Outkick's Vegas Top Ten For Week 7 2018
There isn’t a Saturday that goes by past September where we don’t make adjustments to our Bet the Board Vegas top 10. Despite the doom and gloom prognosis from Athens Georgia only experienced a slight drop to #4 after their road loss to the Bayou Bengals while Texas A&M continued to inch up the poll to #9 commanding much more respect in our rankings than the popularity poll. A familiar name hops right back into our “Overrated” section, an SEC team we were high on before the season is now currently underrated, and our best bet takes place in that other Death Valley, where fireworks should be on the menu between the only remaining undefeated teams in the ACC.
Bet the Board Top 10 Week 8:
1.) Alabama
2.) Clemson
3.) Ohio State
4.) Georgia
5.) Michigan
6.) Notre Dame
7.) Oklahoma
8.) Penn State
9.) Texas A&M
10.) Washington
Overrated: West Virginia
West Virginia, oh how we’ve missed you! It’s the third time the Mountaineers have graced our overrated section and after last week’s performance in Ames, Iowa, you shouldn’t be surprised. West Virginia entered last week 6th in the country (AP Poll), and have dropped to 13th after mustering only 13 points and racking up 152 total yards (152!!) on offense. WVU generated 9 first downs for the entire game and allowed almost 500 yards of offense to the rarely referred to offensive juggernaut Cyclones. So what happened? It was the first time all year West Virginia played a defense ranked in the Top 50 in overall efficiency and they fell flat on their face. Now the schedule gets much more difficult (8th ranked future SOS) with home games remaining against Baylor, TCU, and Oklahoma, while visits to Texas and Oklahoma State aren’t exactly friendly holiday trips. Even at 13, ahead of teams like Washington, Texas A&M, Penn State, and Mississippi State, West Virginia is still rated too damn high by the useless popularity polls!
Underrated: Mississippi State
The Bulldogs have flirted with our Top 10 all season long but losses to Kentucky and Florida pushed them just outside the bubble. That being said, the national rank of 22nd appears a bit too low. Mississippi State has a +1.1 yards per play margin against their Top 20 schedule thus far. They have an offense that ranks Top 50 in efficiency even with talent that’s taken a while to grasp the new offensive scheme. We mentioned their defensive front 7 at the start of the year and they’ve done well thus far allowing 4.7 yards per play (22nd), while ranking Top 10 in overall defensive efficiency. Their offense looked to be on the right track heading into their bye and if that unit shows even minor improvements the rest of the way, the boys from Stark Vegas will be a very tough out for higher ranked SEC opponents.
Best Bet: N.C. State/Clemson Over 55.5
This total opened 55 at BetOnline.ag before we saw a dip below the key number. That was when professional money pounced on the over for good reason. Clemson is below average against the pass, even with a NFL caliber defensive line. They rank 68th in explosive pass defense and 70th in overall pass defense. Meanwhile, the Wolfpack can throw the football behind quarterback Ryan Finley, who has led this offense to the 4th most efficient passing attack in the country and is #1 in 3rd down conversion percentage (58.49%). For Clemson’s offense, they had a bye week to prep Trevor Lawrence for life as “the man” donning Clemson colors under center. N.C. State is allowing 7.1 yards per pass attempt meaing Clemson should have plenty of success through the air once they get Travis Etienne going on the ground. With both offense primed for passing success, combined with a potentially slick surface, we could see “one-cut scores” from both sides.