2 College Football Best Bets for Thursday, October 19

Want some extra action to complement your Jaguars at Saints selections on Thursday? We’ve dug into the college football card to bring you 2 best bets for October 19. Let’s dive into it, with the hopes of going 2-0.

James Madison -3.5 over Marshall (Caesars)

The undefeated Dukes have had an impressive start to their season. Wins over Virginia, Troy, and most recently over Georgia Southern have them ranked 1st in the Sun Belt Conference.

Jordan McCloud is averaging over 230 yards per game through the air and has tossed 14 touchdowns and just 3 interceptions. He has the offense averaging over 34ppg which is 47th in the country. On defense, the Dukes are holding teams to an average of just 21ppg.

After starting their season 4-0, Marshall dropped back-to-back games to NC State and Georgia St. Against Georgia St., they allowed the Panthers to compile 474 total yards and convert on almost 50% of their 3rd down attempts.

Marcus Carroll led the way on the ground with 159 yards and a score. Darren Grainger was efficient through the air and added another 67 yards on the ground and 3 total touchdowns. While their defense has struggled throughout the season, the offense is what has been keeping them in the win column.

JMU has already been tested on the road by Virginia, Troy, and Utah State. The efficiency of the JMU offense against the inferior defense of Marshall is likely to be the story here.

Conversely, Marshall’s offense will need to play a near-perfect game to keep them in this one with the powerful JMU team. We don’t see that happening and thus we’re backing the Dukes.

Key Trends:

• JMU is 14-6 ATS in their last 20 games.
• JMU is 8-3 ATS in their last 11 games on the road.
• Marshall is 4-12 ATS in their last 16 games at home.
• Marshall is 3-8 ATS in their last 11 games played in October.

Rice @ Tulsa OVER 55.5 (BetMGM)

Rice saw their overall record drop to .500 after their last game which was a loss against UConn. After leading 14-0 heading into the 2nd quarter, they allowed 28 straight points and fell 38-31 in the end. Turnovers were their issue, 4 of them to be exact.

The 474 yards of total offense were countered by those turnovers. JT Daniels accounted for one of them with his single interception but he also tossed 2 touchdowns, both to Luke McCaffery who finished with 7 catches for exactly 100 yards.

Tulsa also lost their last game which brought them to .500 on the year. Down 14-0 after 1 at Florida Atlantic, they were never able to get closer than the final score of 20-17. Cardell Williams completed 50% of his passes but threw 2 interceptions. Defensively, they could not stop the run, as FAU went for 234 yards on the ground.

Rice has a top 15 passing attack in the country while Tulsa has a Top 50 rushing attack. Both teams are converting their 3rd downs at a rate above 42% and neither team has a defense that ranks inside the Top 175 in the country. This matchup has a history of going over their total and we believe that will ring true once again in this year’s meeting.

Key Trends:

• The total has gone OVER in 7 of Tulsa’s last 10 games at home.
• The total has gone OVER in 6 of Tulsa’s last 7 games when playing at home against Rice.
• The total has gone OVER in 5 of Rice’s last 6 games against an opponent in the American Conference
• The total has gone OVER in 5 of Rice’s last 7 games.