MLB Best Bets – Free (Wednesday 7/24)
Josh Gross
After an entertaining and profitable first two weeks of college football, Week 3 hit us like a ton of bricks. The setback isn’t ideal, but we can now fully turn the page from 2020 as we have enough of a sample size to adjust projections. Sometimes getting expectations out of the way is the cleanest pathway to profiting.
One of the simplest ways to walk away a bigger winner each college football Saturday is to take advantage of parlays. Stacking lines and totals offer tremendously good value compared to individual bets. Of course, we want to jump into the action.
We have three great parlays available that we had to jump on. We’ll continue to break down the main slate like this for each week of the season. Welcome to Week 4.
Washington State Cougars vs. Utah Utes (2:30 p.m. ET Saturday)
(Utah -14, O/U 48, DraftKings Sportsbook)
Washington State has some great individual pieces. Going to quarterback Jayden De Laura was the right call thanks to his big-play ability. Playmakers Max Borghi and Calvin Jackson and Travell Harris are also great surrounding parts in a healthy attack.
Utah has a good-but-not-great run defense. It’d be smart for the Cougars to really commit to establishing Borghi as the dual threat he is out of the backfield. The Utes’ long secondary can give De Laura more issues if they attempt 40 throws than if the Cougars work to run the clock and win the trench battle.
The individual parts of the Utah offense are more interesting than the total unit. Charlie Brewer has been acceptable as a starter but nothing special. The rushing combination of Tavion Thomas and Micah Bernard have been as statistically impressive as anyone, but not enough as Utah sits at 1-2.
Brewer has to take advantage of the Cougars’ poor pass defense. Only a handful of teams have given up more yards this season. Thus far, the Cougars’ foes favor throwing and abandoning the run because there’s more efficiency that route.
Best bet: Washington State +14 (-110) and Over 48 (-110) — combined +264
UCLA Bruins at Stanford Cardinal (6:30 p.m. ET Saturday)
(UCLA -5, O/U 58.5, DraftKings Sportsbook)
Just when it felt right, we all got excited about Chip Kelly’s revival at UCLA, he drops a stunning home game against an underrated Fresno State squad. The Bruins are still dangerous and capable of winning any single game left on their schedule. Their offense is as balanced and talented as we’ve seen from Kelly in many moons.
Stanford has rebounded nicely after their own shocking loss in Week 1. This team has more offensive firepower than originally thought, and the defense has some decent moments. But overall, this isn’t the typical Stanford roster that relies on defense and the run game to win.
And that’s where they’ll lose this game. UCLA can do everything Stanford does but at a higher level. We won’t see much defense being played in this battle, but UCLA covers on the road for a great return.
Best bet: UCLA -5 (+100) and Over 58.5 (-110) — combined +281
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Buffalo Bulls at Old Dominion Monarchs (6 p.m. ET Saturday)
(Buffalo -13.5, O/U 51.5, DraftKings Sportsbook)
It might be strange for a two-loss Buffalo team to be a two-score favorite this early in the year, but these Bulls check all the boxes of an excellent competitor. Losing to Nebraska and Coastal Carolina is nothing to be ashamed of, and Buffalo has earned the benefit of doubt against lesser foes.
Old Dominion is fine but closer to fodder than the top of the Group of 5. Blowout losses to Wake Forest and Liberty showed they simply are overmatched against premier opponents. It’s more likely they lose by three scores or more than two, making this a great value play.
Best bet: Buffalo -13.5 (-105) and Over 51.5 (-110) — combined +272
