Week 11 is upon us for college football and the college football playoff still has a long way to go before we lock in the top 4.
Here are the best bets in college football for the 12pm primetime games in week 11.
Missouri vs. Tennessee on CBS
Missouri seems content with Eliah Drinkwitz to continue to lead this team. The argument can go either way with whether he deserves the job or not but it’s extremely tough in the SEC and to be fair he has somehow landed some stud recruits. Coming into this year they landed at 14th in the nation with their recruitment. With the competitive recruiting conference they’re in that is very impressive.
They really need a QB though because the recruits Drinkwitz has landed are playmakers including Luther Burden who is a 5 star wide receiver and they can’t be loving the lack of production at QB.
Missouri is going on the road to Neyland Stadium which is one of the toughest environments in college football and unfortunately for them Tennessee fans won’t be taking a day off just because it’s Missouri. With the loss by Tennessee to Georgia the stakes have ramped up for Tennessee to make their way back in to the playoff without going to the SEC championship.
Therefore Missouri finds themselves in the crossfire this week.
While Missouri’s defense has not been bad this year it is the offense that has struggled mightily only putting up 23.1 points per game. They gave Georgia a really good scare at home on 10/1 which if they were at home this week I would consider them covering any spread and possibly winning. But they are not home and instead in a really tough environment.
Tennessee needs to win big here on out. I completely bought they hype of Tennessee. Im not saying they could never beat Georgia to be honest but they just weren’t ready for a massive game on the road like that. The college football playoff committee put them at number 1 last week so that they didn’t have to move Tennessee that far after the loss and they can still sneak their way in later in the year. The committee at least knows people would like to see an offense like this in the playoff which is why they protected them with the rankings last week. The thing is they can’t leave any questions or doubt for the remainder. They need to dominate everyone and that starts with Missouri. Luckily they are at home because after playing in Athens they looked a little shell shocked.
The Bet: Tennessee needs to win big going forward and I think the early kickoff day game at Neyland is a perfect recipe for them to cover. Tennessee -20.5.
LSU vs. Arkansas on ESPN
I may be the biggest LSU hater out there besides Alabama fans. I’m not buying them as I wasn’t buying them earlier this year either. I’ve seen Jayden Daniels when he played at Arizona State and he is just not the guy. Why teams week to week do not just spy him like they should Justin Fields is beyond me. Sacrifice the coverage and tackle him when he runs cause he always does. My dislike for LSU is so high that I am genuinely blaming Alabama for losing more than LSU for winning.
Bill O’Brien is a bad OC and we’ve witnessed that for multiple years even when they had better talent prior to this year. Pete Golding is an awful DC that we have witnessed for multiple years even with better talent years prior. Bryce Young does everything he can even with his bum shoulder and yet his receivers can’t catch or get separation unless Bryce Young extends the play 10 seconds. Now is this about Alabama or LSU? I am just trying to prove a point that LSU isn’t this good.
On the other side is Arkansas who many have been disappointed in as they were solid last year in college football and they brought back K.J. Jefferson at QB who was decent but most definitely a gamer. The thought was Jefferson would improve throwing but that hasn’t really been the case as the inaccuracy still remains. They lost to Liberty quite embarrassingly last week but also props to Liberty for being prepared and ready for an SEC team. Prior they smoked Auburn and BYU. It really is just the inconsistency that kills them. Their defense is also miserable even dating back to last year when every game was a shootout.
Raheim Sanders is a beast and he’s only a sophomore so remember him in a couple years as he could be playing well after college football. If he can play well and allow Jefferson to avoid taking hit after hit that he normally does they can do well. The issue is K.J. may not play and that would allow Malik Hornsby to play and Sam Pittman seems to believe in him a lot. We’ll see what happens but the defense for Arkansas needs to show up just a little bit. That will be the deciding factor.
The Bet: Arkansas at home after a bad loss feels solid to me. Pittman is not an X’s and O’s guy he’s a man manager and this is a gem to get the players ready. K.J. Jefferson may not play but Arkansas at home points are bound to fly. I like over 61.5.
Purdue vs. Illinois on ESPN2
To me it’s simple for this game. Illinois simply can’t beat themselves again like they did last week again Michigan State. Purdue isn’t good this year and I know they like to upset teams but Bielama and Illinois can’t let them come to Champaign and dictate.
The Bet: Small preview of the game because I have a separate article that I preview Illinois football. Illinois -7 is the best bet here.
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