Week 5 College Football Lines

Written by Anthony Moretti

There are a ton of good matchups in Week 5 of college football action. Here’s a look at the odds and a brief overview on each game. Over/Under numbers will be added once they become available. You can also click on each match up to read a more detailed preview (updated throughout the week).

Thursday September 29, 2011

8:00 PM EST | South Florida at Pittsburgh (South Florida -3, O/U 52) – Pitt tries to rebound after back-to-back losses to Iowa and Notre Dame. South Florida is currently undefeated, but have played just one quality opponent and that was week one at Notre Dame.

Saturday October 1, 2011

12:00 PM EST | Arkansas at Texas A&M (A&M -3, O/U 62.5) – Funny these two should meet just one week removed from both losing the defining game of their season (so far). They will both be pressing for a win here.

12:00 PM EST | Air Force at Navy (Navy -3, O/U 50) – Both teams are 2-1 having each lost to ranked opponents, but these are two quality football teams and this is a great rivalry.

12:00 PM EST | Rutgers at Syracuse (Cuse -3.5, O/U 50) – Solid East Coast/Big East rivalry game here, but neither team has looked particularly good against quality opponents. This should be a good jumping off point for whichever team comes out with the win.

12:00 PM EST | Minnesota at Michigan (Michigan -21, O/U 53) – The Golden Gophers are probably the worst team in the Big Ten. They did show up at USC in their opener to give the Trojans a scare, but after losses to New Mexico State and North Dakota State this looks like a blowout in the Big House. Michigan has won 14 of the last 15 in the series.

12:00 PM EST | Auburn at South Carolina (South Carolina -10.5, O/U 59.5) – South Carolina has looked far from unbeatable, but they are 4-0 on the season. Auburn has a win over a ranked opponent this year (Mississippi State), but has appeared pedestrian against the likes of Utah State, Clemson (loss), and Florida Atlantic.

12:00 PM EST | Mississippi State at Georgia (Georgia -7, O/U 53) – These two teams are underdogs in the SEC and are off to slow starts, but both are capable of causing trouble in conference play throughout the year.

12:00 PM EST | Texas Tech at Kansas (Texas Tech -7, O/U 67.5) – The Jayhawks got a beat down by Georgia Tech last week and it doesn’t get much easier with Tech coming to town. The good news for Kansas, however, is that the Red Raiders didn’t look so hot last week against Nevada, squeaking by with a 35-34 win.

12:00 PM EST | Northwestern at Illinois (Illini -7, O/U 50) – Illinois barely survived last week at home against Western Michigan. This week they get a Northwestern team that is fresh off of a very disappointing loss at Army. This is a solid in-state rivalry game.

12:30 PM EST | Wake Forest at Boston College (Wake -2.5, O/U 48.5) – Boston College has looked awful to start the season, but finally notched a win over UMass last week. Wake Forest lost their opener at Syracuse, but have won two-straight, including a win over NC State.

2:30 PM EST | Nevada at Boise State (Boise -28, O/U 62.5) – The Wolfpack pulled out an upset over Boise last year, a loss the probably cost the Broncos a national title shot. Nevada lost their star player from a year ago and aren’t expect to do much this season. Big revenge spot for Boise State at home Saturday.

3:30 PM EST | Baylor at Kansas State (Baylor -3.5, O/U 63.5) – Big 12 opener for two teams who already have impressive wins on the season (Baylor over TCU, K State over Miami).

3:30 PM EST | Arizona at USC (USC -13.5, O/U 57) – Arizona is at the end of a terribly difficult stretch in their schedule (Oklahoma State, Stanford, Oregon and now USC) and they have not been up to task so far. USC has been up and down, but is coming off of an important loss against Arizona State in their Pac-12 opener.

3:30 PM EST | Michigan State at Ohio State (Ohio State -3, O/U 44) – Both teams are coming off of big wins over inferior opponents, but this game is significant because it is the conference opener for both teams and a chance for a significant win after each lost their first test of the season (Michigan State at Notre Dame and Ohio State at Miami).

6:00 PM EST | Clemson at Virginia Tech (VA Tech -7, O/U 49) – The winner here will be the favorite to win the ACC. Clemson has already knocked off Auburn and Florida State in back-to-back weeks while Virginia Tech has cruised through some relatively easy competition early on.

7:00 PM EST | Texas at Iowa State (Texas -10, O/U 48) – A rematch from one of the most surprising upsets of the year last season. Texas will be looking for revenge and Iowa State is trying to start 4-0 for the first time since 2000.

8:00 PM EST | Nebraska at Wisconsin (Wisconsin -10, O/U 56) – One of the most anticipated games of the 2011 season shouldn’t disappoint with both teams coming in with 4-0 records.

8:00 PM EST | Alabama at Florida (Alabama -4, O/U 44.5) – We just don’t know how good this Florida team is yet because they haven’t really played anyone outside of Tennessee (who we also don’t know much about), but we’ll find out this weekend when Alabama comes to town. The Tide have two wins over ranked opponents already, so I think we can assume they are a quality opponent.

10:00 PM EST | UCLA at Stanford (Stanford -22, O/U 54) – Stanford and Andrew Luck have basically looked unstoppable so far this year. Based on this line the Bruins won’t give them too much trouble, but it is probably the Cardinal’s toughest test to date.

Other Resources:

Jeff’s Sports Blog – gives his picks out on several big games each week.
Torn by Sports – Several picks on this week’s games.
Buckeye Battle Cry – 9 different predictions on several top games.

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