College Football Picks Week 10: Predictions and Odds for Top 25 Schedule
The 2016 college football season is humming along, and as head head toward Week 10, the playoff picture of starting to become clear—or is it?
As Ohio State's 24-21 loss to Penn State proved last week, even those teams that appear most dominant can lose during any give week. While we still feel pretty good about teams such as Alabama and Michigan making it all the way to the College Football Playoff, nothing can be taken for granted.
With some intriguing matchups—such as Nebraska and Ohio State or Cal-Washington—slated for Week 10, could there be another rankings-rocking result in the cards?
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Today, we're going to take a look at the upcoming schedule for Top 25 teams and the early lines, courtesy of Odds Shark. We'll also make our predictions against those and take a look at some of the top matchups of the coming slate.
First, though, let's take a look at the latest AP rankings.
Week 10 Schedule
| 17. Western Michigan at Ball State | Western Michigan -16 | Western Michigan |
| 12. Oklahoma at Iowa State | Oklahoma -19.5 | Iowa State |
| UCLA at 21. Colorado | Colorado -10 | Colorado |
| San Jose State at 24. Boise State | Boise State -26.5 | San Jose State |
| 7. Texas A&M at Mississippi State | Texas A&M -13 | Texas A&M |
| Vanderbilt at 11. Auburn | Auburn -26 | Auburn |
| 5. Louisville at Boston College | Louisville -24.5 | Louisville |
| 8. Wisconsin at Northwestern | Wisconsin -6.5 | Wisconsin |
| Georgia Tech at 18. North Carolina | North Carolina -9.5 | Georgia Tech |
| Maryland at 2. Michigan | Michigan -26.5 | Michigan |
| Syracuse at 3. Clemson | Clemson -28.5 | Syracuse |
| 23. Virginia Tech at Duke | Virginia Tech -10 | Virginia Tech |
| 22. Oklahoma State at Kansas State | Kansas State -2.5 | Kansas State |
| TCU at 13. Baylor | Baylor -9 | Baylor |
| 10. Florida at Arkansas | Florida -3.5 | Florida |
| Arizona at 25. Washington State | Washington State -16.5 | Washington State |
| Kansas at 14. West Virginia | West Virginia -31.5 | Kansas |
| 16. Florida State at NC State | Florida State -6.5 | Florida State |
| Iowa at 20. Penn State | Penn State -6.5 | Iowa |
| 9. Nebraska at 6. Ohio State | Ohio State -15.5 | Nebraska |
| 1. Alabama at 15. LSU | Alabama -7 | Alabama |
| 4. Washington at California | Washington -17.5 | Washington |
Matchups to Watch
No. 1 Alabama at No. 15 LSU
The top team in the country takes on perhaps its greatest rival on Saturday when the Alabama Crimson Tide travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to take on the LSU Tigers.
This is a rivalry game in the truest sense of the word, and it's likely to show on the football field. The intensity of this matchup, combined with the location, is precisely why the Tigers have a good chance of putting up a strong fight against Alabama.
This is likely why Alabama opens as a single-digit favorite despite winning 20 consecutive games.
LSU interim coach Ed Orgeron seems confident his team can even pull off the upset.
"Hell yeah," Orgeron said, per Glenn Guilbeau of WWL-TV. "Ole Miss put 43 on 'em," Orgeron said of Alabama's 48-43 victory over the Rebels on Sept. 17. "So they're not invincible."
Alabama might not be invincible, but we're not terribly convinced the team is going to be prone to a loss against its bitter rival. The Crimson Tide have blown through the likes of Arkansas, Tennessee and Texas A&M in consecutive weeks and have made things look relatively easy.
Plus, it's not like LSU is a team Alabama is going to overlook.
The trick, of course, will be figuring out how to slow down Leonard Fournette and the LSU rushing attack. If Alabama can, the team should win by double digits.
No. 9 Nebraska at No.6 Ohio State
The Oho State Buckeyes fell to No. 6 after suffering a shocking loss against Penn State two weeks ago. While the Buckeyes have been very good at bouncing back from losses under head coach Urban Meyer, the team didn't exactly thrash Week 9 opponent Northwestern.
"The Buckeyes WILL bounce back pic.twitter.com/ZRAV0DcRow
— Ohio State Daily (@OhioStateDaily) October 25, 2016"
Despite playing at home, the Buckeyes managed a mere 24-20 victory against Northwestern on Saturday. It's a result that few probably expected and that proved just how hard it is to consistently win in college football.
"Every game’s going to be a dogfight," defensive end Jalyn Holmes said, per David Jablonski of the Dayton Daily News. "Especially when they have a good team. Northwestern had a great game plan, and they came to play hard, so it was a good game."
The existing reality that the Buckeyes have struggled in consecutive weeks is why it feels a bit odd to see them as such large favorites over Nebraska. The Cornhuskers are coming off their only loss of the season, and it came by six points against a good Wisconsin team.
Part of the reason Wisconsin won was a 12-of-31 passing day from Nebraska quarterback Tommy Armstrong. Considering Armstrong is completing 53 percent of his passes on the season, we're not sure such a miserable day is going to occur in Columbus.
We do feel pretty confident that the Buckeyes can come away with the victory in this game. We're not so sure they can win by more than two touchdowns.
Syracuse at No. 10 Clemson
Another game that seems to have an unnecessarily large spread is the matchup between Syracuse and the third-ranked Clemson Tigers.
Yes, Clemson is undefeated and deserves to be near the top of the polls. Sure, Syracuse is a mediocre 4-4. However, Syracuse is also on a bit of a roll, knocking off then-No. 17 Virginia Tech by two touchdowns and then besting Boston College in consecutive weeks.
Clemson, meanwhile, has had two close calls in a row. The Tigers outlasted Florida State for a three-point victory last week and won in overtime against the NC State Wolfpack the week prior. Now it could be time for a letdown.
We're not suggesting Clemson will actually lose to Syracuse this week, but we're not so sure they win by more than four touchdowns, either. If the Tigers do, it will be because the Syracuse defense—which is allowing an average of 31.6 points per game—cannot hang.
Offensively, Clemson is averaging just 10 points per game (36.6) more than Syracuse (26.6).
We're very tempted to take Syracuse plus the points here.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
