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Ricky Rothstein
NCAA College Football Point Spreads: Week 4 Odds
The big mover in the polls this week is Louisville as the Cardinals jumped all the way to No. 3 in the AP Top 25, tying the best ranking in school history. No school had a more impressive Week 3 win than Louisville’s 63-20 destruction of former No. 2 Florida State on Saturday. Lamar Jackson, you are ridiculous! Meanwhile, Oklahoma and Notre Dame can say goodbye to their College Football Playoff chances after each lost at home to ranked teams on Saturday, the second defeat of the young season for the Sooners and Irish. Here are five Week 4 games to watch and their Sports Interaction NCAA football odds. Matchups on Saturday unless noted.
No. 5 Clemson at Georgia Tech
When: Thursday, 7:30 p.m. ET
Point spread: Clemson -10
NCAAF pick: Yellow Jackets (cover not win)
The ACC opener for defending conference champion Clemson, which didn’t look all that impressive at times in beating Auburn, Troy and South Carolina State in non-conference play. Georgia Tech was one of the nation’s biggest disappointments last year at 3-9 but already has matched that wins total with non-conference victories over Boston College, Mercer and Vanderbilt. Not exactly a tough schedule. Georgia Tech visited No. 6 Clemson last season and lost 43-24.
Tigers star quarterback Deshaun Watson threw for 265 yards and two touchdowns. Wayne Gallman rushed for 115 yard and two scores. Georgia Tech rarely passes the ball in its option offense but was held to just 71 yards rushing in the game, the Jackets’ fewest ever under Coach Paul Johnson.
No. 19 Florida at No. 14 Tennessee
When: 3:30 p.m. ET
Point spread: Tennessee -7.5
NCAAF pick: Vols
Big one in the SEC East Division between unbeaten teams as the winner here will have a huge head-to-head tiebreaker. One of Florida, Tennessee or Georgia is going to win that division; the Dawgs could lose Saturday as they visit Ole Miss. Florida won’t have starting quarterback Luke Del Rio for at least a couple of weeks after he injured his knee in Saturday’s win over North Texas. Purdue transfer Austin Appleby will get the start.
The Vols have lost 11 in a row to the Gators, perhaps none more painful than last season’s 28-27 defeat in Gainesville. The game looked over with UT up 27-14 with under five minutes left. But the Gators scored two touchdowns in less than four minutes, capped by Antonio Callaway’s 63-yard TD catch on fourth-and-14 with 1:26 remaining. Tennessee kicker Aaron Medley barely missed a 55-yard kick with three seconds left. The Vols had some very questionable clock management and other decisions in that loss.
Penn State at No. 4 Michigan
When: 3:30 p.m. ET
Point spread: Michigan -17
NCAAF pick: Nittany Lions (cover not win)
Hard to know what Michigan is considering the Wolverines’ non-conference schedule was against Hawaii, Central Florida and Colorado. Those schools were a combined 7-31 last season so no surprise that Michigan blew them all out. The Wolverines should get a tougher test in the Big Ten opener against the Nittany Lions, who beat Kent State and Temple out of conference but lost to Pittsburgh. Last year, Michigan visited State College as the nation’s No. 12 team and won 28-16. Penn State had just 207 yards of offense and was 3-for-14 on third-down conversions.
Oklahoma State at No. 16 Baylor
When: 7:30 p.m. ET
Point spread: Baylor -9.5
NCAAF pick: Bears
It’s the Big 12 opener for both and this should be one of the highest-scoring games of Saturday with two fast-paced offenses. Baylor could be the most fake 3-0 team in the country considering it has played cupcakes Northwestern State, SMU and Rice. But the Bears are the only 3-0 team in the Big 12. Last year, Baylor was ranked No. 10 when it won 43-35 at No. 6 Oklahoma State, which entered the game at 10-0.
The Bears had 32 first downs and 700 yards of offense even though they were down to their third-string quarterback in the second half due to injuries. Baylor picked up its first win at Oklahoma State since 1939, snapping an 11-game road losing streak in the series. OSU’s Mason Rudolph threw for 403 yards and three scores, but OSU was completely one-dimensional as it had 8 yards rushing on 23 attempts.
No. 7 Stanford at UCLA
When: 8 p.m. ET
Point spread: Stanford -3
NCAAF pick: Cardinal
Game of the day in the Pac-12 and could be a preview of the conference championship game as Stanford was the preseason favourite in the North Division and UCLA the same in the South. The Cardinals beat the other Los Angeles school, USC, 27-10 on Saturday. Heisman Trophy candidate Christian McCaffrey had 260 all-purpose yards. UCLA won 17-14 at BYU on Saturday. These schools met last year in Palo Alto and No. 15 Stanford trashed No. 18 UCLA 56-35.
McCaffrey rushed for a school-record 243 yard and four touchdowns. He also returned a kick 96 yards to set up another score, finishing with 369 all-purpose yards as Stanford beat UCLA for the eighth straight time. Bruins quarterback Josh Rosen threw for 326 yards and three touchdowns but was intercepted twice. UCLA had 506 yards of offense