The Daily Sweat: Tulsa and San Diego State are big favorites Friday night
The final “normal” Friday of the 2022 college football season features two games with 2-TD spreads and just one team over .500.
Yeah, it’s not the most appealing slate of football games. But a game doesn’t have to be epic to bet on it, right? Friday night’s Week 12 games feature South Florida at Tulsa in a bottom-half AAC battle (9 p.m. ET, ESPN2) and San Diego State at New Mexico in a game with a very low points total (9:45 p.m. ET, FS1).
We’ll start in Oklahoma, where both teams are playing out the string. The Golden Hurricane are on a three-game losing streak that’s taken them out of bowl contention while South Florida is looking for its first win over an FBS opponent this season. The Bulls made a coaching change earlier this month and fired former Clemson assistant Jeff Scott after four wins in 30 games.
Tulsa is favored by 14 points and the total is 58. South Florida is allowing 40 points per game and has given up at least 41 points in each of its last four games. Tulsa, meanwhile, has scored just 23 points combined in its last two games.
Out west, San Diego State moved to 6-4 and became bowl-eligible with a 43-27 win over San Jose State in Week 11. The Aztecs are 14.5-point favorites at New Mexico and the total is just 36.5.
The points total is so low because New Mexico has one of the worst scoring offenses in college football. The Lobos score 14.7 points per game; just two teams average fewer points. San Diego State, meanwhile, scores 22 points a game. The 43 points it scored against SJSU was the first time all season that SDSU had scored more than 28 points against an FBS opponent. Are you brave enough to take the under?
11 NBA games
If you’re not intrigued by either of the college football games there are plenty of NBA games to bet on Friday night. The first ESPN game is between the Bucks and 76ers and the night cap is between the struggling Knicks and the struggling Warriors.
The Sixers are 1.5-point favorites thanks the home-court advantage and the total is 218.5. The Warriors are 6.5-point favorites over New York and that total is 233.5 as Golden State looks to figure out a reliable bench to supplement Steph Curry’s heroics.
The moribund Lakers are 7.5-point favorites over a Pistons team playing its second game in two nights in LA. The Pistons lost Thursday night to the Clippers as Kawhi Leonard made his return from knee rehab.
2 men’s CBB top-25 matchups
Numerous ranked teams take the court Friday night in men’s college basketball. No. 16 Virginia plays No. 5 Baylor in Las Vegas. The Bears are favored by 5.5 points. After that game concludes, No. 19 Illinois plays No. 8 UCLA. The Bruins are favored by 3.5 points.
No. 12 Indiana is favored by 3.5 points at Xavier, while both No. 7 Duke and No. 6 Kansas are favored by significant margins at home. Kansas is a 21.5-point favorite against Southern Utah while Duke is a 22.5-point favorite against Delaware.
Who cashed tickets Thursday?
Titans bettors on both the spread and moneyline were thrilled with Tennessee’s 27-17 win over Green Bay on Thursday night. The loss drops the Packers to 4-7 as Green Bay has lost six of its last seven games. Oh, Green Bay plays at Philadelphia in Week 12, too.
The Nets covered outright as underdogs in a 109-107 win over the Portland Trail Blazers. Brooklyn trailed at halftime before outscoring Portland by seven in the third quarter.