.
Records:
The Bear (Last week: 4-1. Season: 29-14-1)
Stanford Steve (Last week: 3-2. Season: 18-16-1)
The plays
Ohio State Buckeyes (-15.5, 62) at Penn State Nittany Lions
The Bear: Much has been made about the ATS success James Franklin has had in the series with Ohio State and the thought Penn State got right last week vs, Minnesota. But that was a one-dimensional Minnesota offense. There was zero threat of a passing attack with freshman
Athan Kaliakmanis making his first start. Now the Nittany Lions have to deal with all of the challenges Ohio State brings. If the Buckeyes don't turn it over, they should win handily.
Pick: Ohio State -15.5
East Carolina at BYU (-3, 62)
Stanford Steve: This one is all about the situation. BYU is fresh off a cross country flight back from an embarrassing 41-14 loss at Liberty. ECU is coming off what might be the biggest win under head coach Mike Houston, throttling a favored UCF team by 21 points. BYU has gone through a gauntlet of opponents recently, playing the likes of Liberty, Arkansas, Notre Dame and Oregon. A night game in Provo is just what Kelani Sitake needs now. We'll lay the points with the home team.
Pick: BYU -3 (BYU 27 East Carolina 20)
Missouri Tigers at South Carolina Gamecocks (-4, 46.5)
The Bear: I had South Carolina last week and was very happy to get the win, but there was a tad of good fortune as the Gamecocks had just 286 yards, scored on a KO return and another on a 19-yard touchdown drive. A lot went their way. That ranking number is now to the left of their name and Missouri has just enough on offense and has been good against the run. This appears like an obvious spot to back the dog in what could be a letdown spot for South Carolina.
Pick: Missouri +4
Toledo (-6.5, 55) at Eastern Michigan
Stanford Steve: I'm sorry. I cant wait another week for MACTION. I need it now. The Rockets are fresh off of high scoring game loss at Buffalo and look to be a little beat up. Now, they play Chris Creighton and his boys on the "granite" turf in ole Ipsilanti. Eastern has some nice wins under their belt and have been tested already this season. They don't play a pretty brand of ball, but we'll take the home underdog plus the points here.
Pick: Eastern Michigan +6.5 (Eastern Michigan 24 Toledo 23)
Ole Miss (-2, 55) at Texas A&M
The Bear: The Aggies are a dumpster fire right now, but I like them here. I don't think Ole Miss will have much success running against the A&M front and despite all of the issues A&M has had this season, its defense has played well. Obviously the Aggies QB situation is a bit of a question, but I think the defense and
Devon Achane should be enough to pull the small upset.
Pick: Texas A&M +2
Pittsburgh at No. 21 North Carolina (-3, 64.5)
Stanford Steve: If you haven't watched UNC QB
Drake Maye, you need to. He's been simply sensational, ranks second in the country in TD passes with 24, is leading an offense that is sixth in the FBS in yards per play, and eighth in FBS in points per game. Pitt on the other hand could not have looked worse, coming off a bye at Louisville last week. They lost 24-10, while committing four turnovers. So, shouldn't the ranked team at home be giving more than 3 points? Smells fishy, we'll take the boys from the 'Burgh plus the points and hold our butts against Maye and the Tar Heels offense.
Pick: Pitt +3 (North Carolina 31 Pitt 30)
The Bear's money-line parlay
Like some big favorites but don't want to lay the points? Here are some to parlay together.
$100 returns $113.97
Last Week: -100
Season: -228
Houston Cougars -900
Florida State Seminoles -2500
Ohio State Buckeyes -630
Georgia Bulldogs -2100
Oregon Ducks -950
USC Trojans -650
Michigan Wolverines -3000
San Jose State Spartans -2800
UCLA Bruins -850
The Bear's underdogs to play on the money line
Last Week: 1-4, -2.65 units
Season: 7-24, -12.5 units
Washington State Cougars +225
Missouri Tigers +165
West Virginia Mountaineers +240
Notre Dame Fighting Irish +120
Pittsburgh Panthers +130
Bear bytes
Entering this week, there have been 36 games involving a Top 5 team. 31 have featured a spread of 14 points or more. Three of the four Top 5 teams in action this week have a spread of 14 or more, meaning of the 40 games involving Top 5 teams, 34 have seen a spread of 14 or more.
Unranked UCF is favored over No. 20 Cincinnati. Dating back to last year, there have been 13 unranked teams favored over ranked teams, those 13 teams have gone 3-10 ATS.
No. 2 Ohio State (-15.5, 62) at No. 13 Penn State
Under James Franklin, Penn State is 2-14 vs Top 10 teams and since upsetting Wisconsin to win the 2016 Big Ten Championship, the Nittany Lions are 0-10 vs Top 10 teams, however five of the losses have come by four points or fewer.
Penn State Under James Franklin vs Top Ten Teams
W-L Record: 2-13
Since 2016 Big Ten Championship: 0-10 (Five games decided by four points or fewer)
No. 9 Oklahoma State at No. 22 Kansas State (-1.5, 56.0)
Since 2016, Mike Gundy has excelled in these types of games. Oklahoma State is 14-3 in games where the spread is within +3.5/-3.5. Even more impressive is that since 2010, Gundy's teams are 13-2 away from home in situations like this.
Oklahoma (-1, 56.0) at Iowa State
Under Matt Campbell, Iowa State has been involved in 20 games in which the spread was within -3.5/+3.5. Iowa State is 5-15 (.250) in those 20 games. In that span -- since 2016 -- only one coach has a worse winning percentage in "close spread" games (min 10 games). Kliff Kingsbury (1-9, .100).
Miami (-2.0, 48.0) at Virginia
The Canes have been favored five times this season over FBS opponents. They have failed to cover any of the five and lost outright to North Carolina as a four-point favorite, to Duke as a 10-point favorite and to Middle Tennessee as a 25.5-point favorite.
SMU (-2.5, 64.0) at Tulsa
Dating back to 2019, Tulsa has been an underdog 16 times, its covered 13 and won four outright. The only three the Golden Hurricane didn't cover was a 2020 bowl loss to Miss State (one-point dog, lost by two), a 2019 loss to Tulane (10-point dog, lost by 12) and a push vs Cincinnati in September (10-point dog, lost by 10).
Florida at No. 1 Georgia (-22.5, 56.5)
Favorites have won and covered six of the last seven meetings. This is the 3rd biggest spread in the rivalry behind Florida -34 in 1996 and Florida -23.5 in 1995 (the Gators won and covered both).
No. 8 Oregon (-17, 58) at California
Justin Wilcox teams are 25-10 ATS as an underdog with 13 outright wins (2-1 ATS this year).