Chris ‘The Bear’ Fallica’s ‘Bear Bytes’ for Week 4 of 2024 College Football

College football Week 4 is here and I couldn’t be more excited.

This means that the next few days will be exciting for fans who love football and for punters who are looking for fun ways to wager a few bucks.

I’ve already given you my top picks for Week 4’s games, but now it’s time to have some fun with my Bear Bytes.

These little “bytes,” as I call them, are simply snippets that give you some entertaining conversation topics to reference while watching football festivities with friends and family or bantering with your coworkers at the water cooler.

Here are the most important points that caught my attention while doing my research.

There are three ranked matchups on Saturday: Utah at Oklahoma State, USC at Michigan and Tennessee at Oklahoma.

Outside of those three games, the 14 ranked teams playing unranked teams are favored by an average of 25.4 points per game. Ten are favored by at least 20 points, and the only team favored by fewer than ten points is Kansas State -7 at BYU.

Utah @ State of Oklahoma (4 pm ET, Saturday, FOX and FOX Sports App)

Over the past 10 years, Mike Gundy is 17-6 in games where the margin of error is +3/-3. In 10 home games, Oklahoma State is 8-2, winning each of the last six, three of them as an underdog. Utah is 2-7 in its last nine road games against ranked teams. The only two wins were against USC.

University of the South @ Michigan (3:30 p.m. ET, Saturday, CBS)

Since 2021, Lincoln Riley has been a road favorite 13 times. His team has won 10 of the 13 games, but has a record of 3-10 against the spread (ATS) and 2-7 at USC.

Tennessee @ Oklahoma (7:30 p.m. ET, Saturday, ABC)

This week snaps a 49-game streak in which Oklahoma was the favorite at home. The last time OU was a home underdog was in 2016, when the Sooners were just a 1-point underdog to Ohio State and lost 45-24. This will be just the second time in the last 146 home games (dating back to the 2000 season) that the Sooners have been a home underdog. The last time Oklahoma was such a big home underdog? That was the final game of the John Blake era, when the Sooners beat Texas Tech as an 8-point underdog.

Bowling green @ Texas A&M University (7:30 p.m. ET, Saturday, SECN+)

Two weeks ago, Bowling Green lost by a TD as a 34.5-point favorite at Penn State. On Saturday, the Falcons are 23-point favorites at Texas A&M, which is coming off a road win at Florida, faces Arkansas next week and has struggled in games like this in recent years, losing to Appalachian State in 2022 as a 17-point favorite and beating UMass that same season by 17 as a 32-point favorite.

Miami (Ohio) @ Our Lady (3:30 p.m. ET, Saturday, NBC)

Two weeks ago, Notre Dame lost in a blowout to a MAC team (Northern Illinois) as a 28-point favorite. On Saturday, the Irish are again a 28-point favorite over a MAC team (Miami OH). Under Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame has been a double-digit favorite 13 times. The Irish have lost three of those times outright. In 70 games as a double-digit favorite under Brian Kelly, the Irish have gone 67-3, including wins in each of the last 36 games Kelly has been the head coach. This season, Notre Dame is 1-0 against the SEC, 1-0 against the Big Ten, and 0-1 against the MAC.

State of Arizona @ Texas Tech University (3:30 p.m. ET, Saturday, FS1)

Arizona State is 3-0, despite being favored by less than a touchdown through two games and being a road underdog against a Group of Five team. The Sun Devils are again road underdogs (+3) this week at Texas Tech.

Miami @ South Florida (7:00 p.m. ET, Saturday, ESPN)

Under Alex Golesh, USF has been an underdog nine times. The Bulls have covered on seven of those occasions (3-2 as double-digit underdogs).

East Carolina @ Freedom (6:00 p.m. ET, Saturday, ESPN+)

Last year, Liberty led the nation with 21 interceptions. ECU quarterback Jake Garcia leads the nation this year with eight.

Chris “The Bear” Fallica has covered sports for nearly three decades. While college football has been his focus, he also enjoys the NFL, soccer, golf, tennis, MLB, NHL, and horse racing, with an “occasional” bet on said events. Chris recently won the inaugural Circa Football Invitational and finished in the top 10 of the Golden Nugget Football Contest. He has qualified for the NHC Handicap Championship multiple times. Remember, “The less you bet, the more you lose when you win.” Follow him on Twitter @chrysphalica.

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