College football Week 4: Teams to buy, sell

We're diving into which teams are too low or too high in the betting markets ahead of each weekend.

Here's what we're seeing leading up to Week 4:

Buy: TCU

Week 4: -9.5 vs. SMU

College football is better when TCU is good. Luckily, head coach Gary Patterson's 2019 squad is ridiculously talented, one year after struggling with an injury-riddled roster and spotty quarterback play. The jury's still out on the latter - the Horned Frogs haven't been great at passing the ball - but a team can overcome that with a solid running game and star-studded defense. TCU has both.

The Week 4 opponent, SMU, is likely at the peak of its value. The Mustangs have beaten up on three mid-majors and head into Saturday undefeated. Though the offense has moved the ball at will behind former Texas quarterback Shane Buechele, expect another lights-out performance from TCU's defense in what will be its opponent's first true test.

Buy: Ohio

Week 4: -3 vs. Louisiana-Lafayette

Barring some sort of atypical early-season hangover, Ohio should find its footing in Week 4 and beyond. An offense that wants to run the ball drew two stout rushing defenses in Pitt and Marshall the last two weeks, which both came as losses for head coach Frank Solich. Following those back-to-back road games, Ohio heads home to meet Louisiana-Lafayette. The Ragin' Cajuns are in the bottom half of the nation in rush defense, which is particularly interesting considering they've played three opponents that like to air it out. This could be the game in which Ohio gets back on track. Solich-led teams typically don't stay down for too long, making Week 4 a good time to buy the Bobcats.

Buy: Ball State

Week 4: +19 at NC State

Ball State has looked mighty good in a couple of losses. In the opener against Indiana, the Cardinals posted roughly 400 yards on a Big Ten defense in a 10-point defeat; this past Saturday, they put up 471 and had every chance to beat Florida Atlantic but made three costly turnovers in FAU territory. Needless to say, Ball State hasn't had much luck this season.

North Carolina State is in somewhat of a rebuilding year under head coach Dave Doeren. The offense replaced a ton of production from last season and the team failed its first legitimate test of the season last week in a 17-point loss to West Virginia. This line for Week 4 feels a tad steep.

Sell: Syracuse

Week 4: -6.5 vs. Western Michigan

If you can't be a good college football team, at least be fun. Syracuse is neither. In the blink of an eye, the program morphed from overachieving spoiler to underachieving disappointment. Not once this season have the Orange looked good. The offense struggled against Liberty in the opener, the defense was steamrolled by Maryland in Week 2, and neither side of the ball had an answer for Clemson this past weekend. Don't get cute in thinking the Orange are a good buy-low candidate at this point. If they couldn't get up for a home game against a national title contender, they won't for a matinee against a MAC squad.

Sell: Georgia State

Week 4: +3.5 vs. Texas State

Georgia State could go the rest of the season without a win and the program would likely still consider 2019 to be a success. The Panthers' claim to fame was upsetting SEC affiliate Tennessee in the opener. However, it feels like Georgia State has taken its foot off the pedal.

The Panthers followed their upset win by allowing more than 500 yards of offense in a narrow six-point win over Furman, and are coming off a 47-point loss to Western Michigan in which they allowed more than 300 yards on the ground. Georgia State may not even care about what happens for the rest of the season after netting that win over the Volunteers.

Sell: BYU

Week 4: +5.5 vs. Washington

I'll tip my cap to BYU if it can pull off another upset. One week after completing a remarkable comeback win in overtime on the road at Tennessee, the Cougars doubled down and beat USC in OT as 4.5-point 'dogs in Provo this past Saturday. The next challenge in their 2019 gauntlet is Washington at home. And though most of the trends favor BYU in this spot, I'd sell a trendy underdog coming off back-to-back overtime games.

Alex Kolodziej is a betting writer for theScore. He's a graduate of Eastern Illinois who has been involved in the sports betting industry for 12 years. He can quote every line from "Rounders" and appreciates franchises that regularly wear alternate jerseys. Find him on Twitter @AlexKoIodziej.