Week 8 College Football Parlay: CFB Parlay Picks for Saturday, October 18 - Commodores live up to expectations

The weekend has arrived, which means we are that much closer to being able to experience this absolutely loaded slate of college football. Week 8 offers as many as 5 ranked matchups, including a top-10 matchup, in addition to multiple other highly-intriguing games across both the Power 4 and Group of 5. 

Like every week, I have combined a few of my favorite bets into a Week 8 college football parlay with +642 odds. We’re looking for our second Saturday parlay winner in a row after last week’s +570 cash, and I’m ready to get into the analysis for this week’s ticket. Let’s break each leg down now before you find our NCAAF predictions for over 30 games this week with a couple of CFB best bets sprinkled in along the way. 

Vanderbilt ML (-125)

Michigan 1H ML (-180)

South Carolina ML (+165)

Week 8 CFB parlay odds: +642

Odds courtesy of Fanatics Sportsbook at the time of publishing. Use their 20% CFB boost to increase the odds of this parlay to +770!

Vanderbilt Commodores ML over LSU Tigers (-125)

If you haven’t heard by now, this is the first time Vanderbilt has been favored over LSU since the 1940s, and it’s the first time the Commodores are favorites over any SEC opponent since 2018. Crazy stuff, yet also very telling as to what oddsmakers expect in this game. It will be interesting to see how Vanderbilt handles real expectations for the first time in 7 years, especially on the heels of a loss at Alabama, but the Commodores’ bye week prior to welcoming LSU should help tremendously. Head coach Clark Lea’s familiarity with LSU coach Brian Kelly should help, as well, since Lea worked under Kelly at Notre Dame for 4 years. 

The Tigers haven’t been good on the road in Kelly’s tenure. In fact, the Tigers are 3-7 ATS in their last 10 SEC road games and have failed to win or cover in 3 consecutive road underdog appearances against SEC opponents – their most recent loss being at Ole Miss against a Rebels team led by a Division 2 transfer quarterback. Vandy’s offense is the real deal, boasting top-5 marks in multiple offensive metrics including yards per play, PPA per play and third-down conversion rate, and the Commodores have a real difference-maker at the quarterback position with Diego Pavia. Thanks to him and a stellar run game, the ‘Dores have been excellent at capping their drives off with touchdowns, as they are ninth in points scored per quality drive since Week 3 and have the 2nd-most red zone touchdowns in the country. Vandy wins outright and the goalposts make its way down Broadway again. 

Find our Vanderbilt vs LSU prediction, including picks on the side and total

Michigan Wolverines 1H ML over Washington Huskies (-180)

This is a play against the travel spot, as the Huskies will play at the Big House at noon ET – which will be 9:00 AM on their body clocks. Since the Big Ten expanded, Washington has not fared well in these cross-country voyages, especially early in games. Dating back to last year, Washington has been out-scored in the first half of every game in the central or eastern time zones by double-digits, and its first-half woes haven’t been specific to cross-country road games this season. The Huskies went into halftime tied with Colorado State at home in Week 1, and they trailed Rutgers by 3 points at the intermission last week despite the coast-to-coast journey for the Scarlet Knights.

Not only is Washington’s travel in play here, but Michigan is likely to be hungry to erase last week’s embarrassing loss at USC. The Wolverines may even be hungry for revenge on the Huskies given their ugly 27-17 loss in Seattle last year. Look for Washington to be sloppy early in Ann Arbor.

Read our Washington vs Michigan prediction

South Carolina Gamecocks ML over Oklahoma Sooners (+165)

This is the hangover spot of all hangover spots on Saturday’s Week 8 card. Oklahoma looked miserable last week against its rival Texas at the Cotton Bowl, as it seemed like QB John Mateer was rushed back too soon. He was clearly limited as a passer and threw 3 picks at least due in part to the injuries. Now, the Sooners have to go on the road to play a 3-3 South Carolina team that many have already written off, sandwiched in between games against Texas and top-5 Ole Miss. If you remember, South Carolina was 3-3 last year through 6 games before winning out and almost making the College Football Playoff. Admittedly, this version of the Gamecocks doesn’t seem to be as good as last year’s, but LaNorris Sellers and company are capable of springing an upset – especially against this Oklahoma team.

Both the Sooners and the Gamecocks are battered and bruised across the offensive line, so I’m not expecting much from either offense in Columbia on Saturday. This has all the makings for an ugly, early-window SEC game; let’s trust the spot and take South Carolina to spring the upset to round out our Week 8 parlay. 

Check out our Oklahoma vs South Carolina pick