By the time we hit Week 5 of the 2023 college football schedule, the leaves will be starting to turn red and gold in at least some parts of the country, and we’ll be getting into some of the meatier conference matchups. The grind of the SEC West will start to produce some upsets, and it will be interesting to see if Texas and Oklahoma are showing themselves to be worthy of a move from the Big 12 to the SEC on the basis of anything other than television market share at this point.
We have picked some college football betting matchups for you to keep an eye on as the season gets closer.
NCAA News: Complete Football Betting Guide for Week 5
Utah Utes at Oregon State Beavers
Friday, September 29 | 9:00 pm ET, FS1
Utah opens their regular season with absolutely no fear, taking on Florida and Baylor to start the season. They should avenge that loss to Florida last year, and going to Baylor isn’t the scary trip that it was during the Art Briles era, so the Utes have an excellent shot at heading up to Corvallis with a perfect 4-0 record. The Beavers will have a new quarterback running the offense, as D.J. Ulagalelei traveled all the way across the country from Clemson through the transfer portal to see if he can give his college football career a bit of a jump-start. Utah has had a way of gutting out some key wins, but many of those key wins have come at home. Doing the same thing on the road has been more of a problem, particularly in Pac-12 play. I think the Utes can use their defense to frustrate Ulagalelei, but if the point spread on this game has the Utes favored to win by more than a field goal, I’d be temped to take Oregon State to cover.
Florida Gators at Kentucky Wildcats
Saturday, September 30
Florida will bounce back from that Week 1 loss at Utah by dismantling FCS opponent McNeese State. They host Tennessee to open SEC play, and the Volunteers are bringing in Joe Milton to replace Hendon Hooker at quarterback.Milton has a cannon arm but also tends to make poor decisions, and the turnovers that result should help the Gators win. Another bottom-feeder in Charlotte should have the Gators at 3-1 going into their visit to Kentucky. Devin Leary replaces Will Levis at quarterback for the Wildcats, so the offense is not likely to be as good – so I see the Gators avenging that home loss to Kentucky last year.
LSU Tigers at Ole Miss Rebels
Saturday, September 30
Ole Miss opens with a laugher against Mercer, but things get much tougher in Week 2 with a trip to AAC champions Tulane. Tulane has a high-powered offense, but so does Ole Miss, and the Rebels should be able to escape New Orleans with a win. That offense should also be able to overwhelm Georgia Tech in Week 3. Week 4 features a visit to Alabama, which is interesting because the Tide has not yet picked a starting quarterback. I wouldn’t take that as a sign that the Rebels can go to Tuscaloosa and win. Playing Alabama and LSU back-to-back is not an enviable schedule, and the Tigers do know who their quarterback will be – Jayden Daniels. He guided the Tigers to an SEC West title last year, including an overtime victory over Alabama, and a blowout victory over Purdue in the Cheez-It Bowl last year. LSU might be even better than Alabama, so I don’t expect the Rebels to win this game either.
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