These are the Must Bet College Football Games in Week 8

As we get closer to the 2017 college football betting season, there are a myriad of questions that still bouncing in every fan’s head, and most of them are directly related to what’s gonna happen once the action is on. Can Louisville’s Lamar Jackson duplicate or improve on his mostly jaw-dropping Heisman Trophy campaign from a year ago? Will the Florida State Seminoles be a legitimate national championship caliber team this coming season under the direction of their own dual-threat star signal-caller Deondre Francois? Can Heisman trophy favorite Sam Darnold and the USC Trojans light up a Notre Dame Fighting Irish team that was completely awful in 2016 when they square off in their Week 8 matchup? Will Saquon Barkley and the hungry Penn State Nittany Lions get their revenge against Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan Wolverines when they stage their Big Ten battle in Happy Valley?

These are the legs of Saquon Barkley, a Heisman frontrunner and the reason PSU is eyeing national title contention https://t.co/wFBUnCHRBh pic.twitter.com/MCCEvEW40q

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) July 19, 2017

Last but not least, can the Texas Longhorns get back into national prominence in Year 1 of the Tom Herman era? As you see, there are many questions heading to this season. Although, we’ll try to get an answer for each one of them and point NCAA football fans to the right direction. So let’s take a look at a quartet of intriguing Week 8 match-ups that will help answer all of the aforementioned questions.

Louisville Cardinals at Florida State Seminoles Week 8

When: Saturday, October 21st. Where: Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee. Game Analysis: The Louisville Cardinals had a solid season in 2016 by going 9-4 and saw elusive quarterback Lamar Jackson win the Heisman Trophy by basically having his way, both running and passing the ball against everyone he faced last season.

2017 College Football Betting Predictions for Florida State Seminoles

Still, the Cardinals are not the pick to get the road win in Week 8 against a Florida State (10-3) team that has its own gifted dual-threat quarterback in Deondre Francois and far superior talent at almost every other position on the field.  While I expect Bobby Petrino to lead Louisville to another solid campaign in 2017, I’m also expecting Florida State to contend for the national championship. The Seminoles hold it down at home in this one!

USC Trojans at Notre Dame Fighting Irish Week 8

When: Saturday, October 21, 6:30 PM on NBC Where: Notre Dame Stadium, Notre Dame Analysis: Look, I’m just not going to waste a whole lot of time beating around the bush looking for reasons why Notre Dame could pull off the upset at home when there just aren’t any.  

USC (10-3) has more talent than Notre Dame and an insanely huge edge at the quarterback position. Sam Darnold looks like he could be the No. 1 pick in next year’s NFL Draft. USC should contend for the Pac-12 title and a spot in the four-team playoff. Notre Dame simply looks to record a winning record after going 4-8 last season.

Michigan Wolverines at Penn State Nittany Lions Week 8

When: Saturday, October 21 Where: Beaver Stadium Game Analysis: Penn State was on the wrong end if a humongous 49-10 beat down at the hands of Michigan. Ironically, in Week 8 last season, that ultimately kept them out of the four-team College football Playoff despite the fact that they went on to win the Big Ten. This time around, that’s not happening as Penn State has a pair of legitimate Heisman Trophy candidates. I’m talking about RB Saquon Barkley and QB Trace McSorley. Sad, but Michigan has no real superstar we can speak of.

The Wolverines also lost a whopping 10 starters on the defensive side of the ball and that simply doesn’t bode well against Penn State. This is a team that should be able to put more than their fair share of points on the board in 2017. Revenge will be the name of this game as the Nittany Lions cruise to victory.

Oklahoma State Cowboys at Texas Longhorns Week 8

When: Saturday, October 21 Where: Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium, Austin Game Analysis: The Oklahoma State Cowboys posted a fine 10-3 record a year ago. Although you’d never know it, since all everyone talks about in the Big 12 is in-state rival Oklahoma. The Cowboys may be on the road in this week 8 clash against the Texas Longhorns, but they’re the easy pick to get the win behind seriously underrated quarterback Mason Rudolph and game-breaking wide-out James Washington, a pair of players that will be playing at the next level in the near future. Texas will be rebuilding under new head coach Tom Herman after going 5-7 in Charlie Strong’s final season a year ago and will likely be infinitely better in Year 2 than they will be in 2017.