Thursday Night American. Thursday Night Sun Belt. What more could you ask for? To recap, last night, we went 1-1. Sam Houston -5 was our loser as they lost outright in overtime. New Mexico State -3 cruised 28-7 over UTEP and covered the three with ease. Let’s sweep the board tonight. Here are the Week 8 Thursday Night College Football Picks.
Week 8 Thursday Night College Football Picks
Rice at Tulsa (-3) (O/U58.5)
Very evenly matched game here in Oklahoma. Both of these teams come in at 3-3 and 1-1 in conference. The spread reflects the even-ness of the matchup as the home team gets the subtle three point bump. Rice has a fairly high-powered offense led by former top recruit JT Daniels. Rice has shown flashes of brilliance this year.
They defeated Houston in double overtime in a game they blew a 28-0 lead. That was a massive win for them, but they showed some bad of late. Getting blown out by a poor South Florida team and losing at UConn last week. Rice has been a very volatile bunch this season, which is awesome for midweek television.
Tulsa has leaned on their defense the last decade, but this year’s squad leaves a bit to be desired. They’re numbers are skewed a bit after playing Washington and Oklahoma to open the season, but they have still been vulnerable outside of that. In the last few weeks, Temple and FAU have scored some points on them, but it looks like the defense is rounding into form.
This will be a great game, and I can see it coming down to the final drive. In college football, good offense trumps good defense. With that being said, I will ride with the Owls to get the road win.
The Pick: Rice +3
James Madison (-3.5) at Marshall (O/U 49.5)
The Sun Belt is truly my favorite conference in the nation. Over half of this league can win the title in the end, and nearly every game is super competitive. James Madison is the White Night of the league. The Dukes are arguably the best team in the conference, but they are “not allowed” to partake in postseason play. The NCAA is a joke, I know.
This fact gives JMU a massive chip to play with during each and every game, and that shows. They are 6-0 on the season and 3-0 in conference. They have defeated Troy, Georgia Southern, and South Alabama, who are a combined 13-6 on the season. James Madison is the real deal and is beating up on the better teams. Look out, Marshall!
Marshall comes into this one 4-2 with back-to-back losses. At the time, I was impressed with their win against Virginia Tech, which is an ACC team, but they have proven to be a pretty bad program. They took NC State to the brink while trying to complete the ACC season sweep. The Herd faced Georgia State recently and got blown out by them.
Marshall truly has one of the best running backs in the country in Rasheen Ali, who is 20th in the entire nation in rushing. He will need to have another big game if Marshall is looking to knock off the class of the league.
Rasheen Ali CAN DO IT ALL 😤 pic.twitter.com/LwKSa7AS0l
— Cam Mellor (@CamMellor) October 15, 2023
Marshall has let up 35 points or more in three straight, and JMU has allowed that twice this season. With a benign total and no weather issues, I will buy the over in this contest. JMU and Marshall are fired up for this one. Fireworks will fly across West Virginia.
The Pick: Over 49.5
