Every Friday evening, Taking Bets gets you ready for the weekend's football with some ideas on the bets to make. It's Mallory McCormack, host of The Staredown podcast, Blaine Duncan, editor-in-chief and host of the TV podcast Taking It Down, and TD Wood, host of Takin' On Sports.
2023 ATS Record
Blaine Duncan: 12-17-2 (Week Eight: 1-3)
TD Wood: 17-14 (Week Eight: 1-3)
Mallory McCormack: 20-9-2 (Week Eight: 3-1)
Blaine Duncan
I'll step out of my comfort zone in an effort to get at least a couple of wins this week; my comfort zone was basically a pile of shit, anyway, and I got to get some juice!
Oregon at Utah (OVER: 47.5) -- Getting that 0.5 helps none, but I think that the Ducks have good enough offensive play to make Utah have to score a lot to keep it close. And Utah could very well win at home. But in order to do so, they have to put up the points against Oregon.
Oregon State at Arizona (+3) -- As far back as the Mike Riley days, Oregon State has been a team that wins the games that they aren't supposed to win and lose the games where they should get a victory. It's not rocket science, so I'm thinking this is where the Beavers lose another, which would knock them well out of the Playoff contention and probably the PAC-12. The Wildcats are at home, so home dogs -- or in this case, cats -- it is.
UNLV at Fresno State (-7.5) -- Both of these Mountain West teams have only one loss each, but it's Fresno State who has one in the conference. The Bulldogs need to win to stay in the running for the conference. They're at home. They'll win by 9 points.
NFL Game of the Week:
Bengals at 49ers (-3.5) -- Assuming the 49ers don't announce any new injuries between now and Sunday afternoon, they should use McCaffrey, who looked well enough last week, to get a win.
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TD Wood
Well, moving on from whatever the hell last week was, the theme this week is big numbers. These lines jumped out at me, and I hope this doesn't bite me in the ass.
South Carolina (+15.5) at Texas A&M -- The Aggies defense is in shambles. One week Jalen Milroe throws for over 300 on them, then next Tennessee tunes them up for over 200 yards on the ground. I really like getting these points against that defense. The Gamecocks are far from trustworthy, but this game has "weird" written all over it.
Colorado (+16.5) at UCLA -- The Buffs had a bye week to get over their horrible loss to Stanford, and I expect them to come out hot in this one. I also expect Dante Moore and the Bruins to fire right back. This should be a made-for-TV college football game: two star QBs leading explosive offenses, great uniform matchup, all set to a Rose Bowl at dusk background.
Vanderbilt at Ole Miss (-24.5) -- Let's go with a big favorite, this time. The Rebels have had three one-score games in a row, and they just need a break. Luckily, the Vandy defense is the cure for that. Lane Kiffin's boys should feast on their way to an easy win.
NFL Game of the Week:
Ravens (-9.5) at Cardinals -- I hate myself for making this pick, already, but this really should be an easy win for Baltimore. They destroyed a pretty good Detroit team last Sunday, there's no reason they shouldn't dominate this game.
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Mallory McCormack
I survived NYC and New Jersey (shout out to Hoboken for it's crazy party scene!) and didn't do too shabby on my picks. My Rebels and Giants both were victorious and I came away with a new love for New York and especially fall and football in New York. But enough about me, let's talk football lines this week. And a word to the wise, don't steal these picks the way Michigan *allegedly* stole signs from, well, everyone...
Mississippi State at Auburn (-6.5) — Talk about a game I never thought I would want anything to do with, but here we are. I'm glad Auburn didn't find it's rhythm until their last drive of the game against my Rebels last weekend because it could have been a not-so-great Saturday night for me. The Tigers are prime for a win and State looked sluggish at best against Arkansas. Also, there's definitely no love lost between Freeze and MSU so look for some frustrations to be taken out on the Bulldogs on Saturday.
Tennessee (-3.5) at Kentucky — Tennessee played an incredible first half against Bama last week. And then Mrs. Terri made sure the Bama boys knew she was displeased. Kentucky did not look great against Missouri and I think that carries over even after an off week.
UNC (-11.5) at Georgia Tech — Did anyone see Virginia stunning UNC last week? I sure didn't. I think UNC got a little comfortable and they realize now if they want to stay relevant moving out of October, they can't let the Rambling Wreck wreck their post season dreams. They make a statement.
NFL Game of the Week:
Texans (-3.0) at Panthers -- I was so tempted to pick a few different games like Giants at Jets, Jags at Steelers, and Bengals at 49ers. But I didn't. So here we are. The Texans definitely have it more together than the Panthers so I see them going into the Queen City and taking this one.
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Note: All games are Against the Spread. Odds are taken from the Caesar's Sportsbook.