College football picks, Week 8: Alabama will cover a 3-score spread against Texas A&M

Each and every week, Bama is favored by what seems to be way too many against a team that somewhat gives a damn on defense. Usually whenever a team is laying more than two TDs of points, it's just common sense to take the underdog in a competitive league (which most of us would argue the SEC is, at least near the top). But as dominant as the Tide has been this season, most of us are taking them to cover the 16.5 spread against Texas A&M this weekend. (For the record, I'm taking A&M).

Other interesting story lines include:

• MSU and Kentucky meet in their annual cross-division rivalry. The Wildcats are a home dog and could make ground on earning a bowl bid (with future wins against Mizzou and Austin Peay).
• Memphis is a road favorite against the ranked Midshipmen. Navy is coming off a bye from eliminating Houston from playoff contention and are 4-1 ATS.
• Auburn and Arkansas is a sneaky fun game, with Malzahn leading his tigers to 5-1 on the season ATS and NovemBERT starting a bit early for the Hogs.

Week 8 picks against the spread

Spreads we love

Ohio State (-19.5) @ Penn State: After the Buckeyes survived against Wisconsin last week, they head to Happy Valley to take on the Nittany Lions. Sure I reckon that Ohio State will control most of the game, but I just can't lay that many points when the Buckeyes are coming off an emotional win and Penn State is coming off of a bye. I'll take the points but most everyone else likes the Buckeyes.

Ole Miss @ LSU (-5.5): This game is gonna be so wacky! Just wait and see! The line opened at LSU -3. For most games, Vegas gives 2-3 points for home field advantage. Maybe more since it's a rivalry game....in Death Valley....AT NIGHT! The spread has moved up to as much as -6.5! Anytime a line moves that much and that quickly, it's almost as if Vegas is looking to gain some money on this game with the populace following the trend on the favorite. Granted the Landsharks have looked more like minnows, but they are better than Mizzou and Southern Miss. Gimme Ole Miss (LSU -5.5 is Dan Rubenstein's Solid Verbal lock of the week).

Wisconsin (-3.5) @ Iowa: The Badgers proved their moxie last week against Ohio State while Iowa has struggled, losing to North Dakota State and Northwestern.

Spreads we're split on

Colorado @ Standford (-2.5): Guess who's last or near last in scoring, rushing, passing and total offense in the PAC-12! YUP! Stanford! Now guess who's near the top in all of those facets! YUP! The Buffs of Colorado! I guess Stanford is favored merely because it's at home but I expect Colorado to cover, if not win outright.

Last week's picks

Jeff caught some flack last week for being the lone cupper to take Arkansas and the points against Ole Miss. Welp we all saw how that worked out. Alex and Borkey who were down in the basement at the beginning of the season have slowly and steadily climbed out, both going above .500 this week, to leave TwoYards at a destitute 35% on the season. The rest of the pack is edging closer and closer to 50%, which is what Vegas wants in the end. Here are the current standings, with last week's record in parentheses.

• 30-18 (63%) Juco (6-4)
• 27-21 (56%) Jeff (5-5)
• 23-25 (48%) Borkey (6-4), Ghost (3-7), Gray (3-7) and Will (2-8)
• 22-26 (46%) Smeargle (2-8)
• 21-27 (44%) Zach (3-7) and Alex (6-4)
• 20-28 (42%) Whiskey (3-7)
• 17-31 (35%) TwoYards (2-7)