Our 7 best bets for Week 6 of the college football season

Tyler Lauletta

2018-10-05T15:30:00Z

WVU — West Virginia as heavy favorites and the Texas Longhorns as underdogs in the Red River Rivalry are two of our favorite seven bets on the board for this weekend of college football action. John Weast/Getty Images

College football is an unforgiving game for gamblers.

After three straight winning weeks, last weekend we hit stumbled to finish a 3-4 record. But losing bets aren't always a sign of weakness.

East Carolina fell short of covering against Old Dominion despite nearly doubling them in total yardage. Kansas had climbed all the way back for a backdoor cover against Oklahoma State, only to give up yet another score in the game's final minutes.

I'm not complaining about bad beats — losing money in brutal fashion is an inescapable reality for bettors. Instead, I'm simply reminding myself to have faith. Our picks might have gone 3-4, but our logic was 5-2. Trust the process.

And with that, we're on to our picks for this weekend's college football slate.

LAST WEEK: 3-4
OVERALL: 17-18

Texas (+7) over Oklahoma

Is Texas back?!

It is, year after year, the most confounding question in college football. While it might be too early to tell if Texas is in fact back for this season, we're still backing the Longhorns this weekend in the Red River Rivalry.

For the past four years, this game has been a close one, with the winning team never prevailing by more than a touchdown. Seeing as the underdog Longhorns are getting a touchdown on Saturday, we're betting Texas and hoping the trend continues.

LSU (-2.5) over Florida

LSU is a scary road favorite to take here, as Florida is by no means a pushover, especially in the Swamp. But the Tigers host Georgia next weekend in what could be the biggest game of the college football season thus far if they can steal a win from the Gators.

This could mean this is a look-ahead spot for LSU, but I'm banking on the Tigers to come out of Gainesville with a win to set up a huge game next Saturday.

West Virginia (-28.5) over Kansas

West Virginia has won its first two home games of the season by an average of 32 points. Kansas might not be as bad as casual college football fans may think, but they're bad enough to lose to the Mountaineers by four touchdowns.

Northwestern (+10) over Michigan State

Northwestern just played Michigan down to the wire last weekend, and now they're still double-digit underdogs to a Michigan State team that's not nearly as talented as the Wolverines. I don't get it.

It may be a hangover spot for Northwestern — do they have enough left in the tank after leaving it all out on the field against Michigan? But with the line so long, the Wildcats might be able to cover even if they are a bit drained from last weekend.

Virginia Tech (+7) over Notre Dame

Notre Dame is currently undefeated, and their remaining schedule goes as follows: vs. Pittsburgh, at Navy, vs. Northwestern, vs. Florida State, vs. Syracuse, at USC.

Looking at that slate, I can't see any obvious losses for the Irish, and I cannot bear to live in a world that features an undefeated Notre Dame football team. With that in mind, I'm putting my faith in the Hokies and a raucous blackout crowd at Virginia Tech.

Georgia (-27) over Vanderbilt

The Bulldogs are scoring well over 40 points a game this year, and I don't see Vanderbilt creating much offense on the road in Georgia. Again, we're here to set up the game of the year next weekend against LSU.

Washington (-21) over UCLA

UCLA has lost three straight games by more than 21 points. Washington is one of the top ten teams in the country and needs every win to be impressive if they want to make it back to the playoff. Huskies roll.