College football betting: Notre Dame, Missouri worth playing

Week 5 of the college football season is here, and Wes Reynolds has three of his favorite bets on the board below. For a deeper dive featuring additional plays and analysis, head to the VSiN website. Wes sees a lot that he likes this week.

Notre Dame/North Carolina under 47

The Fighting Irish currently rank No. 1 in the nation defensively, only allowing 199.3 yards per game. They also rank second in points allowed (8.3 points per game). The Notre Dame stop unit has also amassed 10 sacks in the last two games.

Meanwhile, North Carolina is off its second bye of the season. After all the bad news off the field this summer, the Tar Heels have started 2-1 and could be 3-0 but let the game at Clemson get away after a long lightning delay.

UNC, for its part defensively, is only allowing 13.7 points per game (20th nationally). Bill Belichick has had two weeks to prepare against a Notre Dame offense that has been a bit pedestrian and ranks in the bottom third nationally for running the ball.

Rain is also expected in the forecast with, you guessed it, potential lightning delays.

Missouri +6 vs. Florida

Florida was one of our best bets last week, and they looked like a top 10 team that was potentially undervalued. The Gators passed last week’s test with flying colors as they defeated No. 4 Ole Miss, 52-28, as Jadan Baugh (29 carries, 142 yards, 3 touchdowns) and Duke Clark (12-126-1) ran all over the Ole Miss defense.

Now the Gators have jumped 13 spots in the polls to No. 8 and take to the road to face No. 25 Missouri, who had Mississippi State on the ropes last week in Starkville before falling 31-24.

The betting public and media that seemed to be disbelievers and cynics of Florida are now all of a sudden on board as the Gators are now -150 to make the College Football Playoff.

Meanwhile, Mizzou has been the “how are they still ranked” team all week. Transfer QB Austin Simmons has been solid, but the Tigers’ running game has struggled a bit without Ahmad Hardy.

Florida has lived on the running game with Georgia Tech transfer QB Aaron Philo not having to do too much. Philo may not be able to do much here with the passing game, as receivers Vernell Brown III, Bailey Stockton, and Eric Singleton Jr. are questionable to play Saturday.

The Missouri rush defense has been solid and only allows about 100 yards per game. The Tigers will certainly attempt to cheat up into the box and make Philo prove that he can beat them with his arm.

Mizzou head coach Eli Drinkwitz is 10-4-1 ATS in his career as a home underdog.

This looks like a good time to maybe not completely sell off Florida, but at least a few shares of its stock.

Eastern Michigan +6 at Massachusetts

UMass is 4-0 and has already surpassed its season wins total. The Minutemen are certainly thinking about making their first bowl game as an FBS program. They last played a bowl game in the 1972 Boardwalk Bowl, which was a game reserved for teams in the NCAA College Subdivision (now D-II, D-III).

After going winless in the MAC (and overall) in its first conference season in 2025, UMass won its first MAC conference game last week at Sacramento State. Now they are in a relatively new (taking out FCS Stonehill and Sacred Heart) role as a home favorite. Eastern Michigan has historically been a good road underdog under Chris Creighton (36-24-1 ATS). The Eagles are also 21-7 ATS as an away underdog in MAC conference games.

EMU has already played a substantially tougher schedule, having to travel to Michigan State and Wisconsin.

The Minutemen are one of FBS’s best stories so far this season, but they have to prove they can cover as favorites over conference opponents.