Each week, I will use this space to tell you what I think are a few of the best bets heading into the weekend. I will also throw in an upset of the week, which will be a team that is at least a touchdown underdog that I'm picking to win outright. I'll also give you picks on other games involving potential College Football Playoff teams. Until the list of candidates gets whittled down some more, I'll go with the AP top 12 for now.

I am 10-11 overall and 0-7 on the upset picks this season. So, there's really nowhere to go but up.

Week 8 picks

LSU at Mississippi State (+19): You can reasonably argue that LSU should be the No. 1 team in the country right now. In fact, it is hard to argue against it. The Tigers have one of the best offenses in the nation, led by Heisman Candidate Joe Burrow at quarterback. Mississippi State is still trying to settle on a quarterback, but it's going with freshman Garrett Schrader who threw for 79 yards in the second half of a loss at Tennessee on Saturday. MSU is usually a tough place to play, but you still have to have players and LSU's are much better right now. Pick: LSU (-19)

Minnesota at Rutgers (+28.5): Oh my goodness, is Rutgers bad. Historically bad. 1970's Northwestern bad. Check out Tom Fornelli's Stat of the Week for more on that, but let me just point out that the Scarlet Knights have scored just seven points in four Big Ten games. Those came against Maryland, which just gave up 33 to Purdue's mostly freshmen offense last week. I am not the biggest believer in Minnesota, but they have some fabulous wideouts and Tanner Morgan should have all day to throw to them. Pick: Minnesota (-28.5)

San Diego State at San Jose State (+7.5): San Diego State is the top defensive team in the Mountain West almost any way you want to measure it. The Aztecs play old school football, preferring to grind things out on both sides of the ball. San Jose State is one-dimensional. The Spartans are one of the worst rushing teams in the nation, and their leading rusher and backup quarterback, Nick Nash, may be out for this one. Pick: San Diego State (-7.5)

Upset of the week

Temple at SMU (-7.5): SMU was off last week and got a good look at this week's opponent. Temple knocked off Memphis at home 30-28, handing the Tigers their first loss of the season. SMU, like Memphis last week, comes in as the highest-rated team in the American Athletic Conference. The Mustangs are one of the more pleasant surprises in college football this season SMU's offense is clicking behind Texas transfer QB Shane Buechele, but they needed three overtimes to beat Tulsa last time out. I like the Temple defense in this matchup to allow the Owls to steal a big road win. Pick: Temple (+7.5)

Other CFP candidates

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