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Best Football Games to Bet On This Weekend

Between bowl games, the CFP starting, and huge NFL Week 16 games, there are many betting opportunities in college football and the NFL this weekend. We have a preview of two of the best games that you can use your football bonus bets for.

Friday| 8:00 PM ET | Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Oklahoma Sooners (-1.5, O/U 40.5)

Friday night in Norman, Oklahoma, marks the start of the 2025-26 CFP first round with an SEC rematch between the No. 9 Alabama Crimson Tide (10-3) and the No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners (10-2). It's a huge game with big stakes for both teams. Alabama can silence the critics who say they have no business in this tournament after losing badly, for the third time this season, to Georgia, 28-7, in the SEC Championship Game. Oklahoma can also demonstrate that last month's 23-21 upset win in Alabama was no fluke.

However, the total is hovering between 39.5 and 40.5 points, which could make it the lowest yet for any CFP game. That's a reflection of how Oklahoma's offense has struggled in recent games, as things have never been quite the same since dual-threat quarterback John Mateer underwent thumb surgery in October. His passing yards have really fallen off, and he doesn't seem to be as much of a run threat as he was earlier this season. But on the bright side, Mateer threw for 318 yards in his last game against LSU, though it was just a 17-13 win in which he was intercepted three times, so maybe that's not the most positive outcome after all.

But Mateer will have to reconcile with the fact that Alabama held him to a season-low 138 passing yards a month ago. The Sooners won that game because they were 3-0 on the turnover battle, including an early pick-six that gave them a 10-0 lead. They were outgained by nearly 200 yards in that game, so Alabama's Ty Simpson showed he could throw the ball against this defense with his talented receivers, including Ryan Williams (45 yards on Nov. 15). But the Crimson Tide only managed a touchdown against Georgia, so it's already failed in one big rematch this year in the SEC.

We'll see if the Crimson Tide can rebound on the road and sweep a competent Oklahoma team that will look to keep the score down, as the offense hasn't generated more than 17 points in any of the last three games. Neither team ran the ball effectively last time, so it could come down to which former Heisman candidate this year delivers the best at quarterback.

Sunday| 8:20 PM ET | New England Patriots vs. Baltimore Ravens (-3, O/U 48)

The NFL made a good decision to flex this game into prime time on Sunday Night Football in Week 16. We get a chance to see Drake Maye in his third prime-time start of the season. He's coming off a game where he had a season-low 155 passing yards against the Bills, his first game under 200 yards, as the Patriots failed in their attempt to clinch the AFC East for the first time since 2019. The Patriots (11-3) ended their 10-game winning streak by blowing a 21-0 lead in the first half and a 24-7 halftime lead. The 35-31 final represents the first time all season the Patriots allowed more than 27 points in a game.

The Baltimore Ravens (7-7) have been all over the map this season with blown leads, blowout losses, close wins, and a 24-0 shutout win over Joe Burrow and the Bengals last week. You never quite know what you're going to get as these Ravens struggle to play complementary football. It seems that when the offense is great, the defense is terrible, as was the case early in the season before Lamar Jackson's hamstring injury. Then, when that happened, the offense tanked, but the defense got healthier and played better. Still, the Ravens have lost their last two home games to the Bengals and Steelers, so they're just not a reliable bet this year. In fact, the Ravens are 5-9 ATS, tied for the worst spread record in the 2025 season.

The Patriots are 3-0 ATS as a road underdog, a role that has usually served coach Mike Vrabel well, dating back to his days in Tennessee. However, the Patriots will need to demonstrate that they can play better on the road against a playoff-caliber team, rather than a bottom-dweller, as they have what is statistically the easiest schedule of any NFL team since 1999. That had a lot to do with the 10-game winning streak, as you may recall that the Patriots were favored in 11 different games this year when the schedule was released in May, despite finishing 4-13 the previous year. They're ahead of schedule, obviously, but they have to show they can beat teams like this.

Maye has never thrown for 300 yards in 26 NFL starts. He's also never led a fourth-quarter comeback, as he's 0-7 when he has the ball in a one-score game. But the Ravens are notorious for giving up career passing days to quarterbacks, and they've been known to blow some egregious multi-score leads under John Harbaugh and Lamar. Maybe Drake Maye can knock off both those things in this matchup with a 300-yard passing game and a comeback win as a road underdog to inch the Patriots closer to winning the AFC East.

But with the Ravens needing a win in these next two games against the Patriots and Packers to make sure Week 18 at Pittsburgh is meaningful for the AFC North, they need to show up for this one, too. That's what makes it a great matchup for both teams, and it should be appointment viewing for NFL Week 16.