Week 10 college football odds, lines: Alabama under a TD favorite vs. LSU – CBSSports.com

Welcome once again to Monday Morning Oddsmaker, your weekly first look at the Vegas lines for the coming weekend’s — and in this case, midweek’s — action in college football. That weekend shapes up as the dooziest of doozies, too, with the biggest games of the regular season in both the SEC and ACC, a showdown of undefeateds in the Big 12, major tests for multiple teams chasing the Group of Five auto-bid, and lots more.

So let’s get to it. All lines current as of Monday morning and courtesy of our friends at SportsLine:

Lines you need to know

No. 4 LSU at No. 7 Alabama (-6.5): The Crimson Tide are nearly a full-touchdown favorite over the visiting Tigers in the prime-time SEC on CBS Game of the Week. Winner keeps dreaming of a national title; loser needs a tsunami of help.

No. 17 Florida State at No. 3 Clemson (-12): How eye-popping is that line? The Seminoles haven’t been regular-season underdogs at all since the fourth game of the 2011 season (at Clemson, natch), and haven’t been an underdog of this many points since hosting No. 2 Florida as a 15.5-point ‘dog in 2008.

No. 5 TCU at No. 12 Oklahoma State (+5): A backloaded Big 12 schedule — one that’s seen zero matchups between the league’s four top-15 teams to date — finally hits high gear with the Frogs’ trip to Stillwater as a road favorite.

No. 8 Notre Dame at Pitt (+7.5): The Panthers didn’t offer the Heinz Field crowd much of show against North Carolina last week. Can they do better with a shot to ruin the Irish’s playoff hopes?

Northern Illinois at No. 20 Toledo (-8): #MACtion returns in style Tuesday night with the undefeated, ranked Rockets hosting longtime league bully NIU as more than a touchdown favorite.

Lines that may raise eyebrows

Duke at No. 21 North Carolina (-8.5): The Tar Heels earned an impressive road win last week while the Blue Devils (ahem) memorably lost at home, but 8.5 points nonetheless feels like a surprisingly wide gap between what could (or should) be a pair of one-loss ACC teams.

Navy at No. 15 Memphis (-9): That a 6-1 Midshipmen team whose only loss came at Notre Dame is still almost a double-digit underdog at the Liberty Bowl is a sign of serious respect for Justin Fuente’s undefeated Tigers.

No. 13 Utah at Washington (-1): Chris Petersen’s team is arguably better than their 4-4 record — the losses have all been to quality opponents, generally by narrow margins — and Utah didn’t exactly shine in its last performance as a surprising road underdog. Still: Washington is favored here?

Texas Tech at West Virginia (-7.5): The Mountaineers are 0-4 in Big 12 play both straight-up and against-the-spread. They’re still home favorites of more than a touchdown over the Red Raiders. (Perhaps because those four losses came to Oklahoma, Baylor, Oklahoma State and TCU.)

Lines you may want to stay away from

Minnesota at No. 1 Ohio State (-23): At a glance, that’s a sizable number given how sharp the Gophers looked in their first game under interim coach Tracy Claeys and how wobbly the Buckeyes have looked vs. other heavy underdogs this season. But how much better is Ohio State with J.T. Barrett at quarterback? And how much of Minnesota’s showing vs. Michigan was the emotion of Jerry Kill’s sudden retirement?

No. 2 Baylor at Kansas State (+17): Baylor’s not always great as a road favorite. The Wildcats are usually terrific as an underdog anywhere. But 55-0 losses to Oklahoma and 23-9 losses to Texas don’t exactly inspire confidence in Bill Snyder’s team.

No. 23 Temple at SMU (+14): After a fast start, Chad Morris’ Mustangs have covered just once in their past four games. But getting the Owls at home on a Friday night just six days after the heartbreak of the Notre Dame loss might be the right time to turn things around.

No. 6 Michigan State at Nebraska (OFF): The Cornhuskers aren’t as bad as they showed at Purdue, even if Tommy Armstrong misses another week. The Spartans aren’t as strong as their record. Still, backing Mike Riley’s team at any number feels like a dangerous proposition these days.

Lines you may want to pick against*

Kansas at Texas (-29): Charlie Strong isn’t likely to let his team come out flailing for a second straight week, and the Jayhawks have been abject on the road thus far in Big 12 play. Pick: Texas -29

Arkansas at No. 19 Ole Miss (-11): The Rebels have been quite good at home this season, going 4-1 against-the-spread, but Bret Bielema just typically doesn’t lose SEC games by these kinds of margins; dating back to 2013, only three of the Hogs’ last 11 league defeats came by more than 10 points. Pick: Arkansas +11

No. 24 Mississippi State at Missouri (+7.5): Gary Pinkel’s team has been beyond awful on offense, and Dak Prescott is playing too well to expect the Tigers defense to keep them in the game — even at home on a Thursday night. Pick: Mississippi State -7.5

Arkansas State at Appalachian State (-11.5): Until last week’s inexplicable overtime escape vs. Troy, the Mountaineers hadn’t beaten any Group of Five opponent by less than 18 points. Expect normal service restored. Pick: Appalachian State -11.5

*Given this piece’s recent track record, this would mean picking against the lines in the opposite fashion your humble blogger does.

Leonard Fournette will face his biggest challenge yet at Alabama. (USATSI)

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.