With each passing week, the stakes continue to grow as the push towards the College Football Playoff heats up.

Saturday’s schedule is loaded with marquee battles.

None of them is bigger than No. 2 Ohio State’s clash with No. 13 Penn State in what will be their toughest test of the season so far.

FanDuel made the Buckeyes a 15.5-point favourite for this game, but Beaver Stadium has never been an easy place to play, and it will be interesting to see if the Nittany Lions can give Ohio State a worthy challenge. 

Meanwhile, in the SEC, the third-ranked Tennessee Volunteers will host a tough opponent in the 19th-ranked Kentucky Wildcats.

The Volunteers are a 12.5-point favourite at FanDuel, but they will need to be careful not to fall victim in a potentially difficult lookahead spot with the top-ranked Georgia Bulldogs on the schedule for next weekend.

Over in the Big 12, the No. 9 Oklahoma State Cowboys travel to Manhattan, Kansas, to take on the No. 22 Kansas State Wildcats.

A Kansas State win would be huge for the Wildcats with a spot in the Big 12 Championship still wide open.

Coming off a big win over Texas, the Cowboys are small underdogs for that showdown, which is reflective of how Kansas State has performed at home this season.

While all of those games feature marquee matchups, they might not necessarily be the best games to bet on. 

Instead, I’ll focus my efforts on a couple of other spots where I feel like I might be able to gain a bit of an edge.

Here are my best bets for this week’s games.

Boston College Eagles at UCONN Huskies
Spread: Boston College -7.5
Total: 44.5

Boston College went into this season considered to be a dark horse in the ACC Atlantic division by some, but they have been an absolute letdown.

They are 1-4 in conference play.

Despite having some premier offensive talents in Phil Jurkovec and Zay Flowers, they are averaging only 19.3 points per game.

However, none of these letdown performances were against teams at the level of UCONN.

While the Huskies have improved dramatically in the first year under new head coach Jim Mora, their wins have come against weaker competition and a Fresno State team that was without its star quarterback. 

UCONN has been blown out in its games against Power 5 opponents this season, and while BC is no world beater, they do the offensive talent to move the ball against an inferior opponent.

These stadiums are less than a two-hour drive apart and share recruiting territory, so I think this game matters for BC from a recruiting perspective.

BC Coach Jeff Hafley does not want to go on recruiting visits with a loss to UCONN on his resume.

I think BC capitalizes on it last chance to beat up on inferior competition this season.

The Pick: Boston College -7.5

Arkansas Razorbacks at Auburn Tigers
Spread: Arkansas -3.5
Total: 62

These are another two teams that have disappointed this season.

They are a combined 2-6 in conference play.

Both programs have really struggle defensively.

The difference between these teams is that Arkansas can actually put up some points.

The Razorbacks have averaged 32.7 points per game. 

Auburn has averaged just 22.3 points per game and has struggled to move the ball through the air regardless of who has started at quarterback for them.

Arkansas has struggled defending the pass, but that was against the likes of Bryce Young and Will Rogers, not Robby Ashford.

Auburn’s one win over its last five games came against Missouri in a game in which Mizzou turned the ball over multiple times. 

I like Arkansas to get it done as short road favourites as a disaster of a season continues for Auburn.

The Pick: Arkansas -3.5

No. 10 Wake Forest Demon Deacons at Louisville Cardinals
Spread: Wake Forest -3.5
Total: 64

Wake Forest is 6-1 and the 10th ranked team in the country, with its one loss coming against Clemson in overtime.

Louisville has been an up and down team all season, and it’s difficult to tell which version will show up each week. 

Wake is coming off a blowout win over a Boston College team that put up 34 points in an upset win over Louisville a few weeks back.

The Eagles registered 454 total yards of offence against Louisville, which is nearly 150 yards above their season average. 

Wake is just a much better team and the “slow mesh” offence they run has almost been perfected by QB Sam Hartman.

I like Wake Forest to roll here.

The Pick: Wake Forest -3.5