NCAAF Parlay Picks

The biggest upset around college football in Week 8 was then-No. 7 Penn State being shocked at home by unranked Illinois. However, the Nittany Lions still have a path to play in the Big Ten title game if they win out. They are solid underdogs this Saturday, though, at No. 5 Ohio State. Here’s a look at that game and one other to parlay on the NCAAF odds.

Analyisis College Football 2021

No. 20 Penn State at No. 5 Ohio State (-17)

It’s a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff on ABC. The Nittany Lions were beaten 20-18 in a whopping nine overtimes on Saturday by Illinois – the first nine-OT game in FBS history. The sides were tied at 10 after regulation, exchanged field goals in the first two overtimes, then began to alternate one-and-done drives from the 3-yard line in the third OT as part of a format tweaked ahead of the 2021 season. The previous NCAA football mark for most OTs was an eight-overtime game between Bethune-Cookman and Virginia State in 1998. In FBS, there have been six, seven-overtime games. Penn State’s previous longest overtime game was a four-overtime win over Michigan (43-40) in 2013.

Penn State QB Sean Clifford returned to action after missing the second half of Penn State’s game against Iowa, completing 19-of-34 passes with 165 yards and a touchdown. Penn State had 227 yards of offense, the fewest since having 186 at Michigan in 2018. The Nittany Lions held Illinois to 38 yards passing, the second-lowest mark under James Franklin.

Ohio State has just been murdering people since a Week 2 home loss to Oregon, blasting Indiana 54-7 on Saturday. e. After the Buckeyes and Hoosiers traded touchdowns on their opening drives, Ohio State reeled off 47 unanswered points (including a 30-point second quarter) en route to its 26th straight win over Indiana. Buckeyes QB C.J. Stroud turned in another standout performance, connecting on 21-28 pass attempts for 266 yards and four touchdowns. Stroud has thrown 14 touchdowns with no interceptions the last three games.

Freshman running back TreVeyon Henderson recorded his second career three-touchdown game, scoring two on the ground and one on a screen pass. Henderson has 14 touchdowns on the season. The Ohio State freshman record for most TDs is 18 by Maurice Clarett in 2002.

Ohio State is on pace to break Penn State’s modern Big Ten record of 47 points per game (1994). The Buckeyes lead the nation in scoring (49.3 ppg) and have topped 50 in each of their last four games. The Buckeyes have scored 16 touchdowns in their last two games. Penn State has scored three. The Buckeyes also lead the FBS in total yards (559.3 per game) and yards per play (8.44).

Ohio State is 22-14 all-time vs. Penn State and won last year 38-25.

No. 10 Ole Miss at No. 18 Auburn (-1)

It’s a 7 p.m. ET kick on ESPN and the winner still has a shot to win the SEC West, while the loser can forget about it. Ole Miss comes off a 31-17 win over LSU. QB and Heisman candidate Matt Corral completed 18 of 23 passes for 185 yards through the air and threw his only touchdown pass to Casey Kelly. On the ground, Snoop Conner led the Rebels with 117 yards on 14 carries while Corral, Henry Parrish Jr. and Jerrion Ealy each scored a rushing touchdown. Dontario Drummond led Ole Miss in receiving with 93 yards on eight catches.

Corral has thrown a touchdown pass in 19 straight games, the second-longest streak in school history. He trails only Chad Kelly (22). Corral moved to No. 4 in career passing yards with 6,851 yards. He Corral is only the sixth Ole Miss QB to surpass 6,000 yards. Corral remains No. 3 in career passing touchdowns with 52. Corral surpassed the 8,000-yard mark in career total yards (8,049) to become just the third Rebel in program history to go over the 8k mark.

Defensively, Ole Miss forced three turnovers and came up with five sacks between five different Rebels. Ole Miss registered five or more sacks in back-to-back games for the first time since 1999 (Auburn & South Carolina). Ole Miss has tallied two or more sacks in six of the seven games this season.

Auburn has been off since a 38-23 win at then-No. 17 Arkansas on Oct. 16. Leading 31-23, the Tigers put away the game with a 12-play, 75-yard drive that chewed up 6 minutes and 11 seconds, culminating on QB Bo Nix’s 23-yard touchdown run with 2:30 to play. Nix completed 21 of 26 passes for 292 yards and two touchdowns, adding 42 rushing yards on five carries and a TD.

Auburn’s 210 points are the 12th-most scored through the first six games of a season in program history; the highest total was 256 points in 1995. All-America kicker Anders Carlson ranks fifth in the SEC in scoring at 9.2 points per game. He is now third in Auburn career scoring with 330 points.

Last year, Auburn won at Ole Miss 35-28. Nix hit Seth Williams for a 58-yard touchdown pass with 1:11 to play for the comeback victory. Ole Miss drove to Auburn’s 29 with 3 seconds remaining, but Jordyn Peters made an interception on the game’s final play on which Ole Miss was penalized for passing beyond the line of scrimmage.