Tuley’s Takes: Week 7 College Football Best Bets and Predictions:

This year’s college football regular season is 14 weeks long (concluding on Saturday, Dec. 1, with a bunch of traditional rivalry games before Championship Week), so we’ll be halfway done after this weekend’s games. I went 2-1 ATS with my college football best bets here last Saturday as SMU +6.5 upset Louisville 34-27 and Louisiana-Monroe +16.5 shocked James Madison 21-19. I lost with Michigan +2.5 at Washington in a 27-17 setback but improved to 11-10 ATS on the season, which is above .500, though only breaking even when laying the standard -110 (11 to win 10).

The plan here in the Tuley’s Takes home office is to get back to profitability heading into the second half. I have four (hopefully) live dogs for this Saturday.

 

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Washington +2.5 at Iowa

Saturday, 12:00 p.m. ET

As mentioned above, I lost by going against Washington last Saturday night, but hopefully, I learned something from sweating out that game. The Huskies are better than I expected in the post-Michael Penix Jr.-era  as Will Rogers (271 yards, two TDs vs. Michigan) is filling in just fine. I probably put too much stock in the loss to Rutgers (and I think I was underrating them as well). As for Iowa, the Hawkeyes are exactly what we expected: solid defense but no offense. I don’t think Washington will be able to score at will, but I don’t think Iowa will be able to match them score for-rare score. Clearly calling for minor outright upset. 

Week 7 College Football Best Bet: Washington +2.5

Cincinnati +3.5 at Central Florida

Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET

The first question I’m sure most have about this game is if it’ll be played in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton. Well, as of Thursday afternoon, it was still expected to be played, so we can only handicap what we know. The Bearcats have had to fly into the eye of the storm to prepare for this game, so not sure of any edge in practice time or distractions from real-life issues. So, purely looking at the players and teams, both are 3-2 and coming off losses (UCF has a two-game skid), but I give the edge to Cincinnati. QB Brendan Sorsby (1,481 yards passing, 12 TDs, only one INT) leads a more balanced offense and should light up the scoreboard, while the Bearcats also have the better defense. Any points are a bonus, so certainly can’t pass up getting more than a field goal.

Week 7 College Football Best Bet: Cincinnati +3.5

California +3.5 at Pittsburgh

Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET

Let’s call this what we all want to call it: Cal at Pitt. The Panthers are undefeated at 5-0, so we get that the oddsmakers have to make them favored at home, but I think they’re giving a hint that this is closer to a pick ’em than most people think since they’re not making the line too high. Pitt pulled out a 34-24 win over North Carolina, but regular readers should recall that I wasn’t high on the Tar Heels when I picked James Madison against them before their 70-50 upset, so I can’t give Pitt too much credit for squeaking past them. Cal started 3-0 before suffering back-to-back losses to Florida State and Miami (FL), and the Golden Bears should be right there against this ACC foe as well. Pitt QB Eli Holstein (1,564 yards passing, 15 TDs) is obviously playing well, but Cal counters with a defense that leads the nation with 11 INTs, so this probably comes down to that matchup. I’ll side with the defense.

Week 7 College Football Best Bet: California +3.5

Air Force +6.5 at New Mexico

Saturday, 7:00 p.m. ET

OK, Air Force is down from recent years, struggling at 1-4 and averaging just 11.4 points per game and not even having its usual strong running game, averaging 173 yards per game (actually low for the Falcons). But there was a silver lining in their 34-7 loss vs. Navy as QB Quentin Hayes was actually 5-for-6 for 115 yards and the offense’s only TD, so there is hope against a terrible New Mexico defense, which allows 32 points per game and ranks No. 132 in total defense. So, yes, this is more of a bet against New Mexico, which only has a win against lowly New Mexico State and shouldn’t be favored by this much against anyone.

Week 7 College Football Best Bet: Air Force +6.5

For more Week 7 college football analysis, visit the Week 7 College Football Hub, exclusively on VSiN.com.

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