College Football Picks Against the Spread: Week 13 ATS Predictions

The penultimate week of the college football season may not be loaded with premier matchups, but my college football picks against the spread for Week 13 target the 20 biggest and most important games on the slate.

This week, as part of our college football predictions for Week 13, my three favorite ATS picks include taking a Miami team to continue flexing its talent as it tries to enhance its CFP resume, a Washington squad looking to beat up on the program their head coach is supposedly eyeing the vacancy of, and one of the best Group of Six teams in the country.

🏈 College football picks against the spread: Week 13 ATS predictions

See all of our experts' college football picks for Week 13 based on the latest college football odds; pick confidence based on a 1-to-5-star scale.

💰 My best ATS picks for Week 13

🌴 Miami (-16.5) vs. Virginia Tech ⭐⭐⭐⭐

It was proven last week that Mario Cristobal's team has already gotten its annual head-scratching losses out of the way when the Hurricanes smashed NC State this past Saturday. Clearly, Miami is the most talented team in the ACC, and the CFP selection committee seems to agree, even if the Hurricanes are unlikely to earn a spot in the conference championship.

However, this Miami team is so loaded that it's among my favorite College Football Playoff odds bets. To get in, they'll likely need to earn an at-large bid from the committee, which means continuing to terrorize lesser ACC teams like Virginia Tech. The Hokies got a bit of a dead cat bounce after firing Brent Pry, but they've been outscored in their last two games against Louisville and Florida State, 62 to 30.

With Virginia Tech fans more worried about their team locking in James Franklin as the program's next head coach, I don't expect home-field advantage to slow Miami down much. With an elite pass rush, led by Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor, Miami's defense (No. 12 by SP+) should completely shut down a Virginia Tech offense ranked No. 88 in offensive SP+. And Carson Beck, Malachi Toney, and a physical O-line shouldn't have trouble moving the ball against a Hokies defense allowing 30.1 PPG.

If Virginia Tech fails to cover for the ninth time in 11 games, a $10 bet on Miami pays a $9.09 profit at BetMGM.

🐺 Washington (-10.5) vs. UCLA ⭐⭐⭐⭐

There's a bit of a wrinkle to this Pac-12 Big Ten after dark matchup, with Washington head coach Jedd Fisch reportedly being one of the targets for the head coach opening at UCLA. Fisch, who was once the Bruins' interim head coach, is also rumored to be in the running for the Florida opening, where he began his collegiate coaching career under Steve Spurrier. So if Fisch wants to parlay his two-year stint with the Huskies into a big contract elsewhere, his team had better devour UCLA for the sake of optics.

Luckily for Fisch, Washington should have about as much, if not more, of the crowd on its side at the Rose Bowl, given the lack of quality games this UCLA team has turned in since getting a temporary bump under interim head coach Tim Skipper. Since Skipper led the Bruins to three straight wins, they've been outscored in their last three games, 132 to 37, to bring their ATS record to 3-7.

With UCLA's defense ranked outside the top 80 by SP+, Washington QB Demond Williams Jr. should have no problem padding his stats (as well as running back Jonah Coleman and wide receiver Denzel Boston, if they play). And Washington has one of the best defenses in the country (No. 15 by SP+), so even if Nico Iamaleava plays for UCLA, scoring will be hard to come by.

The Huskies have been at their best when they stay on the West Coast, posting a 5-1 ATS record in Washington and California this season. With another cover, a $10 bet on the Huskies pays a $9.09 profit at bet365.

👑 James Madison (-13.5) vs. Washington State ⭐⭐⭐⭐

It was misreported over the weekend that this would be the College GameDay matchup this week; instead, ESPN opted to head back to Eugene, Ore., for USC vs. Oregon. And while James Madison, or any other fun new option for that matter, got snubbed from the opportunity, it speaks to how massive this game is that the powers at ESPN may have even been considering it for GameDay.

On the surface, it might be head-scratching as to why a 13.5-point betting favorite's matchup with a program from a two-team conference is huge. But given the state of the American Conference's parity (see our college football championship games tracker), James Madison has a real shot at earning the Group of Six spot in the College Football Playoff. To do it, the Dukes need a statement win over a Washington State team that was part of a power conference just two years ago.

Given the level Bob Chesney's team has played at over the last month and a half, I suspect JMU will blow the Cougars out of the water in a similar fashion to how North Texas took care of Wazzu, 59-10. James Madison QB Alonza Barnett III has been a force, with the Dukes sitting No. 33 in offensive SP+, and the defense is one of the best in the G6, ranking No. 10 in EPA per pass. 

If JMU can win by two-plus touchdowns and cover for the eighth time in 11 games, a $10 bet pays an $8.70 profit at DraftKings.