The calendar still says September, and temperatures in Texas remain in the 90s, but the Texas Tech Red Raiders are already playing their most important game of the season. On Friday night, No. 13 Texas Tech hosts the No. 22 Houston Cougars at Galaxy Stadium in Lubbock. The game is the only one against a ranked team on the Red Raiders' schedule -- one that was famously mocked by Texas coach Steve Sarkisian in the offseason. (He said, in part, "If I played [that schedule] with our 2s and our 3s, we could go undefeated.") If Tech (2-0) wins on Friday, the team would be well on its way to an undefeated regular season and a return trip to the College Football Playoff.
But if the Red Raiders lose, they very likely would have to win out to get back to the final 12. Use the FanDuel promo code to get up to $350 in bonus bets on Friday: Meanwhile, Houston (2-0), in its third year under coach Willie Fritz, entered the season as a popular darkhorse pick to win the Big 12. After playing Oregon State and an overmatched Southern to start the year, the Cougars lead the FBS in rushing defense (10.0 yards per game) and rank seventh in the country in rushing offense (308.0).
Texas Tech is a 7.5-point spread betting favorite over Houston. Cougars is the marquee attraction on Friday, there are other sports betting options that includes a partial college football schedule and a full MLB slate. Below is a snapshot of what to watch and bet at the best sports betting apps, for Friday, Sept. 18.
Use the Caesars Sportsbook promo code CBSDYW to double your winnings on your next 10 bets after betting $1+ on Friday: Time: 7:30 p.m. | Location: Winston-Salem, N.C. | TV: ESPN | Stream: Fubo (Try for free) SportsLine pick -- Model: Wake Forest +928 | Expert: Miami -20.5 (Emory Hunt) Can anyone stop Darian Mensah, Malachi Toney and the rest of the Hurricanes? Miami leads the country in total offense (702.5 yards per game) and ranks second in both scoring offense (61.0 points per game) and passing offense (427.0 yards per game). Mensah enters Week 3 as the +500 favorite to win the Heisman Trophy.
That's bad news for a Demon Deacons team that allowed 455 yards to Purdue last week, the most under coach Jake Dickert. "The Hurricanes have been consistently excellent, keeping their foot on the gas the entire game," Hunt told SportsLine. "I don't think people realize how good they've been defensively as well." Meanwhile, the SportsLine Projection Model, which simulates every college football game 10,000 times, disagrees.
It says Wake Forest has a 17% chance to win and assigns a 'B' grade to the Demon Deacons money line betting odds of +928. Time: 8 p.m. | Location: Lubbock, Texas | TV: FOX | Stream: Fubo (Try for free) SportsLine pick -- Model: Texas Tech -317 | Expert: Houston +8 (Tom Fornelli) The Red Raiders boatraced virtually everyone on their schedule last year but haven't looked as sharp this season with two meh victories over Abilene Christian (33-10) and Oregon State (35-24). They could be feeling the effects of having to replace four defenders (David Bailey, Jacob Rodriguez, Lee Hunter and Romello Height) selected within the top 70 picks of the NFL Draft.
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