Our Expert NCAA Football Odds Week 8 Upset Picks

Posted by Tony Newborn on Tuesday,October 14, 2014 9:11, EDT in

With the craziness on the less Kanye West and more Floyd Mayweather side, this past week of college football betting was no less entertaining than the preceding weeks. The early-season college football futures betting favorites Alabama and Auburn were projected to remain the SEC heavyweights, have faltered. In their place, Mississippi State took sole position of the No. 1 overall ranking with a convincing victory over the SEC champion Auburn Tigers, while Ole Miss posted its second straight big win in a road thumping of Texas A&M to move to No. 3. The emergence of Mississippi teams has stalemated Florida State’s status as the top team in the land, but that could change in Week 8, as the Seminoles will face their biggest test of the season in Notre Dame. Now onto week 8 and my college football betting upset picks of the week.

Breaking Down Our Expert College Football Odds Week 8 Upset Picks

No. 15 Oklahoma State Cowboys at No. 12 Texas Christian Horned Frogs

When: Saturday, Oct. 18 at 4:00 pm ET
TV: Fox Sports 1
Betting Line: TCU -8.5

Analysis: TCU has proven that they are one of the top teams in the Big 12 this season. The Horned Frogs beat Oklahoma straight up before losing by only 3 points to Baylor. TCU should be favored in this game, no doubt. But Oklahoma State has won 5 in a row.The Cowboys also have a very good defense while the offense has improved week to week. Oklahoma State will be hungry for a victory while TCU might be too tired to compete at their optimum level after such a heart breaking loss to Baylor.

Pick: Oklahoma State Cowboys

No. 5 Notre Dame Irish at No. 2 Florida State Seminoles

When: Saturday, Oct. 18 at 8:00 pm ET
TV: ABC
Betting Line: Florida State -11.5

Analysis: Florida State’s Jameis Winston should play this Saturday against Notre Dame. If he doesn’t, the Irish might end up as the favorites because outside of Winston, FSU really hasn’t been all that impressive. The Seminoles’ defense gave up 20 points to Syracuse even though the Orange used their second and third string quarterbacks. Granted, Notre Dame flopped ATS versus North Carolina, but football handicappers have to sort of believe that a lot of it had to do with this game this week.

The Irish will be plenty motivated to hang an “L” onto Florida State while the Seminoles have to be distracted by Winston’s ridiculousness. We think Irish Coach Brian Kelley takes advantage of the Seminoles lack of focus and pulls off the big upset on the money line.

Pick: Notre Dame Irish

No. 20 Stanford Cardinal at No. 18 Arizona State Sun Devils

When: Saturday, Oct. 18 at 7:30 pm ET
TV: ESPN
Betting Line: Stanford -3.5

Analysis: This seems like a strange betting line. When we see a strange betting line, we have to consider the money line, don’t we? Why is Stanford favored in this matchup? The Cardinal has gone 1 and 2 ATS in its last 3 football games. They barely covered versus Washington State, 34 to 17, and a lot of that had to do with the Cougars mishandling of certain situations during the game. Arizona State is a very good team. The Sun Devils had every right to implode and write off the season after losing 27 to 62 to UCLA two games ago, but they came back with a Hail Mary finish 38 to 34 victory over USC. The Devils are deadly off of a bye, 4 and 1 ATS in their last 5.

We’re thinking that they win this game outright.

Pick: Arizona State Sun Devils