This is always one of the biggest football weekends of the year, with games played throughout the day both on Friday and Saturday. Friday has two games with major CFP implications with #4 Iowa taking on Nebraska as well as the big Baylor vs. TCU matchup in the Big 12.
Iowa cracked the Top Four of the latest CFP Rankings and face one of their toughest challenges of the season this Friday. This online sportsbook list the Hawkeyes as a slim 1.5-point favorite despite Iowa coming into this game with an unbeaten 11-0 record.
Perhaps this line reflects the urgency of Nebraska to win this game, needing one more victory to become bowl eligible. Hawkeyes have covered the spread in 12 of their last 14 road games overall, and we can’t imagine more motivation than playing for a spot in the College Football playoffs.
It’s the middle of November, and it’s time to start paying attention to playoff standings in the NFL. Thursday night’s AFC East matchup between the Bills and Jets has playoff implications as New York currently is slotted for one of the Wild Card entries, while Buffalo is right behind them.
New York is a small 2.5-point home favorite thanks to home field advantage, but lost both games vs. the Bills last season. Buffalo is a rush-heavy offense that may struggle against a Jets defense that is only allowing 81 rushing yards per game.
The biggest favorite on the board this weekend is Green Bay, who enters this home game against the Detroit Lions after suffering back-to-back road losses against Denver and Carolina.
The third week of the NFL regular season kicks off Thursday night when the New York Giants host the Washington Redskins. New York is still searching for their first win of the season, but despite that 0-2 record they have played pretty well so far and had the lead late in their games at Dallas and at home vs. the Falcons.
This online sportsbook likes the Giants' chances of earning that first “W”, having them listed as a 3.5 point favorite. It should be noted that this is Washington’s first road game of the season, and they were just 1-7 straight up on the road last year.
For the NFL Football betting enthusiast, there are a pair of huge favorites this weekend, with New England a big 13.5-point favorite at home against Jacksonville while Seattle is a monster 14.5-point choice at home against Chicago. The Patriots are off to a fast 2-0 start while the Seahawks are winless in two tries.
After a thrilling week of College Football action we do it again this weekend, including three teams ranked in the AP Top 25 playing before Saturday. Thursday night sees two Top 25 teams taking the field, however the sportsbooks expect those ranked teams to lose outright.
#22 Temple is a 2.5-point road underdog at East Carolina, and while Temple was able to beat ECU last year as a big 10-point underdog, they did so despite being on the road end of a 432-135 total yardage discrepancy. Owls won that game thanks to a 5-0 turnover margin – something they shouldn’t be counting on this time around.
#20 California is a 3.5-point road underdog at UCLA. The Bruins gave up 310 rushing yards in a blowout loss against Stanford this week, but get a much easier on-field matchup against Cal, who employs a pass-heavy offensive attack. UCLA held a 236-57 rushing edge last year in this meeting while winning by a slim two-point
Not many would have predicted the Colts, Eagles, or Seahawks would have started off the 2015 NFL Regular Season with two straight losses. As it stands, all three of those teams remain winless two weeks into the season, and there is now some causes for concern for these three teams.
The Colts were one of the favorites to win the AFC Title coming off an 11-win season and reaching the AFC Conference Championship a year ago.
A Colts offense led by QB Andrew Luck was supposed to be the catalyst for that success, aided by Indy bringing in stud RB Frank Gore to shore up their lone offensive question mark – the running game.
For the second week in a row, the NFL weekend kicks off with a dud as the 1-3 Houston Texans host the 2-2 Indianapolis Colts. The online sports betting websites have not release an opening line as Colts QB playing status remains in doubt.
Houston was blown out last Sunday in Atlanta, and while Brian Hoyer came in after the Texans fell behind 42-0 to lead his team into the end zone three times, Houston will start Ryan Mallet at quarterback again this week. We wouldn’t be surprised to see Hoyer come in if Mallet struggles again.
Speaking of duds, Jacksonville takes on Tampa Bay this week in a “someone has to win” matchup between two 1-3 clubs.
The online sportsbooks list the Buccaneers as a 2.5-point favorite, almost entirely because of home field advantage.