College Football Week 5 Staff Picks: Riding with the Huskies

Each week during the college football season, the staff at theScore will put on their prognosticator hats and offer up selections against the spread on each of the week’s top games, highlighting several marquee matchups.

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Unanimous selections: Minnesota +11.5, Texas A&M -9, Auburn -31.5, Washington +8, Cincinnati +15.5, Missouri +6, Syracuse +12

Unanimous selections are 7-20 ATS for the season. Last week: 2-7 ATS.

Marquee Matchups

1 Florida State Seminoles (-18) at North Carolina State Wolfpack

Chris Battaglia: Jameis Winston will be back under center and Florida State should return to its usual dominance. The Wolfpack’s schedule has not prepared them for the Seminoles squad they are about to face to open their conference schedule. This will not be pretty. Florida State -18

Gino Bottero: Jameis Winston may be back, but this is still a very flawed Florida State team that has yet to flex its defensive muscles. NC State has looked good through four weeks, and while they may be taking a major step up in class, they're getting quite a few points on their home field. NC State +18

Mike Dickson: The Wolfpack have won their four games this season by an average of nearly 22 points, but they've yet to see an opponent like Florida State. The Seminoles get Jameis Winston back following his suspension against Clemson and will be looking to prove themselves worthy or remaining in the top spot in AP poll. Florida State needs some impressive victories to beef up its resume for the College Football Playoff and that should start here. Florida State -18

16 Stanford Cardinal (-8) at Washington Huskies

Battaglia: Stanford’s two shutouts are deceiving because they came against Army and UC Davis. Washington has yet to play a Pac-12 game, but the Huskies offense looks confident at home, where it is averaging 48 points in three contests. Even if the Cardinal pull out the road win, it’ll be a close game. Washington +8

Bottero: Chris Petersen has done a heck of a job in his time in Seattle, guiding a Huskies squad that looked poised for a re-build to a 4-0 start. They'll take a step up in class against a good Stanford team, but they have the luxury of getting the game at home, and Petersen surely has some tricks up his sleeve for getting around a stout Stanford defense. Washington +8

Dickson: When these two teams met in Stanford last season, the Cardinal eked out a three-point win despite getting out-gained on offense by over 200 yards.Chris Petersen has the Huskies playing very well, scoring at least 44 points in each of their last three games. With this one being played in Seattle, Washington should have more than enough to keep it close and at the very least earn a cover. Washington +8

Missouri Tigers at 13 South Carolina Gamecocks (-6)

Battaglia: Missouri’s loss to Indiana last week should be enough to give anybody pause, but the Gamecocks have not impressed like their 3-1 record would imply. South Carolina is allowing 36 points per game, which is concerning against a Tigers offense led by Maty Mauk, who has already thrown 14 touchdown passes. Missouri +6

Bottero: Missouri can't be forgiven for losing to Indiana a week ago as double-digit favorites, but this is a team that the oddsmakers simply could not keep up with prior to that, as the team was obliterating lines. South Carolina's shown some flaws, even on their home turf, and they're hardly looking like the team that was expected to run away with the SEC East. Missouri +6

Dickson: The Gamecocks have had one of the most challenging schedules of any team so far this season and it's been tough to get a good read on them. After getting blown out by Texas A&M they knocked off East Carolina and Georgia, but last week's win over Vanderbilt didn't built any confidence. Missouri comes in off of a surprising loss to Indiana and will be fired up to bounce back, Expect Maty Mauk to give the South Carolina defense all kinds of problems. Missouri +6

Wild-Card Selections

Arkansas Razorbacks at 6 Texas A&M Aggies (-9)

Battaglia: Three straight wins aside, the most telling result from Arkansas season is its blowout loss to Auburn. The Aggies play a similar style of up-tempo offense, which should concern the Razorbacks. As long as Texas A&M can contain Arkansas’ backfield-by-committee strategy, this should be a comfortable victory. Texas A&M -9

Duke Blue Devils at Miami Hurricanes (-7)

Bottero: The nation's second-longest active regular season winning streak belong to Duke, and now they get a Miami squad that has been woefully inconsistent this season. Even still, the public loves the Hurricanes, so the spread in this game is completely out of whack. In a game that Duke figures to win outright, they're getting a full touchdown. Duke +7

Arkansas Razorbacks at 6 Texas A&M Aggies (-9)

Dickson: The Razorbacks have won three straight blowouts, but their only game against a ranked team this season did not go well. Arkansas played Auburn tough for 30 minutes (with Tigers quarterback Nick Marshall suspended for the first half), but got outscored 28-0 over the second half. This should be the toughest challenge the Aggies have seen yet, but it still won't be enough to slow down Kenny Hill and one of the nation's best passing attacks. Texas A&M -9

Lines courtesy Scoresandodds.com.