2024 College Football picks Week 14: Fade UCLA, back Penn State to cover

It's almost over, friends. The end of the 2024 college football regular season is on the horizon.

Good thing we have a 12-team playoff this year to keep it interesting.

Before we head into the thrilling conference games next week and then the College Football, I've got some wagers that I'm hoping will win us all some money.

Let's check out my best bets for college football Week 14.

(All times ET)

SATURDAY, NOV. 30 

Fresno State @ UCLA (3:30 p.m., BTN)

One angle that I like to play in the final week of the regular season is fading a team off a rivalry loss that has nothing to play for on Thanksgiving weekend. 

UCLA started the season 1-5, then won three straight games before losing to Washington and USC in its last two games. The Bruins went from having a disastrous start to the Deshaun Foster Era, to turning the corner with road wins at Rutgers and Nebraska, to possibly playing in a bowl game, back to things not going so well. 

After not being able to score against USC last weekend, UCLA is no longer bowl eligible and there’s nothing left to play for this weekend. 

The older players are already making plans for the NFL Combine and the players who want to transfer are planning their exit. 

Enter Fresno State, a Mountain West team that's bowl eligible after a huge upset win against Colorado State last weekend.

I’m from Southern California and grew up a UCLA fan. I know the ecosystem of California college football well. When a Group of Five team (Fresno State, San Jose State) plays UCLA, USC, Cal or Stanford (and even Oregon), athletes on those teams have vengeance on their minds. 

They were most likely passed over by the four major California schools in recruiting and ended up at Fresno State. They want to beat