2 College Football Best Bets for Saturday, November 23: Henderson Takes Aim at Hoosiers Defense!
Ready to make your college football Saturday even more fun? Our industry insider gives out his 2 best bets for November 23rd right here. Best of luck and enjoy!
Indiana Hoosiers vs Ohio State Buckeyes
As one of the most surprising teams of the season, the Indiana Hoosiers have gone undefeated (10-0) to this point. They are ranked 5th in the country and have the Big 10 title game and CFB Playoffs within sight. They are coming off a 20-15 win in the big house against Michigan two weeks ago.
They had their bye week last week and were happy to have it prior to this matchup with Ohio State. The Hoosiers have had a balanced attack on offense all year and are 2nd in the country with 43.9ppg. The defense has been no slouch either and rank 12th in the country, allowing just 13.8ppg to their opponents.
Kurtis Rourke is averaging 267 yards per game through the air and has tossed 21 touchdowns to just 4 interceptions. Justice Ellison and Ty Son Lawton have combined to average close to 120 yards per game on the ground and have each hit paydirt 9 times.
Ohio State is #2 in the country and have just 1 loss on the season. That loss came to now #1 Oregon. They have since won 4 straight games and coming off a 31-7 win over Northwestern. In their loss to Oregon, they were outgained both on the ground and through the air. They also allowed Oregon to convert on 3rd down 6 out of 14 times.
The Buckeyes, on the other hand, went just 4 of 12 on 3rd down opportunities. Will Howard has been great in his 1st season with the Buckeyes under center after transferring from Kansas State. He has the offense scoring 37.8ppg which is 15th best in the nation. It has been their defense that has thrived. They are 3rd in the country and have held their opponents to just over 10ppg.
Best Bet: Ohio State -13.5
Indiana has been a great story all season. However, they now face their 1st ranked opponent of the season here on the road.
It is not their fault that their schedule has been filled with unranked opponents, but it will cost them here against a battle-tested Buckeye team.
We have already seen the line jump since earlier this week, but we still believe the Buckeyes will cover the number here.
Key Trends:
- Indiana is 2-6 ATS in their last 8 games played in week 13.
- OSU is 5-1-1 ATS in their last 7 games against an opponent in the East Division.
- OSU is 8-3 ATS in their last 11 games at home.
BYU Cougars vs Arizona State Sun Devils
BYU had their undefeated season hopes dashed last week at home against Kansas. They had been living on the edge with close game wins over their past few weeks and that luck ran out last week. The Cougars turned the ball over twice and went just 3 of 10 on 3rd down in the loss.
On the season, BYU is converting only 31.9% of their 3rd down opportunities, which is 157th in the country. They are going to need to address that prior to this matchup with the Sun Devils, who are playing their best football of the season right now. Jake Retzlaff will need to do more with the offense, as he finished with just under 200 yards passing last week for the 2nd time all season.
ASU is on a 3-game winning streak. At 8-2 on the year, their 2 losses came to Cincinnati and Texas Tech, both on the road. Their latest win came over #16 Kansas State last week. They jumped out to a 21-0 lead at the break and finished the game with a 24-14 victory.
Wideout, Jordyn Tyson, had his best game of the season. He caught 12 balls for 176 yards and 2 touchdowns. The defense forced 3 turnovers and stopped the Wildcats 2 out of 3 times on 4th down. Unlike the Cougars, ASU is 21st in the country on 3rd down with a 47.1% conversion rate.
Best Bet: Arizona State -3
BYU is going to have a tough time bouncing back after that brutal loss to Kansas. Being on the road is not going to help them and with ASU being undefeated at home, we are comfortable backing the Sun Devils.
We believe ASU will make BYU pay for allowing them to extend drives on 3rd down and pick up the home victory here. Let’s lay the points here with the Sun Devils!
Key Trends:
- ASU is 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games when playing as the favorite.
- ASU is 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games.
- ASU is 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games at home.
Bill Christy
Sports Betting Contributor
Bill is a high-volume sports bettor who runs his own sports investing business. He has an uncanny ability to find tons of mathematical edges on each day’s sports betting card. Bill covers all sports but his bread and butter is UFC, Golf, and College Hoops. Find him on X at @LarrysLocks2