College Football Week 10 Best Matchups & Betting Picks

Some news worth mentioning about the University of Pittsburgh team that could affect your futures bet on the Panthers. Over the weekend, Pitt coach dismissed starting senior defensive end Rori Blair from the team for “conduct detrimental to the program.” As big of a loss as Blair is along the defensive line though, the team will also be without junior safety (and perhaps best defender on the team) Jordan Whitehead and starting middle linebacker Quintin Wirginis for the first three games of the year after unspecified violations of team policy. So keep that in mind. Here are two Week 10 games to check out and bet this 2017 College Football season.

College Football Week 10 Best Matchups & Betting Picks

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Oklahoma at Oklahoma State

When: Saturday, Nov. 4, TBD Where: Boone Pickens Stadium, Stillwater TV: TBD Stream: TBD Radio: KRXO 107.7 FM  (Oklahoma) / KSPI 97.3 FM (Oklahoma State) Opening College Football Week 10 Lines: OSU -1 It’s the annual Bedlam game, and I believe the winner of this game will play in the Big 12 Championship Game that was brought back this year – probably against the loser of this game as the two Oklahoma schools appear to be the cream of the crop in the Big 12. The title game is guaranteed to feature a rematch from the regular season because all conference teams play each other. The two best returning quarterbacks in the conference also will be in this game in Baker Mayfield and Mason Rudolph, both 2017 Heisman Trophy candidates. Mayfield is a two-time Heisman finalist but I believe Rudolph will put up better numbers this year and earn a trip to New York. Rudolph is also considered a better pro prospect.

Adjustments On OU Staff

The 2017 season is defensive coordinator Mike Stoops’ first at Oklahoma without brother Bob, who announced his retirement on June 6 after 18 highly successful seasons that produced a national championship, 10 Big 12 championships and 18 consecutive postseason appearances. Mike has been part of 106 wins at Oklahoma, or 56 percent of brother Bob’s record-setting 190 wins, the most of any head coach in Sooner football history. Former Offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley takes over as head coach. The Sooners’ 150 touchdowns the past two seasons with Lincoln Riley as the architect of OU’s Air Raid offense are the most of any Football Bowl Subdivision team in the country. Since Riley became offensive coordinator under Stoops two seasons ago, Oklahoma has averaged 43 points a game. The last time Oklahoma was shutout in football was on Nov. 7, 1998, a 29-0 loss at Texas A&M. That was the third to the last game of the 1998 season. Stoops took over as the Sooners’ head coach the next season.

Last Meeting

In 2016, Oklahoma State was ranked 10 th in the country and lost 38-20 at No. 9 Oklahoma. Mayfield passed for 288 yards and three touchdowns, with the win earning Oklahoma a trip to the Sugar Bowl. Mayfield performed well throughout, despite finishing the game without Biletnikoff Award winner Dede Westbrook. The speedster caught four passes for 111 yards before leaving injured. He has since graduated. Samaje Perine rambled for 239 yards on a career-high 37 carries and Joe Mixon caught a touchdown pass and busted a 79-yard touchdown run for the Sooners. Those guys are both in the NFL too. Rudolph completed just 11 of 25 passes for 186 yards for Oklahoma State. His top target for the season, James Washington, caught just two passes for 50 yards on eight targets. Rudolph remains in school. The Cowboys, who last won the Big 12 in 2011, fell to 2-10 against the Sooners under coach Mike Gundy.

College Football Week 9 Odds, Expert Picks & Previews

LSU at Alabama

When: Saturday, Nov. 4, TBD Where: Bryant-Denny Stadium TV: TBD Stream: TBD Radio: WDGL Eagle 98.1 FM (LSU) / Tide 102.9 FM (Alabama) Opening College Football Week 10 Lines: Alabama -9

Last Meeting

This figures to be the game of the year in the SEC West because it usually is. However, one reason that LSU fired coach Les Miles last year is because he can no longer beat Alabama. New head Coach Ed Orgeron didn’t fare much better in his debut (he was still interim then) as the Tigers lost at home to the No. 1 ranked Tide 10-0 last November 5. Bama QB Jalen Hurts finally escaped the grasps of LSU’;s stingy defense on a 21-yard touchdown run that broke a scoreless tie early in the fourth quarter. It was Alabama’s sixth straight win in the series. LSU star Leonard Fournette ran 17 times for 35 yards. The Tigers generated just 125 yards of total offense, 25 after halftime as Alabama took control of the game.

Who Plays WR For LSU?

The Tigers open fall camp this week looking to solidify their receiving group outside of senior D.J. Chark. The Tigers have one other senior wideout in Russell Gage, and much of the rest of the receiver corps is made of inexperienced sophomores and freshmen. In a spread offense installed by first-year coordinator Matt Canada — his offense set school scoring records last season at Pitt — those receivers will be expected to do more than simply catch passes. “The thing about our receivers is we use so many shifts and motions that all of them will have to play,”Orgeron said Sunday, one day before the opening of preseason camp. The Tigers lost their top two pass catchers to the NFL in Malachi Dupre (41 catches) and Travin Dural (28), leaving Chark (26) as the only returning wideout with more than five catches last season. As of last week, Orgeron said that star defensive end Arden Key will miss “at least half” of fall camp while continuing to rehab from his offseason shoulder surgery. Whether that rehab will bleed over into the second half of camp — or even the regular season — has yet to be decided. Key is projected as a Top 10 pick in next year’s draft. Like Key, incumbent LSU QB Danny Etling had reparative surgery in the offseason. But unlike Key, Etling won’t miss any camp time recovering.

Expert College Football Week 10 Predictions

Take the Pokes at home to knock off Oklahoma. LSU might be good enough to win a few other Power 5 conferences, but I don’t see it going to Tuscaloosa and winning. Look for another low-scoring game but Bama will cover any spread under double digits in College Football Week 10.