Chris ‘The Bear’ Fallica’s 2024 College Football Week 13 ‘Bear Bytes’

College football Week 13 is here, and I couldn’t be more pumped. 

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

I’ve already given you my best bets for Week 13 games, but now it’s time to have a little fun with my “Bear Bytes.”

These little “bytes,” as I call them, are just nuggets that give you some entertaining talking points to pull from as you watch the football festivities with friends and family or banter with your coworkers at the water cooler. Here are the biggest nuggets that stuck out to me while doing my research.

(All times ET)

SATURDAY, NOV. 23

No. 5 Indiana @ No. 2 Ohio State (noon, FOX and FOX Sports app)

In the 21 regular-season, top-five games in the College Football Playoff era, only two have seen a spread greater than 10 points. The first was No. 2 Ohio State (-17.5) vs. No. 5 Notre Dame in 2022. That ended in a 21-10 Buckeyes win. The other was No. 1 Alabama (-14) vs. No. 4 LSU in 2018, which ended up as a 29-0 Alabama win. Since 1978, there have been 16 different 10-0 or better teams that have been underdogs in the regular season. Until today, Michigan +9 at Ohio State in 2022 was the largest of those ’dogs. And of course, the Wolverines pulled the outright upset, winning 45-23 in Columbus. Ohio State has scored 38 first-quarter points in seven Big Ten games this year and never more than seven in any of those games. That ranks 28th among Power Four teams and behind Big Ten teams such as Penn State, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois and USC. 

Wake Forest @ No. 8 Miami (noon, ESPN)

Miami has the No. 1 offense nationally in terms of efficiency. The Canes also have the 77th-rated defense. By far the lowest rated unit for any top-25 team. Miami is 3-8 under Mario Cristobal in games played in November or December. 

Northwestern @ Michigan (3:30 p.m., FS1)

Michigan has been favored five times this year and has failed to cover four of them, going 0-3 against the spread (ATS) as a double-digit favorite. 

Wisconsin @ Nebraska (3:30 p.m., BTN)

We’re now up to nine straight losses for Nebraska when the Huskers enter a game with five wins. The last three have all been one-score losses, two coming on the road. Nebraska is a slight home favorite Saturday over Wisconsin, before closing at Iowa. Its last win when entering a game with five wins came in 2016.

No. 4 Penn State @ Minnesota (3:30 p.m., CBS)

Call this the James Franklin “Sweet Spot Game.” Since 2020, Franklin is 14-0 ATS when the Nittany Lions are favored between seven and 17 points, winning those 14 games by an average score of 34-10. 

No. 19 Army @ No. 6 Notre Dame (7 p.m., NBC)

Dating back to 1978, Notre Dame is 47-1 vs. service academies when favored by at least 14 points. The lone loss came in 1996 when Air Force beat the Irish as a 21-point ‘dog. Since then, seven of 23 such games have been decided by a touchdown or less. 

Baylor @ Houston (7 p.m, FS1)

Since the start of the 1998 season — the BCS/CFP Era — only four teams have been shut out twice in a season and made a bowl game. If Houston wins out vs. Baylor and BYU, the Cougars will join that list. In 2023, Iowa was shut out 31-0 by Penn State and then 26-0 by Michigan in the Big Ten Championship Game, prior to being shut out for a third time in the bowl game, 35-0 to Tennessee. In 2009, Minnesota was shut out 20-0 by Penn State and 12-0 by Iowa before losing 14-13 to Iowa State in the Insight Bowl. In 2009, Wyoming was shut out three times — once in non-conference play by Colorado and then twice in Mountain West play before winning the New Mexico Bowl. In 1998, Ole Miss was shut out 17-0 by Auburn and 34-0 by Arkansas and then won the Independence Bowl.

No. 15 Texas A&M @ Auburn (7:30 p.m., ESPN)

As Auburn head coach, Hugh Freeze is 4-10 in SEC play, 5–12 vs Power Five opponents and 0-10 vs. teams that finished with — or in the case of 2024, have — a winning record. The Tigers need to beat Texas A&M and Alabama to go bowling. Since 2016, there have been 14 top 15 teams favored by a field goal or less against a team with a losing record. Those 14 teams have gone 4-10 straight up and 2-11-1 ATS, including BYU’s loss last week to Kansas. 

No. 22 Iowa State @ Utah (7:30 p.m., FOX and FOX Sports app)

The Utes are currently 7.5-point ‘dogs at home vs. Iowa State. Utah hasn’t been this big a home ’dog since 2016 when it was a 10-point ‘dog to Washington and lost by seven. A loss would clinch Utah’s first losing season since 2013. 

Vanderbilt @ LSU (7:45 p.m., SEC Network)

Prior to the season, we all had Vanderbilt and LSU entering this week’s game with identical 6-4, 3-3 records, right? And of course, it would be Vanderbilt with the win over No. 1 Alabama and LSU with the 29-point home loss to the Tide. An LSU loss would give the Tigers their first four-game losing streak since 1999. Nick Saban was brought in as head coach in 2000. 

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” wager on such events. Chris recently won the inaugural Circa Football Invitational and finished in the Top 10 of the Golden Nugget Football Contest. He’s a multiple-time qualifier for the NHC Handicapping Championship. Remember, “The less you bet, the more you lose when you win!” Follow him on Twitter @chrisfallica.

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