College football predictions: Ride with these two favorites

Here are two college football picks for Saturday’s college football slate. Also check out my betting strategy for the Iron Bowl between longtime rivals Alabama and Auburn:

Northwestern has put together a remarkable season.

Many left the Wildcats for dead after the Pat Fitzgerald scandal. But interim coach David Braun willed his team to victories and bowl eligibility after beating Wisconsin in Week 11 and Purdue in Week 12.

Illinois hasn’t yet reached bowl eligibility, falling to 5-6 last week with a two-point loss to Iowa. So, from a motivational perspective, Illinois has a clear advantage here.

It’s also a good buy-low, sell-high spot.

We can bet on a bounce-back performance from quarterback John Paddock and the Illini, who will face a significant step down in defensive competition after grinding against the Hawkeyes last week.

And we can bet on a letdown performance from Northwestern, which is due to drop one after consecutive victories.

Plus, the Wildcats are a tad overvalued at 6-5. They were lucky in wins against Maryland and Minnesota, and their +8 net turnover margin is a part of that.

I’m betting that a fired-up Illinois squad rips through an overvalued, sleepy Northwestern one.

The Spartans started the season 1-5 before winning five straight. So, they’re due for a loss. I’m betting they drop one against a dominant UNLV squad, which will host the Mountain West Championship game with a win — talk about motivation.

UNLV’s Go-Go offense pairs an old-school option rush attack with new-school west-coast vertical passing principals — basically, the Rebels run the ball to set up deep passing shots.

SJSU is among the worst rush defenses in the country, ranking in the bottom 10 nationally in Rush Success Rate and EPA per Rush allowed.

UNLV will run all over this SJSU front, opening up the whole offense in a dominant victory.

Last week: 1-2. Army (W), Stanford (L), Oregon State (L)
2023 season: 14-19.