College Football Week 11 Top Betting Picks & Predictions

Week 10 of the 2017 college football season sounds like it has basically wrecked the chances of the Big Ten to secure a spot in the College Football Playoff. Ohio State picked up its second loss, giving up 55 points to Iowa on the road. Penn State fell for the second week in a row, losing by three in a weather-delayed game at Michigan State. Wisconsin beat Indiana to remain undefeated, but they may slide in the rankings anyway. Even if Wisconsin finishes the season undefeated, their lack of quality wins (their non-conference games came against Utah State, Florida Atlantic and BYU) could keep them out, thanks to the rise of Notre Dame into the top four. That also means that Clemson could overcome a loss to lowly Syracuse and still vault past the Badgers into the playoff. Take a look at our primo college football Week 11 odds & betting matchups for the coming weekend — as always, home teams are in all caps.

College Football Week 11 Top Betting Picks & Predictions

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Saturday, November 11

IOWA STATE (+7) over Oklahoma State (12:00pm ET, ABC/ESPN2)

Oklahoma State comes in having fallen 62-52 in the yearly Bedlam series matchup against Oklahoma. Meanwhile, Iowa State also comes in off a loss, having fallen by four at West Virginia. Iowa State has beaten Oklahoma (on the road) and TCU (at home) already this season, and losing at West Virginia has no shame in it. Their home loss to Texas back in September is troubling, but this is a school that plays well at home taking on an Oklahoma State team that treats defense as an opportunity to rest, apparently. I see the Cyclones coming home and taking advantage of a Cowboy team that is still reeling from that big loss last week.

Michigan State (+16) over OHIO STATE (12:00pm ET, FOX)

Michigan State comes in riding high after knocking off Penn State in a game that ended up taking over six hours to play, thanks to a rash of lightning in the area. In this game we saw the Spartans’ strengths: a defense that plays physically for four quarters and bends, rather than breaks. Their offense also grinds the ball with the run and uses long in routes and slants to keep moving the ball. They head to Columbus to face Ohio State, who just took a shellacking from Iowa. Yes, the Buckeyes beat Penn State, but their defense was exposed — and was exposed again by the Hawkeyes. So while I think Ohio State wins this outright in College Football Week 11, the point spread is way too large right now — so take advantage.

Southern Mississippi (-10.5) over RICE (3:30pm ET)

Yes, this is the same team that you remember reading about in Week Zero, when they headed down under and took a  62-7 beating from Stanford in Sydney. They beat Texas-El Paso in Week Two but haven’t won since, and only one of those losses has been in single digits. They take on a Southern Miss team that pushed Tennessee to the point where they had to burn a backup quarterback’s redshirt to get the necessary momentum on offense to win. I see the Golden Eagles heading down to Houston and covering the spread against an Owl team that is showing signs of burnout, having lost their last three games, all in C-USA, by a combined 58 points.

Oregon State (+23) over ARIZONA (10:00pm ET, ESPN2)

Oregon State has won exactly one game this year — over Portland State back in Week Two. However, in Pac-12 play, their last three losses have been by a combined 18 points — and their losses to Stanford and Colorado were by a combined four points. They take on an Arizona team that already has two Pac-12 losses, including a 14-point setback at USC last week. They did beat UCLA by 17 and Washington State by 21, but this is a lot of points to leave on the table — and I don’t expect them to approach the Beavers as intensely as they approached those other two opponents. So I see the Wildcats winning easily in College Football Week 11 — but not this easily.