Tuley’s Takes: Week 8 College Football Best Bets and Predictions:

As we head into our Week 8 college football best bets, we continue to trade money here in the Tuley’s Takes home office, but look forward to turning that around in the second half of the regular season.

I went 2-2 ATS last Saturday with Cincinnati (+3.5) upsetting Central Florida 19-13 and Cal (+3.5) covering in a 17-15 loss at undefeated Pitt. The losses were on Washington +2.5 at Iowa and Air Force +6.5 at New Mexico as we stand at 13-12 ATS overall.

 

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But this is nothing new, as my “dog or pass” is usually in the low 50% range most years. This is the time of year when we always seem to heat up as we have a better handle on this year’s teams. Of course, everyone says that, and there’s the added challenge that oddsmakers also know these teams much better by this point, but we move forward with the confidence that being selective from the big CFB betting board with our dog plays will win the day (and the season). I have three (hopefully) live dogs for this weekend, starting under the Friday night lights.

Florida State +3 at Duke

Friday, 7:00 p.m. ET (ESPN2)

I was happy to fade the Seminoles early this season with journeyman DJ Uiaglelei, including the opener against Georgia Tech, but now they’re 1-5 and getting points against Duk, and I believe the pendulum has swung to get us on them now that they’re undervalued underdogs. Uiaglelei is out with a hand injury, and highly anticipated prospect Brock Glenn (isn’t the backup QB the most popular player on most teams?) played well in last week’s loss to Clemson by going 23-for-41 for 222 yards and two TDs. Duke is 5-1 with some nice wins, but they also lost to Georgia Tech. The oddsmakers are telling us this is closer to pick ’em than you would normally see with a 5-1 vs. 1-5 matchup.

Week 8 College Football Best Bet: Florida State +3

Central Michigan +3.5 at Eastern Michigan

Saturday, 2:00 p.m. ET (ESPN+)

This game is also a coin-flip in my book. I’ll gladly take the field goal at the hook at +3.5. Eastern Michigan is 4-2 while Central Michigan is 3-3, so I get why oddsmakers have to favor EMU at home, but I’m not impressed by the Eagles’ four wins over UMass, Jacksonville State, St. Francis and Kent State. Both teams are coming off losses, with EMU getting blown out 38-14 by Miami (OH) when finally playing a comparable MAC opponent. CMU narrowly lost 27-25 to Ohio, as the Chippewas’ rally came up short. Both teams also average 29.3 points per game, so this should be your typical MAC shootout. Eastern Michigan does allow fewer points per game, but I equate that with their weaker strength of schedule.

Week 8 College Football Best Bet: Central Michigan +3.5

Western Michigan at Buffalo +1

Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET (ESPN+)

Let’s stay in the MAC with another “directional” Michigan school visiting Buffalo – and I’m not sure why the road team is the favorite, but I’ll gladly take the home underdog. Buffalo is 4-2 and coming off an impressive 30-15 upset of Toledo. Regular readers will remember that the Bulls upset my alma mater, Northern Illinois, the game after the Huskies upset No. 5 Notre Dame. Unfortunately, regular readers will also remember that I backed the Bulls in their next game, and they were blown out 47-3 by UConn. While I’m leery of another letdown, Buffalo still shouldn’t be home dogs against a 2-3 Western Michigan that only boasts wins in its last two games against Ball State (2-4) and Akron (1-6). 

Week 8 College Football Best Bet: Buffalo +1

For more Week 8 college football analysis, visit the Week 8 College Football Hub, exclusively on VSiN.com.

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