The week ahead in college football is a bittersweet one. It signifies the end of the regular season and the tail end of Saturdays filled with football for the year, but 2023’s version of rivalry week has more finality attached to it.
The conference realignment in 2024 means that matchups like Oregon-Oregon State and Washington-Washington State will be played for the last time in the foreseeable future when the Ducks and Huskies move to the Big Ten next season. Both new Big Ten arrivals maintain playoff aspirations in their last Pac-12 campaign, and Oregon clinches a rematch with UW in the conference title game with a win Friday.
Ahead of the latest CFP rankings on Tuesday night, Florida State may have relinquished the ability to control their destiny and now face a motivated Florida Gators team in the Swamp as 6.5-point favorites. During a win over North Alabama last week, FSU lost quarterback and Heisman candidate Jordan Travis. His injury is expected to impact the team’s playoff candidacy, but convincing wins against Florida and Louisville to close the year would help combat that negative momentum.
The game of the week will be played in Ann Arbor between #3 Michigan and #2 Ohio State. The Wolverines are 3.5-point favorites in their bid for a third-straight victory in this series and a chance at three consecutive conference titles. The winner faces Iowa for the right to submit a 13-0 resume to the CFP committee.
Last Saturday’s appetizer to rivalry week brought a second straight 3-0 result amid our torrid stretch of prop picks. We ride into this week’s schedule on a 15-2 heater over the last six weeks. Check out our 3 favorite player prop picks below, which can all be found at DraftKings.
Kyle McCord (Ohio State) UNDER 1.5 TD Passes (+140)
McCord failed to throw multiple TDs against Penn State and didn’t throw any against Notre Dame, the two best defenses Ohio State has faced this season.
Michigan allows a lower completion rate, fewer yards, and fewer TDs per game than both of those top-ten caliber defenses and also has the benefit of home-field advantage in this matchup.
OSU’s passing offense, in particular, has been significantly worse on the road this season, and we expect the moment and environment to be too big for McCord to overcome for this play.
Bo Nix (Oregon) UNDER 316.5 Passing Yards (-115)
On September 23, Oregon State's defense allowed Washington State's Cam Ward to pass for 404 yards in the Beavers' first of three losses this season. Since then, they've held future NFL quarterbacks Michael Penix Jr. and Shedeur Sanders to their season-low passing totals.
The Beavers' losses have been to Penix's fifth-ranked Huskies and Arizona, now 17th in the country. Nix, being a close second to LSU's Jadyn Daniels in the Heisman odds, is incentivized to pile on as many yards and touchdowns as possible.
Oregon State will want to prevent that in their last chance to beat the Ducks for a while, and we expect them to be competitive to the point where Nix is held under 300 yards passing.
Kye Robichaux (Boston College) UNDER 84.5 Rushing Yards (-115)
The emerging star in the Eagles' backfield has been rumbling through the ACC this season, and his workload has increased significantly after Pat Garwo III's injury. Robichaux has exceeded 20 carries in four straight games and accumulated 91 rushing attempts over the last four weeks.
His final test this season will be against the Miami Hurricanes, who are 8-point favorites in Chestnut Hill this weekend. Miami ranks 10th in the country in opponent rushing average, limiting teams to just 3.0 yards per carry and 92.9 yards per game.
They recently bottled-up Florida State (1.8 ypc) and Clemson (0.9 ypc) and will be a formidable front for Robichaux to challenge. We expect him to churn out yardage but surpassing 85 will be too much against the Canes.
