Week 8 College Football Best Bets, Picks and Predictions from Matt Youmans:

The two biggest games of the college football season — Georgia-Alabama and Ohio State-Oregon — more than lived up to the hype. Both were thrillers that went down to the final seconds and hopefully, the third huge game coming this weekend will be more of the same. A winner with Oregon helped me post a 5-1-1 record against the spread last week, making it an 11-2-1 run the past two weeks. As a handicapper, you never know for sure when a hot streak will begin or end. You can look like a genius one week and a jerk the next. I’ll try to continue the winning trend with these three Week 8 college football best bets for Saturday:

 

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Georgia at Texas (-5)

7:30 p.m. ET (ABC)

Obviously, this top-five matchup is the third huge game of the season, and the No. 1 Longhorns have been drawing sharp action since opening -3. The No. 5 Bulldogs are underdogs for the first time since September 2021, with a streak of 49 straight games as favorites. On principle, I’ll normally side with the ‘dog in this situation, but there’s more to the analysis than that.

The Texas defense has been tough, allowing 13 points or fewer in all six games. However, all six opponents — Colorado State, Michigan, UTSA, UL Monroe, Mississippi State and Oklahoma — had weak offenses. The Wolverines did not have a quarterback who could throw the ball, and the Sooners started a freshman quarterback who was working with a depleted group of receivers. Georgia’s Carson Beck is by far the best quarterback the Longhorns will have faced. Beck has completed 68 percent of his passes while averaging 303 yards per game, and he passed for 459 yards and three touchdowns a week ago.

Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers suffered an oblique injury on Sept. 14 and was rusty in his return last week against Oklahoma. The Longhorns have not been involved in a tight game yet this season. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs have been in two dogfights on the road against Alabama and Kentucky, so they know what it’s like to grind out a close game. In the playoff picture, this game also means more to Georgia, which needs to avoid a second loss.

Week 8 College Football Best Bet: Georgia +5

Miami (FL) (-5) at Louisville

12:00 p.m. ET (ABC)

It’s not easy to bet against the Hurricanes because of their explosive offense. Cam Ward has passed for 300-plus yards in all six games while topping 400 twice. The Cardinals are decent defensively, yet nowhere near great. Still, Louisville has enough offense to trade punches in this matchup. Veteran quarterback Tyler Shough has 14 touchdown passes with three interceptions, Ja’Corey Brooks is averaging 19.1 yards per reception with six touchdowns, and freshman running back Isaac Brown is getting 8.6 yards per carry.

“Big Game” Jeff Brohm is usually at his best on this type of stage. He was a frequent giant killer while coaching at Purdue and pulled off an upset of Notre Dame last year for his first signature win at Louisville. Brohm should be at his motivational and play-calling best. The Hurricanes have been playing with fire, fortunate in comeback victories over Virginia Tech and California, and this could be the day they get burned.

Week 8 College Football Best Bet: Louisville +5

Alabama (-3) at Tennessee

Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET (ABC)

After beating Georgia in an instant classic on Sept. 28, Alabama was simply bad in a loss at Vanderbilt and a 27-25 victory over South Carolina a week ago. Tide quarterback Jalen Milroe threw two interceptions against the Gamecocks in a sloppy performance. You can bet Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer will demand Milroe and the offense clean up the mistakes this week.

On the flip side, the Volunteers have been out of synch offensively, averaging 15.5 points in regulation in the past two games against Arkansas and Florida. Nico Iamaleava had inflated stats due to facing soft defenses early in the season, but now he’s facing adversity for the first time and not handling it well against stronger defenses. Iamaleava passed for 169 yards with an interception in the 23-17 overtime victory against the Gators, who should have won the game in Knoxville a week ago.

According to Chris Fallica of Fox Sports, this is the first time since 2008 that Alabama is not favored by at least a touchdown against Tennessee. So this should be the time to buy low on the Tide, who are capable of playing much better than they did the past two weeks.

Week 8 College Football Best Bet: Alabama -3

Last week: 5-1-1 against the spread
Season: 20-15-1

For more Week 8 college football analysis, visit the Week 8 College Football Hub, exclusively on VSiN.com.

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