College Football Week 8 Odds, Picks & Predictions: UAB vs. Western Kentucky (Friday)

Let’s take a look at the College Football Week 8 odds, picks, and predictions for Friday: UAB vs. Western Kentucky.

And check out our other College Football Week 8 game previews:

• Tulsa vs. Temple
• Syracuse vs. Clemson
• UNLV vs. Notre Dame
• Texas vs. Oklahoma State
• Ole Miss vs. LSU
• Purdue vs. Wisconsin
• Mississippi State vs. Alabama
• Minnesota vs. Penn State
• Washington vs. California
• UCLA vs. Oregon
• Rutgers vs. Indiana
• New Mexico vs. Fresno State
• Louisiana-Monroe vs. Army
• Navy vs. Houston
• East Carolina vs. UCF
• Ohio vs. Northern Illinois
• Vanderbilt vs. Missouri
• Hawaii vs. Colorado State
• Duke vs. Miami
• FIU vs. Charlotte
• Wake Forest vs. Boston College
• Ohio State vs. Iowa
• Georgia Southern vs. Old Dominion

Check out Thor Nystrom’s Week 8 College Football Power Rankings >>

College Football Week 8 Odds, Picks & Prediction: UAB vs. Western Kentucky

UAB (+1.5) at Western Kentucky

I love handicapping teams like Western Kentucky, with strengths and weaknesses so clearly delineated. Last week, I advocated for WKU laying a little over a TD on the road against MTSU - because the Hilltoppers matched up so well. WKU won 35-17.

MTSU was the perfect matchup for WKU. UAB? Not so much.

The Hilltoppers' Air Raid passing attack is dangerous, both efficient and explosive. But WKU can't run the ball. So if you slow its passing game, you derail the entire attack. On defense, WKU gets pushed around up-front and naturally struggles against the run, but the Hilltoppers boast a strong G5 secondary.

So you play on WKU against teams that throw a lot, can't run, and struggle to defend the pass - MTSU come on down! - while playing against WKU with teams that run the ball effectively, have good offensive lines, and can shut down the pass.

Which of course describes UAB. The Blazers have an awesome pass defense - ranking No. 26 in efficiency and No. 9 in explosion. Meanwhile, UAB is equipped to tee-off on a WKU run defense that ranks No. 95 in efficiency and No. 76 in explosion. UAB's rushing offense ranks No. 16 and No. 4, respectively, in those categories.

Matchups make fights, and this time around WKU is squaring off with an opponent built to exploit their weaknesses.

The pick: UAB +1.5

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