Another Saturday, another slate of college football player props to bet.
This week, our college football writers came through with three player props, including picks for Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter, Arizona wide receiver Montana Lemonius-Craig and Rutgers quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis.
Let's dive into our college football player props for Week 8.
Week 8 College Football Player Props
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Specific betting recommendations come from the sportsbook offering preferred odds as of writing. Always shop for the best price using our NCAAF Odds page, which automatically surfaces the best lines for every game. | |
UCLA vs Rutgers props for Week 8
Athan Kaliakmanis Over 159.5 Pass Yards (-114)
Athan Kaliakmanis has had a tough transition to the Big Ten portion of the schedule. He has failed to eclipse the 200-yard mark since throwing for 269 yards against Virginia Tech in week four.
Against UCLA this week, Kaliakmanis should be able to reset and get his stat line well above where markets are pricing his passing yards.
Kaliakmanis's problems have been three consecutive weak performances against Washington, Nebraska and Wisconsin. He threw for 115, 186, and 103 yards in those games, respectively.
This is nothing to write home about, but all three passing defenses currently rank in the top 31 nationally.
In fact, Washington's (123.0 ypg) passing defense is the top-ranked in the nation, Wisconsin's (168.2 ypg) is 17th, and Nebraska's (188.3 ypg) rounds out the group at 31st.
It’s no surprise that Kaliakmanis struggled to put up an extensive stat line in against any of those vaunted passing defenses. Still, this Saturday brings a new and much weaker opposing secondary.
The UCLA passing defense is by far the worst in the Big Ten and ranks 116th in the nation, allowing 265.7 aerial yards per game. While the passing defense has been atrocious this year, they actually have a pretty solid run defense that should match up well against Rutgers's run-heavy game plan.
I think Rutgers will continue to lean on the run, but part of that game plan in previous games has been strategic Big Ten football and game planning by Greg Schiano.
Given how weak the UCLA pass defense is relative to its run defense, I fully expect Kaliakmanis to be leaned on more in this one.
Look for Kaliakmanis to have somewhere in the 25-30 attempt range and easily get to 200+ passing yards, which he has already done twice this season.
Pick: Athan Kaliakmanis Over 159.5 Pass Yards (Play to Over 185)
Colorado vs Arizona Player props for Week 8
Travis Hunter to Score 2+ Touchdowns (+320)
The multi-touchdown market is completely broken in college football.
Sportsbooks price certain players so prohibitively that it’s clear they simply don’t want action from the public. And I’m not just talking about Ashton Jeanty.
Even Army quarterback Bryson Daily can’t get a fair shake in the market. If you were to bet him to score three rushing touchdowns against East Carolina on Saturday, you’d be rewarded with a +200 payout. Pricing him like he’s Glenn Davis or Doc Blanchard is criminal.
But there is still some value in the market if you search deep enough. And to my surprise, it’s Heisman candidate Travis Hunter this week.
The two-way dynamo has a pair of multi-score games this season, and he’s set to take on an Arizona pass defense that can be exploited. The Wildcats sit in the mid-50s in EPA per Dropback allowed, but they're still vulnerable to big plays. On passing downs, the Wildcats’ pass defense ranks 121st in Explosiveness allowed.
Hunter has at least one reception of 28 yards or more in four of the five games he’s played start-to-finish. Last week, he bounced early due to an injury, but according to Deion Sanders, Hunter is good to go.
And unlike every other college football player in the multi-touchdown market this week, Hunter has the potential to score on both offense and defense.
Why does that matter this week in particular? Noah Fifita has been a pick-machine. The sophomore signal-caller has thrown nine interceptions and has 10 turnover-worthy plays in his last four games alone.
I also love the Heisman angle here because, as we know, Hunter and his coach want to pad stats if they can.
Pick: Travis Hunter To Score 2+ Touchdowns (+320 · Play to +300)
Colorado vs Arizona props for Week 8
Montana Lemonius-Craig Over 33.5 Receiving Yards (-114)
By Alex Hinton
My colleague Mike Calabrese is backing Travis Hunter in this matchup, and backing the best two-way player in the country is always a good call.
However, I am looking at the other side of the ball when Hunter will be on defense.
Because of Hunter’s skill set, Colorado plays a ton of man-to-man coverage. This week, Hunter has a WR1 to shadow in Tetairoa McMillan. The two future first-round picks will win their fair share of battles against each other, and McMillman’s line is at 104.5 receiving yards on FanDuel.
However, Colorado’s other corners are not on Hunter’s level, which means there is value in Arizona’s other receivers, like Montana Lemonius-Craig.
Lemonius-Craig has hit this line just twice in Arizona’s first six games, but the two overs (75 and 43 yards) have come in the past four games. He was hooked on 33 yards against Texas Tech.
Against Colorado last season, he doubled this line with 67 receiving yards. Lemonius-Craig had a revenge narrative returning to Boulder last season after playing his first three seasons for the Buffaloes. This year’s matchup is in Tucson, but still, he gets another crack at his former teammate.
Additionally, quarterback Noah Fifita is averaging 38.5 pass attempts per game and has a passing yards line of 288.5. I expect this game to go over 58 total points, with Sheduer Sanders on the other side. Fifita must put up points to keep pace with Colorado’s offense or lead his team back.
McMillan will not see 38 targets, which means if Fifita is throwing the ball that much, Arizona’s other pass-catchers will also have a chance to go over their lines.
Lemonius-Craig is also +182 for 50 yards and +270 for 60 yards, which hit against the Buffaloes last year and against Kansas State a few weeks ago.
Pick: Montana Lemonius-Craig Over 33.5 Receiving Yards (Play to 36.5)
