College Football Week 5 ATS Picks

Ready for another week of college football betting? Now that we’re getting further into conference play, each week’s matchup has more and more significance, both for those who want bowl eligibility and for those who want a slot in the College Football Playoff. We’ve looked at the College Football Week 5’s slate of picks and have come up with some primo choices for you as you look to wager against the NCAAF spread. Take a gander at our predictions before you make your bets for the weekend’s action. Home teams are in all caps.

College Football Week 5 ATS Picks

When kept clean from pressure – these QBs have been extra sharp, throwing for the most TDs without an interception from a clean pocket. pic.twitter.com/Lw8M2lOtGh

— PFF College Football (@PFF_College) September 25, 2017

Iowa (+3.5) over MICHIGAN STATE (Saturday, 4:00pm ET, FOX)

The Iowa Hawkeyes head to East Lansing to take on the Michigan State Spartans on SAturday. Iowa took a two-point loss at home to Penn State — the defending conference champion — while Michigan State lost to Notre Dame by 20. This is the same Spartan squad that fell apart last year, turning into the Big Ten West’s doormat. They had some trouble with Western Michigan before that loss to the Irish, and I‘m not sure they can stay with an Iowa team that hung with a ranked opponent for four quarters before losing at the end. Give me the Hawkeyes to cover on the road. College Football Week 5 Pick: Iowa Hawkeyes

AUBURN (-9.5) over Mississippi State (Saturday, 6:00pm ET, ESPN)

It looked like Mississippi State was ready to contend with Alabama for that SEC West title…and then another week went by. The Bulldogs stomped LSU at home, 37-7…but then they headed out to Georgia and found themselves on the wrong end of a 31-3 lesson. So now Mississippi State continues their trip through the SEC gauntlet by heading to Auburn. There they face a Tiger squad that went to Missouri to open their SEC slate last week and came home with a 51-14 victory. Auburn’s only loss on the season came to Clemson on the road, where they fell, 14-6. Auburn has a stout defense that has permitted just 45 points in four games, and while Nick Fitzgerald has emerged as a talented quarterback for Mississippi State, Auburn has a defense that is probably better than Georgia’s. I see Auburn turning this into a long day for the Bulldogs — and covering. College Football Week 5 Pick: Auburn Tigers

TEXAS TECH (+9.5) over Texas Tech (Saturday, 8:00pm ET, FOX)

The Red Raiders enter Big 12 play with a 3-0 record, having dispatched Eastern Washington, Arizona State and Houston. They beat the Sun Devils, 52-45, in one of those patented track meets that the Red Raiders have become famous for. Then they went down to Houston and beat a team that doesn’t have Tom Herman at head coach anymore but still has Greg Ward Jr and the rest of that powerful Houston offense. So now they return home to take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys, who limp to Lubbock after taking a 44-31 beating from TCU at home last week. I’m not sure that Texas Tech can win this — but given the fact that Oklahoma State doesn’t have much of a defense at all, I see this easily turning into that same sort of high-speed scoring race that Texas Tech loves to join — and I see this game coming down to the wire. So that line seems much too large to me — take the Red Raiders to cover. College Football Week 5 Pick: Texas Tech Red Raiders

UCLA (-7) over Colorado (Saturday, 10:30pm ET, ESPN2)

The Colorado Buffaloes come into this week’s game on the heels of a 37-10 embarrassment at the hands of the Washington Huskies last week. They now sit with a 3-1 record as they head to Pasadena to take on the Bruins. UCLA took a 58-34 shellacking up at Stanford last week, and they have now given up 173 points in their first four games of the season. They do score a lot — they’ve put up 180, thanks to the golden arm of quarterback Josh Rosen — but their defense is simply unreliable right now. Colorado struggled to put points on the board in their opener against Colorado State and had a complete offensive meltdown at hoAngeles, I seeington. So in this trip to Pasadena, I see the Buffaloes losing –and losing by a couple of touchdowns. Give me the Bruins to win and cover. College Football Week 5 Pick: UCLA Bruins