Good morning, Pickswise Nation, and welcome to another fantastic Friday of sports. NFL Week 5 began in high-scoring fashion last night and we have college football action today and time to prepare for the MLB divisional-round games which start tomorrow, so let’s get straight to making your next bet better.

About Last Night

• The Bears are back! Chicago snapped its 14-game NFL losing streak with a convincing 40-20 win over the Washington Commanders on Thursday Night Football. They are still only +3000 to win the NFC North, but that’s better than the Commanders, who are +3800 in the NFC East after losing their third straight game. DJ Moore, one of our TD scorer picks at +225 odds, scored 3 times for the Bears and had 230 receiving yards.
• Liberty failed to cover a double-digit spread with a 21-16 win over Sam Houston in last night’s college football action, but Western Kentucky just held on to cover in a 35-28 win over Louisiana Tech despite not scoring in the second half.

Today’s Slate

• We have a couple of interesting games under the Friday night lights with Kansas State vs Oklahoma State at 7:30 pm ET on ESPN and Nebraska vs Illinois at 8:00 pm ET on FS1. You can read all our NCAAF predictions for the Week 5 games.

Best Bet of the Day 

NCAAF: Nebraska Cornhuskers +3.5 over Illinois Fighting Illini (-110)
8:00 pm ET, FS1

Both these teams are 2-3 and oddsmakers expect a low-scoring slugfest. Playing at home is helpful for Illinois, but Matt Rhule’s trench-oriented, defensively-focused scheme is probably perfect for the Huskers and they are starting to find some identity on offense. The offense seems to work a little better with dual-threat QB Heinrich Haarberg at the helm. This game could easily be decided by just a field goal, so the Huskers and the points could be the smart play. Read our full Nebraska vs Illinois predictions

Stat of the Day

The Kansas State Wildcats are 7-2 against the spread and straight up in their last 9 games.

Quote of the Day 

“Get the ball to DJ, man”

— Wide receiver Darnell Mooney may just have hit on a plan that could work for the Bears.