Fall Thursday nights are always full of football — both at the professional and collegiate levels.
Along with tonight's NFL game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and New Orleans Saints, we have two college games on the docket: Marshall vs. James Madison and Tulsa vs. Rice.
Our college football writers broke down each game in an in-depth betting preview and came through with a pick for both matchups. Check out both breakdowns and bets below.
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Thursday College Football Betting Previews
The team logos in the table below represent each of the matchups that our college football betting staff is targeting from Thursday'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 |
|---|---|---|
  | 7 p.m. | |
  | 7 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. | ||
James Madison vs. Marshall
The Sun Belt Conference takes us to Huntington, West Virginia, this Thursday night when the Marshall Thundering Herd welcome the undefeated James Madison Dukes.
A year ago, Marshall went into Harrison, Virginia, to take down the Dukes by a score of 26-12. James Madison will look to return the favor Thursday and exact revenge on a Thundering Herd team that sits two games behind the Dukes in the conference standings.
In fact, both of these teams sit toward the top of the conference. But with the Dukes being ineligible for the postseason due to NCAA rules for programs transitioning from FCS to FBS, this game will only play a big role in the Herd's attempt to win the conference.
Can James Madison go into Huntington and get its revenge to remain undefeated? Let’s dive into the James Madison vs. Marshall odds and find a pick and prediction in this college football betting preview for Thursday, Oct. 19.
James Madison Dukes
James Madison has had an excellent start to the season for a second-year FBS team, as it sits at 6-0, outdoing its 5-0 start last season.
Sitting atop the Sun Belt East with wins over Troy, South Alabama and Georgia Southern, it will look to keep it rolling under head coach Curt Cignetti.
The obvious strength of this James Madison offense is its passing game. Jordan McCloud threw for nearly 260 yards last week and tacked on three touchdowns in a 41-13 rout of Georgia Southern.
The senior does an excellent job of taking care of the football as well, holding a 14:3 touchdown-to-interception ratio on the season. McCloud has this offense rolling, as the Dukes average 34.5 points per game while ranking 16th in Passing Success Rate.
They have made some explosive plays through the air, ranking 49th overall in pass explosiveness.
However, the offensive woes come in the run game, where James Madison sits just 114th in Rushing Success Rate. Still, the Dukes are well-coached and run the ball at the 39th-highest rate, so opponents can't just sit back in coverage against them because they'll will continue to run the ball.
They will need to have some success on the ground if they want to win on the road in this one.
The JMU defense is the real story of this team this season. It has allowed just 21 points per game, helping the Dukes to an average winning margin of 13.5 points. They've forced 11 turnovers through six games for a turnover margin of +4, which always helps give their offense shorter fields and more opportunities.
This ability to fly around has them leading the nation in Defensive Havoc. They can cause some serious problems with their ability to cause chaos and get to the quarterback, as the Dukes have tallied 26 sacks in six games this season.
If James Madison can continue to cause turnovers and pressure the quarterback, it should be able to keep this talented Marshall offense at bay.
Marshall Thundering Herd
Marshall enters this game with aspirations of playing in a Sun Belt Championship after finishing 9-4 overall and 5-3 in conference play last season. It did have quite a bit of roster turnover, but that hasn’t slowed the Herd down much this year, as they enter this game at 4-2 overall and 1-1 in conference play.
Marshall also enters this week on short rest, so the playing field is level there.
Similar to the Dukes, Marshall’s offense favors a more effective passing attack that ranks 41st in Success Rate. But there's a philosophical difference. The Thundering Herd rank 73rd in rush rate, while James Madison sits at 39th.
This team wants the ball in sophomore quarterback Cam Fancher’s hands.
Fancher has been solid in terms of moving the ball this season, throwing for 1,506 yards and tacking on an additional 196 yards on the ground, but his touchdown-to-turnover ratio raises some concerns. He has seven passing touchdowns compared to five interceptions this season, which could be problematic against such a tenacious JMU defense.
This will be the key for the Marshall offense because the run game ranks 125th in Success Rate, so it will be unlikely to get anything going there.
Marshall’s defense has been pretty good against both the pass and the run, but the big issue comes from short fields due to turnovers by the offense. The team has a -2 turnover margin despite this defense forcing nine turnovers through six games.
This has led to Marshall to rank 112th in average defensive starting field position.
The Herd defense should be able to slow the JMU pass attack if they can get some field to work with. They rank 17th in Defensive Success Rate for a reason, with a better mark against the pass (second) than the run (36th).
James Madison vs Marshall
Betting Pick & Prediction
Both of these teams match up pretty similarly, but I think the big key to this game is who will win the turnover battle. Both teams can score points, but the game will come down to who has more possessions and where those possessions start.
Given James Madison’s ability to force turnovers and take care of the ball, I would lean toward the Dukes to win a close one.
Give me JMU -3 in a game I would actually buy the hook in.
| |
Rice vs. Tulsa
By Brett Pund
Tulsa hosts Rice at Chapman Stadium in a Thursday night American Athletic Conference showdown with both teams pushing for a bowl bid.
This Golden Hurricane squad won two of their three conference games entering the bye last weekend as they enter this contest at 3-3 on the season.
Meanwhile, the Owls also enjoyed a week off with the same record, owning wins over Houston, East Carolina and Texas Southern.
Both schools should come in fresh and as healthy as they’ve been all year, which should give us a great game in the AAC.
Find a betting pick, preview and prediction below for Rice vs. Tulsa on Thursday, October 19.
Rice Owls
When Mike Bloomgren became the head coach at Rice, he brought over the old-school, Stanford power-running offense to Houston. However, the Rice offense has changed this season.
One key to the reversal was the arrival of quarterback JT Daniels. The journeyman signal-caller leads the conference in passing yards per game (305.2) and touchdown passes (15).
In fact, Daniels has already set a new career high for touchdown passes in a season, with his previous best coming all the way back in 2018 at USC.
Daniels’ primary target has been Luke McCaffrey, who has five receiving touchdowns on the year. This has been a difficult duo to stop, and Tulsa will need to focus on shutting this connection down to get a win.
Tulsa Golden Hurricane
In the offseason, Tulsa made the decision to go in another direction at head coach when it hired former Ohio State offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson to lead the program.
Wilson has had a tricky start to his life as Golden Hurricane coach. But between the difficult nonconference slate and the injury to starting quarterback Braylon Braxton, sitting at 3-3 on the year is not a bad record in his debut season.
Braxton did return in the last game, and he should be in contention for a start in this one. Even without Braxton, Wilson’s solid offense has still been on display when Cardell Williams has played quarterback
This is a Tulsa team that ranks in the top 55 in both Rush Success Rate and Pass Success Rate on the year. They have also excelled at converting drives into points, ranking 35th in Finishing Drives.
On the defense, Kendarin Ray leads the AAC in tackles, racking up 56 on the season — which is even more impressive considering that Tulsa has already had its bye week.
It will be interesting to see what decision Wilson makes at quarterback, but I do expect the offense to continue to improve.
Rice vs Tulsa
Betting Pick & Prediction
When we're this deep into the season, I like to compare a team’s season-long metrics to how that same squad stacks up over the last four games.
It's clear to me that one team is improving, while the other is declining.
Consequently, my best bet is to back Tulsa to continue to get better under Wilson, which includes covering the spread at -3, and I would bet this to -4.
Rice’s recent stretch of games includes a loss at USF and a loss at home to Connecticut, with a win over East Carolina sandwiched between the defeats. I do not have any of those teams rated as highly as the Golden Hurricane.
Over this span, Tulsa went on the road to beat Northern Illinois and blew out Temple before covering the spread in a loss at Florida Atlantic two weeks ago. This is a much tougher slate than the Owls have faced, and Tulsa's advanced metrics were still better than Rice’s.
The reason I like to compare these recent numbers is because the Golden Hurricane's season-long numbers are tainted by heavy defeats to top-six teams, Washington and Oklahoma, in the nonconference slate.
If the Golden Hurricane improve even more with the return of their starting quarterback, I really like Tulsa to pick up a solid win at home in this contest and cover up to -4.
Choose the Best Sportsbooks for Your Thursday CFB Betting Action
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