Xfinity 500

Timing is everything and Kyle Larson is proving that old adage. With two races left in the Cup Series Chase, Larson has opened up a 73-point lead over Denny Hamlin. Larson hadn’t won a race during the season, but has three wins in eight Chase races, including last week at Talladega. Can he put a stamp on the season with a win in the Xfinity 500?

As mentioned lately, there has been a lot of driving for the team haulers, but this week’s trip from Talladega to Martinsville isn’t all that bad. The season concludes next weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

How to Watch The Xfinity 500

When: Sunday, November 1, 2026

Where: Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, VA

Time: 2:00 p.m. ET

Channel: NBC

2026 NASCAR Cup Series Chase Schedule

- Cook Out Southern 500 (Darlington) – September 6

- Enjoy Illinois 300 (World Wide Technology Raceway) – September 13

- Bass Pro Shops Night Race (Bristol) – September 19

- Hollywood Casino 400 (Kansas) – September 27

- South Point 400 (Las Vegas) – October 4

- Bank of America 400 (Charlotte) – October 11

- Freeway Insurance 500 (Phoenix) – October 18

- Yellawood 500 (Talladega) – October 25

- Xfinity 500 (Martinsville) – November 1

- Straight Talk Wireless 400 (Homestead-Miami) – November 8

2026 NASCAR Cup Series Chase Standings

All 16 drivers who qualified for the Cup Series Chase will be in the running to win the championship for the duration of the postseason. The point totals were reset based on a new format, ranging from 2,100 to 2,000 to start the Chase.

- Kyle Larson – 2441

- Denny Hamlin – 2368

- Christopher Bell – 2367

- Chase Briscoe – 2362

- Joey Logano – 2341

- Ryan Blaney – 2334

- Tyler Reddick – 2315

- Austin Cindric – 2258

- Ty Gibbs – 2258

- Carson Hocevar – 2243

- William Byron – 2227

- Chase Elliott – 2223

- Bubba Wallace – 2223

- Daniel Suarez – 2201

- Ryan Preece – 2192

- Chris Buescher – 2186

Through eight playoff races, the winners are Bell, Larson (3), Logano, Briscoe (2), and Reddick. Larson was one of the few playoff drivers to avoid danger at Talladega. Byron finished second in what was his best showing of the Chase. Byron was sixth and Hamlin was eighth. Nobody else finished in the top 12 and many of the top drivers finished in the 30s.

This is the first short-track race in a while, as Martinsville’s 0.526-mile “Paperclip” oval is the shortest track of the Chase, coming in just slightly below Bristol. Logano won at Bristol, while Larson was second and Hocevar was third.

The race winners from the regular season were Reddick (5), Hamlin (4), Blaney (3), Chase Elliott (2), Shane van Gisbergen (2), Corey Heim (2), Gibbs (2), Logano (2), Suarez, Carson Hocevar, Briscoe, and Preece.

Xfinity 500 Winners

We’ll have very tight racing here at Martinsville, but we shouldn’t see cautions or crashes like we’ve seen in some other events. Blaney has the best average finish over his last 10 starts here at 5.1, followed by Logano at 6.0, and Larson at 6.6. Elliott and Byron have also averaged a finish better than 10th over that span.

Elliott won back in the spring here, with Hamlin, Byron, Larson, and Byron again over the last five spring races. Byron won last year’s Chase race. Blaney has two wins over the last five, with Bell and Alex Bowman also on the winners list.

Xfinity 500 Predictions

For the latest odds and VSiN’s NASCAR Best Bets, head to our NASCAR Hub to see Steve Makinen’s simulation results and more stats on the drivers.

While Week 9 only brings us two games with top-25 opponents going head-to-head, a lot of ranked teams do have to go on the road. It could be a rather interesting weekend in a number of ways, especially with the first College Football Playoff rankings coming out on November 2. Given all the two-loss teams that we already have, and the fact that the SEC is pretty clearly the best conference in college football again, our first look at those is sure to lead to a lot of discussion.

Before we get there, though, we have this round of games. We saw some pretty telling line moves on Sunday as numbers opened and towards Sunday night as the market settled in. There are also some fascinating lines and some historical outliers worth noting.

Keep an eye out for more line movements by tracking our VSiN College Football Betting Splits.

Week 9 College Football Odds Report

Lines as of Sunday, October 25 at 5:00 p.m. ET

Sam Houston at Missouri State (-6, 50)

Tuesday, 8 p.m. ET (ESPN2)

Our run of 61 straight days with a football game continues thanks to Conference USA, as we have two games from that league on Tuesday night. The one that got more attention on Sunday was the nightcap, as Under money hit the board pretty hard for Sam Houston and Missouri State. Circa opened 51 on this total and had moved down to 50, while other shops were already at 49.5. The spread was holding pretty tight at 6 or 6.5, a pretty big number for a Missouri State team that has one FBS win by three points this season.

Jacksonville State (-3, 49.5) at New Mexico State

Wednesday, 8 p.m. ET (ESPN2)

The level of play in this conference isn’t great by any means, but this is a big game in C-USA, as Jacksonville State enters with a 3-0 conference record and New Mexico State is 2-1. I’m not sure how this happened, but Jacksonville State does not play Liberty during the regular season. Those are the only undefeated teams right now in league play. So, we may not get a rematch in the C-USA title game. This is a huge game for the Gamecocks, though, as they’ve won the last two games by four combined points and have to take the long trek to Las Cruces. I wonder if we see some Aggies money hit the board as the week goes along.

Florida Atlantic at North Texas (-13, 73)

Thursday, 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)

ESPN has this American Conference tilt, which has a total in the 70s. We only have two other games that have had a total in the 70s and both of them were FBS vs. FCS games in Week 3. Oklahoma State and Murray State had a 70.5 and Portland State and Oregon had a 71.5. So, we’re tracking towards this being the highest total of the season. Totals in the 70s had a run of being pretty frequent for a while, especially in the Big 12. That’s not the case anymore, though, so let’s enjoy this one while we can.

Baylor at UCF (-2.5, 48)

Friday, 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)

Situational spot bettors are salivating about this game. UCF just beat No. 2 BYU in overtime for arguably the biggest win in program history. Baylor just fired head coach Dave Aranda, so we’ll see if they get that fired-coach bump. Defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman is the interim for the Bears. It is tough for UCF to know what to expect here and how things could change with some new voices, so this is quite an intriguing Friday night affair. We didn’t really see much in the way of line movement on Sunday, but with those spots and factors that I mentioned, somebody will have a noteworthy position at some point.

Kent State (-11.5, 46.5) at Sacramento State

Friday, 10:30 p.m. ET (ESPN2)

If you know anything about me, you knew this game was coming. The Hornets are probably the lowest power-rated FBS team of all-time. That’s about the only explanation for Kent State being a double-digit road favorite. The Golden Flashes are a road favorite for the first time since Week 11 of the 2022 season. They are a double-digit road favorite for the first time since Week 12 of the 2021 season when they shut out Akron 38-0. And think about the circumstances here. Right after playing rival Akron to win the Wagon Wheel, the Flashes have to fly all the way across the country. And they’re still laying doubles. AND the line even grew from -11 to -11.5 at some places.

Cal at NC State (-7.5, 57)

Saturday, Noon ET (ACC Network)

A weird game to line here. NC State fired Dave Doeren on Sunday. Doeren has been the head coach of the Wolfpack since 2013. So, who knows how NC State will come out for this one, as a change was probably necessary, but he’s been there for a very long time. There are actually whispers that Philip Rivers is on the shortlist for head coach, as his son, Gunner, is committed in the 2027 class. The Wolfpack have tabbed running backs coach Todd Goebbel as the interim. So, while there’s some tumult in the NC State locker room, Cal has to come three time zones east for an early kick in Raleigh. The Golden Bears did win at Syracuse earlier this season, but just lost by 39 to SMU in Dallas.

Wisconsin at Iowa (-3.5, 36.5)

Saturday, Noon ET (FOX)

If you need a nap on Saturday, tune into Big Noon Kickoff, where past-his-prime Gus Johnson will be on the call for Wisconsin vs. Iowa. As I mentioned above with FAU and UNT, we have our highest total of the season this week. In this game, we have our lowest total of the season. Previously, 39.5 was the lowest that we had gone. It should be noted that we’ve had three games at 39.5 this season. All three went Under the total. We’ll see if this one follows suit.

Coastal Carolina at Georgia State (-6, 60)

Saturday, 2 p.m. ET (ESPN+)

We got some mixed signals on this line on Sunday night. Georgia State QB Cameran Brown left this past week’s game hurt. So, I wasn’t surprised to see Circa move from 7 to 6 with some early, speculative Chanticleers money. On the other hand, this total has risen from 58 to 60. To recap, we saw a pretty typical move on the spread when a QB’s status is in doubt, but we saw an atypical move on the total, as backup QB Ayden Pereira was 12-of-19 for 163 yards with two touchdowns and two picks. Finding injury info in the G6 conferences can be tough. Perhaps this line will tell us what we need to know.

Kansas State (-2.5, 48) at Colorado

Saturday, 2 p.m. ET (TNT)

Speaking of QB uncertainty, the Wildcats looked awful without Avery Johnson last week. That hasn’t stopped early bettors from backing Kansas State here. Colorado has looked pretty bad all season long and maybe there are some questions as to whether or not Deion Sanders still has the locker room. Circa opened this game 1 and 47.5 and we saw a really modest move on the total, with some shops up to 48.5, but the movement on the Kansas State side, including BetMGM out to 3 by Sunday evening, certainly caught me off-guard.

Florida vs. Georgia (-10.5, 56)

Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET (ABC)

For the first time since 1995, this game is not in Jacksonville. It is still a neutral-site game in Atlanta. The Bulldogs have won five in a row in this rivalry, but are just 2-3 ATS in that span. They’ve been favored by 6.5, 13.5, 14, 23, and 14 and are double-digit favorites here as well. In fact, Florida’s last win in the “Cocktail Party” that wasn’t during the weird 2020 COVID season was back in 2016. It’s a big game for Jon Sumrall’s crew. Let’s see which way the number goes.

Minnesota at Indiana (-19, 42.5)

Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET (CBS)

Are bettors enamored with PJ Fleck and the Golden Gophers or is this just a numbers play? Minnesota upset Iowa in a rock fight of a game last week and the Gophers have been the preferred side early. It doesn’t take a ton of interest to move a number this big, as Minnesota went from Circa’s +20 opener down to +19. Is that just a play based on the fact that the total in this game is just 42.5? Does it have to do with how bad a clearly-injured Josh Hoover played against Michigan? Whatever the case, I’ll be honest, I don’t think this number is done going down.

South Carolina at Oklahoma (-5.5, 44.5)

Saturday, 4:15 p.m. ET (SEC Network)

Last week’s head-scratcher line was the Gamecocks -2.5 against Tennessee. South Carolina won on a walk-off field goal to cover that number. This week, we don’t see that same level of confidence in the Cocks, as Oklahoma opened -4 at Circa and got bumped up to 5.5. As I’ve said many times before, moving between 4 and 6 in college football where extra points are a 99% proposition doesn’t take much. It used to take very little in the NFL until the PAT was moved back and had a higher degree of difficulty. Will we touch 6 here? I don’t think so, but the Sooners still have a legit defense, even if the offense leaves a lot to be desired.

Clemson at Florida State (-6, 49.5)

Saturday, 7 p.m. ET (ACC Network)

Man, how the mighty have fallen. This game can’t even get on ESPN. That’s wild. What’s also wild is this number. For starters, Florida State is favored, which hasn’t happened since 2023. The bigger note is that this is the biggest favorite role for Florida State against Clemson since Week 4 of the 2014 season. The Seminoles were -11.5 in that game in Tallahassee and only won by six. Last season, Clemson was only +1.5. The Tigers were +16.5 two seasons ago. The dynamics have really changed for these two teams.

Ohio State (-7, 51) at USC

Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET (NBC)

This is such a hard game to bet. We know that Lincoln Riley can’t really win going east, but the Buckeyes are heading west for this one. And they’ll do so without QB Julian Sayin, who seems to be out for the season if you read the tea leaves. The Buckeyes are coming in off of an incredibly well-timed bye, so they’ve at least had a chance to get Luke Fahey and Tavien St. Clair some reps with the 1s. Thus far, we haven’t seen any strong positions taken one way or the other on this number, which hardly surprises me. This line will need a little bit of time to marinate.

Northern Illinois at UNLV (-24.5, 54)

Saturday, 10:30 p.m.

Week 9 College Football Power Ratings

With the final weekend in October upon us, we’re at the “what you see is what you get” phase of the college football season in my opinion. More than enough time has passed for these teams to come together with a bunch of new faces. If a team is consistently inconsistent, that’s what they are. If a team is underachieving, that’s what they are. If a team is overachieving, that’s what they are.

Of course, there are some variables to keep in mind. Injuries, strength of schedule, and coaching changes – an important thing to bring up this week because NC State fired Dave Doeren and Baylor fired Dave Aranda. Sunday was a rough day to be a Dave. Those variables should be part of the handicap, but I don’t think we should be guessing any longer about the identity of these teams or what we can expect. Things might not always work out from a point spread standpoint, but the sample sizes are large enough to trust the numbers and the eye test isn’t going to lie or be all that misleading from here on out.

The schedule will still play a role with travel spots and letdowns and all of that. Some will be priced into the market. Some won’t be or maybe won’t be factored in enough. There will be some rest advantages thanks to bye weeks. It’s up to you to determine how much those things matter. Did BYU lose to UCF because of the long travel off of the biggest home game in program history? Or did the Cougars lose because they’re not actually a top-five team and a loss was coming? The answer is probably some of both and BYU won’t be the only example of those rhetorical questions moving forward.

But, my numbers are updated and my lines have been put together and now it’s time to see how they stack up with the betting market.

Week 9 College Football Power Ratings

Week 9 PR Adjustments

Up: Marshall +1.5, App State +2.5, UMass +3.5 (Watson return), Army +2.5, Wyoming +2.5, Stanford +1.5, Boston College +2.5, Rice +3, Syracuse +4.5 (Angeli return), Michigan +1.5, Western Michigan +1.5, Cincinnati +2.5, Miami (OH) +3, UCF +2.5, South Carolina +3, Northwestern +2.5, UL Monroe +2.5, Arkansas State +2.5, Wisconsin +2.5, Kansas +1.5, UTSA +2, Southern Miss +2, LSU +3, Oklahoma State +2.5, Utah +1.5, Nevada +2.5, North Texas +3, Louisiana Tech +4.5, Boise State +2.5, New Mexico +2, Colorado State +3 (Hejny return), Charlotte +2.5

Down: South Alabama -2.5, Sam Houston -2, James Madison -1.5, Air Force -2.5, NC State -3, TCU -2, Georgia Tech -3.5, North Carolina -2, Sacramento State -2, Indiana -1.5, Texas Tech -2.5, Troy -4, Georgia State -2, USC -3, Baylor -3, Northern Illinois -2.5, Louisiana -2.5, Oregon -4, Colorado -3, Michigan State -1.5, Kansas State -6 (Johnson inj.), Iowa State -2, Washington State -1.5, San Diego State -3, Utah -3, Ohio State -2, Tulane -2.5

Syracuse +4.5: Way different team with Steve Angeli at QB. Nice win over a UNC team that I’ve been impressed with lately

Louisiana Tech +4.5: Seems I’ve been sleeping a bit on this team, as they got a big bump.

UMass +3.5: His return didn’t really work out against UConn, but Pop Watson back in the lineup makes this a much better team

Kansas State -6: Whispers were on social media about Avery Johnson suffering a big injury in practice; after what we saw last week from Kansas State, any length of time without Johnson could cripple this offense

Troy -4: In the pantheon of bad losses, losing to UL Monroe is up there

Oregon -4: I struggled with this adjustment because Oregon pretty badly outgained Illinois and was the better team in a lot of respects, but this has quickly become a lost season

Georgia Tech -3.5: Methinks we underestimated how good of a player Haynes King truly was

My Week 9 College Football Lines

(note: games are ordered by rotation number)

Games to consider:

Utah -6.5 (-10) vs. Cincinnati: Tricky spot for both teams here, but at least it’s not a super early kick for Utah. I even downgraded them and still have an edge here; I’m still not very fond of Cincinnati

Western Michigan -14 (-22) vs. Bowling Green: Low total here, so I should probably adjust my spread down a bit, but I really, really think Bowling Green is awful

Kansas +6 (+2) at TCU: I haven’t had a great feel for TCU all season, but they’ve also been a different team week to week

Fresno State +7 (+3.5) vs. Oregon State: I think the market might have peaked on the Beavers

Washington State +3 (-4) vs. San Diego State: It’s been a super strange season for the Aztecs, but losing 56-49 to Colorado State isn’t a great look. I deserved better with Washington State last week, as they were 10-10 against Boise State through three quarters and lost by 21

I’ll be posting this weekly Power Ratings update all season long, including my lines on the games. Keep it locked in right here at VSiN and bookmark our weekly College Football Hub to get all of our written content every week during CFB season.

Troy vs. James Madison

The 2-2-2 format for the middle of the week continues on Thursday with a couple of games, one from the Sun Belt and one from the American. The Florida Atlantic vs. North Texas has our highest total of the season and we’ve seen a runaway train full of money on the Over in this one, pretty much since Monday morning. On a week where we have our lowest total of the season (Wisconsin vs. Iowa), we have a game that is more than double that total of 36.5.

Both games are set to kick at 7:30, with Troy vs. James Madison as the other game, and the one that I have a stronger opinion on. So, I’ll look at both of them, but hopefully the Fun Belt game is as fun for us as the FAU vs. North Texas game will be for everybody else.

Odds from Circa Sports as of October 26, 6:05 p.m. PT; check out our Circa Betting Splits and DraftKings Betting Splits. See all of our Week 9 College Football Picks and Predictions.

Troy at James Madison (-21, 49) Prediction

Thursday, 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN2)

Pick: James Madison -21

A return trip to the College Football Playoff seems highly unlikely for James Madison after what transpired last week, but the Dukes probably think that they still have a shot and running up the score whenever possible would help in that quest. After losing 34-31 to App State in overtime last Thursday, this is an opportunity for JMU to make amends rather quickly.

It is a very quick turnaround for Troy, as the Trojans have to pick up the pieces of their worst home loss in a very long time. UL Monroe scored 18 points in the fourth quarter to win 21-14 and beat a FBS opponent for the first time since September 27, 2025. Troy went to Monroe and beat the Warhawks 37-14 last season, so this one was quite the turn of events.

It wasn’t just that Troy lost. Losses happen. Fluky things can dictate the outcome of a game, even as a 13.5-point favorite. But, it really wasn’t just that. Troy only had 200 total yards of offense and 12 first downs. The QBs combined to go 9-of-18 for 47 yards. The ball carriers had 3.3 yards per carry. It was an egregious offensive showing with 3.08 yards per play against a team that had allowed 6.87 YPP up to that point.

Goose Crowder was 6-of-14 for 50 yards and Tucker Kilcrease was 3-of-4 for -3 yards. The longest carry for Troy was by Kilcrease, a 12-yard scamper. Leading rusher Gavin Griffin had 11 carries for just 39 yards. Leading receiver TK Keyes didn’t play. Second-leading receiver Noreel White had one catch for 12 yards. Crowder was listed as questionable and did play, but obviously not that well. We saw a lot of Warhawks money hit the board with the injury report for Troy, but it’s still hard to say that the investment community saw this coming.

The Dukes lost 34-31 in Boone, outgaining the Mountaineers 423-366. It was an uncharacteristically poor performance out of the Dukes in terms of situational football, as they had just a 20% third-down success rate per Game on Paper, which ranked in the 6th percentile for this season. They still stuffed the run well on defense and ranked in the 62nd percentile in Havoc Rate, but the offense just didn’t do enough.

You do have to wonder if Billy Napier should have gone for two when the Dukes scored with three seconds left to cap off a 15-play, 71-yard drive. Obviously that would not have covered the spread, but it could have won the game for James Madison. Instead, he opted to kick and take the better team into OT, which backfired with an 11-yard loss on the first play of the series, leading to a missed field goal.

Last week’s debacle aside, this has still been a good version of JMU. The Dukes are a top-40 defense by yards per play and a top-25 offense. They’ve outgained opponents by over a yard per play in Sun Belt games. Troy is +0.05 YPP in conference games, but they did give up nearly 7.8 yards per play to a poor Southern Miss team.

I think the Dukes are poised to put a beating on Troy in this one.

Pick: James Madison -21

Florida Atlantic at North Texas (-13, 77)

Thursday, 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)

North Texas has canceled afternoon classes in hopes that the students pack DATCU Stadium in Denton. They should get treated to quite a show if this total is any indication. Florida Atlantic just gave up over 10 yards per play to Rice in a 51-49 thriller, while North Texas returned from the bye to beat Navy 49-39.

Since the 52-16 loss to Indiana to open the season, the Mean Green have scored 44, 35, 63, 45, 50, and 49 points. Florida Atlantic hasn’t been as robust on offense, but did drop 45 on UL Monroe, 66 on Texas Southern, and then 51 last week against Rice. They also allowed 56 points to Army’s triple-option attack the game prior.

There were nine touchdowns of 30+ yards in that Rice/FAU game, so blown assignments and missed tackles were on display in a big way. Only three teams – South Alabama, West Virginia, and Colorado State – have allowed more yards per play than FAU. And, despite losing pretty much everybody on offense, including the coaching staff, North Texas is fourth in the nation in yards per play, as first-year HC Neal Brown has kept the offensive standards very high at UNT.

As it pertains to the total, can FAU’s offense keep up? The Owls are narrowly inside the top 90 in yards per play, which is not great when you consider that they entered the week 10th in pass attempts. The running game has been pretty much abysmal with 3.2 yards per carry, though Caden Veltkamp’s 34 attempts for -52 yards have done quite a number on the YPC metrics.

I lean North Texas here, as they are more likely to get stops and have the much more dynamic offense, but it’s not a strong position.

Check out picks from VSiN hosts and guests on this game and all of the Week 9 games on our Pro Picks Page.

Kennesaw State vs. Middle Tennessee

Conference USA continues to do us a great service by playing midweek games to give football fans something to watch and wager on. After two Tuesday night tilts, the conference stays in the spotlight with two more on Wednesday, as we’ll start with Kennesaw State vs. Middle Tennessee and then head to the desert for Jacksonville State vs. New Mexico State.

The Owls are winless conference play and bowl eligibility is a long shot, so they don’t have much on the line, but both the Blue Raiders and Aggies are 2-1 in league action. Jacksonville State is 3-0 and will not play Liberty during the regular season, so the Gamecocks control their own destiny and could move a big step further with a win in Las Cruces. Even though that’s the bigger game, my stronger opinion comes from the other one.

Odds from Circa Sports as of October 26, 12:40 p.m. PT; check out our Circa Betting Splits and DraftKings Betting Splits. See all of our Week 9 College Football Picks and Predictions.

Kennesaw State at Middle Tennessee (-3, 51.5) Prediction

Wednesday, 7 p.m. ET (CBSSN)

The Owls opened the season with a 47-0 win over West Georgia and haven’t won since. Six straight defeats have put the Owls on the brink of bowl elimination, but they are getting into a softer part of the schedule. They’ve already played two Sun Belt opponents, Tennessee, and the two best teams in C-USA.

So, this is a step down in class in a lot of ways to take on MTSU. However, I’m not sure that Kennesaw State will be able to do enough on offense. Against conference opponents, the Owls have managed just 5.33 yards per play. That’s even fewer than they had in non-conference action. QB Rickie Collins, who transferred from Syracuse, is the team’s leading rusher with just 4.1 yards per carry on 72 tries. He’s completed 68.6% of his passes, but has thrown more interceptions (5) than touchdowns (4).

Defensively, Kennesaw State held West Georgia to 3.14 YPP, but opponents have averaged 6.13 YPP in their six losses. On the whole, the Owls are 128th in net points per drive per BCFToys and a big reason why is because they are 117th in defensive points per drive allowed. They are also 117th as a team in net yards per play differential. Perhaps most notably, they are 133rd in net success rate, as they have one of the nation’s worst defenses in that department. In other words, opponents are staying on schedule with down and distance.

Things are going better in Murfreesboro, where MTSU has won two in a row and sits at 4-3 through seven games. Aside from a total no-show against Kansas, this has been a competitive team on a weekly basis. This line is a bit scary, in that the Blue Raiders have won each of their last two games by exactly three points, but this is a step back in class.

This has actually been a decent offense with 5.83 YPP overall and 6.39 YPP in conference games. Unfortunately, the offense has forgotten how to execute on third down. Only UTEP is worse in third-down conversion rate, with the Blue Raiders at 25.64%. They’re only 9-for-33 in conference play, yet they’ve still been able to win two of three.

MTSU’s defense has been a disaster, which is a bad sign for head coach Derek Mason, a defensive coordinator by trade. The Blue Raiders have allowed nearly seven yards per play to conference foes. But, this is not an explosive Kennesaw State team. Even with a 55-0 blowout to their names, the Blue Raiders are 97th in net points per drive, 89th in net yards per play, and 90th in net success rate.

All of those numbers are quite a bit better than what Kennesaw State has to offer. This should be an opportunity for the MTSU defense to show some more resistance.

Pick: Middle Tennessee -3

Jacksonville State (-3, 49.5) at New Mexico State

Wednesday, 8 p.m. ET (ESPN2)

The Gamecocks started the season getting pummeled by North Dakota State, but their lone loss since came against Ohio in a two-point defeat on the road. But, the Gamecocks also have three wins by four or fewer points, including each of the last two games. Not having stud running back Cam Cook has been an issue this season, as QB Caden Creel has 105 of the team’s 234 rush attempts. He’s run for 4.8 yards per carry, a big drop from last season’s 5.9 yards per pop.

Creel’s been a pretty effective passer with a 12/6 TD/INT ratio and a 67.2% completion rate. He’s certainly been better than the disastrous QB room for the Aggies, where Trey Hedden has a 5/6 TD/INT ratio with a 52.4% completion rate and Adam Damante has a 6/3 TD/INT ratio, but he hasn’t created a lot of explosive plays.

Neither Aggie QB can run at all, as they’ve combined for 29 carries for -24 yards, so that should be a big positive for the Gamecocks. On the plus side, NMSU has maybe the conference’s best defense outside of Liberty, holding opponents to 4.26 YPP in conference action. Conversely, Jacksonville State has allowed 5.78 YPP.

No play from me here, as the Gamecocks clearly have the better offense, but the Aggies have the better defense. It’s a pretty good trip to Las Cruces for this one and maybe that helps NMSU here as well.

Check out picks from VSiN hosts and guests on this game and all of the Week 9 games on our Pro Picks Page.

The 2026 tennis season is into its final stretch, and this week brings a pair of ATP 500 events in Vienna and Basel. With the Paris Masters next on the calendar and the ATP Finals approaching, there’s still plenty to play for as players look to finish strong on the indoor hard courts.

Both tournaments should give us plenty to work with from a betting perspective, and I’ll be posting my tennis best bets daily throughout the week. My write-ups will focus exclusively on ATP matches, but I’ll also have women’s picks available on the picks page.

With that in mind, keep reading for my tennis best bets for Tuesday, October 27, at the Erste Bank Open and Swiss Indoors Basel.

RELATED: Check out some of the tennis bets our VSiN experts have for Tuesday!

Frances Tiafoe vs. Lorenzo Musetti

“Is this live?” If you’re a true tennis fan, you probably know that Musetti’s name has been involved in some rumors recently. However, while things seem a bit chaotic off the court, the Italian is thriving on it. Musetti just won a title in Lyon, beating Matteo Arnaldi, Moise Kouame, Luca Van Assche, Flavio Cobolli, and Taylor Fritz on his way to lifting the trophy. He’s finally starting to recapture his top-10 form, and that’s why I find it hard to believe we’re getting him at even-money odds against Tiafoe.

Tiafoe beat Musetti in a straight-set victory in which they played two tiebreakers in Cincinnati a couple of months ago, and he does have a 5-4 record against the Italian. However, Tiafoe hasn’t put in the hours Musetti has since the North American hard-court swing, so form strongly favors the Italian here. I also like what Musetti brings to the table more.

Over the last 52 weeks, in non-majors, Musetti has a higher Perfromance Rating (8.07 vs. 7.62), Return Quality (7.1 vs. 6.6), Forehand Quality (8.5 vs. 7.6), and Backhand Quality (7.6 vs. 7.1), according to TennisViz. The only advantage TennisViz gives Tiafoe is in Serve Quality (7.9 vs. 7.7), but the Italian’s Serve Quality in Lyon was 8.0. That’s where the recent form comes in. I’m not sure Tiafoe will be doing much of anything better than Musetti at this point. We’ll just have to hope Musetti didn’t celebrate his title run too hard before this one.

Bet: Musetti ML (+100 – 1.5 units)

Tallon Griekspoor vs. Brandon Nakashima

These matches are always very interesting to me. When you have two players with massive serves going up against one another, I just don’t think there should be super heavy favorites. Sure, there are exceptions to that, as some big servers can play from the baseline and others can’t. However, these two players both have some real baseline ability. To me, that means we’re going to get late into sets and have a couple of coin-toss situations, with a couple of points here and there deciding the winner.

Nakashima has obviously had a better season than Griekspoor. I’m not blind to that. However, the peak level for these players isn’t all that different, and Griekspoor might be closer to approaching that. He just won a title in Brussels, meaning he carries some good form into this match. And much like Musetti, as long as these last few days have been business-first, there’s no reason not to believe in him here.

In the end, Nakashima will probably get the job done. But Griekspoor will have his chances as an excellent indoor hard-courter, so I have to take my chances.

Bet: Griekspoor +1.5 Sets (-149 – 1.5 units) & Griekspoor ML (+193 – 0.5 units)

Jerome Kym vs. Arthur Rinderknech

Adrian Mannarino vs. Ignaco Buse

Kym is a favorite against Rinderknech, even though the Frenchman is ranked roughly 160 spots ahead of him. These are the types of matches in which I strongly believe the sportsbooks are begging you to take Rinderknech, and that usually means I’m going to come in with the contrarian play. However, given Rinderknech’s ability to rack up holds, I’m not quite comfortable going there. Instead, I’ll take Kym to at least push this to a decider, making for a bit of a safer play in the event we see a few 50-50 tiebreakers. And to get this down from -333 to even-money odds, I’ll grab Mannarino to beat Buse. On an indoor hard court, give me Mannarino’s counterpunching, flat groundstrokes, and overall tennis IQ to overcome Buse, who is just 7-10 in main-draw hard-court matches at the ATP level.

PARLAY: Kym +1.5 Sets & Mannarino ML (+101)

Added Plays

I usually have A LOT MORE on the Pro Picks page. Those plays count towards my record and have been a big part of my success this season. Make sure you check them out. I’ll probably add a few more over there, so refresh that page throughout the day if you’re looking for action.

Week 9 College Football Hub

Road tests are the story this week for teams in the top 25, as No. 5 Notre Dame, No. 22 Arizona, No. 19 SMU, No. 25 Wisconsin, No. 20 Northwestern, No. 6 Utah, No. 24 Oklahoma State, No. 1 Miami, No. 2 Ohio State, and No. 23 Missouri all hit the road. No. 17 Florida and No. 3 Georgia shift the “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” indoors at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, as it will not be in Jacksonville for the first time since 1995.

Bookmark this page because this will serve as our “Hub” for all of our Week 9 college football content. We will do one of these every week with a bunch of links to our original content, betting tools, and more.

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Week 9 College Football Schedule & Matchups

Week 9 College Football Best Bets

Week 9 College Football Betting Splits: DraftKings | Circa

Steve Makinen’s Week 9 College Football Matchup Ratings

Week 9 College Football Picks Articles

Tuesday: Delaware vs. Western Kentucky Prediction

Wednesday: Kennesaw State vs. Middle Tennessee Pick

Thursday: Troy vs. James Madison Prediction

Week 9 College Football Articles

Adam Burke’s Week 9 Power Ratings Update and Projections

Additional College Football Betting Tools:

Steve Makinen College Football Power Ratings

Explanations of Steve Makinen’s College Football Power Ratings

VSiN’s Exclusive College Football Odds

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Delaware vs. Western Kentucky

Conference USA is once again coming up big here in Week 9 with two games on Tuesday and two games on Wednesday to keep up this magical run of 61 straight days with a football game. Delaware vs. Western Kentucky and Sam Houston State vs. Missouri State are the games in question, as we had Missouri State vs. Delaware last week and Sam Houston State played on Wednesday. Western Kentucky has the rest advantage, as they did not play last week, so we’ll see if that helps against the Blue Hens.

Liberty and Jacksonville State are pretty clearly the class of this conference, so these games may not have too much bearing on the C-USA Championship Game and the standings, but keep in mind that bowl eligibility is a big deal for these teams. Having played some paycheck games earlier in the season to fund athletic endeavors has several teams chasing six wins, so these are big games for them.

We’ll go in chronological order here, as I do have a stronger opinion on Delaware vs. Western Kentucky.

Odds from Circa Sports as of October 26, 8:30 a.m. PT; check out our Circa Betting Splits and DraftKings Betting Splits. See all of our Week 9 College Football Picks and Predictions.

Delaware (-1, 56.5) at Western Kentucky

Tuesday, 7 p.m. ET (CBSSN)

To say that the return of Nick Minicucci gave Delaware a big lift last week is an understatement. The Blue Hens exploded for 61 points and the veteran signal caller was responsible for five TDs through the air and another on the ground. Delaware did only outgain Missouri State 482-431 en route to the 61-38 win, but it’s hard to argue with their efficiency on short fields. Delaware had scoring drives of 68, 65, 62, and 55 yards in the first half, so they did sustain some drives, but the second half saw points on drives of 34, 33, 4, 66, 23, and 34 yards as Missouri State had some turnovers and other mishaps.

Clearly Delaware is a different team with Minicucci. He was hurt against Virginia and the team lost 42-3. He also missed the losses to Liberty and Middle Tennessee. With him in the lineup, they are 3-2 and even scored 26 points in a 35-26 loss to Vanderbilt.

Western Kentucky would love to have a difference maker like that at QB. So far, Rodney Tisdale Jr. and Brock Glenn have both gotten reps. Tisdale has a 4/2 TD/INT ratio, but has been sacked 11 times. Glenn has a 5/2 TD/INT ratio and has only been sacked four times, but has also only completed 52.3% of his 128 passes. Tisdale has nine fewer pass attempts and 13 more completions. Glenn, though, is also the team’s second-leading rusher.

Glenn has started the last two games, both wins over Missouri State and Sam Houston State. But, he was just 14-of-30 for 127 yards against the Bearkats in that 16-3 win with just 2.5 yards per carry on 22 attempts. The Hilltoppers had some offensive line issues in that one to say the least. On the whole, this is not the type of offense that you would expect from Clay Helton, as the Hilltoppers have 4.89 YPP and rank 127th in the nation.

Defensively, the Hilltoppers are 111th in YPP allowed, but it should be noted that they have only allowed 4.72 YPP in three C-USA games. They were torched in the non-conference portion of the season, understandable with Georgia and Indiana among the opponents. Unfortunately, the offense hasn’t really perked up in conference play just yet.

Delaware’s playing a really high-variance style in league action. They’ve allowed 6.73 YPP and gained 6.1. Of course, those numbers need an asterisk without Minicucci in the lineup, but he’s not playing defense and that unit has been awful.

Of the bets here in this game, I prefer Western Kentucky -1.5, as their defense should be the best unit on the field, plus they’re well-rested. The Hilltoppers played five road games out of their first seven games, including trips to Reno and Las Cruces. A chance to catch their breath should help here.

At time of writing, Circa was one of very few books with WKU as an underdog. I still prefer -1 or -1.5 on the WKU side to taking Delaware in this one.

Pick: Western Kentucky +1

Sam Houston State at Missouri State (-4.5, 49.5)

Tuesday, 8 p.m. ET (ESPN2)

Missouri State has allowed 116 points in three conference games thus far. The total number of points scored in Sam Houston games has been 111. So, this should be an interesting one, as the Bearkats have only mustered 30 points worth of offense with their 0-3 start to C-USA action, not exactly what the administration had in mind when longtime OC and Air Raid disciple Phil Longo was hired as the head coach when KC Keeler left for Temple.

While the Bearkats’ record is awful, three of their six losses are by six or fewer points. Two of their uncompetitive losses are Texas Tech and Liberty. However, their only win came against FCS Nicholls in a 59-0 drubbing, so they’ve only scored 82 points in six games against FBS opponents. Incredibly, against some pretty subpar competition, Sam Houston has just 3.94 YPP in conference games.

Missouri State has racked up better than six yards per play against C-USA foes. Unfortunately, they’ve also allowed more than six yards per play. That does make this a pretty tough handicap. The Bears have the better offense, but also pretty clearly the lesser defense. The offense has also had an uptick with Henry Belin IV now the starter over Skyler Locklear. Belin has a 6/4 TD/INT ratio with a 67.6% completion rate and has thrown for 300+ in back-to-back games.

Thus, I lean towards Missouri State, but it’s not an official play or a super strong take from me.

Check out picks from VSiN hosts and guests on this game and all of the Week 9 games on our Pro Picks Page.

“Our people are at the core of our success, and our team has shown leadership and commitment to supporting our clients, industries, and partnerships through strong corporate citizenship, supporting causes in the communities where we live and work.” – Neal Coleman, President & CEO, Pulse

At Pulse, we believe strong communities make strong teams and every year Pulse strives to support community wide causes.

In 2021, Pulse supported several community organizations financially, including the Calgary Food Bank, Canadian Cancer Society, Canadian Mental Health Association, Discovery House Family Violence Prevention Society, Distress Centre, Inn from The Cold Society, Urban Society for Aboriginal Youth, and YouthLink Calgary – Calgary Police Interpretive Centre.

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As we mark Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, our thoughts are with Indigenous communities. We remember the 150,000 children taken from their homes and sent to residential schools and those who never returned. We are wearing beaded orange shirt pins to honour the Survivors. We are reflecting and learning more about the history of Canada’s residential school system and the lasting effects on Survivors and their families, communities, culture, and traditions.

These pins were made by Kristy Puskar, a sixth generation Métis crafter, and owner of Silver and Ivy Beads. Kristy donates a portion of all pin sales to local and national Indigenous and Métis led organizations. In further support, we have made a donation to one of these organizations, Calgary’s Urban Society for Aboriginal Youth (USAY) to support their many successful programs, which empower urban Indigenous youth to envision and attain a healthy and sustainable future.