College Football Best Bets of the Week: Week 9

We have gone a bit cold recently with the last two weeks of our featured college football bets, but we are still up overall with an official record of 25-21, which includes props, straights, totals and parlays. I am confident that we get back on track this week, and we have games every day from Tuesday to Saturday, so there are plenty of opportunities for us to get to the window. Let’s get into it.

Kansas vs. Kansas State

(Kansas State -10, O/U 55.5, DraftKings Sportsbook)

The 122nd edition of the “Sunflower Showdown” takes place this week in Manhattan. and there should be plenty of fireworks in this one. Kansas State is 6-1 for the first time since 2014, and it’s the best start of the Chris Klieman era. QB Avery Johnson threw for a career-high 298 yards and 3 TDS in a blowout win over West Virginia last weekend, and this offense is humming along thanks to his development. RB DJ Giddens ranks third in the Big 12 in all-purpose yards and has proven to be a thorn in the side of opposing defenses.

The Jayhawks offense has plenty of weapons in the warchest as well with dual-threat Jalon Daniels, lead back Devin Neal and top receiver Lawrence Arnold. Neal is just 73 yards shy of becoming the all-time leading rusher in Kansas history, so they’ll be feeding him the rock often. He is also tied with June Henley with 43 career touchdowns, a mark he is surely going to break sooner rather than later.

Kansas State games have eclipsed 55.5 points in 4 of 7 while Kansas has gone above this mark in 4 straight matchups. The defenses of both programs have been subpar compared to their offense, and a shootout is inevitable.

The Pick

Over 55.5 Total Points

Temple vs. East Carolina

(ECU -7, O/U 49, DraftKings Sportsbook)

This is a matchup between two mediocre teams, and ordinarily it wouldn’t be at the top of my list to watch, but it’s one of my favorite betting spots of the week. Temple has had a rough go of things this year, and at 2-5 they’ve clearly struggled to find their footing. ECU hasn’t been much better but do come into this game with a record of 3-4.

There are quite a few trends that drew me to this game as well as the FTN Model which gives us a 13.95% edge towards ECU -7. Temple has lost each of its last 17 road games and has failed to cover the spread in four of their last five road games against conference opponents. To say they’ve struggled on the road would be an understatement. They’ve scored an average of 11.3 points in three road games this year and given up 39.3 points in that span.

Defensively, the Owls have given up an average of 32.4 PPG to their opponents along with 210 rushing YPG. Veteran back Rahjai Harris has rushed for 431 yards and 3 TDs so far this year while Penn State transfer London Montgomery has added 138 yards/1 TD. ECU has the personnel to take full advantage of this matchup, and they should be able to cover this spread at the end of the day.

The Pick

ECU -7