Week 5 College Football Predictions: Florida looks to stay hot
Saturday’s college football slate begins at noon ET, highlighted by a marquee matchup between #8 USC and Colorado on FOX. #24 Kansas and #3 Texas will meet at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium on ABC at 3:30 pm ET as the mid-afternoon showcase. This evening, fans will be treated to two matchups between ranked opponents, with #13 LSU visiting #20 Ole Miss and #11 Notre Dame visiting #17 Duke.
Below, we take a look at four best bets worth considering on your Saturday college football card!
Week 5 College Football Bets
#22 Florida (+1) vs. Kentucky
Since losing to #14 Utah on the road in their season opener, Florida has won three consecutive games by double digits, which includes a 29-16 victory over #11 Tennessee. Kentucky enters play undefeated, but the quality of their recent wins is nowhere near that of Florida. Kentucky has beaten Ball State, Eastern Kentucky, Akron, and Vanderbilt for an inflated 4-0 start to the year. It is tough to trust kids to win on the road, but Florida is the better team here by a relatively significant margin.
Iowa State vs. #14 Oklahoma, Over 48.5
This matchup between Iowa State and Oklahoma will be a battle between two extremely contrasting styles of play. Iowa State enters action ranked 102nd in the country in pace, while Oklahoma has played at the 27th-quickest pace of any team in the nation so far this fall. Typically, the pace will gravitate towards the more talented team – Oklahoma, in this case. Iowa State and Oklahoma State combined for 61 points last weekend, so we know that this game has the potential to be higher-scoring than the market number is suggesting.
#7 Washington vs. Arizona, Under 66
Both Washington, ranked 107th in pace, and Arizona, ranked 62nd in pace, prefer to play a slower brand of football than the majority of the other football programs in the country. Though Washington is coming off of a 59-32 shootout against California, their prior two contests failed to eclipse 53 combined points with their opponents. None of Arizona’s four games to begin the new campaign have topped 55 combined points scored. This market number is simply too high for a battle between these two teams.
Nevada (+24.5) vs. #25 Fresno State
Fresno State is yet to lose a game in 2023, and that is unlikely to change tonight. However, it is a fair doubt to wonder whether they will be able to cover such a large spread considering the fact that they only defeated Purdue by four points and Eastern Washington by three points early on their schedule. Nevada is winless, but they have played tough against Kansas and Texas State, with their only embarrassing loss coming to #8 USC in their season opener on the road. This game is likely to be more competitive than the large pregame spread would suggest.