College football odds, picks, predictions for Week 8, 2020: Proven model backing Alabama, Penn State

Ben Queen / USA TODAY Sports

The eight-game Big Ten schedule means a smaller margin of error for teams in that conference during the 2020 college football season. The Week 8 college football odds from William Hill list No. 5 Ohio State as a 26-point favorite against Nebraska, while No. 18 Michigan is laying 3.5 points on the road against No. 21 Minnesota in two of the more intriguing matchups in the opening weekend of Big Ten action. A loss for any of those contenders would be a huge setback for their postseason outlook.

Should you target either of those lines during the Week 8 college football schedule? And which other games around the nation should you jump on in your Week 8 college football bets? Before making any Week 8 college football picks on those games or others, be sure to see the latest college football predictions from SportsLine's proven model.

The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every FBS college football game 10,000 times. Over the past four-plus years, the proprietary computer model has generated a stunning profit of over $4,100 for $100 players on its top-rated college football picks against the spread. It is a sizzling 25-13 on top-rated picks through seven weeks of the 2020 college football season, returning over $700 in profit already. Anybody who has followed it is way up.

Now, it has turned its attention to the latest college football odds for Week 8 from William Hill and locked in picks for every FBS matchup. Head to SportsLine to see every pick.

Top Week 8 college football predictions

One of the top Week 8 college football picks the model is recommending: No. 2 Alabama (-21.5 at William Hill) covers on the road against Tennessee in the 3:30 p.m. ET SEC on CBS matchup. Alabama is coming off an impressive 41-24 victory over then-No. 3 Georgia in Week 7.

Quarterback Mac Jones and running back Najee Harris are building Heisman campaigns, while receivers Devonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle will also be a lot to handle for a Tennessee team that stumbles into this matchup after getting blown out 34-7 by Kentucky.

The Vols have huge concerns at quarterback. Jarrett Guarantano hasn't been able to protect the ball this year and Tennessee very well could end up playing multiple guys on Saturday. The simulations show Jones throwing for almost 300 yards, with Harris adding around 100 on the ground as Alabama covers well over 60 percent of the time.

Another one of the top Week 8 college football predictions from the model: No. 8 Penn State covers on the road at Memorial Stadium as the Nittany Lions take on Indiana (+6) at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Penn State put up big numbers on offense last season, scoring an average of 35.8 points per game. The Nittany Lions will be without running back Journey Brown, who is out with an undisclosed medical issue, but they have a strong replacement in Noah Cain, who scored two touchdowns in Penn State's Cotton Bowl win over Memphis to wrap up last season.

Quarterback Sean Clifford also returns after throwing for 2,654 yards and 23 touchdowns last season. The model is calling for Clifford to throw for well over 200 yards, while Cain has a great chance to score a touchdown as Penn State covers in well over 60 percent of simulations. The under (62) also has plenty of value since that hits almost 70 percent of the time.

How to make Week 8 college football picks

The model has also made the call on who wins and covers in Week 8, and it is also predicting a major upset in the SEC. You can only get every pick for every game at SportsLine.

So what college football picks can you make with confidence in Week 8? And which SEC underdog will pull off a shocking upset? Check out the latest Week 8 college football odds below for some of the week's biggest games, and then visit SportsLine to see which teams win and cover the spread, all from a proven computer model that has returned over $4,100 in profit over the past four-plus seasons, and find out.