College Football Week 7: Best Bets, Picks and Predictions

Week 7 is just around the corner and that means a plethora of games for football fans to enjoy after a Week 6 slate that brought plenty of upsets and chaos.

The Week 6 slate was one of the craziest Saturdays of football in years. Alabama fell to Vanderbilt, Tennessee lost to Arkansas and USC was defeated by Minnesota, among other surprising results.

Will we see more upsets and chaos this week, or will the chalk mostly hold on Saturday?

Week 7 is a blockbuster weekend on the college football schedule, featuring a handful of huge games between power programs with ramifications that should reverberate across the nation.

Additionally, there will also be a number of contests further down the board that could have a serious impact on the College Football Playoff race across multiple conferences.

College Football Week 7 betting picks and predictions

Best Bet: Penn State -4.5 (-110) vs. USC

For our best bet on the Week 7 slate, take the No. 4 Penn State Nittany Lions to cover the spread in this matchup against the USC Trojans.

Penn State should be able to dominate this game in the trenches, particularly with its ground game on the offensive side of the ball.

Drew Allar has been much improved in his second season as a starting quarterback and much of that improvement has translated in the box score, as Penn State is third in success rate, eighth in early downs estimated points added (EPA) and sixth in EPA per dropback.

The running back duo of Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen are both averaging over five yards per carry, and they should feast against a USC defense that is ranked 98th in success rate and 100th in EPA per rush allowed.

Defensively, Penn State features one of the best units in the country up front, so don’t expect to see Miller Moss get a ton of protection in this game. The USC quarterback is in for a long afternoon in the pocket, and that spells trouble for the Trojans offense.

Ultimately, the market is still a bit too high on this USC team after over-inflating the Trojans following a couple of early season victories. This line should end up being closer to a touchdown by the time this game draws closer, so there’s a bit of value at the current number.

Under 46.5 (-110) in Vanderbilt vs. Kentucky

For our second pick for the Week 7 college football slate, back Under 46.5 total points between the Vanderbilt Commodores and the Kentucky Wildcats.

On the surface, this is a dream spot for the Wildcats. Kentucky is coming out of a bye week following its upset win over Ole Miss in Week 5 and will get to host a Vanderbilt team that will be fresh off its biggest win in program history, after knocking off Alabama at home last Saturday.

However, instead of laying double digits with a Wildcats offense that we can’t quite trust to win by a heavy margin, let’s target the Under in a game that might be played in a phone booth given how often both teams run the ball.

Vanderbilt’s offense is similar to what we see from service academies. The Commodores run the ball constantly on early downs and chew up a ton of clock. That’s exactly what brings us to looking at the Under in this game, as the Kentucky defense is fourth in opponent EPA per rush and seventh in Early Downs EPA.

The Wildcats have the perfect formula to slow down Vanderbilt on offense, and while the Commodores should be a bit flat in this game following last week’s massive upset, there’s no guarantee that this struggling Kentucky offense can take advantage of that.

After all, Kentucky wants to run the ball and Vanderbilt’s defense is top 20 in success rate against the run. The Commodores can be beaten through the air, but this Kentucky offense is outside the top 100 in passing success rate, Early Downs EPA and points per drive, further adding to the recipe for a low-scoring game.

Pittsburgh -3.5 (-110) vs. California

For our final pick for Week 7 of the college football season, take the Pittsburgh Panthers at -3.5 against the California Golden Bears.

Much like the previous game, this is also a tremendous situational spot, as California just came within a few seconds of knocking off a top-10 ranked Miami team at home in what was arguably the biggest game for the program in over a decade.

Now, the Bears have to travel across the country and take on a red-hot Pittsburgh team that just dispatched North Carolina on the road last week.

While the Bears have been playing inspired football this season, having already knocked off Auburn as near-two touchdown underdogs and covering the double-digit spread against Miami, this is a much different situation against a Pittsburgh team that has won and covered the closing number in all five of its games this season.

The Bears’ secondary put forth a valiant effort against Miami, but ultimately the offense let California down in that game. Against a Pittsburgh defense that is top 20 against the rush this season, it’s hard to see the Bears getting easy yardage on the ground, which should put them in difficult third down situations.

And on the other side, this Panthers offense is humming, sitting at 18th in passing success rate, 16th in Early Downs EPA and seventh in EPA per rush.

Don’t expect that to slow down anytime soon, as the Panthers have scored at least 38 points in every home game this season.

Read more betting picks and predictions for College Football on site.

This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.