Best Bets for College Football Week 9

It’s so hard to believe that we are already in Week 9 of the college football season. As the old saying goes, “Time flies when you’re having fun.” Our best bets went 2-1 last week as both Pittsburgh and Ole Miss took care of business handily while NC State ended up losing outright to Miami.

We went over our best bet for the Michigan at Michigan State matchup during our last article. Now it’s time to go over the rest of our best bets for Week 9. We’ll cover a game from the SEC, Big 12, and ACC as we look to keep building the bankroll as the season goes along.

Best Odds for Iowa State at West Virginia - 10/30/2021

Iowa State Cyclones at West Virginia Mountaineers (+7)

This is a close your eyes and hold your nose kind of underdog bet! Iowa State has a much better statistical profile than West Virginia and they’re the better football team. However, we don’t think the Cyclones should be laying seven on the road. Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell is great as an underdog, but not so good as a favorite!

This is a potential letdown spot for Iowa State after their big victory over #8 Oklahoma State last Saturday (they won but didn’t cover the spread). Morgantown is a tough place to play and it can get loud and rowdy. We think the Mountaineers hang tight in this game from start to finish.

West Virginia won outright as 4.5 point underdogs last week against TCU, which ended a rough three-game losing streak for them. Iowa State prefers to run the ball and West Virginia has a very good rush defense. The Mountaineers are only giving up 3.4 yards per rush, which ranks 27th in the country.

We see Iowa State winning this game, but only by three or four points. We look for a big game from West Virginia RB Leddie Brown (533 yards, 9 TDs) while the Mountaineer rush defense contains Breece Hall. Take the points in this one!

Best Odds for Florida State at Clemson - 10/30/2021

Florida State Seminoles (+9.5) at Clemson Tigers

This number is painted +9.5 in most places but you may be able to find a +10 if you shop around at enough sportsbooks. This line makes zero sense! Clemson’s offense is one of the worst in the entire country. We’re going to keep fading the Tigers until they show some level of competency on that side of the ball.

Yes, this play is more of a play against Clemson than on Florida State. However, if you take a deep look at the stats, there’s plenty to like about the Seminoles in this game.

Sure, the Noles are only 3-4 on the year, but they have a solid rushing attack that ranks 4th in yards per rush and 9th in rushing yards per game. Clemson is very good against the run but you have to wonder what their mindset will be like after getting manhandled by Pitt last week. That loss knocked the Tigers out of ACC title contention so they could come out flat for this game.

The Noles, on the other hand, are riding high and have won three straight games. QB Jordan Travis seems to keep improving and he’s thrown for 636 yards and 9 TDs. Florida State’s best rusher is Jashaun Corbin, who has 683 rushing yards and 5 TDs.

Florida State is somewhat mediocre on defense. This unit ranks 55th in yards per play allowed and 54th in yards per pass allowed. However, we just don’t see how Clemson’s inept offense will be able to exploit any of Florida State’s weaknesses.

Clemson’s offense only averages 4.6 yards per play, which is 113th in the land. They also only average 5.3 yards per pass, which is 127th. How in the world can they lay almost double digits in this spot?

We think this is a fantastic spot to back Florida State. Keep in mind that this Noles team gave #11 Notre Dame all they could handle back in Week 1. Take the generous number of points and maybe even sprinkle a little bit on the moneyline at +300.

Best Odds for Ole Miss at Auburn - 10/30/2021

Ole Miss Rebels (+3) at Auburn Tigers

We think the wrong team is favored in this game. Our power ratings say Ole Miss should be favored by a point in this one so there’s a bit of value in the Rebels. The oddsmakers may be overvaluing the fact that Auburn is fresh off their bye week.

While Auburn has the better defense in this one, the Ole Miss offense is much more explosive. We see Lane Kiffin calling plenty of deep passing plays to exploit Auburn’s suspect secondary (ranks 71st in yards per pass allowed). Matt Corral may be a bit dinged up, but he sure didn’t show it last week against LSU.

Corral is a true dual-threat QB who has 15 passing touchdowns and 9 rushing touchdowns so far this season. The Auburn defense is decent, but they’ll have their hands full with Corral and wide receiver Dontario Drummond (619 receiving yards, 6 TDs).

The Ole Miss defense does scare us a little bit but they’ve played much better over the last couple of weeks. They held LSU to 17 points last week and Tennessee’s high octane offense to 26 the week before. Sam Williams is a stud pass rusher with 7.5 sacks and he’ll be making life miserable for Bo Nix most of the evening.

As far as these coaches go, we think Bryan Harsin is going to end up being a great hire for Auburn. Harsin’s no-nonsense approach is just what this program needed. However, we think Lane Kiffin out schemes Harsin in this game.

We see Ole Miss winning this game with a score of 35-31 so take the points.