Today's early best bets to target: Thursday's top sports picks for Patriots-Jets, West Virginia-Pitt, more – CBS Sports

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With action in the NFL, NBA, NHL, college football and college basketball, there is no shortage of online sports betting options on Thursday. For early best bets today, we’ll focus in on two college basketball matchups before checking in on Patriots vs. Jets on Thursday Night Football. South Alabama vs. Central Michigan tips off at 11 a.m. ET in St. Petersburg, FL and SportsLine college basketball handicapper Matt Severance is all over South Alabama money line (-185) in this one. Then the SportsLine Projection Model has a pick from the hoops edition of the Backyard Brawl, with West Virginia vs. Pitt tipping at 6 p.m. ET, and top NFL expert Larry Hartstein delivers his pick for Jets vs. Patriots.
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Whether you’re looking into NFL betting, college basketball betting, or anything else on the Thursday sports schedule, there are a number of online sports betting options, and our team can help point you in the right direction. Our computer model and experts will weigh in on all of the biggest events every day, and they’re offering their top sports betting picks right now.
Combining these three picks into a Wednesday parlay at FanDuel would result in a payout of +443 (risk $100 to win $443). Bet it at FanDuel here:
Thursday college basketball best bets 
“This feels low. I am familiar with the Chips, who just lost by 31 at Bradley last time out. USA is 3-0 and already beat a better MAC team in Toledo,” Severance said. “Neutral sites/mornings can always go sideways, but there’s no doubt in my mind that South Alabama is the much better team.”
A first-round conference tournament loss kept West Virginia out of the NCAA Tournament and then Darian DeVries bolted after one season for Indiana. Meanwhile, Pitt faded after a strong start and wound up missing out too. However, Jeff Capel is back after piling up 63 wins over the last three seasons and the Panthers are off to a 3-0 start (as is WVU). Pitt has won two of three in this rivalry and covered the spread in three of four. The model says it covers in 68% of simulations on Thursday.
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“The Jets used two kick-return touchdowns to beat Cleveland. They averaged 3.6 yards per play. Now they face a New England defense giving up 3.5 yards per carry at home,” Hartstein said. “That will force Justin Fields to produce, and he won’t have Garrett Wilson to throw to. Look for the undermanned and tired Jets’ defense — which was on the field for 70 plays vs. the Browns, giving up 23 first downs — to wear down on a short week and give up 27-plus points.”
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