It’s week nine of the college football season, and NC State is off again, but we still have a number of great picks for this weekend.
Iowa (-10) at Northwestern
No. 20 Iowa is traveling to Northwestern this Saturday at noon as a 10-point favorite.Iowa (5-2) has only lost this year to No. 6 Penn State and No. 19 Michigan, and both losses were by a touchdown or less. Three of its wins were blowouts, and the other two were a 6-point win over Purdue (2-5) and a 1-point win over No. 23 Iowa State (5-2).
Northwestern’s (1-5) only win was against UNLV early in the season.Despite being at home, the team hasn’t had success, and Iowa is not a team to make mistakes and throw the game away.
Iowa is always a solid defensive team that likes to control the ball, so I wouldn’t normally take the spread here, but Northwestern doesn’t deserve to be less than a two-touchdown underdog, even at home
The pick: Iowa -10
Miami at Pittsburgh (-6)
There is a pretty big difference in the win column between Miami (3-4)and Pittsburgh (5-2)but in both cases, the record could be drastically different. All four of the Hurricanes loses came by a touchdown or less, including a four-point loss to Florida.Of the Panthers’ five wins, the largest margin was a 10-point victory over Ohio.
In the case of this game, it would be difficult to choose a winner, which is why I like Miami to cover. Honestly, if Miami was favored by six the pick might also be the cover, so it’s more based on who is playing, not the matchup against each other.
The pick: Miami +6
Oklahoma at Kansas State (Total: 57.5)
All football fans know Oklahoma is going to score. The Sooners have scored at least 34 points in every game this season, while the average is above that at over 50 points per game.If Oklahoma has an average game, it gets the total to at least 40-50 points.
The big question for bettors is probably: can Kansas State score enough? Well, Oklahoma hasn’t necessarily had a shutdown defense, giving up at least 14 points in every game with the average at almost 20.Kansas State is scoring over 30 points per game, more than enough to get this total over.
Oklahoma is also not getting enough love at the national level. While they still have time to get into the playoffs, the Sooners would like to make a statement every week for the College Football Playoff committee.
The pick: Over 57.5
Last week, Technician assistant social media editor Anderson Brewer went 1-2 with a 6-OT win by Virginia Tech, an NC State meltdown at Boston College and an 11-point cover by Florida.
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