Good morning and welcome back to our Weekly Pick ‘Em series, where I give my input on five college football spreads for the weekend. The upcoming slate is surprisingly lax given it features the rare occurrence of No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup, but there is still a vast array of interesting games to look forward to. 

With that being said, let’s get into it. 

Henry’s Last Week: 3-2 

Ohio State vs. Penn State (+15.5) W 

Henry’s Season: 27-23 (.54) 

I got lucky with the bigger spreads I elected to pick, with Penn State scoring a garbage time touchdown after imploding in the fourth quarter against Ohio State and Michigan State just barely keeping the Wolverines from covering. 

Other than that, Kansas State once again displayed it has the potential to be the best team in the Big 12. Unfortunately, that probably means it will go back to underperforming this weekend but hey, it was still fun to watch. Finally, a Big 12 defense made Spencer Sanders look like Spencer Sanders again. 

Now, let’s see what we have going for us this weekend. 

Texas Tech vs. TCU, 11 a.m. CT, FOX 

The Pick: Texas Tech +8 

Is TCU a playoff team? One of college football’s greatest mysteries of the season could be answered this weekend, or the Horned Frogs will find a way to confuse us further. Who knows? 

Anyways, despite being 8-0, TCU is still a hard team to gauge, as it has had its struggles through the last four games, finding a way to almost lose all of them. With that being said, its comeback ability and second half dominance are certainly impressive and should play a role here. 

The Red Raiders have been similarly confusing, though not nearly as successful as their counterparts. After beating Texas and suffering back-to-back close, ranked losses, this team blew out West Virginia before getting blown out by Baylor, a team that recently lost to West Virginia. 

Though that Baylor loss occurred most recently, they’ll find a way to make this one close, whether it’s through their own effort or the fault of TCU.  

Score: TCU 45-39 Texas Tech 

Tennessee vs. Georgia, 2:30 p.m. CT, CBS 

The Pick: Tennessee +9 

I’m all for bad Tennessee takes, but a nine-point spread here seems like a little much. I’m of the mentality (now) that the Volunteer offense can keep up with anybody, no matter what defense it is going up against. 

Georgia’s recent resume on the year includes close wins over Missouri and Kent State and blowouts of Auburn, Vanderbilt and Florida. I don’t believe any of that is indicative of what it’ll ultimately bring to the table this afternoon, but it also doesn’t indicate it’ll beat the Volunteers by two or more scores. 

Meanwhile, Tennessee beat Alabama before blowing out Kentucky two weeks later. It’s been on a tear since its win in Tiger Stadium in early October, and I doubt it gets slowed down too much here. 

With that being said, the Bulldogs still pull this one off, but I expect it to be close.  

Score: Georgia 41-38 Tennessee 

Liberty vs. Arkansas, 3 p.m. CT, SEC Network 

The Pick: Liberty +14.5 

Despite losing its star quarterback in Malik Willis after last season, Liberty hasn’t lost its step. In fact, I believe this could be the best team Hugh Freeze has produced since he was fired by Ole Miss.  

In terms of these two opponents, the Flames have the more balanced team, possessing a defense that’s capable of shutting down both the run and the pass while putting up solid numbers offensively. Even without their top-two quarterbacks, Johnathan Bennett has proven to himself to be more than capable of filling the role. He just needs to limit turnovers.  

Heading into its bye, Liberty put on its most dominant performance of the season against BYU, scoring 38 unanswered points to ultimately win the game by 27. Meanwhile, Arkansas beat the same team by just 17 points whilst surrendering 35 to a mediocre Cougar offense. 

The Arkansas offense is still dangerous, with its rushing attack being one of the best in the SEC headlined by running back Raheim Sanders and quarterback KJ Jefferson. It’s bound to put up points and it probably wins here, but I suspect it’ll be closer than expected. 

Score: Arkansas 38-34 Liberty 

James Madison vs. Louisville, 6:30 p.m. CT, ESPNU 

The Pick: Louisville –7 

I definitely liked this one more when I initially picked it. Unfortunately, it seems fairly obvious. 

I know Louisville had a roller coaster start to the season, with its win of UCF being dwarfed by its losses to Syracuse and Florida State, but it seems to have gotten things together as of late. After losing Boston College to start October, the team managed to straight conference wins before pulling off its most impressive win of the season over No. 10 Wake Forest.  

The Cardinals forced a mind-boggling eight turnovers and while I don’t expect that trend to continue, it could play a role here. James Madison notably turned the ball over five times in its most recent loss to Marshall, and that certainly isn’t a one-time occurrence.  

Not saying the Dukes don’t stand a chance here, but their recent losses to Georgia Southern and Marshall kind of do. I don’t expect this to be the first time they defeat a Power Five team as a member of the FBS, but it should come sometime in the near future. 

Score: Louisville 31-20 James Madison 

Cal vs. USC, 9:30 p.m. CT, ESPN 

The Pick: Cal +21.5 

Despite all the hype, USC has proven to be no more than a glorified Oklahoma in Cardinal & Gold, and not the Big 12 winning kind. It hasn’t beaten a single conference opponent by more than 17, and that was against a team featuring an interim head coach in his second game. It’s coming off an eight-point win over 3-5 Arizona as well, a team that Cal managed to beat by 18. 

I know Cal isn’t a great football team, with its loss to Colorado being the ultimate proof of that, but it did hold its own against Washington and managed to make things looks interesting against Oregon for a quarter or two. 

Its defense isn’t as proficient as in recent years, but its offense possesses some strong pieces in quarterback Jack Plummer, freshman running back Jaydn Ott and wide receivers Jeremiah Hunter and J. Michael Sturdivant (also a freshman). It also does a great job of taking care of the ball while creating turnovers of its own. Maybe this is the defense to finally force the USC offense into making some mistakes? 

Where is the indication that the Bears get blown out here?  

Score: USC 44-30 Cal