There's something special about football under the lights on a Friday night.
Tonight, we have two such matchups.
First, the South Florida Bulls head to the Alamodome to take on the UTSA Roadrunners, who are trying to secure a spot in the AAC Championship in two weeks.
Then, Coach Prime and the Colorado Buffaloes make the trip to Pullman to face the Washington Cougars, as the Buffs continue their fight for bowl eligibility in their first year under the new regime.
Our college football writers broke down both matchups and made a pick for each, so let's dive into their analysis below.
Friday College Football Betting Previews
The team logos in the table below represent each of the matchups from Friday's slate of games. Click on the team logos for any of the matchups below to navigate to a specific bet discussed in this article.
| Game | Time (ET) | Pick |
|---|---|---|
  | 9 p.m. | |
  | 10:30 p.m. | |
Specific betting recommendations come from the sportsbook offering preferred odds as of writing. Always shop for the best price using our NCAAF Odds page, which automatically surfaces the best lines for every game. | ||
USF vs. UTSA
The Bulls of the University of South Florida visit the University of Texas at San Antonio Roadrunners in Week 12 at the Alamodome for a big AAC matchup late in the year.
USF has had some very competitive games this season, but it currently sits at 5-5 on the season after dropping three of its last five games. The Bulls will be looking to steal a road victory to reach bowl eligibility this week.
UTSA, meanwhile, has been on a roll after a shaky start to the season. The Roadrunners are 6-0 in their last six, resulting in a 6-0 record in conference.
They're in the mix of this three-team race at the top of the AAC.
Do they have the grit to keep the win streak rolling and win big at home this week? Let's take a look at the USF vs. UTSA odds and find a betting pick and prediction for Friday, Nov. 17.
South Florida Bulls
USF head coach Alex Golesh has done an impressive job with his squad after finishing 1-11 last season with many of the same players. He'll look to really make a statement in this one with a big road win.
Offensively, the Bulls have put up 30 points per game, mostly to the credit of dual-threat quarterback Byrum Brown. The kid has been unbelievable with 2,538 yards through the air and 659 yards on the ground.
While Brown has been impressive, this offense ranks just 93rd through the air and even worse at 105th on the ground.
The only bright spot has been explosiveness. USF ranks second in big plays on the ground, which can be mainly credited to Brown’s ability to keep defenses guessing.
Running Back Nay’Quan Wright has also been impressive, picking up 4.8 yards per carry on the season. The Bulls will need some explosive plays in this one to keep it close because the Roadrunners have been rolling of late.
Golesh’s team has been pretty bad defensively. His squad has been better than his offense in terms of Success Rate, but his team still allows 35.6 points per game on the season. This mainly comes at the expense of a run defense that ranks 80th and 118th in explosiveness.
The front seven for USF is getting gouged in the run game. The pass defense has been pretty solid at 47th overall, but again, it still allows the big play and ranks 133rd in explosiveness.
The Bulls will need to be good against the run and the pass early, because if they fall behind, the Roadrunners could punish them on the ground.
UTSA Roadrunners
Jeff Traylor will need to have his team focused on an AAC Championship this week at home with only two games remaining on the year. However, it will be difficult to stay focused on this week with a big matchup against Tulane looming next week that will be a key factor in determining the AAC.
Frank Harris and this offense continue to roll after the signal-caller finally got fully healthy this season. I expect them to continue to find success this week.
The Roadrunners average 31.5 points per game and do so with a pretty balanced attack on offense. Harris has the pass offense ranked 44th in Success Rate this season, which plays into USF’s strength on the defensive side of the ball.
The run game ranks 112th, which will need to be better in order to put away USF.
The bright spot is the explosiveness in the run game that the Roadrunners have found this season. They come in at 12th overall in that area, but they'll need to also be methodical to put this one away.
UTSA has a pretty stout defense, allowing only 24.6 points per game on the season. However, it doesn't help this offense much in the turnover battle as the team sits at -1 overall.
The Roadrunners are solid against the run at 47th overall, but they're vulnerable against the big play, where they sit 114th in defensive run explosiveness. That'll be a concern if USF can keep the game close and continue to utilize the run game.
The pass defense for Traylor’s squad has been very solid, ranking 68th against the aerial attack.
The key for this defense is its Havoc rating of 26th. This team flies around on the defensive side of the ball, making it hard for anyone to get their offense going. The Roadrunners will need to lean on that chaos here if they want to win big and start looking to next week.
USF vs UTSA
Betting Pick & Prediction
While I do have concerns with UTSA’s run game and its ability to put this one away, I trust Traylor to have his guys ready. I especially expect his defense to come out ready to play and slow down the Bulls’ attack.
Harris and the Roadrunners are focused on the prize at the end, and I think they win big this week and keep the momentum rolling ahead of the postseason.
Give me UTSA -16.5.
Pick: UTSA -16.5
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Colorado vs. Washington State
College football in the month of September can be a bit of an optical illusion, and no teams better illustrate that than Colorado and Washington.
These two teams combined to win seven of their first eight games, with the Buffaloes and Cougars reaching as high as No. 18 and 13, respectively, in the AP Poll. Since reaching their highest rankings, Colorado (4-6) and Washington State (4-6) are a combined 1-12, with both teams needing a win here to keep their slim bowl hopes on life support.
In a battle of two Pac-12 programs looking for their first sign of positivity in over a month, which will keep its postseason aspirations alive?
Let's dive into our college football pick and prediction for Colorado vs. Washington State on Friday, Nov. 17.
Colorado Buffaloes
Another week, another loss. Colorado dropped its fourth consecutive game to Arizona last week on a game-winning field goal as time expired.
If nothing else, Deion Sanders’ team doesn’t look like it's thrown in the towel on the season, as the Buffaloes are hanging close, covering the spread in their last three contests.
The second week of moving new offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur to the booth and Sean Lewis to the field worked early. Colorado built a halftime lead and Shedeur Sanders was only sacked three times – tied for the season low – but it ultimately wasn’t enough.
The run game and offensive line are still huge issues for the Buffaloes. Colorado is last in the nation with 2.3 yards per carry and has allowed the second-most sacks (49).
Despite the poor line play, Shedeur Sanders has continued to put up impressive numbers in the passing game. His 314.4 yards passing per game trail only Michael Penix Jr. in the Pac-12, and his 26 passing touchdowns are tied for the fifth most in the country.
But their rushing struggles aren’t an offensive-exclusive problem for the Buffs. Their defense struggles just as much with it.
Arizona running back Jonah Coleman, who had only rushed for over 100 yards one time this season entering last week, rushed for 179 yards on just 11 carries against Colorado. The Buffaloes have allowed five teams to rush for over 200 yards on them this season.
More relevant to this game and Washington State is the Colorado passing defense, which has fared better.
After allowing 300-yard passing performances in three of their first four conference games, the Buffalos have kept the opposition below that mark in their three most recent games, albeit against more balanced or run-heavy offenses.
Washington State Cougars
Not all that dissimilar to Colorado, the wheels have fallen off the Washington State wagon following a 4-0 start to the season. The Cougars have dropped six in a row, most recently scoring two late touchdowns against Cal to make the three-point loss appear closer than it actually was.
The offense lives and dies with quarterback Cameron Ward. Ward threw for over 300 yards for the sixth time this season against Cal, but he also turned it over four times, including two fumbles that the Bears returned for six.
Ward’s play has been inconsistent this year, where yes, he’s passed for over 300 yards a half-dozen times, but he’s also passed for fewer than 210 yards on three occasions, all games in which the Cougars lost by multiple scores.
By design, Washington State relies heavily on their quarterback, with an offense that has the second-fewest rushing attempts in the conference. While their Success Rate (28th) demonstrates their effectiveness as running the ball, it’s just not something they dial up often.
Like Colorado, the Cougars defense struggles against the run, where five of the last six opponents have rushed for at least 174 yards. Fortunately, Colorado has no interest in running the ball, so it will be the Washington State secondary that is tested more.
The Cougars are by no means great at defending the pass, but there’s also worse units in the Pac-12. Washington State’s 249.4 passing yards allowed per game ranks seventh in the conference.
Colorado vs Washington State
Betting Pick & Prediction
Nobody enjoys watching Colorado lose more than me, but it deserves some credit for how close it has kept things in these last few weeks. The Buffaloes have been in seven one-possession games this season, and they’ve covered the spread in three in a row.
Washington State has only lost by a field goal in each of the last two weeks, but it opened as a favorite in both games, and the Cougars are just 1-4 ATS in their last five.
Colorado's defense struggles against dominant rushing attacks that can keep the ball out of Shedeur Sanders’ hands. Only two teams run the ball less often than the Cougars, so that shouldn’t be an issue here.
Washington State’s pass rush also isn’t a juggernaut, with the Cougars only having 17 sacks on the season, the third-fewest in the Pac-12. Sanders should have a little more time than usual to find his receivers.
Both of these defenses leave a little to be desired, so Sanders and Ward will likely find themselves in a firefight.
But I’m more confident in the consistency of Colorado’s passing game than I am in Washington State’s, so it wouldn’t be all that shocking to see the Buffs win this outright, let alone cover as an underdog.
Pick: Colorado +4.5
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