Weekend Football Betting: AFC North Clash on Tap

We have reached the halfway point of the NFL betting slate and this Sunday night will be the second part of one of the best rivalries in the league. The Baltimore Ravens drew first blood in their season series against the Steelers as slight home favorites, and this time around in Pittsburgh they will go for the series sweep and the outright lead in the AFC North.

Baltimore cruised to a 26-6 victory in Week 2 as a 2.5-point favorite with the total staying UNDER the closing 44.5-point line. The NFL betting odds for Week 9’s matchup against Pittsburgh on the 5Dimes board has this game listed as a pick'em with the total set at 48. The Steelers have won 11 of the last 15 games against the Ravens straight-up on their home field.

The biggest showdown on this Sunday’s slate is a rematch of last season’s AFC title game between Denver and New England. The Broncos won that game 26-16 as 4.5-point home favorites and this time they will go on the road as 3-point favorites. The betting odds for the total in this game are set at 54.5. The home team in this conference clash has won nine of the last 10 meetings SU, and head-to-head between their storied quarterbacks the Patriots’ Tom Brady is 10-5 SU in his last 15 games against Denver’s Peyton Manning.

The first ever College Football Playoff Rankings were released earlier this week, but they could change radically next week based on the results of this Saturday’s games. Two Big 12 foes looking to make a move up the list will face off against one another when the No. 7 TCU Horned Frogs go on the road to face the surging No. 20 West Virginia Mountaineers. TCU has been listed as a 5.5-point favorite and the 5Dimes total line has been set at 73.5. The Horned Frogs have covered in their last three road games with the total going OVER each time.

In a couple of big showdowns in the Pac-12, No.12 Arizona will take on No. 22 UCLA as a 7-point road underdog, while the No. 17 Utah Utes will go on the road to square off against the No. 14 Arizona State as 6-point underdogs. The total in that game has been set at 58, and the betting odds for the total in the Wildcats versus Bruins game have been set at 70.5.