College Football Week 5 Games You Must Bet On

Looking for a longer-shot Heisman possibility? I give you Stanford running back Bryce Love. Thus far, Love has 73 carries for 787 yards and five touchdowns. He not only leads the nation in rushing yards per game — he leads the nation in rushing while averaging 10.78 yards per carry. College Football Week 5 seems to be packing quite a punch this week. So, we’ve picked out a couple of games you shouldn’t let pass. Here are two games worth betting in Week 5 of College Football.

College Football Week 5 Games You Must Bet On

The best hits from yesterday’s college football games #AndHesDead 💀 pic.twitter.com/kvb0Jju9cr

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) September 24, 2017

Nebraska Cornhuskers at Illinois Fightin Illini

When: Friday, 8 PM ET Where: Memorial Stadium, Champaign TV: Fox Sports 1 Stream: Fox Sports Go Radio: Husker IMG Sports Network (Nebraska) /  Fighting Illini Sports Network (Illinois) Opening College Football Week 5 Lines: Nebraska -6.5

Why Bet On Nebraska?

The Cornhuskers (2-2) come off a 27-17 win over Rutgers in their Big Ten opener – if they had lost that game, I think it’s safe to say that embattled coach Mike Riley would have been fired. On Thursday, the school fired his boss, athletic director Shaun Eichorst. Riley says he “is energized about the future” at Nebraska, but the big question now that Eichorst has been fired is whether Riley will be part of it. “You control what you can,” the 64-year-old Riley said. “And what you can’t, then you’ve got to let go. I know I’m really confident in what we’re doing and the people that we have, how this thing is being run in the football office. Also, I understand both expectations and performance. I get all that, but I actually am energized about the future.” Against Rutgers, Devine Ozigbo finished the game with a career-high 24 carries for 101 yards, including 19 carries for 85 yards in the second half. It was Ozigbo’s second career 100-yard rushing game, as he came up just two yards short of his previous career best of 103, which he established last season against Fresno State. Rutgers gained 194 yards of total offense, the fewest yards by a NU opponent under Riley after Northern Illinois was held to 213 yards two weeks ago. The Huskers have posted the top two total defense efforts under Riley in the past two weeks. Nebraska has held five straight opponents at Memorial Stadium to 100 or fewer rushing yards, including Rutgers’ 68 rushing yards. The six Husker opponents have averaged 71 rushing yards in those six games.

College Football Betting Totals to Consider for the Under in 2017

Why Bet On Illinois?

The Illini (2-1) have been off since losing at South Florida 47-23 on Sept. 15. Mike Epstein had two TDs in the loss. Illinois was overmatched by the Bulls’ up-tempo offense and plagued by penalties throughout the game. The teams accounted for 31 combined penalties. Illinois started 10 true freshmen (DB Nate Hobbs, DB Tony Adams, DB Bennett Williams, DE Bobby Roundtree, DE Isaiah Gay, RB Mike Epstein, TE Louis Dorsey, WR Ricky Smalling, OL Alex Palczewski, OL Larry Boyd).  Those 10 true freshmen starters are the most in a game in program history. Illinois’ 10 true freshmen starters also breaks a season record. The previous high for a season was nine in 1980. Illinois’ 10 true freshmen starters is the most in the nation this season.  Freshman WR Ricky Smalling’s 76-yard reception from Jeff George Jr. in the fourth quarter was the longest in program history by a true freshman. Smalling finished one yard short of becoming the sixth Illini in history with a 100-yard receiving game as a true freshmen. George Jr., a sophomore, entered the game in the second half and went 12-of-22 passing for 211 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. His 76-yard completion to Smalling was Illinois longest since 10/8/2011 at Indiana (Scheelhaase to Jenkings, 77 yards).

Latest College Footbal Week 5 Betting Trends

• Nebraska is 1-5 ATS in the last 6 games
• Nebraska is 12-6 SU in the last 18 games
• The total went OVER in 4 of Nebraska’s last 6 games
• Illinois is 1-5 ATS in the last 6 games
• Illinois is 6-16 SU in the  last 22 games
• The total went UNDER in 14 of Illinois’s last 19 games at home

USC Trojans at Washington State Cougars

When: Friday, 10:30 PM ET Where: Martin Stadium, Pullman, Wash. TV: ESPN Stream: WatchESPN Radio: Trojans Radio Network (USC) / Washington State IMG College Sports Network (Washington State) Opening College Football Week 5 Lines: USC -4.5

Why Bet On USC?

This is one of the biggest games of the week as the Trojans are ranked fifth in the country and the Cougars 16^th. It’s possible these two could meet again in the Pac-12 title game. Southern Cal (4-0) comes off a 30-20 win over Cal. However, Sam Darnold’s Heisman chances took a hit. The USC offense goes as Darnold goes, and it’s been just good enough. It hasn’t helped that USC’s running game wasn’t as explosive without Ronald Jones II, which puts more pressure on the passing game. Darnold was 0-for-8 on passes thrown at least 15 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. It was his first career start without a completion at least 15 yards downfield. “It’s 100 percent my fault,” Darnold said after the game. “I’m not getting the ball out far enough on deep routes or whether it’s balls being tipped, not seeing the D-linemen and him getting a big paw on the ball to tip it in the air.” USC scored 17 points off turnovers on the day in the form of a Stephen Carr rush TD, a Deontay Burnett receiving TD and a field goal. Carr was solid in his first career start (in place of the injured Jones II). He finished with 20 carries for 86 yards and 6 receptions for 47 yards. The Trojans have now won 13 straight games. Only Oklahoma, with 14 straight, can claim a longer active streak. Things only get tougher this week. “What an incredible atmosphere that is going to be on a short week on a Friday night in the Palouse,” said Coach Clay Helton about USC’s road matchup against Washington State. “It’s going to be a lot of fun. We’ve got a big challenge on our hands.” The combination of Mike Leach’s offense and Wazzu QB Luke Falk will be the toughest test to date for this USC defense.

Why Bet On Washington State?

The Cougars (4-0) come off a 45-7 win over Nevada. WSU led by 35 points at the half, Falk had another mega passing day and the defense conceded just 151 total yards of offense. Falk buffed up his career numbers in WSU’s last nonconference game and shot up the Pac-12’s all-time leaderboard. The final line for the senior: 36 for 47, 478 yards and five touchdowns. Falk passed two players – USC’s Carson Palmer and Cal’s Jared Goff – in career passing yards and moved into third all-time in the conference with 12,271. He jumped former Trojan Matt Leinart in career TD passes with 103 and moved past Palmer and UCLA’s Brett Hundley in total offense (11,977). WSU is 4-0 for the first time since starting the 2001 season 7-0, 2001 last time WSU started 4-0 at home WSU forced three turnovers (3 INT), improved to 16-3 under defensive coordinator Alex Grinch when forced 2+ turnovers. They’ve recorded five sacks, the most since recording five against Arizona last season Leach notched his 33rd win at WSU, 5th-most in WSU history. WSU had two receivers with 100-yards receiving for the first time since 2015 at Rutgers (Cracraft, Marks).

Latest College Footbal Week 5 Betting Trends

• USC is 1-4 ATS in the last 5 games
• USC is 5-0 SU in the last 5 games
• The total went OVER in 4 of USC’s last 6 games
• Washington State is 2-5 ATS in the last 7 games
• Washington State is 4-1 SU in the last 5 games
• The total went UNDER in 4 of Washington State’s last 6 games

Expert College Football Week 5 Prediction

After this past week’s results and statistics for these games, I would have to place my bets on Nebraska and Washington State for College Football Week 5. These are looking pretty solid to simply leave them out of your picks this week.