Phil Agius
Show Bio
Good morning, Pickswise Nation, and welcome to another fantastic Friday of sports. NFL Week 5 began in high-scoring fashion last night and we have college football action today and time to prepare for the MLB divisional-round games which start tomorrow, so let’s get straight to making your next bet better.
About Last Night
- The Bears are back! Chicago snapped its 14-game NFL losing streak with a convincing 40-20 win over the Washington Commanders on Thursday Night Football. They are still only +3000 to win the NFC North, but that’s better than the Commanders, who are +3800 in the NFC East after losing their third straight game. DJ Moore, one of our TD scorer picks at +225 odds, scored 3 times for the Bears and had 230 receiving yards.
- Liberty failed to cover a double-digit spread with a 21-16 win over Sam Houston in last night’s college football action, but Western Kentucky just held on to cover in a 35-28 win over Louisiana Tech despite not scoring in the second half.
Today’s Slate
- We have a couple of interesting games under the Friday night lights with Kansas State vs Oklahoma State at 7:30 pm ET on ESPN and Nebraska vs Illinois at 8:00 pm ET on FS1. You can read all our NCAAF predictions for the Week 5 games.
Best Bet of the Day
NCAAF: Nebraska Cornhuskers +3.5 over Illinois Fighting Illini (-110)
8:00 pm ET, FS1
Both these teams are 2-3 and oddsmakers expect a low-scoring slugfest. Playing at home is helpful for Illinois, but Matt Rhule’s trench-oriented, defensively-focused scheme is probably perfect for the Huskers and they are starting to find some identity on offense. The offense seems to work a little better with dual-threat QB Heinrich Haarberg at the helm. This game could easily be decided by just a field goal, so the Huskers and the points could be the smart play. Read our full Nebraska vs Illinois predictions
Must-read
- We have Same Game Parlays for Kansas State vs Oklahoma State and Nebraska vs Illinois
- You can also read our NCAAF Week 6 Best Bets
- Our baseball experts have World Series predictions
- NFL fans can check out our NFL Week 5 prop picks and NFL power rankings and Futures plays
- There’s also EPL and MLS action and we have soccer picks for the weekend games.
- We have UFC Best Bets and a UFC 4-fight parlay for UFC Fight Night 229
Read all of our sports betting articles as they arrive throughout the morning and afternoon on the Analysis tab.
Stat of the Day
The Kansas State Wildcats are 7-2 against the spread and straight up in their last 9 games.
Quote of the Day
“Get the ball to DJ, man”
— Wide receiver Darnell Mooney may just have hit on a plan that could work for the Bears.
