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Week 4 College football preview is ready to go with all of Mike Calabrese's best picks for you to consider single wagers or parlays. Ensure you are using the best betting site for college football when playing these picks and select from the best betting sites in your state for college football.

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#8 Tennessee-3 @ #25 LSU (65)

12p ET on ESPN

Tennessee exits September ranked in the AP Poll top ten for the first time in six years. But you really have to go all the way back to 2001 to find a season in which Tennessee could stake a claim as a legitimate national title contender in October. Those ‘01 Volunteers rose all the way to number two in the BCS before falling to these very same LSU Tigers in the SEC Championship Game. 

This year’s version of the Orange and White can stake a claim as the SEC’s best offense. Hendon Hooker is fifth nationally in QBR (90.0) and is piloting the nation’s top-rated offense (559.3 yards per game). As a result, he’s risen in the Heisman ranks. Hooker spent most of the offseason in the 50:1 to 60:1 range and is now 12:1 at most sportsbooks. As the fourth favorite on the board, he could become Tennessee’s very first Heisman winner if he gets through games like this one.

While UT’s offense has been machine-gunning through defenses this season, LSU’s offense is nothing more than a pop-gun. The Bayou Bengals are 91st in yards per attempt and have struggled to protect both Daniels and Nussmeier (111th in sack rate allowed). Last week against Auburn, this offense truly bottomed out. The Tigers mustered just 270 total yards and were 5-for-15 on third downs. The four turnovers they forced on defense helped them prevail against Auburn. But it’s clear this offense isn’t ready for a heavyweight bout with an elite opponent. Tennessee is just that and even the vaunted Death Valley atmosphere isn’t enough to make up for LSU’s shortcomings. 

Betting Angle:

As a home underdog, LSU is 6-4 SU since 2015 and an impressive 7-3 ATS in these spots. And then there’s the Tennessee defense. The tale of the tape for Vols defense is pretty ghastly this season. Here are the two key ratings for the Vols: 

• Total Defense (82nd, 407.3 yards)
• Passing Defense (123rd, 309.3 yards)

But the Vols saving grace has been their 3rd Down and Red Zone defense. Tennessee ranks 15th nationally in both metrics, which means they can get off the field and they make life hard on opponents in their red zone. It’s not easy to put your faith in a road favorite who gives up yards at will, but this LSU offense isn’t the kind of unit that can fully take advantage of those deficiencies. I would play Tennessee all the way up to -6. 

#17 TCU-7 @ #19 Kansas (68.5)

12p ET on FS1

The belle of the ball has arrived. Kansas, undefeated and nationally ranked, will host College Gameday on Saturday for the very first time. For perspective, Ohio State has hosted Gameday 21 times already. But it is well deserved for the Jayhawks given their on-field product. They entered 2022 on a 11-70 run dating back to 2015. Their win total was set at 2.5 for the entire season. They’ve doubled that already and done it in an impressive fashion.

Kansas, and specifically Jalon Daniels, have been a wagon on offense. The Jayhawks are top 20 nationally in scoring, points per play, third down conversion percentage, yards per rush and yards per attempt. In a word, they’ve been electric. 

Defensively, KU has been solid against the run and dismal against the pass. That second fact isn’t ideal with a red hot TCU passing attack heading to Lawrence. Sonny Dykes’ Horned Frogs have been nearly unstoppable, ranking second in yards per play (7.9) and fifth in scoring (45 ppg). Max Duggan has been a revelation at quarterback, making a star turn in the past three weeks. The senior passer has accounted for 13 total touchdowns in his last three starts with zero turnovers. The KU defense could be in trouble. 

Betting Angle:

Despite a national ranking, College Gameday on campus and what should be a raucous home crowd, oddsmakers still made TCU a touchdown favorite. The Jayhawks dream run should have ended last week but Iowa State missed three field goals in a three-point loss. Jalon Daniels, KU’s star QB, also struggled mightly against Jon Heacock’s Iowa State defense in Week 5. TCU’s Joe Gillespie is an elite defensive coordinator as well and he will likely borrow a few looks from Iowa State to keep Daniels bottled up. I’ll play TCU-7 and TCU on the alternate line up to -13.5 at +200.

#11 Utah-3.5 @ #18 UCLA (64.5)

3:30p ET on FOX

UCLA remains one of the last “surprise” undefeated in college football. They’ve done it with the patented Chip Kelly uptempo attack. To understand how the Bruins are gouging teams on the ground, you don’t have to look further than their game last week against Washington. The Huskies entered as a top 25 run defense and UCLA still managed to generate 184 yards and two scores on the ground. 

Their success moving the football with their running backs has made life really easy on Dorian Thompson-Robinson. The veteran passer is having a career year, reaching 7th in ESPN’s QBR metric while completing nearly 73% of his passes. He’s taken just two sacks in the last four games and has protected the football all season long. DTR was once a liability but now he appears to be the leader UCLA has been missing at QB since Brett Hundley’s days in Pasadena. 

Utah, forgotten on the national scene, could use this win to vault back into the top ten and the College Football Playoff discussion. After a heartbreaking opening loss to Florida, Utah has thumped four straight opponents by a combined score of 184-43. Last week, facing a quality Oregon State team that nearly upset USC at home, the Utes unloaded offensively racking up 42 points while forcing four interceptions. 

Betting Angle:

Utah has been playing at a high-level, consistently, since 2019. UCLA has been characterized as a boom or bust team under Kelly, which makes it difficult to predict how they’ll come out and play. The quarterbacks are evenly matched, but only one will be able to rely on their running game against a weak defensive front and, shockingly, the front in question is Utah’s. 

Known for their defensive prowess in recent years, this year’s Utah defense is allowing 4.4 yards per carry (83rd). They were also victimized by Anthony Richardson in the opener, a blueprint that Kelly and his staff can follow, as it relates to getting DTR involved in the running game. Given Utah’s lack of explosiveness and what should be a mostly filled Rose Bowl (for the first time this year), I’ll take the points and the fiesty underdog.  

#16 Brigham Young vs. Notre Dame-3 (51.5) (Las Vegas, NV)

7:30p ET on NBC

A Holy War in Sin City, you say? Notre Dame is receiving plenty of love from bettors (60% Bets, 73% Handle) but it has little to do with their on-field performance. Notre Dame is a perfect example of a “public team.” Casual fans love to go for name brands, especially when they’re favored. But the Irish’s performance to date doesn’t match the luster of their shiny gold helmets. Notre Dame is 83rd in scoring, 90th in passing and struggles to string together first downs. Drew Pyne looked great two weeks ago against North Carolina, but the Tar Heels are in the running for worst Power Five defense. 

BYU, on the other hand, is 4-1 and getting healthier at the skill positions. The trio of Puka Nacua, Chase Roberts, Miles Davis are all game-time decisions, but it appears they’ll likely get one or two of them back based upon comments made by the BYU coaching staff. When this offense is healthy, it’s highly explosive with a great field general leading the way. Jaren Hall has been efficient (70% completions), willing to push the ball down field (8.4 ypa), and excellent in the ball security department (1 TO).  

Betting Angle:

I believe the wrong team is favored in this one. The Cougars will also have a significant home field advantage with their fans traveling to Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. My only concern in a close game is the BYU special teams which are nearly dead-last in kickoff coverage and field goal success rate. Nonetheless, I will be playing the Cougs on the moneyline at +150. 

Under-The-Radar

Washington State @ #6 USC-13 (66)

7:30p ET on FOX

The Trojans played with fire two weeks ago up in Corvallis, but escaped with a three-point victory. Can another Pac-12 North opponent give them fits? 

Wazzu is just three points away from a 5-0 start, having blown a 27-15 lead in the fourth quarter to Oregon on the Palouse. Other than that, the Cougars defense has been a pleasant surprise thus far in 2022. Wazzu has bowed their necks against the run, ranking 19th nationally. They scored a marquee upset of Wisconsin on the road by suffocating the vaunted Badger rushing attack, holding Braelon Allen under 100 yards while keeping him out of the endzone. If the Cougars can make USC one-dimensional, they have a chance of holding them well below their season scoring average (42.2 ppg, 10th).

On the USC side of things, the Trojans continue to score in bunches and pop big plays seemingly at will. The Trojans are tenth nationally in plays of 20 yards or more per game (6.4). Caleb Williams bounced back nicely from his down game against Oregon State with 392 total yards and four total touchdowns at home against the Sun Devils. Defensively, USC still gives up more on the ground than they should (4.5 ypc, 87th), but they continue to turn teams over at the highest rate in the country. Sustainable? Absolutely not. But at some point we need to just bake in USC winning the turnover battle by one to two each game when evaluating the Trojans.   

Betting Angle:

Plain and simple, USC has been lucky on defense. They have 12 interceptions, three of which went for touchdowns, in just five games. Eventually, they’re going to play a game where they need to get off the field without forcing turnovers. But this game doesn’t appear to the one to fade the Trojans. Washington State isn’t a strong rushing team and Cam Ward has been sloppy with the football for most of the season. Wazzu may hang around for three quarters, but their turnover issues and middling pass defense will be their undoing. I’ll take the Trojans under the key number of 14.

#12 Oregon-13 @ Arizona (71)

9p ET on Pac-12 Network

We close things out with some extra #Pac12AfterDark action in the desert. Let’s start with the perfect recipe for an over: explosive offenses and lackluster defenses. Oregon and Arizona are more than happy to provide both of those elements.

Oregon 

• Total Offense - 18th
• Total Defense - 96th

Arizona

• Total Offense - 10th
• Total Defense - 76th

The game within the game here will be Arizona’s offense trying to keep up with the Ducks. The good news is that the Wildcats can break off big plays and Oregon has been mediocre at stopping them. The Wildcats rank third nationally in creating plays of 20 or more yards. When it comes to stopping such plays, Oregon is 61st. 

And as I said above, for this game to exceed 71 points, both teams will need to share the scoring load. Luckily, Tucson has never been kind to Oregon, especially when they’re big favorites. In 2018, Arizona waxed the 19th-ranked Ducks 44-15. And back in 2013, 

Arizona decimated the fifth-ranked Quack Attack 42-16. Out of respect for Oregon fans, I won’t even recount the 2007 game that obliterated the Duck's chances at a national title and Dennis Dixon’s chances at a Heisman.

In short, weird things happen when Oregon travels to the desert. 

Betting Angle:

I like the over because I think Arizona can hang around and produce enough big plays to keep Oregon interested for 60 minutes. The Wildcats are also powerless to stop anyone on the ground, so Oregon could score late even if they shift into a four-minute offense. I would play this total all the up to 74.5