🏈 Saturday CFB Best Bets — Oct 18

Arizona’s defense has improved dramatically this year, especially vs the pass, which could neutralize Houston’s QB under pressure.

Houston is dealing with injury concerns at WR and key gaps in their depth.

Arizona has been historically solid as a small underdog; betting trends suggest value in backing them in tight spots.

Expect a low-scoring, close game dominated by defensive turnovers and field position battles.

LSU has won the last 10 meetings vs Vanderbilt and has consistency on offense and defense.

Vanderbilt, however, is playing with confidence and has built momentum despite dropping one to Alabama.

Models lean toward Vanderbilt covering; their offense (with Diego Pavia) is efficient and has fewer turnovers.

The spread is tight, and the total is modest, suggesting this could be tighter than expected.

Georgia’s defense will come around, especially vs the run and in tight-game situations. It hasn’t been great this year though.

Mississippi’s offense can explode, but Georgia tends to dictate tempo and force opponents to beat them through the air.

Oregon is built to blow out lesser opponents; their offense is fast, efficient, and deep. The defense is rock solid. They will out physical Rutgers.

Rutgers is outmatched in depth, especially in the trenches; they’re going to be behind early.

At +17.5, Rutgers has back-door potential, but Oregon’s pace and vertical passing can rack points. Rutgers can score and their offense is solid.

UCLA is solid since making the coaching switch.

Maryland will try to force tempo and test UCLA’s secondary, but inconsistencies limit their ceiling.

The total at 52.5 is reasonable for this matchup — room for both offense and defense to assert.

UCLA has upside and Maryland is just solid all-around.