Picks to Click: Week 8

The second half of the college football regular season arrives with only a handful of ranked vs. ranked games, but there could be plenty of suspense in Week 8.

That is because 12 of the Associated Press Top 25 teams are playing on the road, including five of the top 10. Another top-10 squad, seventh-ranked Penn State, puts an undefeated record on the line at home against No. 16 Michigan.

The other two Top 25 showdowns are in the Pac-12, where No. 12 Oregon visits No. 25 Washington, and No. 17 Arizona State heads to Salt Lake City against No. 13 Utah. The Ducks can solidify their standing as the heavy favorite in the North Division with a win, which would hand the Huskies a third conference loss. In the South Division, the ASU-Utah loser will pick up a second league loss, but will still be within a game of first place (USC and Arizona also have one Pac-12 loss and play Saturday in Los Angeles).

Nationally, it will be interesting to see how a handful of teams respond to their own prosperity gathered from emotional wins a week ago. Second-ranked LSU, fresh off the win over Florida, hits the road at Mississippi State, which wouldn’t seem to pose trouble on paper. Perhaps more interesting will be undefeated and 18^th-ranked Baylor, which needed overtime (and a fortuitous officiating error) to outlast Texas Tech last Saturday. The Bears head to Oklahoma State and find themselves as underdogs.

On the flip side, how do teams like Texas (home vs. Kansas) and Florida (road vs. South Carolina) bounce back from tough losses? The Gators matchup is especially intriguing considering they face the Gamecocks, who pulled off the stunning upset of Georgia last week. The Bulldogs are home against Kentucky and will need to run the slate in the SEC East to get a chance to climb back into the playoff picture.

Last week, the Picks went 14-4 overall, 9-9 against the spread and 10-7-1 against the total. The season records are 124-28 overall, 70-64-2 against the spread and 76-57-3 against the points.

The Week 8 Picks to click are below.

Associated Press Top 25

Tennessee at #1 Alabama
Saturday | 6 p.m. | ESPN
Spread: -34.5| O/U: 61.5
Pick: Alabama, 46-16

#2 LSU at Mississippi State
Saturday | 12:30 p.m. | CBS
Spread: LSU, -18.5| O/U: 61
Pick: LSU, 45-17

#3 Clemson at Louisville
Saturday | 9 a.m. | ABC
Spread: Clemson, -23.5| O/U: 60.5
Pick: Clemson, 44-17

#4 Ohio State at Northwestern
Friday| 5:30 p.m. | BTN
Spread: Ohio State, -28| O/U: 49
Pick: Ohio State, 31-10

West Virginia at #5 Oklahoma
Saturday | 9 a.m. | FOX
Spread: Oklahoma, -33.5| O/U: 63.5
Pick: Oklahoma, 48-16

#6 Wisconsin at Illinois
Saturday | 9 a.m. | BTN
Spread: Wisconsin, -31.5| O/U: 50.5
Pick: Wisconsin, 37-7

#16 Michigan at #7 Penn State
Saturday | 4:30 p.m. | ABC
Spread: Penn State, -9| O/U: 46
Pick: Penn State, 21-17

#8 Notre Dame – Idle
Last Week: Won vs. USC, 30-27
Next Game: Oct. 26 at Michigan

#9 Florida at South Carolina
Saturday | 9 a.m. | ESPN
Spread: Florida, -5| O/U: 47.5
Pick: Florida, 23-20

Kentucky at #10 Georgia
Saturday | 3 p.m. | ESPN
Spread: Georgia, -25| O/U: 46.5
Pick: Georgia, 38-10

#11 Auburn at Arkansas
Saturday | 9 a.m. | SECN
Spread: Auburn, -19 | O/U: 55
Pick: Auburn, 34-14

#12 Oregon at #25 Washington
Saturday | 12:30 p.m. | ABC
Spread: Oregon, -3 | O/U: 49.5
Pick: Oregon, 31-24

#17 Arizona State at #13 Utah
Saturday | 3 p.m. | P12N
Spread: Utah, -13.5 | O/U: 45.5
Pick: Utah, 30-13

#14 Boise State at BYU
Saturday | 7:15 p.m. | ESPN2
Spread: Boise State, -7 | O/U: 45.5
Pick: Boise State, 27-15

Kansas at #15 Texas
Saturday | 4 p.m. | LHN
Spread: Texas, -21 | O/U: 62
Pick: Texas, 42-16

#18 Baylor at Oklahoma State
Saturday | 1 p.m. | FOX
Spread: Oklahoma State, -3.5 | O/U: 68.5
Pick: Oklahoma State, 31-27

Temple at #19 SMU
Saturday | 12:30 p.m. | ESPN2
Spread: SMU, -7.5 | O/U: 59
Pick: SMU, 33-28

#20 Minnesota at Rutgers
Saturday | 12:30 p.m. | BTN
Spread: Minnesota, -28 | O/U: 47.5
Pick: Minnesota, 37-13

Tulsa at #21 Cincinnati
Saturday | 12:30 p.m. | ESPNU
Spread: Cincinnati, -17 | O/U: 47.5
Pick: Cincinnati, 29-17

#22 Missouri at Vanderbilt
Saturday | 1 p.m. | SECN
Spread: Missouri, -21 | O/U: 56.5
Pick: Missouri, 36-16

Purdue at #23 Iowa
Saturday | 9 a.m. | ESPN2
Spread: TBA| O/U: TBA
Pick: TBA

UL Monroe at #24 Appalachian State
Saturday | 12:30 p.m. | ESPN+
Spread: Appalachian State, -14.5 | O/U: 66.5
Pick: Appalachian State, 34-24

Other Pac-12 Games

UCLA at Stanford
Thursday | 6 p.m. | ESPN
Spread: Stanford, -3 | O/U: 49.5
Pick: Stanford, 30-23

Oregon State at California  
Saturday | 11:30 a.m. | P12N
Spread: California, -11 | O/U: 51.5
Pick: California, 31-23

Colorado at Washington State  
Saturday | 4 p.m. | ESPNU
Spread: Washington State, -12.5 | O/U: 71.5
Pick: Washington State, 41-34

Notes:

• All times listed are PT
• Rankings from the Associated Press Top 25
• Point spreads/totals from http://www.sportsbetting.ag as of Thursday at 8 a.m.
• Pac-12 games shaded above in gray

2019 Record (Last Week)

All Games Straight Up: 124-28 (14-4)
All Games ATS: 70-64-2 (9-9)
All Games O/U: 76-57-3 (10-7-1)
Pac-12 Straight Up: 32-16 (3-1)
Pac-12 ATS: 20-20-1 (2-2)
Pac-12 O/U: 24-15-2 (2-1-1)

* Arizona games not included

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