College Football Week 14 Staff Picks: Arkansas ready to play spoiler

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

Unanimous selections: Arkansas -2, Arizona State +4, Minnesota +14.

Unanimous selections are 26-45-1 ATS for the season. Last week: 2-0 ATS.

Marquee Matchups

4 Mississippi State Bulldogs (-2.5) at 19 Ole Miss Rebels

Gino Bottero: Mississippi State has been guilty of playing up or down to its opponents this season. The games won't get any bigger than the Egg Bowl. With one loss already under their belts, the Bulldogs' playoff hopes will effectively be on the line in Oxford, and the home side would love nothing more than to deliver the final blow to their instate rivals. The Rebels find a way to get it done. Ole Miss +2.5

George Halim: After a tumultuous fall in the rankings as of late, the Rebels have a chance to redeem themselves. As it stands, Ole Miss has already affected Mississippi State's poll placement - when it defeated Alabama. So given the Bulldogs loss to the Crimson Tide, it didn't help their strength of schedule argument. MSU has won four of the last five meetings with Ole Miss and despite the game being played in Oxford, Mississippi State is playing great football, while the Rebels are coming off a shutout loss to Arkansas. Mississippi State -2.5

Sean Tepper: There's no doubting that Ole Miss's three losses have removed some of the luster that this matchup had in mid-October, but there is still a lot at stake in this year's Egg Bowl. Since beating LSU, Texas A&M and Auburn in consecutive weeks, Mississippi State has lost to the only Top 25 team that it's played. With that being said, the Bulldogs only lost to Alabama by five points and a loss would put their playoff hopes in jeopardy. Plus, can you really see Bo Wallace and the Rebels' offense score more than 14 points against the nation's best defense considering that they are coming off a shutout loss to Arkansas? Take the Bulldogs with confidence. Mississippi State -2.5

Florida Gators at 3 Florida State Seminoles (-7)

Bottero: As disappointing as Florida has been this season, the Gators are better than most of what Florida State has seen in the ACC. The Seminoles even took some of the shine off of their home field advantage in Tallahassee with a late three-point win over Boston College last weekend. Expect the Gators to put forth an A-effort in Will Muschamp's final game with the program. Florida +7

Halim: If there's one thing going for the Gators, it's defense. Ranked 23rd in the nation in points against, Florida will try to end Florida State's perfect season. But the odds are against them as the game is in Tallahassee and Jameis Winston is across the field. But despite throwing for 3,125 yards and 19 touchdowns this season, Winston has also thrown 13 picks, which is bound to catch to him at some point. Just not here. Florida State -7

Tepper: Florida is not a good team, but ever since Will Muschamp and co. pulled off an unlikely upset against Georgia they've been competitive. Couple that with the fact that the Seminoles are notorious for winning games in the fourth quarter and you have all the makings of a close game. Will the Gators pull off an upset? Absolutely not. But I am confident that against the 'Noles' exploitable defense they will go down swinging in their head coach's final game. Florida +7

15 Auburn Tigers at 1 Alabama Crimson Tide (-9.5)

Bottero: Alabama head coach Nick Saban will have his boys ready for this game. With an inferior opponent due up in the SEC title game, this game would effectively punch the Tide's ticket through to the inaugural College Football Playoff. After last year's disappointing finish to the Iron Bowl in Auburn, Alabama likely wins this one, but the Tigers are no pushover. Auburn +9.5

Halim: Last year's kick-6 isn't going to be used as motivation in Alabama's locker room, because, frankly, it was pretty lucky. The Crimson Tide were slightly better than Auburn last year, but they're much better than the Tigers this time around.  Auburn has lost three SEC games, good for a 3-3 record in its last six games. Bama on the other hand has been a different animal altogether. After dropping an Oct. 4 matchup at the hands of Ole Miss, they've rolled through the opposition. But the X-factor in this one? Whether D'haquille Williams will play, because T.J. Yeldon is already pencilled in. Alabama -9.5

Tepper: The Iron Bowl always proves to be of the best sporting events of the year and this year's iteration should be no different. Since 2010, the two teams are 2-2 against one another and to be honest, there is no way to predict how this one is going to go. What we do know is that Auburn is entering this game having lost two of its last three games to SEC West opponents while the Crimson Tide are riding a six-game win streak. With that being said, we expect a similar game to last year's performance with the winner only being decided by a touchdown or less. Auburn +9.5

Wild-Card Selections

Arkansas Razorbacks (-2) at 17 Missouri Tigers

Bottero: It looked like Missouri won the lottery when they drew Arkansas out of the SEC West to close out the season at home, but the Razorbacks have found another gear of late. Arkansas is looking to close out the season strong in typical Bret Bielema fashion, and the Razorbacks can make a statement to the rest of the SEC here by spoiling Missouri's chances of making the conference title game. Arkansas -2

10 Michigan State Spartans (-13) at Penn State Nittany Lions

Halim: The Nittany Lions are pretty bad on offense and Michigan State is very good. But this game will be a testament to either the Spartans' sixth-ranked scoring, or Penn State's fourth-ranked defense. Beyond owning a marginal 6-5 record, Penn State has given up roughly 16 points per game. Considering it's a home game for the Nittany Lions, don't be surprised if your upset of the night happens at State College. Penn State +13

Stanford Cardinal at 8 UCLA Bruins (-5)

Tepper: UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley has looked really good over the Bruins' five-game winning streak, but he may have a tough time scoring points against the Cardinal's stout defense. With that being said, the Cardinal have won every game where they have scored 20 or more points and the Bruins have only held opposing offenses to under 27 points four times this season. If only Stanford had a competent offense to go along with that elite defense they would likely be a Top 15 team. Unfortunately they don't, but they can still pull off the upset even without the services of receiver Ty Montgomery. Stanford +5

More College Football Betting Resources

Week 14 Betting Preview (Thursday)
Game Day Betting Update (Saturday)

Lines courtesy Scoresandodds.com, Covers.com.