College Football Staff Picks Against the Spread, Best Bets for Week 14 Games

The final week of the college football regular season is upon us, how has this season flown by so quickly?

Below, our staff's writers and editors make their picks against the spread for Week 14, along with their best bet out of the key games.

Season-long standings:

Laken Litman: 83-69-4

Ross Dellenger: 81-71-4

Max Meyer: 80-72-3

Molly Geary: 73-79-4

BEST BETS

No. 7 Oklahoma at No. 21 Oklahoma State

Oklahoma has to win to stay in the College Football Playoff conversation. It helped the Sooners' case last week when Oregon was upset by Arizona State. And now, Lincoln Riley and Co. need to win out—and rack up some style points—to impress the selection committee and snag that coveted fourth spot over Alabama or Utah.

The Sooners have had some off-brand performances lately. It started with a one-possession loss to Kansas State in October and since then, OU has beaten its last three opponents by a combined eight points. Two weeks ago, the Sooners came from behind to give Baylor its first loss of the season, and last Saturday, they beat TCU after a controversial call at the end. Quarterback Jalen Hurts was ruled to have gotten a first down on third-and-5 late in the fourth quarter, but it appeared the Horned Frogs stopped him short. After a lengthy review, officials ruled that Hurts earned the spot and OU won, 28-24.

Now, Oklahoma heads Stillwater for its annual rivalry matchup with Oklahoma State. While Boone Pickens Stadium is not an easy place to play—especially at night—the Cowboys won’t have starting quarterback Spencer Sanders after he underwent season-ending thumb surgery last week. OSU is also without starting wide receiver Tylan Wallace, who reportedly tore his ACL earlier this month, and will rely on the nation’s leading rusher back Chuba Hubbard to pull off the upset. While Hubbard is averaging 166.5 rushing yards per game and has scored 20 touchdowns this season, that won’t be enough to match Oklahoma and its top-five scoring offense. —Laken Litman

Army (+2.5) at Hawaii

I’m venturing a bit off the grid with my final best bet of the college football regular season, but this is too good of a spot to pass up. And it’ll give you something to do to end your Saturday night, as this kicks off past midnight on the East Coast.

Hawaii barely edged San Diego State last weekend on a missed game-tying field as time expired. That allowed the Rainbow Warriors to clinch their first West Division since joining the Mountain West Conference, and they’ll face Boise State next week in the conference championship. It would be pretty easy to overlook this week’s opponent given the highs of last week’s win and what’s at stake next week.

Meanwhile, Army is coming off a bye and needs a win here to be bowl eligible. So not only will the Black Knights have extra time to prep for Hawaii’s potent offense, but there’s no doubt that they have more to play for in this one.

If Hawaii isn’t fully focused here, good luck stopping Army’s triple-option offense. Hawaii has an extremely poor run defense already, as it allows 5.57 yards per carry, which is the sixth-worst mark in all of college football. Hawaii is fifth-worst in CFB at stuff rate (stops at or behind the line of scrimmage) at 13.4%, and if Army is getting positive yardage on every play, Hawaii will be in for a long night.

So let’s go full degenerate, and sweat out a game on the island as we kick off December football. —Max Meyer

Season record: 25-30-1