College Football Odds Week 6: Picks, Spread Predictions for Top 25 Games

If you're planning on picking favorites in Week 6 of the college football slate, it's going to mean rooting for a lot of blowouts. 

There aren't a lot of evenly matched teams on the Top 25 slate and the result is 16 games with double-digit lines. With 10 ranked teams playing on the road and conference play in full swing, that could mean a big week for the underdogs. 

It's the kind of slate that seems to be humdrum, but it could turn out to be a trap for many of these big favorites as they march toward the playoff. 

Here's a look at the complete schedule along with picks for every game and a closer look at some of the biggest matchups of the weekend. 

Full Week 6 Schedule and Odds (Spread info courtesy of OddsShark)

Note: Author picks are bolded.

Thursday, October 5

8 p.m. ET: No. 17 Louisville at No. 24 NC State (NC State +4.5)

Saturday, October 7

12 p.m. ET Wake Forest at No. 2 Clemson (Clemson -22.5)

12 p.m. ET: Iowa State at No. 3 Oklahoma (Oklahoma -28)

12 p.m. ET: No. 4 Penn State at Northwestern (Northwestern +15.5)

12 p.m. ET: No. 5 Georgia at Vanderbilt (Vanderbilt +18)

12 p.m. ET: Ole Miss at No. 12 Auburn (Auburn -21.5)

3:30 p.m. ET: No. 23 West Virginia at No. 8 TCU (TCU -13.5)

3:30 p.m. ET: No. 13 Miami (FL) at Florida State (Florida State +3.5)

3:30 p.m. ET: No. 21 Notre Dame at North Carolina (North Carolina +15.5)

3:30 p.m. ET: LSU at No. 21 Florida (Florida -3.5)

4 p.m. ET: Maryland at No. 10 Ohio State (Ohio State -30)

4 p.m. ET: Oregon State at No. 14 USC (USC -34)

7:15 p.m. ET: No. 1 Alabama at Texas A&M (Texas A&M +27)

7:15 p.m. ET: No. 16 Virginia Tech at Boston College (Boston College +16.5)

7:30 p.m. ET: Michigan State at No. 7 Michigan (Michigan -10)

8 p.m. ET: No. 9 Wisconsin at Nebraska (Nebraska +12)

8 p.m. ET: No. 11 Washington State at Oregon (Oregon +2.5)

8 p.m. ET: No. 25 UCF at Cincinnati (Cincinnati +17)

10:15 p.m. ET: Stanford at No. 20 Utah (Utah +5.5)

10:45 p.m.ET: California at No. 6 Washington (Washington -27.5)

10:45 p.m. ET: No. 19 San Diego State at UNLV (UNLV +11)

Biggest Games

No. 17 Louisville at No. 24 NC State

Timothy D. Easley/Associated Press

The Lamar Jackson show takes to the road when the Louisville Cardinals travel to North Carolina State in one of the best games on the slate. 

The Cardinals are the higher-ranked team and come in as a slight favorite in a Thursday game that is one of the best of the week. 

Jackson is off to a great start in attempting to win the Heisman Trophy in back-to-back seasons. He's the team's leading rusher with 437 yards in addition to throwing for another 1,636 yards and combining for 18 total touchdowns through five games. 

What makes this matchup interesting is the dual-threat quarterback and the NC State defensive front. The Wolfpack has been adept at getting after the quarterback, averaging 2.6 sacks per game. That pass-rush is led by Bradley Chubb, who is getting the attention of Draftniks such as Dane Brugler of CBS Sports:

Looking at what the Cardinals have done so far, their stock might be a mirage. Their 4-1 mark is made up of a seven-point win over a 2-2 Purdue team, a 47-35 win over a struggling North Carolina team and two blowout wins over Kent State and Murray State. 

In the only game they've played top competition, Clemson demolished them to the tune of 47-21. 

NC State isn't Clemson, but they aren't Murray State either. They have an athletic enough defensive line to bottle up Jackson and force other factors on Louisville's roster to beat them. Thus far, teams that can do that experience success against the Cards. 

The Wolfpack should do enough at home on defense to give themselves a chance to win the game outright. 

Prediction: NC State 35, Louisville 28

No. 23 West Virginia at No. 8 TCU

Brody Schmidt/Associated Press

College GameDay will roll into Fort Worth for the only ranked matchup on the Saturday docket, as the Horned Frogs look to capitalize on the momentum they created two weeks ago when they beat Oklahoma State. 

Looking at the line, though, it's hard to back the Frogs against the spread. 

Vegas has the Frogs pegged as a 13-point favorite hosting the Mountaineers. Before taking a look at how this year's teams matchup, here's a look at the history of this matchup over the last few years:

• 2016: WVU 34, TCU 10
• 2015: TCU 40, WVU 10
• 2014: TCU 31, WVU 30
• 2013: WVU 30, TCU 27
• 2012: TCU 39, WVU 38 

TCU was a disaster at this point last season. West Virginia was at the end of a brutal four-game losing streak when it played the Frogs in 2015. Anytime both teams have been remotely good, these games have been close. 

Fast-forward to this year's matchup and there's reason to believe it'll be a shootout once again. 

The Frogs are the more well-rounded team. According to Football Outsiders' F/+ rankings, the Frogs are the No. 9 team in the nation in terms of offensive, defensive and special teams combined efficiency. The Mountaineers are just No. 45. 

However, this game is about matchups, and West Virginia has a big advantage when it comes to the passing game. The TCU defense has improved by leaps and bounds against the run, where they only allow 2.8 yards per carry, but defending the pass is still not a strength. 

Gary Patterson's squad gives up 7.8 yards per attempt, which puts them 94th nationally. Against a quarterback like Will Grier, that's bad news. 

Skyler Howard threw for four touchdowns against TCU last season, and Patterson acknowledges that Grier might be better than his predecessor. 

“I think Grier possibly throws the ball a lot better as far as the deep ball and some of those things,” Patterson said, per Chris Hummer of 247 Sports. “But what I can tell is the last guy was a winner. Dana did a great job with him, and they’re doing the same thing with Will.”

TCU should still get the job done. Their ability to force WVU into being one-dimensional and the bevy of weapons they have on the offensive side of the ball, such as Darius Anderson, KaVontae Turpin and Kenedy Snell will be hard to keep up with for a WVU defense that ranks 102 in yards allowed per play. 

Prediction: TCU 41, West Virginia 37

No. 11 Washington State at Oregon

Young Kwak/Associated Press

Mike Leach's swashbuckling Washington State team was on top of the college football world last week with a late-night win over USC. Now they'll travel to Oregon in a game that is a lot more dangerous than meets the eye. 

As a Mike Leach team, it's pretty clear that the Cougars want to get into a shootout. They love to throw the ball around, and Luke Falk is clearly comfortable running Leach's Air Raid offense. The difference between this Cougars team and other Leach teams from the past is their ability to play defense. 

In the upset win over USC, NFL Draft prospect Sam Darnold was held to 15-of-29 passing for just 164 yards and an interception. 

Meanwhile, USC running back Ronald Jones busted loose for 128 yards on just 14 carries. Darnold chipped in another 25 yards and two touchdowns on the ground as well. Essentially, they found massive success when they ran the ball, but they opted to let Darnold continue to drop back and try to out-Washington State the Cougars. 

Enter Oregon. The Ducks will be without quarterback Justin Herbert, but they still boast a powerful ground game that averages 5.28 yards per carry in a relatively high-volume attack that runs the ball close to 50 times per game. 

Starting running back Royce Freeman is banged up, but Oregon has recruited well at the running back position and senior Kani Benoit showcased some burst in Freeman's absence against California last week. 

The Cougars will be able to put up points. Falk makes great decisions with the football and has led the passing attack to put up 41 points per game. However, coming off a huge win, going on the road against a team they might be overlooking is a classic trap game and Washington State seems ripe for the picking in that regard. 

Prediction: Oregon 45, Washington State 38