Week 9 College Football Picks: LSU +15 Against No. 1-Ranked Alabama, And More

Each week we’ll be providing our top college football picks.

Also check out our NFL “Lookahead Lines” story, finding value (or not) by comparing earlier lines, and identifying recency bias.

This week we have six plays, including a rebound spot for Oregon and LSU getting over two touchdowns at home versus Alabama.

Week 9 College Football Picks: LSU +15 Over Alabama, Ducks -10 Over UCLA & More

cfb picks week 10 ucla oregon
RB Joshua Kelley

Oregon -10 over UCLA

Oregon is my favorite play of the season so far, assuming quarterback Justin Herbert plays. Herbert suffered a concussion in last week’s loss to Arizona but returned to practice Wednesday.

Nothing went right for the Ducks in Tucson. It was an awful spot for them coming off two emotional games against Washington and Washington State. I looked hard at fading the Ducks last week but just couldn’t trust Arizona.

While last week was a terrible spot for Oregon, this week is the exact opposite. Chip Kelly returns to Eugene where he was the head coach for four years and led the Ducks to the National Championship Game. His UCLA Bruins are coming off a 31-point loss to Utah and have dropped 10 of their last 11 conference games on the road by an average of 16 points.

Oregon has Utah on deck but because they got hammered by Arizona, the Ducks can’t afford to look past the overmatched Bruins. Nothing went right for Oregon against Arizona. It’s one of those games you just throw away because Oregon simply didn’t show up. Expect them to show up Saturday with Kelly in town.

Oregon is 4-1 at home this season. The Ducks’ only loss was to Stanford when they fumbled running out the clock. I expect Oregon to roll at home on Saturday. This line should be up to two touchdowns by kickoff. It opened Oregon -13 then dropped to 7.5 when  Herbert was questionable Tuesday. It’s back on the rise, so if you like the Ducks, grab them as soon as possible.

Upcoming Games