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Welcome to the latest edition of the Newsweek Sports Betting newsletter. Right now, here's what your free subscription entails: Weekly look at college basketball (every Monday evening) Weekly look at the NBA (every Tuesday evening) College football weekend preview (every Thursday evening) NFL weekend preview (every Friday morning) College Football ATS picks (every Saturday morning at 10 a.m. ET) NFL ATS picks (every Sunday morning at 10 a.m. ET) This morning's edition is available below, to subscribers only. Welcome to another packed, potentially wild weekend in college football. The Friday evening slate is as strong as it's been since Week 1, with key matchups in the Big 12 (Houston at UCF), Big Ten (Northwestern at USC) and American (Tulane at Memphis). Saturday starts off with a must-see matchup at noon between a pair of top-10, Big 12 title hopefuls in No. 7 BYU and No. 8 Texas Tech. Other highlights on Saturday include: - No. 3 Texas A&M (-7)* at No. 22 Missouri (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC) - No. 9 Oregon (-6.5) at No. 20 Iowa (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS) - LSU vs. No. 4 Alabama (-10) (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC) Stay with us below for breakdowns of 1) UTSA at South Florida, 2) Tulane at Memphis and -- last but not least -- 3) Oregon's trip to Iowa on Saturday afternoon. *All odds come from DraftKings, unless otherwise noted. Game Of The Night (11/7): Tulane at Memphis Odds, Pick Kickoff: 9 p.m. ET (ESPN) Spread: Tulane +3.5 (-110 at DK); Memphis -3.5 (-110 at DK) Read More Like South Florida, Tulane (6-2, 3-1 American) and Memphis (8-1, 4-1 American) also have real postseason aspirations in the wide-open, unpredictable American Conference. With nonconference wins over Duke and Northwestern, the Green Wave remain alive in the fight for a CFP berth (right now, they're +1200 at both DK and FD to make the CFP), even after last week's brutal loss to UTSA. Memphis took down Arkansas in nonconference play, and the Tigers' only conference loss was a shocking slip-up as a massive favorite over UAB on October 18. But thanks to a win over USF two weeks ago, Memphis is shorter than +400 to reach the Playoff at both DK and FD. As of Thursday night, there is a huge question in this one: Will QB Brendon Lewis be available for the Tigers? He was hurt late in last week's win over Rice. If he's unavailable, that would (obviously) be a massive blow for the home favorites. Tulane has given up at least 27 points three times this year. With Lewis healthy, I would have a hard time seeing a Tulane D that gave up 500 yards of offense and 48 points to UTSA consistently getting stops on the road vs. Memphis... But the possibility of Lewis missing this game, or being at less than 100 percent, makes it awfully tempting to take Tulane +3.5. Given the uncertainty around Lewis's status, the wise play at the moment is probably to stay away, though you're getting a great deal on Tulane right now if it turns out that Lewis is unavailable. For now, I recommend either staying away or rolling the dice with a small wager on the road dogs. Best bet: Tulane +3.5 (best odds: -110 at DK) -- 0.5 units The Week 11 Headliner: No. 9 Oregon vs. No. 20 Iowa Kickoff: 3:30 p.m. ET (📺: CBS) Spread: Oregon -6.5 (-108); Iowa +6.5 (-112) Moneyline: Oregon -250; Iowa +205 Total: 42.5 (over -108; under -112) Is it just me, or is Iowa (6-2, 4-1 Big Ten) the most underrated team in the country? While Iowa is No. 20 in the all-important College Football Playoff rankings, it is (somehow) unranked in the latest edition of the AP Top 25. The Hawkeyes lost a 16-13 nailbiter vs. Iowa State back in Week 2, and they lost to Indiana 20-15 at home on September 27. Losing to the Cyclones, who are on a four-game losing streak, has not aged well, to say the least. But Iowa is not getting enough credit for its excellent Big Ten play to date. To me, losing to Indiana -- which is now No. 2 in the nation and has bullied 20 of its last 22 opponents (including none other than the Ducks in Eugene) -- by just five points showed that Iowa can hang with anyone in the country, especially at raucous Kinnick Stadium. Iowa is once again a terrific defensive team (this D is currently No. 6 in the nation, per ESPN's SP+), and its offense has come to life the last three weeks, with 37 points vs. Wisconsin, 25 vs. Penn State and 41 in a massacre of Minnesota before its Week 10 bye. Like most of the national media, I've been high on Oregon (7-1, 4-1 Big Ten) all year. The Ducks have been undeniably impressive outside of their loss to Indiana. But right now, there are questions about the quality of the Ducks' wins, as the Penn State W is hardly the statement we thought it was in September. With the Nittany Lions in freefall, Oregon's best win was against ... Rutgers? Wisconsin? 🤷♂️ I'm not ruling out the possibility that Dan Lanning's team is still the juggernaut we thought it was before its loss to Indiana. But I'm not convinced it's going to cruise at one of the toughest venues in the country, either. Question Iowa's offense all you want, even after the strong play we've seen from that unit the last few weeks, but I've yet to hear an explanation for why holding Indiana to just 20 points is not worth a ton of respect. I'm not quite ready to predict an Oregon loss, but Iowa +6.5 is awfully tough to resist, especially in what is expected to be a low-scoring battle. Both these plays are a bit obvious, but let's go with Iowa +6.5 and Under 42.5. Remember, for as good as Iowa has been defensively, the Ducks -- who boast the nation's No. 3 defense, per ESPN's SP+ -- have been even better so far this year. Best bets: - Iowa +6.5 (-110 at FanDuel) -- 0.5 units - Under 42.5 (-110 at FanDuel) -- 0.5 units Newsweek may earn an affiliate commission if you sign up through any links in this article. See the sportsbook operator's terms and conditions for important details. Sports betting operators have no influence over newsroom coverage.
