12/5 college football lines and picks

After a week off for the Thanksgiving holiday, we’re back at it with the lines and picks. Unfortunately it was a painful week going into the holiday, as we started strong but fizzled to a 2-4 week. Oklahoma State’s total failure to show up offensively blew the point spread and missed the under by 6, so thanks for nothing, Mike Gundy. Also, Coastal Carolina intercepted a pass to seal the game, but rather than falling down, the defender ran it back for a touchdown to blow App State +5. That’s the worst of beats, but that’s how this racket goes.

Anyways, here are my picks for 12/5....

FLORIDA -17.5 at Tennessee. This is as close to free money as you can get. Florida’s offense is a machine, and Tennessee has a quarterback controversy and just kicked one of its best defenders off the team this week for an arrest. And, y’know, it’s Florida against Tennessee, where the former owns the latter. Kyle Trask to Kyle Pitts is a common theme as the Gators roll up a huge offensive output.

MIAMI -14.5 at Duke. Speaking of free money, Duke loves to give the ball away, so the turnover chain had better be coming out often. Miami is more than fresh and should be able to pound away on the Devils’ defense. This is a game Miami SHOULD win comfortably, although that hasn’t been their modus operandi this season. I’ll go with it happening on Saturday night.

CLEMSON -22 at Virginia Tech. Call this a guy feeling, but Clemson gets its running game on track with Travis Etienne on Saturday night, and the Tigers emphatically earn their spot in the ACC championship game.

Indiana at Wisconsin; UNDER 45. No Michael Penix, Jr. is a huge blow to IU’s offense. Their defense has been solid recently, shutting out Sparty and holding Maryland to 11 points. I’ll take this being a lower scoring slop fest that Vegas has it pegged to be.

West Virginia at IOWA STATE -6.5. We’ll see if Iowa State is worthy their seemingly inflated number 9 ranking, but they get a very beatable opponent at home that hasn’t played since November 14. If they are anywhere near a top 10 team, they should be able to lay a touchdown in this spot. I’ll guess they do.

South Carolina at KENTUCKY -11. Yeah, I’m clearly in the mood to lay points today. South Carolina is horrendous and without their best defender in LB Ernest Jones. Kentucky has shown some fight before getting caved in at Florida and Bama, but their defense is better than what you’d expect to see from a 3-6 team. I’ll take Kentucky and lay the 11.