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It's hard to think of anything less desirable than being the first team Alabama faces after a loss. MSU was in this same spot two years ago and got smoked 38-7.

It's not like the stars were aligning for Mississippi State prior to Alabama's loss to A&M. In Mike Leach's first game against the Crimson Tide, the air raid offense was held to 200 total yards and zero points.

The loss to the Aggies was shocking. A subsequent loss to the Bulldogs would be mind-blowing. This Alabama team may not be as good as recent years but the Bama defense will take the air out of Miss State's air raid offense this weekend.

Prediction: Alabama 38, Mississippi State 17

TCU's defense has allowed at least 32 points and more than 400 yards of total offense in three consecutive games against Cal, SMU and Texas. Now, the Horned Frogs have to play on the road for the first time in 2021, and they must do so against a Texas Tech defense which has held four out of five opponents below 100 rushing yards and below 23 points. In the exception to that rule, though, Texas scored 70 and ran all over the Red Raiders, so it wouldn't be much of a surprise if Zach Evans has a field day for TCU on the ground. And you can expect Zach Evans to get more than 15 carries this week (like he did against Texas last week).

Prediction: TCU 38, Texas Tech 31

Given the respective schedules thus far, I'm not buying either of these teams as a threat to win the Mountain West Conference. Still, one is going to pick up its fifth win of the season, and it will probably be Air Force. Wyoming allowed Northern Illinois to run for five touchdowns a few weeks ago, and Air Force has eclipsed 400 rushing yards in three consecutive games. The Air Force run game is mean, and I think they keep rolling this week against a Wyoming team that nearly got upset by a bad UCONN team last week.

Prediction: Air Force 31, Wyoming 20

Considering Washington State has scored just eight offensive touchdowns while committing 10 turnovers in its four games against FBS opponents, it's easy to like Oregon State's chances in this road game. I like the 4-1 Beavers to break through against the 2-3 Washington State Cougars.

Up until two weeks ago, at least Texas A&M had a great defense. The Aggies' first three opponents scored a combined total of 17 points and were helpless when trying to move the ball through the air. But Arkansas had two long passing touchdowns en route to 448 total yards in Week 4 and Mississippi State threw for more than 400 yards this past weekend. The Aggies lost both games without forcing a single turnover.

Couple that deterioration on defense with an offense that can't seem to find any sort of rhythm, and it feels like Texas A&M might be the worst team in the SEC West at this point. And it definitely feels like they have no hope of keeping pace with an Alabama team that has now scored at least 31 points in 31 consecutive games.

Maybe things will get a little weird for this night game at Kyle Field, but it seems more likely that 'Bama will run away with what will be its 20th consecutive win.

Prediction: Alabama 38, Texas A&M 14

Rutgers has a lot of starters coming back on both sides and as talented as they’ve been in years and should be better prepared with a full offseason under coach Greg Schiano. It’s been a while since Rutgers has been good, but Rutgers has a legit chance to start 3-0 against Temple, Syracuse, and Delaware. I’m predicting that the Scarlet Knights go 6-6 this year and eek out a bowl eligibility this year.

Temple was horrible on both sides of the ball last season. Granted they had a short season but still terrible nonetheless. The Owls have seen a bit of a downswing under Rod Carey. While they’ve been a respectable program in recent memory, and have given Rutgers close-calls as recently as the mid ‘10s, they are still a smaller program from a less major conference. This one will be in Piscataway under the lights, with hungry players and raucous fans. While I could see the game starting out close, with both teams working through adrenaline and jitters, I expect a speedy Rutgers offense to take care of business at home.

Score: Temple 13 - Rutgers 31

I’ll take the Dodgers run line here, as Buehler has tossed six innings or more and surrendered one run or less in five of his last six outings (1.32 ERA, 0.66 WHIP). Snell on the other side is 2-2 with a 4.50 ERA across his last five starts (1.42 WHIP).

Eric Lauer has had several rocky starts in June but he has allowed just two total runs over his last three starts (18.1 innings). He has thrown at least 6.0 innings in each of those outings. The Royals have lost 12 straight road games and they have lost each of Mike Minor’s last four starts and he has an ERA of 5.74 on the road this season. No reason to consider the Royals here. Back the Brewers.

The Royals continue to pile up the losses, and now they throw Minor on the field who has allowed 12 hits and 10 runs in his last 10 innings. The Brewers have quietly been one of the hotter teams in the league over the last month or so, and Lauer has given up 11 hits and two runs in his last 18.1 innings. This feels like a mismatch across the board. Bet on the Brewers at home.

The Suns shot 68.4% from behind the arc in Game 5, got 40 points from Devin Booker, 21 points from Chris Paul, got 20 point from C Deandre Ayton, and were fortunate to lose by only 4 points. If Phoenix played that well and Milwaukee hit only 9 of 17 free throws and the Suns still lost outright as 3.5-point favorites on their home floor then how can you see any chance of Phoenix win in Milwaukee where the Bucks are 9-1 at home in their last 10.

The difference in this series has been Milwaukee’s complete domination of the paint and Phoenix’s lack of size. The Bucks are outscoring the Suns by 8 points per game in the paint (48.8-40.8 PPG), have nearly six more second-chance points per game than the Suns and Milwaukee’s offensive rebounding rate is 11.0% higher than Phoenix’s in this series. That’s a huge disparity.

Score: Milwaukee 119 - Phoenix 108

The Cubs are worth a look as short ‘dogs behind Mills. I just don’t trust the Cardinals with Woodford making his first start of the season, and he hasn’t been great this year.

Casey Mize has a 3.59 ERA on the season and has only given up 5 runs in his last 3 starts. Kyle Gibson was hit hard in his last game against Detroit giving up 5 runs but that game was a bit of an anomaly as Gibson has been great all season and has a 2.29 ERA. I like the UNDER 8 (+100) is the play here as Texas has had a power outage lately, and both pitcher ERA's trending below this total.

People need to believe in Jrue Holiday. The Bucks should assign Holiday to James Harden, and force Kyrie Irving to beat them. I do wish Milwaukee still had Donte DiVincenzo to throw at Irving, but if Bryn Forbes stays hot from three (39% 3PT in Round 1), the Bucks can survive with his sub-par defense.

Bucks +4 (Bucks in 7).

This is a pick based mostly on Joel Embiid being hobbled due to a meniscus tear, and it's not even clear if he'll play in Game 1. The Sixers play like a .500 team when he's off the court. I do have some concerns about Ben Simmons locking down Trae Young, as he's done in the past, but if the Sixers are down Embiid, I'm not sure that will matter. The Hawks have enough secondary playmaking to score consistently.

Pick: Hawks +3 (Hawk in 6).

Utah has made 19 3-pointers in each game at 46% behind the arc, and the crazy thing is that that’s really not even an outlier for this team this season. It’s clear that the Jazz are the better team in this series, and it feels like only a matter of “when,” not “if” at this point. Still, this will not be easy. Memphis will show up and fight and won’t go away easily.

Memphis will come out with some fire but over 4 quarters I think Utah Utah's shooting behind the arc is the difference. I'm going to look to live bet Jazz around even or plus odds after an early Memphis push. BOL!

I get why the Flyers would be worth a look here as there’s a solid group of talent within the Flyers’ rotation. However, Memphis was a cover machine, and I honestly see no reason why that would change here. I can imagine that Memphis feels a bit slighted for being left out of the NCAA tournament field, and I think that this is the Memphis revenge tour, this NIT tournament.

CU will win this game behind the arc. This is a painfully inconsistent three-point shooting Georgetown team. Colorado led the Pac-12 in made threes this season and that will be the difference here.

Syracuse enters on 3-game win streak and has won six of its last eight and the Orange have a deep team and balanced attack as five players average double digits in points. Bottom line for me here is Duke only has 10 wins and while they did beat Virginia in their last game, I think this is a letdown spot for the Blue Devils against a very dangerous Syracuse team. Give me the points.

You can make a case for either side here, but the Lakers are the more consistent team here and defending NBA Champs, and they have the edge on the defensive side of the ball. I expect the Bucks to have their full attention tonight.

Purdue visits East Lansing, Mich., on a two-game skid and Michigan State knocked off No. 14 Rutgers 68-45 as a 3-point home favorite Tuesday. Both teams have been terrible against the spread. Purdue is 3-7-2 ATS and Michigan State is 3-8 ATS. The Spartans, who are coming off impressive back-to-back victories, and just beat a good Rutgers team so I'll go with the hotter team on their home court here to cover the small number.

This looks to be a great afternoon game. I like Colorado, they have played great on the west coast. Now with Oregon coming in who played great against Standford last time out. Colorado will show up and close out Oregon

The Colorado Buffaloes are the overall better team here and have the better defense, only giving up 61.7 points per game. Oregon is 8-1 on the season but haven't played the toughest schedule and one dimensional Eugene Omoruyi accounting for most of the offensive production. Odd to see a 1 loss team catching 3.5 points over a 7-3 team but this feels like a game CU should win.

I wasn't bullish on Tulane at the start of the year but they've earned my trust over their last 5 games, beating ECU, Army, Memphis and almost beating Tulsa (lost 24-30). Nevada has dropped 2 of their last 3, including an ugly loss to Hawaii and SJSU. The hotter team over the 2nd half of the season has been Tulane and they also played in the tougher conference. Green Wave or bust.

Friday’s injury report for the Raiders suggests this will be the healthiest they’ve been in recent weeks. They don’t currently have anybody listed as out, but safety Erik Harris (calf), and defensive end Clelin Ferrell (not injury related), is listed as questionable.

Atlanta's injury report is highlighted with some of their biggest names being put in question: Wide receiver Julio Jones (hamstring), tight end Hayden Hurst (ankle), and defensive end Dante Fowler Jr. (hamstring), are listed as questionable. Additionally, running back Todd Gurley II (knee) is listed as out and will be out.

The Raiders have shown they can hang with the powerhouse teams of the NFL like the New Orleans Saints and Kansas City Chiefs. The Falcons are better than what their record indicates, but I’m expecting the Raiders’ offense to deliver just how they have been all season, but it will be a close game. Raiders 31, Falcons 27

With reckless abandon, I am being dangerously optimistic and predicting Iowa State makes the biggest statement performance in program history. A large margin of victory for the good guys in this one, in a game that fans will look back on in years to come as the true “we arrived” point in Matt Campbell’s tenure. Dallas, here we come.

This is a textbook example of a “Patriots line”, whereby they’re favored simply because they’re the more popular team and will inherently receive a skewed share of the betting handle. The Texans are far more talented offensively, and injuries are making matters much worse for the Pats this week and Cam Newton well is Cam Newton. Texans win out right as home dogs today.

Only one of Wisc. Green Bay games have gone over 179 points in last 5 games and none of FIU's games have gone over 179 points. Statistically 2 bad defenses and 2 of the best offenses, but 179 points is crazy high. I don't see both teams scoring in the 90's.

Yes, Green Bay scored 102 point in their last game, but dont think FIU isnt aware of that. So, I can imagine FIUs coaches are preaching Defense before this game. Another trusty source I use for computer simulations is through SCACChoops.com, their computer predicts a score of Green Bay- 85 & FIU- 73. Which totals to 158 (Well below the 179 mark). Dont be a sheep and follow the Public, be smart and take the under.

This line opened at Cincy -1 and betting action has now pushed it all the way to -4.5. Cincinnati looked unstoppable in the AAC tournament and I just don't see a whole lot to like about this 10 seed Iowa team that has dropped 4 out of their last 5 games. I just wish I would have got this line when it opened at -1.