The stakes are getting raised with each passing game in college football, but Week 9 offers up these best bets for you to jump on still.
It’s madness to think about how much of the 2018 college football season is already in the books. As we enter Week 9 of the season, there is really only about a month left in the campaign, which is quite unsettling to say the least. Even crazier is that we still have so little that has been decided at this point as teams keep dropping like flies throughout the country, one top-10 team after another.
Last week, it was the Ohio State Buckeyes that fell victim to this type of thing. They were seemingly in control of the Big Ten and their College Football Playoff destiny, but then went out and got dominated — not just lost, dominated — by a mediocre Purdue Boilermakers team. In the same vein, the Oregon Ducks had a chance to make a statement against Washington State and came up short.
Aside from Tua Tagovailoa lighting whatever defense that he’s facing in a given week on fire, there are truly not many things that you can bank on throughout college football, even at this point in the season. It’s been a year defined by parity and unpredictability, and we should be able to see that time and again throughout what’s left in this season.
Even with all of that, however, we’re still going to try and find some of the certainties that do remain in the 2018 college football season. With that in mind, let’s take a look at five bets you can take to the bank in Week 9.
Note: All odds are courtesy of Odds Shark.
5. Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (+3.5) at Florida Atlantic Owls
Coming into the 2018 college football season, there was palpable hype regarding Lane Kiffin and the Florida Atlantic Owls. They finishes exceptionally strong last season and looked to be primed for a big year where they could start to make some more national noise. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been close to happening. Since they were destroyed by Oklahoma in the opener, things have gone in a constant up and down swing.
Now the Owls sit at 3-4 on the season and Florida Atlantic really needs to start to make moves if they’re going to try and get to a quality bowl game. Their next step in making that happen will be about taking down the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs at FAU Stadium on Friday night. And the oddsmakers seem to think that’s possible as the Owls are favored by 3.5 points.
However, when you look at how things have gone to this point in the season, seeing the Bulldogs as underdogs in this game, even on the road, is a bit odd overall. Louisiana Tech sits at 5-2 overall on the season with some solid wins, most notably going on the road and topping North Texas. What’s more, they played LSU relatively tight, only losing by 17 points.
The Bulldogs aren’t as explosive of a team as Florida Atlantic, but they are far more balanced in every sense. I think that they will have more defensive success in this game and win outright over the Owls on Friday night.