Thursday nights are for football.
Along with the NFL's Eagles vs. Giants matchup, we'll be treated to four college football games: Louisiana Tech vs. Kennesaw State, East Carolina vs. Tulane, Jacksonville State vs. Sam Houston and Southern Miss vs. Georgia Southern.
With American Conference, Sun Belt and Conference USA action on tap, we're in for a treat as 49 consecutive days of football continues.
Read on for the Thursday college football odds and NCAAF picks on Oct. 9.
Thursday College Football Odds, Picks, Predictions
The team logos in the table below represent each of the matchups that our college football betting staff is targeting from Thursday's slate of games. Click on the team logos for any of the matchups below to navigate to a specific bet discussed in this article.
| Game | Time (ET) | Pick |
|---|---|---|
  | 7 p.m. | |
  | 7:30 p.m. | |
  | 8 p.m. | |
  | 8 p.m. | |
Specific betting recommendations come from the sportsbook offering preferred odds as of writing. Always shop for the best price using our NCAAF Odds page, which automatically surfaces the best lines for every game. | ||
Louisiana Tech vs Kennesaw State Pick
By Joshua Nunn
The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs take on the Kennesaw State Owls in Kennesaw, Georgia. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. ET on ESPNU.
Louisiana Tech is favored by 6 points on the spread with a moneyline of -230. The total is set at 45.5 points.
Here’s my Louisiana Tech vs. Kennesaw State prediction and college football picks for Thursday, October 9.
Louisiana Tech vs Kennesaw State Prediction
Louisiana Tech has quietly improved its play on both sides of the ball and is now (arguably) the conference favorite.
The Bulldogs held LSU to 23 points and Southern Miss to 20. They blasted New Mexico State and UTEP in conference play, and they had extra time to prepare for this game on Saturday.
The defense has been solid all year, but the offense has shown significant improvement with quarterback Blake Baker now under center. The passing game is far more efficient, which has helped open up the run game.
Still, the Bulldogs likely cover on Saturday behind a strong defensive effort.
Kennesaw State is in for a rude awakening, especially because it ranks just 130th nationally in Havoc allowed. Even worse, the Owls rank 120th nationally in Offensive Finishing Drives, while the Bulldogs rank sixth in Defensive Finishing Drives.
I suspect the Owls will have issues protecting the quarterback, running the football, getting into scoring position and scoring touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Kennesaw State’s defense is nothing to write home about. The Owls rank third to last nationally in PFF’s Coverage grades and last in PFF’s Pass Rush grades. They’re also miserable on Special Teams.
Anything under a touchdown is good.
Pick: Louisiana Tech -6.5 or Better
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East Carolina vs Tulane Pick
By Doug Ziefel
The East Carolina Pirates take on the Tulane Green Wave in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Thursday, Oct. 9. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Tulane is favored by 6.5 points on the spread with a moneyline of -250. East Carolina, meanwhile, comes in as a +6.5 underdog and is +200 on the moneyline to pull off the upset. The over/under sits at 53.5 points.
Here’s my East Carolina vs. Tulane prediction and college football picks for Thursday, October 9.
East Carolina Pirates
The Pirates bring their uptempo offense on the road Thursday as they look to keep rolling after a bye week. This extra time to prepare should aid them early in this one, with their first couple of drives being scripted.
ECU plays at the seventh-fastest tempo in the country, and it has only intensified its passing attack. Senior quarterback Katin Houser has been highly efficient, ranking 25th in completion percentage and 32nd in yards per pass.
We should see him lead the Pirates offense down the field in the early going against a Tulane defense that has struggled to create pressure, ranking 71st in sack rate.
Tulane Green Wave
On the other side of this matchup, the Green Wave offense is a bit of a contrast to the Pirates.
Tulane runs the ball at the 28th-highest rate in the country, but it does so with its leading rusher being quarterback Jake Retzlaff.
Retzlaff's mobility has made this offense dynamic. He's a real threat both on designed runs and scrambles.
Retzlaff and company should test an ECU defense that has faced only one above-average offense in BYU, and the Cougars put up 34 points with their leading rusher averaging 7.2 yards per carry.
Retzlaff has been nearly as effective, averaging 6.3 yards per carry, and is a weapon in goal-to-go situations, finding paydirt seven times already on the ground.
East Carolina vs Tulane Prediction
This is a matchup where ECU's tempo could help and hurt it.
We should see the Pirates be effective in the first quarter with scripted drives, but even if they put points on the board, Tulane is likely to dominate the time of possession and find the end zone at least once.
Back these teams to match each other in the first quarter with a pair of touchdowns between them, putting them over the first-quarter total.
Pick: 1Q Over 10.5 (-120 · Play to 12.5)
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Jacksonville State vs Sam Houston Pick
By CJ Vogel
The Jacksonville State Gamecocks take on the Sam Houston State Bearkats in Houston, Texas. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network.
Jacksonville State is favored by -8 points on the spread with a moneyline of -315. The total is set at 55.5 points.
Here’s my Jacksonville State vs. Sam Houston prediction and college football picks for Thursday, October 9.
Jacksonville State Gamecocks
Despite losing a notable head coach in Rich Rodriguez, Jacksonville State still appears to be one of the better teams in Conference USA and a definite contender to appear in the league title game.
A 2-3 record may not instill a ton of confidence to the casual eye, but Jacksonville State is 1-0 in conference play and two of its three losses came by a single score.
The backfield duo of running back Cam Cook and quarterback Gavin Wimsatt has produced a top-seven rushing attack in the FBS (244.8 yards per game) and the C-USA’s top rusher (Cook, 614 yards).
But when forced to turn to the air — which, to be fair to the Gamecocks, really hasn’t been that often — the offense starts to show holes.
Wimsatt is a below-average passer, and no one receiver truly threatens through the air. Only senior Brock Rechsteiner has a receiving touchdown (three of them), and no other pass catcher averages more than 40 yards per game.
Defensively, Jacksonville State needs some work. Week 1’s result at UCF came thanks to weather interruptions, and the Gamecocks have allowed 34+ points in two of three other games against FBS foes (Georgia Southern, Southern Miss).
Better offenses can move the ball against this unit and score plenty.
However, that deficiency may only come to bite Jacksonville State again twice this season — the remainder of the schedule doesn’t feature many average FBS offenses.
Coordinator Brian Williams may have some inflated numbers come season-end thanks to a cast of foes that includes FIU (116th in points per drive), Middle Tennessee (110th) and UTEP (130th).
Sam Houston Bearkats
There’s no two ways about it – Sam Houston State is bad this year. It has a bad offense (129th in points per drive) and somehow, a worse defense (132nd in points per drive allowed) with almost no salvageable parts from this roster.
Sam Houston's two closest games this year — a 41-24 opening-weekend loss to Western Kentucky and a 37-20 loss at Hawaii — featured the Bearkats allowing 24 fourth-quarter points in the two games combined.
Their latest contest ended in a 37-10 loss to New Mexico State that turned into a blowout thanks to 24 points surrendered in the fourth quarter.
Phil Longo’s Air Raid system has tanked quarterback Hunter Watson (one touchdown, four interceptions) despite some nice pieces in the passing game.
But previous top receiver Qua’Vez Humphreys has been wildly inefficient (and hurt earlier on) and the talented Michael Phoenix II is nowhere to be found in deficiencies only described as confounding.
Few teams are worse against the pass than Sam Houston. The Bearkats are next-to-last in pass EPA allowed and rank in the bottom 25 in passing success rate. The secondary is simply bad, and teams attack it early and often.
Two other factors may have contributed to this 0-5 start. First, Sam Houston isn’t playing any true home games this year while Eliot T. Bowers Stadium undergoes renovation; it plays “home” games 70 miles away in Houston.
Second, Sam Houston played just two games in September, both on the road, including one at Hawaii. It’s a rest-versus-rust debate that led to the meltdown against New Mexico State.
Unfortunately, last year’s 10-3 team is a relic of the past.
Jacksonville State vs Sam Houston Prediction
Jacksonville State opened as a -8.5 favorite in this game, but that number moved in favor of Sam Houston early in the week.
The Gamecocks come off their first bye of the year, while the Bearkats return home from that New Mexico State loss. In two games since joining the FBS, Jacksonville State took both matchups here, though both teams’ coaching staffs have moved on.
Sam Houston has decent metrics against the run, but the cast of opposing rushing attacks is beyond underwhelming.
New Mexico State has a historically bad run game, Hawaii ranks outside the top 100 in Rushing Success Rate, UNLV didn’t have a single player attempt 10 runs and Western Kentucky fields one of the least explosive rushing attacks in the country.
This is a new challenge for a Sam Houston team that can’t afford too many more of those.
Despite the early-week move, Jacksonville State is the better team here. Aggregated power ratings favor the Gamecocks by nearly 12 points and that factors in the road environment.
Sam Houston is a team I’m not afraid to fade, and I’m likely taking some alternate lines here, as well.
The Bearkats have a history of folding in the fourth quarter and that could get this game out of hand later on.
Fortunately, we can be patient with the best number, but this is all thanks to Jacksonville State's dynamic run game.
Pick: Jacksonville State -7.5
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Southern Miss vs Georgia Southern Pick
The Southern Miss Golden Eagles take on the Georgia Southern Eagles in Statesboro, Georgia, on Friday, Oct. 9. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
Southern Miss is favored by -3 points on the spread with a moneyline of -160. Georgia Southern, meanwhile, enters as a +3 underdog and comes in at +135 on the moneyline to pull off the upset. The over/under sits at 59.5 points.
Here’s my Southern Miss vs. Georgia Southern predictions and college football picks for Friday, October 9.
Southern Miss Golden Eagles
I’ve been very impressed with the job head coach Charles Huff has done at Southern Miss. Halfway through Year 1, this Golden Eagles program is solidifying themselves as a legitimate contender in the Sun Belt West.
Southern Miss has scored 38 points or more three times this season while racking up nearly 400 total yards of offense per game.
Quarterback Braylon Braxton has complete control of the passing game and has completed 65% of his passes with 11 touchdowns. Braxton also has several explosive receivers to utilize in the pass game.
The rushing attack is coming off its best performance of the season two weeks ago against Jacksonville State, where the Golden Eagles rushed for 225 yards with three touchdowns.
On the other side, the Southern Miss defense has given up some yards in recent weeks. However, it hasn’t necessarily played poorly, given the number of snaps against it. App State ran 90 plays and Jacksonville State ran 79 in recent weeks, so factoring in its “per play” average gives a better indication of how this group has fared.
The defensive line is impacting games by causing pressure and creating negative plays in the opposition's backfield. I expect this group to continue playing well as we move into the crux of SBC play.
Georgia Southern Eagles
Georgia Southern comes in off a disappointing road loss against James Madison a couple of weeks back.
The Eagles could not generate any offense against the Dukes, managing just 3.8 yards per play with 27 total rushing yards.
Moving the football on the ground has been a problem for Georgia Southern ever since adopting Clay Helton’s pass-happy offensive system, and this year is no different.
The aerial attack has been efficient but far from explosive in 2025.
Quarterback JC French has completed 59% of his passes while throwing for 946 yards with seven touchdowns — far from gaudy for a five-game sample size.
Without a consistent, quick-strike ability through the air, this offense will struggle to put drives together and score enough points to remain competitive in games this season.
The defense has really been the heel for Georgia Southern this year, as the Eagles' stop unit has given up 481 yards per game and over seven yards per play.
This group struggles to stop the run. In fact, every FBS opponent has rushed for 200 yards or more with Fresno State, USC and JMU running for over 300 on this front seven.
I have major concerns about Southern relying on this unit to get stops, as it has struggled situationally in getting off the field on third downs and in the red zone.
Southern Miss vs Georgia Southern Prediction
We identified Southern Miss as an under-the-radar value play in SBC play this season, and I think there's value on the Golden Eagles on Thursday night. I'm laying the number here with Southern Miss -3
The Georgia Southern defense is such an Achilles' heel to this team's competitiveness, as the Eagles rank 136th nationally in Success Rate allowed and 135th in EPA Per Play allowed.
The Eagles have registered four total sacks and 22 tackles for loss this season, so naturally, the Havoc numbers are also not strong. PFF grades the Georgia Southern pass rush as the least effective unit in the Sun Belt, and the run defense grades out as the worst in the conference by a large margin.
Southern Miss is going to be able to run the ball here, and I expect Braxton to create plays with his legs and have his best rushing day of the season.
We still haven’t seen this ground attack hit its stride yet this season, but the Golden Eagles will gash Georgia Southern on the ground in this game.
Georgia Southern is known for its passing offense, but the offensive unit hasn't been overly explosive. The Eagles rank just 127th nationally in EPA Per Pass and 121st in Passing Success Rate.
The Southern Miss secondary grades out as the second-best unit in the SBC behind Old Dominion, and USM grades out as the conference’s best tackling team top to bottom.
There's a little extra motivation for Southern Mississippi here, and that comes by way of the result of a Huff-coached team the last time he played Georgia Southern.
Last year, while at Marshall, Huff’s Thundering Herd held a 23-3 lead and managed to lose the game. He was very upset about the loss at the time, and he referenced that game, noting how he and his staff had learned from it.
Numerous players on this Southern Miss roster were on that Marshall team, so you can be assured that there will be some extra motivation to preserve a second-half lead and leave no doubt on Thursday night.
Pick: Southern Miss -3
