The best bets from this Saturday's college football slate

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Before we get to the picks this week, a brief story.

Last weekend ESPN's "College GameDay" came to New York City for the first time in its history, much to the confusion of college football fans around the country. I decided to go check out the scenes and sights of GameDay to start my Saturday with no plan other than "watch football" beyond that. It was a surprisingly delightful crowd, with more GameDay spirit than I initially expected.

But as the show was wrapping up and the noon kickoffs were fast approaching, I finally realized just how little I had thought my day through. Completely oblivious to the bar scene surrounding Times Square, I scanned the area and saw a group of about 15 people clad in garnet and white, walking confidently in a certain direction and playing a fight song out of a boombox. Sensing someone who knew where to find football, I followed.

After keeping my distance for a few blocks, I finally introduced myself as a lowly football fan with nowhere to turn. The crew, who I now knew to be Texas A&M Aggie alumni, birghtly welcomed me in to their clan and led me to The Hog Pit on 26th. I threw $50 on the Aggies and put my best fan face on.

Over the course of three hours later, I ate wings and drank Lone Star amid new friends through a back-and-forth game of football. When the Aggies prevailed in overtime, I was screaming at the television while literally holding people who had actually graduated from school. We had celebratory shots of Fireball and I left the afternoon a bit more inebriated than I expected to be before 4 p.m..

So thanks Dana, Ramon, and Ashley for welcoming me in to your family for the day.

Without further ado, onto the picks. All lines courtesy of the Westgate Las Vegas Superbook.