How about this slate? There are numerous competitive matchups this Saturday headlined, of course, by Georgia vs. Texas. 

 

 

 

After the Week 7 games, there was plenty of movement within the AP top 10. Ohio State slid down two spots after their last-second loss to Oregon, while both LSU and Iowa State have made the jump inside the top 10. LSU moved all the way up from 13 a weekend ago after their overtime win against Ole Miss. 

What we saw last time out across the country sets up nicely this Saturday, and my CFB best bets for Week 8 have officially been finalized!

CFB Picks, Predictions & Best Bets: Saturday, 10/19

While this article highlights my CFB best bets for the Saturday games happening on October 19th, my CFB predictions for the midweek games are also live. We have a few more wagers coming on Friday night, so hopefully that’ll lead us into the weekend with some positive momentum!

My Nebraska vs. Indiana prediction, Auburn vs. Missouri prediction, Georgia vs. Texas prediction and more will be available below. In addition, my unit totals can be found in the midweek edition of CFB picks, as I don’t want to quite update anything while games are still in progress!

*All CFB best bets to be placed at 1 Unit unless otherwise specified. Be sure to follow me on X/Twitter @stevenw_hall!

 

 

 

UCLA vs. Rutgers Prediction: Saturday, October 19th

Just as everyone would have expected years ago, the UCLA Bruins meet with their Big Ten foe Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Saturday. Kidding, obviously, but this has the makings of one of the worst games to watch on the entire schedule. 

For anyone not betting, that’s terrible. But we’re here to make CFB best bets. So, we take advantage of UCLA’s putrid offense that ranks 130th in FBS in total yards per game (272.8) and 132nd in points scored (14.5). They have yet to score more than 17 points in a game all season, and it probably won’t come against a Rutgers defense that, outside of last weekend, has been solid all season. 

In fact, the Scarlet Knights are 30th in the country allowing just 187 passing yards per game, while that’s the Bruins’ best strength on offense, and it’s still not much of a strength at all (213.3 yards per game). 

Conversely, the UCLA defense is awful at everything but stopping the run (13th in NCAA), and the Rutgers offense is awful at everything but running. QB Athan Kaliakmanis has been downright dreadful his last two games with numbers of 27/70 for 288 yards with 1 touchdown and 3 interceptions. 

Yes, that’s a 39% completion percentage. I see this being a completely slow, run-dominant game with not a lot of touchdowns. Add in the fact that the Bruins travel across the country and I love this play.

 

 

 

Auburn vs. Missouri Prediction: Saturday, October 19th

I know Missouri has disappointed this season, but only being a 4-point favorite at home against an Auburn team that has lost 3 straight? Sign me up for that in our Week 8 CFB predictions. 

Even with the possible injuries lingering on the Missouri side of things, they have plenty of playmakers at both running back and wide receiver that should be enough to suffice. Besides, it’s not like they’re facing Texas A&M again. 

This Auburn bunch has been the epitome of average on both sides of the ball, and they come into this game with wins over Alabama A&M and New Mexico. That’s it. 

They’ve lost each of their games against ‘Power 4’ conferences by an average of 11 points and have gone back and forth between starting quarterbacks up to this point. Plus, the Missouri defense, outside of that game against TAMU, has been stellar, ranking 12th in both total yards allowed per game (270.8) and points allowed per game (15.3). 

Again, we expected them to be better, but they still own victories over the likes of Boston College and Vanderbilt this season – two teams who are maybe on par with Auburn so far this season? 

It’s possible that this a trap that I’m walking right into, but I just feel like this line should be closer towards a touchdown rather than a field goal. 

 

 

 

Georgia vs. Texas Prediction: Saturday, October 19th

This is the one everyone’s truly waiting for. Two top 5 teams with National Championship aspirations meeting in October always have eyes on it, and this one should live up to the hype. 

All the numbers point to Texas. So, naturally, something in me is inclined to side with the Bulldogs to finish these CFB best bets for Week 8. A part of that has to be recency bias with how dominant they've been over the last half-decade or so, but I also don’t think you can discredit the fact that they’ve been here before. 

Not just throughout their tenure at Georgia, but even as recent as the Alabama game less than a month ago. They’re looking to avenge that loss, where they came out extremely flat. I’d be shocked if that happened twice in a matter of a few weeks to a Kirby Smart-led football team. 

It’s hard to deny what the Longhorns have done so far, but who have they really played? Playing at Michigan early on looked like a tough one, but we’ve seen just how average the Wolverines now are this season. In my opinion, this will be Texas’ first true test of this campaign. 

And I’m not even saying they won’t come out on top. But I’ll gladly take the points here with Georgia seeing how competitive this matchup should wind up being. Here’s an interesting little nugget as well: the Bulldogs last entered a game as the underdog in Week 1 of the 2021 season against Clemson, and they came away victorious 10-3.

 

 

 

Best CFB Prop Bets & Other Picks - Saturday, 10/19