Today’s Best Bets
Sam Choudhury
At the beginning of each week, we highlight our favorite CFB bets so that you can get in early and lock in the best possible odds. This companion piece will drop each Friday, where I will talk about some advantageous parlays you can consider and the reasons why I favor them so much. These could be as simple as picking a side and the total of a single game or stringing together a couple of games into the same parlay. I’m also always digging into the prop market to find you any soft numbers we can exploit.
I’ve identified two parlays that I think are worth jumping on this week. Week 8 offers some really intriguing matchups and I’m excited to share with you guys my favorite parlays.
Zay Flowers Receiving Yardage Prop
Jaydn Ott Rushing Yardage Prop
(Zay Flowers 72.5 Receiving Yards; Jaydn Ott 77.5 Rushing Yards; DraftKings Sportsbook)
Boston College has had a dreadful season, which can be directly attributed to the fact that they lost just about everyone from last year’s starting offensive line. You simply can’t underestimate how important an experienced O-line really is. Phil Jurkovec hasn’t had much time to throw, which has made things difficult, but his No. 1 target Zay Flowers has still been able to produce fairly consistently, and he is truly an all-world talent. He turned down several transfer opportunities over the summer to stay with BC and they’ve made a point to reward his loyalty with as many touches as humanly possible. He leads the team in targets with 63 which is 39 more than anyone else on the team. He has turned those passes into 41 catches for 559 yards and 5 touchdowns. He has also had at least 75 receiving yards in five of six games, so we have to feel confident in this soft number. Wake Forest’s defense isn’t particularly strong, and they tend to gas out after halftime because of the fast pace the offense operates at. I’m all over Flowers this weekend in all aspects from DFS to the prop market.
Ott let us down last week against Colorado as he was a complete nonfactor and the Bears actually lost, which is embarrassing when you consider just how bad the Buffaloes are. This is a tremendous bounceback spot for not only Ott but the Bears as a whole. As a Washington Huskies fan, I know as well as anyone how terrible their defense has been and they’re getting gashed all over the field in both the passing game and the rushing game. Athletic backs have especially taken them to the woodshed because they’re able to do damage in a myriad of ways. Xazavian Valladay rushed for 111 yards, Zach Charbonnet racked up 124 yards and Casey Filkins coasted to 100 yards in a blowout loss. Ott is a younger player with amazing talent, but he hasn’t been able to find his way to consistency yet. He flashed his immense upside when he rushed for over 240 yards against Arizona but has had mixed results since. Look for the Bears to feed him plenty of opportunities to rack up yardage and he will flirt with 100+ by the time it’s all said and done.
Best Bet
Zay Flowers OVER 72.5 Receiving Yards (-115) and Jaydn Ott OVER 77.5 Rushing Yards (-115) — Combined +249
BYU Cougars vs. Liberty Flames
Memphis Tigers vs. Tulane Green Wave
(BYU -7, O/U 58; Tulane -7, O/U 55.5; DraftKings Sportsbook)
For the second parlay I’m going to be targeting two different totals that feel far too low. These four teams all have strong offenses, individual star players on their roster and defenses that have been suspect throughout the season.
BYU is led by QB Jaren Hall, who is enjoying a stupendous season as the maestro of the offense. He has thrown for almost 2,000 yards and 17 touchdowns while also rushing for over 100 yards. He even has a couple of receptions, one of which went for a touchdown so you can see just how important to this team he is and just how good he has been. BYU games have gone over in five of their seven games this season, which includes four of five as favorites.
Liberty is littered with offensive weapons and Hawaii transfer Dae Dae Hunter has been especially explosive. Hunter has rushed for 612 yards/7 TDs while catching 13 passes for 116 yards/1 TD. WR Demario Douglas is torching secondaries as the WR1 with a stat line of 34-546-5. This is a well-coached team under Hugh Freeze, and they will be able to take advantage of a BYU defense that is bleeding points to their last few opponents. Liberty games have gone over in four of seven games this season as well.
Memphis has been involved in four different shootouts this year with all of them going down to the wire so there are plenty of reasons to expect this game with Tulane to be video-game-like as well. The over has hit in seven of Memphis’ last eight games. The under has hit in nine of Tulane’s last 12 games, but the Tigers have had an ornate ability to put points on the board while also allowing their opponents to light it up.
Best Bet
BYU vs. Liberty OVER 58 total points (-110) and Memphis vs. Tulane OVER 55.5 total points (-110) — Combined +264
