College football betting lines, point spreads, game odds for Week 8
Six perfect teams lost their first game last weekend, leaving nine unbeaten teams coming into the Week 8 college football schedule, and looking at the early betting lines, we should see some more go down this week, too.
There's one game that pits two undefeated teams on the same field, as Clemson welcomes surprise ACC contender Syracuse on Saturday in a battle for first-place in the division that no one saw coming.
UCLA takes its perfect season on the road to Oregon in a duel between Pac-12 contenders, while TCU gets a test at home from a ranked Kansas State team that beat Oklahoma on the road already this year.
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Here's your look at the betting lines and point spreads from the most important action on the Week 8 schedule this Saturday.
Week 8 college football point spreads, betting lines
Your look at the Week 8 college football odds
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Odds courtesy SI Sportsbook
No. 5 Clemson (-13.5, 49.5) at No. 14 Syracuse. DJ Uiagalelei has helped take this Clemson offense to a better place this season, building this thing piece by piece every week, but the Orange are where they are thanks to a top 10 defense and a solid 1-2 attack with quarterback Garrett Shrader and tailback Sean Tucker. Syracuse has 16 sacks on the year, and can test Clemson's protection at the line, but so can the Tigers on the other side, boasting college football's No. 4 rush defense.
No. 9 UCLA at No. 10 Oregon (-6, 71.5). The Bo Nix experience is trending up lately for the Ducks, who got off the mat after Georgia cut them in half, winning 5 straight and scoring 40-plus each time out. Nix is a gifted runner in addition to hitting 70% of his throws, leading the team with 8 TDs on the ground. UCLA has a dual threat at QB, too, in Dorian Thompson-Robinson, in addition to Zach Charbonnet creating space on the ground, and Jake Bobo, the receiver with 4 scores in the last 2 games, wins over ranked Washington and Utah. Both teams are 3-0 in Pac-12 play.
No. 20 Texas (-6.5, 61) at No. 11 Oklahoma State. Quinn Ewers and Co. escaped a close one against Iowa State last week and now line up against arguably the most physical defense in the Big 12, but one that can be got: it ranks 110th in college football in total production and allowed over 500 yards in a loss at TCU. Cowboy quarterback Spencer Sanders is believed to be dealing with a shoulder injury, but Mike Gundy is keeping that info very under wraps until the game.
No. 24 Mississippi State at No. 6 Alabama (-21, 60.5). Balance was never Mike Leach's specialty, but running for 22 yards must have had a hand in his team's loss to Kentucky last week. That snapped a three-game win streak in which MSU scored 40-plus each time out. Speaking of streaks: last weekend, the Tide dropped its first to Tennessee since 2006, has the most penalties in college football (66), and a secondary that has issues against elite quarterbacks, but packs a punch of its own offensively as long as Bryce Young is healthy.
No. 17 Kansas State at No. 8 TCU (-3.5, 54). The last undefeated team in the Big 12, TCU needed two overtimes to knock off the Cowboys, but now owns three straight wins against ranked conference teams and is playing behind college football's No. 3 total offense. But the Frogs are 90th in defense, including 55th against the run, and goes against a Wildcat team with a pair of threats on the ground, including quarterback Adrian Martinez and versatile runner/receiver Deuce Vaughn, who together comprise the nation's 7th ranked rushing offense.
Other Week 8 college football lines
Iowa at No. 2 Ohio State (-30, 49). Back from the idle week, the Buckeyes' second-ranked offense squares off with a stout Iowa D that is the only unit in college football yet to allow a play of 40 yards.
No. 7 Ole Miss at LSU (-2, 68). What do the books know about this game? The Rebs can run better than most, but LSU has shown it can move the ball with some balance, coming off a big win at Florida. Ole Miss is 7-0 for the first time since 2014: that team lost its eighth game, at LSU.
Minnesota at No. 16 Penn State (-4, 44.5). Two teams in need of pick-me-up, the Gophers after dropping their second straight and dropping in the Big Ten West race, and the Nittany Lions after getting run over at Michigan. UM can run pretty well, too, with Mo Ibrahim heading the nation's 16th ranked backfield.
UNLV at Notre Dame (-26.5, 47). The Irish are already at a crossroads after dropping a home game to awful Stanford, and now host a Mountain West side that allowed 82 combined points in its last two, both ugly losses.
Purdue at Wisconsin (-2.5, 51). The Boilermakers are 7 combined points from an undefeated record and own 4 straight wins, including over a ranked Minnesota, while Wisconsin has dropped 3 of the last 4 and is just 1-3 in Big Ten games.
Texas A&M (-3, 44.5) at South Carolina. Just a 1-2 mark in SEC play for the Aggies, including a tough loss at Alabama that came down to the last play, while the Gamecocks own 3 straight wins behind an offense that's 12 points better than A&M on average.
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