College Football Bets: Expert Picks Against Spread for Top-25 Week 7 Games

It’s tough to land on a midpoint of the 13-week college football season. Is it this week? Six weeks are in the books, plus Week 0. Or is it next week? We’ll really be in the home stretch then.

For our purposes at Athlon Sports, next week is when we’ll be rolling out our midseason awards and All-America teams. And the timing of the calendar works out well considering the stacked schedule set for Saturday. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but we’re going to learn a lot about these teams this weekend.

The headliner is in the Big Ten, where there is a conference championship game rematch between No. 4 Ohio State and No. 5 Indiana. The Hoosiers won the last meeting in Indianapolis in December en route to their undefeated season, but they’ve looked vulnerable in recent weeks. The Buckeyes, on the other hand, look like the team to beat in the Big Ten.

A rare meeting between No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 8 BYU also has a strong case for the marquee matchup. It drew the attention of ESPN’s “College GameDay,” which is headed to Provo, Utah, for the first time since 2009 for the first-ever top-10 matchup at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

It’s also a busy week down in the SEC. No. 13 Missouri is headed to play No. 9 Ole Miss. It’s Austin Simmons’ return to Oxford, Mississippi, and a big game for the Tigers and Rebels, two teams that already have a loss and have designs on making the College Football Playoff.

No. 16 Mississippi State is set to play No. 22 LSU. The Tigers are coming off a shocking overtime loss to Kentucky and cannot afford to drop another game — they’ve already lost twice in coach Lane Kiffin’s debut. Luckily for LSU, Bulldogs star quarterback Kamario Taylor might miss Saturday’s game.

And in case you haven’t checked the calendar, the Third Saturday in October came early this year. Yep, No. 6 Alabama, fresh off a loss to newly top-ranked Georgia, is returning to Neyland Stadium to take on No. 14 Tennessee. The Crimson Tide have lost their last two games on the road against the Volunteers.

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The final ranked matchup to monitor is in the Big 12, and it could be instrumental in deciding the conference’s hierarchy. No. 18 Oklahoma State, winners of four in a row, hits the road to face No. 20 Houston.

Also worth keeping an eye on this week is the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry between Auburn and No. 1 Georgia. No. 25 Northwestern, ranked for the first time in years, is taking on Michigan State, led by former Wildcats coach Pat Fitzgerald. No. 12 UCLA hosts Wisconsin in backup quarterback Ty Dieffenbach’s first start for the Bruins. And No. 15 Kentucky, coming off back-to-back overtime wins, is an underdog on the road to an unranked Oklahoma team that just took down Texas.

Like I said, the schedule is stacked. Make sure you have your quadbox viewing plans prepared. And as always, Athlon Sports has picks for every top-25 game against the spread. My colleagues Steven Lassan, Tyler Schuster and I are all still .500 or better so far this season. Here are our picks:

College Football Picks Against the Spread for Week 7 Top-25 Games

Week 7 College Football Best Bets

Steven Lassan: Auburn vs. No. 1 Georgia — Georgia -20.5
A nearly three-touchdown spread is a tough cover, but I like Georgia’s chances to do so against Auburn. Sure, the Bulldogs are coming off a massive win over Alabama, so there could be a small letdown. However, the Tigers have lost nine in a row and 12 out of the last 13 in the series. Auburn has also not scored more than 13 points in Athens since 2009. Georgia’s edge in the trenches should allow coach Kirby Smart’s team to run it effectively and also keep the Tigers’ struggling passing offense in third-and-long situations. Outside of last week’s win at Alabama, Georgia has won every game by at least 24 points this year. Unless Auburn can hold up more effectively in the trenches and show marked improvement on both sides of the ball coming off an open date, the Bulldogs will cruise to another easy win in this series.

Kyle Wood: Florida State vs. No. 3 Miami — Miami -21
The Seminoles’ struggles on the road are baffling at this point. FSU has not won a game outside of Tallahassee since 2023. Last week’s 44-20 loss at Louisville, a game the ‘Noles led 14-0, was their 13th consecutive defeat at a road or neutral site. And the crowd in South Florida will not be friendly. The Hurricanes’ average margin of victory in ACC games this season is 26.6 points — and all of those games have been on the road. Miami might make a mockery of its in-state rival, which conveniently has a bye week after this game with head coach Mike Norvell on the hot seat.

Tyler Schuster: No. 6 Alabama vs. No. 14 Tennessee — Alabama -8.5
Despite the close loss to Georgia, this is the first time in the Kalen DeBoer era where it feels like Alabama is back. The offense had a solid game against the Bulldogs last week, and despite Keelon Russell’s accuracy struggles in that game, he’s been excellent on the whole of the season. I suspect he has a good bounce back game against the Vols. I have a lot of questions about Tennessee’s offense right now, and I have a hard time envisioning the Vols scoring enough points to keep up with Alabama.

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This story was originally published by Athlon on Oct 15, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add Athlon as a Preferred Source by clicking here.