There are some weekends you just know are going to be outstanding in college football. Week 1 nowadays usually has a handful of marquee matchups. The last weekend of the regular season is full of mega-rivalries like Michigan-Ohio State.
Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com
The first Saturday of November also is annually very important because it’s when SEC West rivals LSU and Alabama face off, and they do this Saturday in Baton Rouge. The No. 1 Tide are 14.5-point favorites over the No. 4 Tigers. It’s the biggest that LSU has been a home underdog since 1997 – they won that game at +16.5 over No. 1 Florida.
Because LSU already has a loss, it has to win here to keep its College Football Playoff hopes alive. Alabama, which clinches the West Division with a victory, probably still gets in with a close loss here assuming it wins out. The Tide have won their past seven against LSU, by an average of 13 points.
Bama-LSU isn’t the only huge SEC game. No. 6 Georgia visits No. 11 Kentucky in the biggest home game for the Wildcats in decades. The winner will take the SEC East title and a spot opposite likely Alabama in the conference title game – which Kentucky has never reached. The Dawgs are 9.5-point favorites and have won eight straight in this series, by an average of nearly 20 points.
Off handing rival Florida State its worst-ever home loss this past Saturday, could this week’s game against struggling Louisville be a bit of a letdown possibility for No. 2 Clemson? It’s also ahead of a potentially big one at Boston College for the ACC Atlantic title. The Tigers are -37.5 against the Cardinals, who are just 1-8 ATS in their past nine.
In the Big 12, No. 7 Oklahoma visits Texas Tech. The Sooners are in a three-way tie for first in the conference, while TTU is a game back. OU is a 10-point favorite and brings an 18-game road winning streak to Lubbock.
The other major Big 12 game is No. 12 West Virginia at No. 15 Texas – they are tied for first with Oklahoma. The Horns beat the Sooners, though, while the Mountaineers close the regular season against OU. Texas is -2.5 for this game and is 7-2 ATS in its past nine following back-to-back games where it failed to cover the spread.
