College Football Best Bets, Odds for Saturday Week 4: Will Ohio State Surge Late Against Irish?

Will Bucky Irving torch the Colorado Buffaloes? We look at that and more in our college football best bets for Week 4.

Mike Spector

Last updated: September 23, 2023 4:02 PM EDT • 8 min read

A custom graphic of College football best bets — College football best bets

The Week 4 college football schedule is loaded with conference openers and matchups between ranked teams, and we have scoured through the markets to compile our college football best bets based on the best NCAAF odds from our best sports betting apps.

College football fans will want to be glued to the television on Saturday, as there are six matchups between programs ranked in the AP top 25. It’s the most on a September weekend since 2006.

Three of those games kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET, with two ranked Pac-12 matchups and one from the SEC (Ole Miss-Alabama).

To take full advantage of this packed slate, our Sportsbook Review analysts have put together several different tickets for Saturday. Check out our college football Week 4 predictions, college football Week 4 parlay picks, and college football Week 4 upset picks.

Here are our college football best bets for Saturday of Week 4 (odds via our best college football betting sites; pick confidence based on a 1-to-5-star scale).

College football best bets for Saturday: Week 4

Miami team total Under 35.5 vs. Temple (-115 via DraftKings) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Bucky Irving (Oregon) to score two or more touchdowns vs. Colorado (+210 via FanDuel) ⭐⭐⭐
Ohio State second half ML vs. Notre Dame (-135 via DraftKings) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Cincinnati +14.5 vs. Oklahoma (-110 via BetMGM, DraftKings, Caesars) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Week 4 college football schedule and odds for Saturday

Odds via Caesars

College football predictions

Miami team total Under 35.5 vs. Temple (-115 via DraftKings) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This wager is not as much a vote of confidence in the Temple defense as it is a weather-related play. The Philadelphia area (and the entire mid-Atlantic region) is expected to bear the brunt of a coastal low that will bring wind gusts of up to 40 mph inland and two-plus inches of rain throughout the day.

The Hurricanes offense has been impressive, averaging 44.7 points per game, especially since they hung 48 on a talented Texas A&M defense. However, the weather will have the most significant impact on the Miami passing attack that ranks first in the ACC (322 yards per game), and we would expect a much more conservative ground-and-pound approach that attacks a Temple defense that ranks 88th in stuff rate and 104th in rushing plays explosiveness. For these reasons, we would also be interested in the Under on Tyler Van Dyke’s passing yards when that prop becomes available.

FanDuel charges more juice (-120) for the Under of 35.5. And while bet365’s plus-money odds starting with an Under of 34.5 (+100) or lower are enticing, we prefer the extra half-point of value we are getting at DraftKings with the line being north of the key number of 35.

Bucky Irving (Oregon) to score two or more touchdowns vs. Colorado (+210 via FanDuel) ⭐⭐⭐

Colorado is a 21-point underdog to Oregon, and if the line stays that way, the Buffaloes will go off as the fifth-largest underdog as an unbeaten top-20 team in a conference game in the last 25 years, per ESPN’s Kevin Pulsifer. This Pac-12 matchup also has an O/U of 70.5 points, so it suffices to say oddsmakers think the Ducks will score plenty.

Oregon running back Bucky Irving has a whopping -310 price tag to be an anytime touchdown scorer, so we are getting great value for him to cross the goal line one additional time. In Colorado’s season-opening upset of TCU, the Buffaloes allowed four rushing touchdowns to the Horned Frogs, three to Trey Sanders alone. Thus, there is precedent for the Buffaloes’ vulnerability in the red zone, and Irving is reliable, coming off a 1,000-yard and eight-touchdown season.

This is a three-star play, as Irving adds receiving production (299 yards and three receiving touchdowns last year), and he already has a two-touchdown day on just seven touches against Portland State. In addition, his number of carries has increased for three consecutive weeks.

The +210 odds at FanDuel are a steal compared to the +162 and +165 at bet365 and DraftKings, respectively. Even FanDuel’s offer of +750 odds for Irving to score three-plus touchdowns trumps bet365’s +550 odds for the same wager.

Our own Shane Jackson is also eyeing the Under on a Bo Nix passing prop for this matchup in his Colorado-Oregon prediction. And Philip Wood is looking at a few Unders in his Shedeur Sanders player props.

Ohio State second half ML vs. Notre Dame (-135 via DraftKings) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Not many bettors will be keen on wagering on a second half line before seeing how the first half plays out, but there are plenty of reasons to expect Ohio State to outscore Notre Dame in the second half.

Ohio State has outscored its opponents 41-0 in the second half this season. Thus, while the 13.7-point average in the second half may worry bettors, we find solace in the fact that the Buckeyes defense remained just as strong as in the first 30 minutes, even though the offense may have taken its foot off the gas. Notre Dame has allowed 23 second-half points this year and has yet to experience the game pressure of a close game in the fourth quarter, outside of building a 14-point lead and never looking back with 12 minutes to go against NC State.

This is still an undersized Fighting Irish defensive line (relative to the rest of the top 10) that allowed 200-plus rushing yards three times last year. And only one returning lineman who played 120 or more snaps a year ago weighs over 300 pounds, which suggests the Buckeyes should be able to hammer away late with running back TreVeon Henderson, who has averaged 6.4 yards per carry this season.

A pregame second half wager is a prop unique to DraftKings, but we would expect a much steeper in-game line, especially if Ohio State is trailing at the half.

Cincinnati +14.5 vs. Oklahoma (-110 via BetMGM, DraftKings, Caesars) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Oklahoma has a +139 point differential through three weeks, which, for now, has erased the memory of last year’s disappointing 6-7 record in head coach Brent Venables’ first season. However, Oklahoma’s only semblance of a test this year was its ugly 28-11 victory over SMU, which was a concerning result for the Sooners offense, considering the Mustangs defense was ranked 100th in preseason defensive SP+.

Cincinnati has not been more than a two-touchdown home underdog in 18 seasons, but the Bearcats are perceived differently now as members of the Big 12. Cincinnati is coming off a surprising 31-24 home loss to Miami (OH) but should not be devalued as much as it is for that loss, considering the team outgained the RedHawks by 180 yards.

This is a four-star play, as even though the Sooners are 3-0 SU and ATS, teams that have started like that since 2005 have covered less than 41% of the time in their fourth game. Expect a raucous environment at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati’s first-ever Big 12 game to make a huge difference in keeping this game close.

Bettors have their choice of three sportsbooks that offer the best price, as all others charge odds of -115 or higher to back the underdogs.

College football best bets made 9/21/2023 at 4:17 p.m. ET.

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Written By:
Mike Spector

Mike started in the sports writing industry in July 2019, and gained a lot of followers in his first year after finishing with the No. 2 overall record in an annual NFL betting competition, which made picks against the spread, and from an Over/Under and moneyline perspective. Mike is an avid fan of the NFL, MLB, tennis, and all college sports. In his opinion, March Madness is the best sporting event there is, and he's especially euphoric starting with conference tournament time in college basketball. Mike's a big advocate of "fading the public" and making plays that are contrarian, constantly citing that "there are reasons why they have those big shiny buildings in Las Vegas." When making wagers, Mike always scours the best odds at all of the major sports betting sites, where he mostly sifts through DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, and bet365. He's tried several others and is of the firm belief that bettors should not just stick to one sportsbook, as there is always likely better value to be had with the same wager. In addition, while Mike received his undergraduate degree from Villanova University, he has no issue betting against the Wildcats when it comes to college basketball wagering, and suggests other bettors should always put their “head” before their “hearts.”