In a week where we published our 2026 College Basketball Betting Guide, we are still keeping our eyes on the college football prize, as we have best bets from several of our contributors. This is the final weekend before we get our first set of College Football Playoff rankings, so those should be interesting to check out when they drop, especially if we get some more chaos this week.
Usually, the games I like have nothing to do with the big teams or the CFP contenders. That’s true of this week as well, as my preferred picks come from games that are a little off-the-radar for most people.
Here are my favorite Week 9 college football picks:
For more best bets, check out our VSiN Picks page with top plays from hosts and guests.
Lines from Circa Sports as of 6:20 p.m. PT on October 28
Arizona State at BYU (-16.5, 48) Prediction
Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET (FOX)
Pick: Arizona State +16.5
The Sun Devils are taking some very young centerpieces to Provo this week, as freshman QB Jake Fette is expected to start and freshman RB Cardae Mack was the National Freshman of the Week after running for 159 yards on 26 carries with four touchdowns. The Sun Devil faithful were rather vocal when Cutter Boley struggled in replacing injured starter Mikey Keene, prompting Kenny Dillingham to roll with the freshman QB. It just so happens that Mack also had a big game.
So, we’ve got a changing of the guard and something exciting happening for a team that hasn’t had a ton of excitement thus far. The defense did benefit last week from the absence of Kansas State QB Avery Johnson, but this is a team with a lot of talent. Dillingham and the coaches just haven’t put all the pieces together quite yet.
BYU had all the pieces together and then went on the road and lost to UCF in overtime on the heels of a massive win over Notre Dame. On the whole, the Cougars have impressive numbers, but they are down 1.55 YPP from the non-conference and the defense is starting to get tested a bit more.
With a 16.5-point head start that is over one-third of the total, I think the Sun Devils, who now have a dual-threat QB in Fette, have the chance to keep this one close.
New Mexico (-14.5, 41.5) at San Jose State Prediction
Saturday, 4 p.m. ET (MW+)
Pick: San Jose State +14.5
Covering numbers solely on the backs of your defenders is a tough way to go. Over the last two weeks, New Mexico has scored just 42 points. They’ve beaten Hawaii by 11 and North Dakota State by five while posting just 186 passing yards. New Mexico only has 31 first downs over the last two games. There is no question that Jason Eck’s defense is elite, but the offense leaves a lot to be desired.
The Spartans defense is pretty average from a national perspective, allowing 5.27 YPP in conference games and 5.23 YPP outside of those matchups. New Mexico has allowed 4.38 YPP in non-conference and 4.48 in conference. But, they are traveling again here, as it’s been a big three-week stretch. The Lobos went out to Hawaii, came back for a massive game against North Dakota State with a very raucous atmosphere in Albuquerque, and now they’re out west again.
The Spartans are actually third in the nation in sacks with 29 and fourth in sacks per game with 3.63. This has been a feisty defense in a lot of ways and I don’t expect the Lobos to be able to throw the ball much. Toa Fa’avae has been sacked 15 times in just 87 pass attempts. He’s had to run 63 times for 245 yards. We’ll see if the ground and pound works again for UNM, but 14.5 is a pretty hefty number to cover.
Oklahoma State (-8.5, 58) at Iowa State Prediction
Saturday, 7:00 p.m. ET (FS1)
Pick: Oklahoma State -8.5
Okay, maybe Oklahoma State can get up into the College Football Playoff discussion, but it would take one hell of a dominant run to erase that loss earlier in the season to Tulsa. Since then, Eric Morris and the Cowboys have only lost once, a 35-32 defeat at Houston. From a per-play standpoint, Okie State was the better team, but the defense couldn’t get off the field enough and Houston converted three times on fourth down.
The conference numbers for these two teams are staggering. In four conference games, the Cowboys have racked up 8.06 yards per play. They have averaged 530 yards per game. Iowa State? Exactly 5.00 yards per play and just 328.5 yards per game. Defensively, the Cyclones have given up 7.44 yards per play and the Cowboys have surrendered 5.71.
I figured we’d get a better effort out of the Cyclones coming off the bye, but they went out to Tucson and got crushed 39-3. While RB Aiden Flora has impressive numbers with seven yards per carry, he ran for 16.2 yards per pop against Bowling Green and 9.6 yards per carry in the 45-42 win over West Virginia. Those two games account for five of his six touchdowns. Meanwhile, QB Jaylen Raynor has only completed 58.9% of his passes with a 7/4 TD/INT ratio, as stepping up in class from Arkansas State hasn’t worked out well.
I’m looking at the Cowboys to make a statement in Ames here.
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