Jim Feist

Pittsburgh looks to build on their win last week at Georgia Teach, 52-21. The Panthers are now 5-0 S/U and 3-1 ATS on the season. They have been an offensive machine, scoring 41 or more points in every game thus far. That ranks them 3rd in the country in total offense. The defense is good, ranked 40th overall. Virginia Tech is coming off a home loss to Notre Dame last week, 29-32. That makes them 3-2 S/U and 2-2 ATS on the season. What disturbs me is that they barely beat FCS team Richmond, 21-10. The offense has not been good, ranked 116th overall. The defense is good, ranked 44th. But they will have their hands full today with the 3rd ranked Panthers offense. I'll take Pittsburgh in this one.

SEC action today has Tennessee hosting Ole Miss. Tennessee is 4-2 S/U and 3-3 ATS on the season. They are 2-1 in SEC action after last week's win at home over South Carolina, 45-20 as a 10.5-point favorite. The Volunteers have scored 107 points over their last two games. The offense ranks 19th overall. Ole Miss also has a excellent offense, scoring 43 or more points in four of their five games this year. They are 4-1 S/U and 2-2-1 ATS on the season. They are coming off a shootout win over Arkansas, 52-51, though they failed to cover the 5.5-point favorite line. Ole Miss has the nation's 2nd ranked offense with 562 yards per game. Only Ohio State is better with 563 yards. The defense is another story, ranked 102nd in the nation. This is where Tennessee has the edge as they rank 46th. Tennessee is the dog here and I disagree with that. I expected them to be the small 1-2 point favorite. I'll take a shot as this looks to be a SEC Shootout. Play Tennessee.

 Dodgers and Braves open the NLCS here today in this best of seven series. The Dodgers just finished up one of their most emotional series ever against their long time rivals the Giants. Too bad one of those teams had to be done as both had won 109 games before the Dodgers took game five, 2-1. Yes, there was a controversial half swing call to end the game, but realistically the Dodgers likely would have won since there were two outs and a running only on first. Still, hate to see the game end that way for a great team like the Giants had. Now the Dodgers will have to turn those emotions to this series with the Braves. The Braves will start Max Fried here in game one. Fried is my favorite pitcher on this staff and he catches the Dodgers in what could easily be a letdown sport for them. Max Scherzer was expected to start here today, but he came in to close the game in the bottom of the 9th for the Dodgers. So, at this point it's still up in the air. For me, I don't care who they start. I'm looking for a flat Dodgers response here on Saturday and a great shot for the Braves to get game one. Play Atlanta.

Boston College enters this game with a 4-1 S/U and ATS record. The Eagles lost their first game of the season last week at Clemson, 13-19, covering the 15.5-game dog line. They will host a NC State team here on Saturday that is also 4-1 S/U and 3-2 ATS. The Wolfpack are coming off a win at home over La Tech, 34-27. Boston College has the 62nd ranked offense while NC State has the 47th ranked offense. NC State has a top flight defense, ranked 13th overall in the FBS while Boston College is a respectable 28th. These teams didn't meet last year, but BC has covered the last four in this series. I like getting the points at home in this contest. Play Boston College.

Kent State looks to improve to 3-0 in the MAC with a win today at Western Michigan. Kent State is 3-3 overall on the season and 2-4 ATS. They have won their last two games over Bowling Green, 27-20 and then last week at home over Buffalo, 48-38. Western Michigan is 4-2 S/U and ATS overall, 1-1 in MAC play. The Broncos are coming off a loss last week at home to Ball State, 20-45 as a 11-point favorite. The clubs haven't met since 2017 when Western won at home, 48-20. Kent has a very good offense, ranked 24th in the country. Western is ranked 64th in offense. Kent suffers on defense where they are ranked 110th with Western coming in at 25th. Getting a TD here on Saturday with a very good Kent offense is too much to pass on. Play Kent State.

Big 10 action here on Saturday as Purdue takes on Iowa. Iowa has jumped to No 2 in the AP rankings with their 6-0 record. That is up from last week's 3rd ranking. Iowa is also 5-1 ATS on the season. Iowa came from behind last week to beat Penn State, 23-20, covering the 2-point home spread. The Hawkeyes have that very good defense, ranked 9th overall in FBS. They actually will face another top ranked defense today in Purdue, which comes in at 14th overall. The Boilermakers are 3-2 S/U and 2-3 ATS. However, they have not allowed more than 27 points in a game and four of their five games at 21 or fewer points. Two very good defenses on tap here today. Purdue getting double digits might be more than Iowa can cover. I'll take that bet. Play Purdue plus the big points.

Not sure if Texas will be able to get that staggering loss to Oklahoma out of its mouth for this week's contest. Texas comes into this game 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the Big 12. Oklahoma had last week off to prepare for this game and comes in 5-0 overall and 2-0 in conference. Ok State has the nation's 85th ranked offense while Texas is 18th. Problem for Texas is the defense, which ranks 107th overall. They will have to deal with an Ok State team that is 19th overall on offense. With Ok State being rested and Texas maybe not in the right frame of mind, I'll take the undefeated Pokes in this one. Play Oklahoma State and look for an outright win.