College Football Week 6 Best Bets: Friday, October 16
Believe it or not, we’ve reached the middle of the college football regular season, as a massive Week 7 lies ahead this weekend. There are numerous ranked matchups – six to be exact – that headline the weekend slate, including Ohio State vs Indiana, Missouri vs Ole Miss and Notre Dame vs BYU. But before we get into Saturday’s main course on the Week 7 card, we have Friday to assess.
Friday was good to us last week. We cashed the early-week best bet on Iowa, and we cashed our best bet on the Florida State-Louisville over. I’m looking to keep that momentum going this week, so let’s get right into my Friday college football best bets, while you can get our CFB predictions for more tips and analysis on every FBS game this week and throughout the season.
CFB Week 7 Friday Best Bet: Appalachian State Mountaineers ML over Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (-115)
Odds available at BetMGM at the time of publishing. Playable to -125 or -1.5.
These programs aren’t long-standing rivals, but ever since Coastal joined the Sun Belt in 2017, App State versus Coastal Carolina has blossomed into one of the better rivalries in conference. App State rattled off three straight wins, as well as four in their first five meetings as conference foes, but the Chanticleers have won four straight ahead of this one – all in the underdog role.
Coming off two straight losses, including a horribly ugly result last week at home against Old Dominion in equally horrible weather, as well as four straight losses in this series, I’m expecting this to be a huge get-up spot for the Mountaineers. Conversely, Coastal comes into this game off a road win as an underdog at Marshall, so the Chants could be a bit “fat and happy” in this one.
With this game being listed as a pick ‘em, it will come down to who makes the least amount of mistakes, and I struggle to trust Coastal Carolina QB Deuce Bailey with the ball in his hands. Bailey is a turnover waiting to happen; he’s fumbled the ball five times this year already, including twice in two games after fumbling twice in his lone start last year, so it’s a pattern. It comes with the territory – his offensive line doesn’t do him many favors, and that’s worrisome this week against an App State defense that is top-30 in havoc generated outside of garbage time. Moreover, Coastal Carolina is in the top-30 in yards per play and top-50 in PPA per play, third-down conversion rate and points per scoring opportunity allowed thus far.
App State will likely have a backup quarterback in this game, as Matt Hasselbeck’s son, Henry, is expected to start if Malachi Singleton is unable to play. I’m going to trust that, with a week to prepare, the junior UCLA transfer will be able to lead the offense down the field for a few scores while adding dynamic play-making ability with his legs – he has real speed. This Coastal defense has not been good, and it should help that Hasselbeck’s teammates have already played twice on the road already this season – where they turned it over zero times against ECU and NC State. Hasselbeck and Singleton competed for the starting job in the offseason, so I wouldn’t consider Hasselbeck to be a huge downgrade from Singleton.
The motivational and defensive advantages App State has against a turnover-prone quarterback are worth more to me than the perceived step down from Singleton to Hasselbeck. Oddsmakers seem to agree considering the line has strayed strong at App State -1 or -1.5 despite the market betting Coastal heavily knowing Singleton is questionable.
Get more expert analysis in our Appalachian State vs Coastal Carolina prediction for Friday night's game
