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College Football Week 9 Odds, Picks & Predictions (Thursday)

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Gear up for another awesome weekend of college football action with BettingPros! We’ll have you covered with all of our top picks for the week along with our projected spreads and totals to help guide your college football bets. Below are our top picks and predictions for Thursday’s games.

Top College Football Odds & Picks: Thursday

Syracuse vs. Virginia Tech

Syracuse is currently the only ACC team that has been winless in conference play, but their schedule has been brutal, losing to Clemson at home before collecting road losses at UNC and Florida State. The Hokies also have an FSU loss on their resume, but they have picked up some impressive multi-possession home wins against Pittsburgh and Wake Forest to turn their season around after some questionable non-conference losses to Purdue, Rutgers and Marshall. Both teams enter this game coming off a BYE, so neither team has a decisive rest advantage in this matchup. These teams are also extremely comparable on paper, ranking in the mid/bottom tier of the ACC in most offensive and defensive statistics with one exception - the Hokies are the top team in the conference at defending the pass, while Syracuse ranks dead last. In a game between two teams that are almost mirror images of one another, I'll lay the points with the Hokies in front of one of the more underrated home fields in college football.

Pick: Virginia Tech -2.5

-Austin MacMillan

Georgia State vs. Georgia Southern

We have a really fun Sun Belt matchup on Thursday night, with Georgia Southern (5-2) playing host to in-state rival Georgia State (6-1) in a game that will go a long way in determining who will eventually play in the Sun Belt championship game. Both of these teams are within 2 points of each other both in points scored per game and points conceded per game, but I do see Georgia Southern having a decisive advantage in the passing game. The Eagles lead the Sun Belt by a comfortable margin in passing yards per game, while the Panthers rank 2nd-worst in the conference at defending the pass. The Panthers do run the ball with better efficiency, but the Eagles comfortably rank in the top half of the conference at defending the run, which I think nullifies that potential advantage for the Panthers. Neither of these teams has a questionable loss on their resume and I find both to be extremely similar talent-wise, so I'll take Georgia Southern to win the ballgame as the home team with a decisive advantage in the passing game against the Georgia State defense.

Pick: Georgia Southern ML

-Austin MacMillan

Best Ways to Bet College Football for Beginners

Game Total

Bettors new to the hobby can be confused by spreads, but game totals are simple. Every football game has a total posted for the combined final score between the two teams. Bettors have the option to choose the OVER or UNDER, generally at -110 odds (risk: $110; win: $100). So if the total is 42 and you take the OVER, you need 43 points to win the bet. If you put a bet down on the over to win $100 and it goes over, you get back the money you initially risked, plus $100. If it stayed under, you would have lost your $110 and that's it. If by chance the game ended with 42 total points, it's called a push; when a game pushes, you get the money you risked back but nothing more.

ie: California vs. Illinois, Over 42 or Under 42

tip: Over bets can be a really fun social event with your buddies. Have everyone throw in a few bucks, then take the over together. Instead of getting pumped when one side scores, everyone is pumped for ANY score, all game.

Moneyline

The moneyline is the easiest way to test your college football knowledge: who will win the game? That's it. The moneyline doesn't use favorites or underdogs, it's totally straight up. That said, the risk-reward can be challenging because they're weighted. Instead of every game being around -110, like game totals and spreads, moneylines vary depending on the matchup.

For our example, California was favored by seven points over Illinois, meaning oddsmakers think the Golden Bears are a touchdown better than the Fighting Illini. If you took Cal on the moneyline, points don't matter, they just need to win the game. But because it's safer to take them straight-up without points, you'll have to risk more when you make the bet - remember, they're seven points better than Illinois in the eyes of the oddsmakers. In this case, Cal is -280 on the moneyline, so if you want to win $100, you have to risk $280. On the flip side, moneyline bets can be valuable when taking the underdog because it's a riskier bet - they're seven points worse than their opponent. In this case, Illinois is the underdog - +220 on the moneyline. You'd win $220 on a $100 bet if you picked Illinois on the moneyline and they pulled off the upset.

ie: California (ML -280) vs. Illinois (ML +220)

tip: Check their history against one another. Keep an eye on the injury report and the weather.

Player Props

Player props are some of the most exhilarating bets you can place during a college football game, but they're also easy to understand. For major conferences, you'll have a wide array of options to choose from. Quarterbacks, running backs, receivers, and sometimes tight ends will have props to choose from. It's simple, fun and easy to follow, and odds on player props don't vary as much as moneylines. Generally, prop bets are in the -110 range like generic spread and total bets.

ie: How many passing yards will Brandon Peters have against California?  Over 250 or Under 250 

tip: Check how players have performed in the situation they're going to be in. Use split stats on any reliable site to see their numbers at home, on a neutral-site, in December, etc.


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