NFL picks, NCAAF predictions and golf best bets for Thursday, October 5

Good morning, Pickswise Nation, and welcome to another tremendous Thursday of Sports. It’s not quite as busy as expected after all 4 MLB wild-card series ended in sweeps last night, but we still have NFL Thursday Night Football, college Football and Golf on the schedule for today, so let’s get straight to making your next bet better.

About Last Night

• The brooms were out in the MLB playoffs on Wednesday as the Rangers, Twins, Diamondbacks and Phillies all advanced to the Division Series with 2-0 wild-card sweeps and the Rays, Blue Jays, Brewers and Marlins played their final games of the season.
• The Phillies and Twins are highest up the latest World Series betting at +800 odds with FanDuel Sportsbook, but still behind all 4 teams who had a first-round bye, with the Braves favorites at +260.
• Our handicappers went 3-1 with their ML/spread picks for the second straight night and cashed our only Best Bet of the Twins ML as they shut out the Blue Jays. We went 1-0 on MLB props and cashed our Blue Jays vs Twins Same Game parlay at 575 odds! Our Wednesday mega parlay also cashed at reduced +369 odds with one leg pushing.
• It was also a strong night of soccer picks as we went 7-4 on the midweek MLS slate, including 3 plus-money plays.

Today’s Slate

• We have NFL picks for tonight’s TNF game between the Bears and Commanders at 8:15 pm ET on Amazon Prime.
• There is also college football action including Western Kentucky vs Louisiana Tech at 8:00 pm ET on ESPNU. You can read all our NCAAF predictions for the Week 6 games.
• The golf schedule returns to normal this week after the Ryder Cup and there’s still time to read our golf predictions for the Sanderson Farms Championship.

Best Bet of the Day 

NCAAF: Louisiana Tech Bulldogs +6.5 over Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (-115, FanDuel)
8:00 pm ET, ESPNU

Western Kentucky runs an air-raid offense and has the highest pass rate in the nation because of it. However, the Hilltoppers are not very efficient through the air. They are outside the top 65 in pass-play PPA, success rate and explosiveness, which is a cause for concern against this Louisiana Tech defense. The Bulldogs’ defense ranks in the top 3 in opposing pass-play PPA and success rate. WKU averaged just 6.9 yards per pass at Troy and 5.2 at Ohio State, while Louisiana Tech has yet to yield more than an average of 8 yards per pass at home. Read our full Louisiana Tech vs Western Kentucky predictions

Must-read

• All our TNF content is available via our TNF NFL Betting Guide including a Bears vs Commanders Same Game Parlay, Prop Holliday’s Bears vs Commanders player prop picks and our favorite Chicago vs Washington anytime TD scorer predictions.
• Looking ahead to the weekend slate, Prop Holliday’s NFL Week 5 player props are also ready to read.
• You can also check out our NFL power rankings and NFL Futures plays
• There’s also still time to peruse the Week 6 NCAAF lines and our early best bets

Read all of our sports betting articles as they arrive throughout the morning and afternoon on the Analysis tab. 

Stat of the Day

The Bears are on a 6-Game losing streak as a road underdog.

Quote of the Day 

“It’s going to be an electric series and we can’t wait”

— Phillies star Bryce Harper is looking forward to meeting the Braves in the Division Series for the second straight year.