College Football Week 7 Parlay Picks

We’re making the turn at the midway point of the 2017 college football season. We’ve seen that Alabama and Clemson look like they’re headed back toward a showdown atop the college football world, as Alabama features Jalen Hurts once again and has a defense that seems even faster, while Clemson has changed their offense to a run-first approach that suits the departure of Deshaun Watson. Washington State and TCU look like they could win the Pac-12 and the Big 12, respectively, while Oklahoma and Michigan are reeling from a pair of bad losses that have their playoff hopes in a bind. As you consider your College Football Week 7 odds & picks for this week, take a look at these parlay suggestions and take a shot at boosting your payoffs significantly. Home teams are in all caps.

College Football Week 7 Parlay Picks

How did Week 6’s biggest surprises impact the Top 10? @BruceFeldmanCFB‘s updated rankings: https://t.co/YyzVR4i1iX

— SI College Football (@si_ncaafb) October 8, 2017

Friday Night Lights

SYRACUSE (+22.5) over Clemson (7:00pm ET, ESPN)

Is Clemson likely to suffer a late letdown on the road and lose straight up to Syracuse? Like they pulled that boneheaded loss at home last year to Pittsburgh? Not likely. But let’s look at some of their recent results. They just hosted Wake Forest at homecoming…and only won by 14 points. They did rout Boston College and Louisville, and they took down a top-15 Virginia Tech team on the road as well, but this feels like a game when Clemson might not keep the gas on the whole way — and the line has them winning by more than three touchdowns. Syracuse has had two tough road opponents — LSU and North Carolina State — and lost those games by a combined 19 points. So I’m taking the Orange here, with all of those points.

Washington State (-15) over CAL (10:30pm ET, ESPN)

The surprise with Washington State’s rise this year has nothing to do with their video-game offense. Mike Leach has put together a dynamic offense at every stop in his coaching career. The difference with this Cougar squad is a physical defense. Last week, they made the high-flying Oregon Ducks look slow with their hustle on the defensive side of the ball. They won by 23 at Oregon and now head down to take on a Cal team that has lost their last two games by a combined 52 points — and one of those was a 21-point loss to Oregon. If the Cougars bring that same combination of offense and defense down in Berkeley, they should have no problem covering this spread.

Showdowns at High Noon

Michigan (-8) over INDIANA (12:00pm ET, ABC)

If you’ve been reading my betting previews for a while, you know about my Angry Contender Principle — if a team that views itself as a contender (for the national championship, for the conference title, or something similarly prestigious) loses to an opponent that they consider inferior, and then they face another lower-tier foe the next week, you can expect that contender to deliver a beating and take out some of those frustration. Michigan (thanks to a bunch of interceptions from John O’Korn) lost at home to Michigan State last week, 14-10. Now they head down to Indiana to take on a Hoosiers team that, so far in Big Ten play, has lost by 28 to Ohio State at home and lost by 31 at Penn State. They’ve been good at beating directional schools (knocking off Georgia Southern and Charleston Southern), but with an angry Michigan team coming in, I expect the Hoosiers’ Homecoming game to be more of a celebration for the visitors. Texas Tech at WEST VIRGINIA (12:00pm ET, ESPNU), O/U 76 (OVER) In five games, the West Virginia Mountaineers have scored 219 points — an average of almost 44 points. The Texas Tech Red Raiders have scored 235 points in five games — averaging 47 points per game. Both of these schools play run-and-gun football that involves high-flying passing offenses — and both of these schools really struggle on the defensive side of the ball. When these two teams meet in Morgantown, expect the yards to pile up — and the points too, so finish this parlay with an “OVER” wager.