College Football Parlay Picks: Saturday, October 3

Following a wild Friday night on the gridiron, Week 5 of the college football season gets underway in earnest with a massive slate of games on Saturday. We have a showcase game in the SEC (Alabama vs Mississippi Staet) to kick off the day, followed by a massive showdown in the Big Ten between Ohio State and Iowa, before a couple of notable games in the ACC and Big 12 provide plenty of intrigue in the evening slate.

Ahead of another faboluous weekend of college football, it’s time to break down our weekly CFB parlay, consisting of our expert's favorite plays of the week at very juicy odds of +926, courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook. For more predictions and analysis, be sure to check out our CFB picks for every FBS game this year, as well as our CFB best bets for our most confident selections this week.

Louisville vs NC State Over 57.5 (-115)

USC -8.5 (-112)

Temple ML (+190)

Week 5 CFB Parlay odds: +926

CFB Parlay Pick: Louisville Cardinals vs NC State Wolfpack Over 57.5 (-115)

Instead of focusing on a side here, I'll direct my attention toward the total in what should be a high-scoring affair between a couple of offenses that should hold edges over the opponent. Last week saw Louisville lose outright as a double digit favorite at home, but Jeff Brohm's offenses have typically bounced back in a major way following a poor showing. Add in the fact Louisville has averaged over 35 points against FBS competition this season, and it's hard not to see Lincoln Keinholz and company seeing consistent success against an NC State defense that is outside the top 100 in success rate and EPA per play. On the other side, the Cardinals defense has been a major issue — allowing an average of 34 points against FBS opponents through the first four weeks. While NC State's offense struggled massively against Virginia, CJ Bailey and the Wolfpack have looked like a much better unit over the last three games. With that in mind, let's target the over in a game that could come down to the wire.

Get college football expert Sam Avellone's CFB best bets for Week 5

CFB Parlay Pick: USC Trojans -8.5 over Washington Huskies (-112)

Both of these former Pac-12 foes are limping into this game, but we'll roll with USC in what sure feels like a spot for Lincoln Riley's team to get off the mat and flex its muscle against a broken opponent. Not only did Washington lose outright at home as a double digit favorite a week ago, the Huskies are failing to cover spreads by an average of nearly 16 points per game this year — good for the worst cover margin in the nation. Despite all of this, the market still hasn't caught up to just how bad this Washington team is, while USC is being penalized a bit too much following a loss against Oregon — a team that was a bit underrated in the market heading into last week's contest. Even though there are major concerns to be had with USC's defense going forward, this broken Washington offense is just not the unit that can exploit these weaknesses. With that in mind, let's lay the points with the Trojans at home.

Don't miss our expert's full Washington vs USC prediction

CFB Parlay Pick: Temple Owls ML over South Florida Bulls (+190)

For the final leg of our parlay, we'll head to the Group of Six ranks for a showdown between Temple and South Florida. While Temple’s record is a paltry 1-3, this is not a team that profiles as much worse than its opponent on Saturday. In fact, the Owls could easily be 3-1 following a couple of demoralizing losses to Toledo and Army over the last two weeks in a couple of games that they dominated statistically and held leads deep in to the fourth quarter. This time out, we’ll get to back Temple in the underdog role against a South Florida team that is very fortunate to 4-0 following very underwhelming showings against the likes of FIU and Bowling Green as a massive favorite. The Owls also have a massive edge in the coaching department with K.C. Keeler on their sideline, compared to Brian Hartline on the other side of the field. We'll skip the points and back Temple to win this one outright.

College football Week 5 Picks

Check out our expert college football predictions for the biggest games in Week 5 below:

• Ohio State vs Iowa prediction
• Michigan vs Minnesota prediction
• Alabama vs Mississippi State prediction
• West Virginia vs Iowa State prediction
• Notre Dame vs North Carolina prediction
• Navy vs Air Force prediction
• Michigan State vs Wisconsin prediction
• Vanderbilt vs Georgia prediction
• Auburn vs Tennessee prediction
• Florida vs Missouri prediction
• Virginia vs Florida State prediction
• Louisville vs NC State prediction
• Kentucky vs South Carolina prediction
• Purdue vs Illinois prediction
• Arkansas vs Texas A&M prediction
• Texas Tech vs Colorado prediction
• Miami vs Clemson prediction
• Indiana vs Rutgers prediction