Week 3 College Football Best Bets

Henry Porter

Western Kentucky +7.5 @ Indiana

I have been bitten by Indiana so far this season as I bet Illinois to beat them and for the Hoosiers to cover against Idaho, neither of which happened. So I’m hoping for some revenge this week with the Hilltoppers coming to town. Western Kentucky had the week off to prepare for this matchup and although they may not be as explosive as last year, I think they have enough to score with Indiana. Indiana needed a dominant third quarter last week to take down the Vandals, and I think Western Kentucky is coming into this game with the mindset that they are going to win. Hilltoppers

cover but fall to the Hoosiers, 35-31.

Ole Miss -14.5 @ Georgia Tech

This line has already moved to -16, and rightfully so. Ole Miss has kind of eased into the season with wins over Troy and Central Arkansas while starting different quarterbacks in each game. Jaxson Dart is the likely starter for this game and I expect Lane Kiffin to turn it up a bit heading into conference play. We know that the Rebels can score and they are going up against a Georgia Tech team that was out-gained by the mighty Catamounts of FCS Western Carolina in their 35-17 victory last week. I can see the Yellow Jackets hanging around similar to what they did against Clemson, but Ole Miss will win this game convincingly. Give me the Rebels to cover in a 42-20 win.

Vanderbilt/Northern Illinois over 58

Despite their 20 point loss to Wake Forest last week, Vanderbilt is starting to crawl their way out of the basement of the worst teams in the country. Commodore fans know this could very well be their last chance for a win this season, so I expect Clark Lea to have his guys ready. Vandy has the ability to put up points on sub-par defenses and NIU has given up 65 points to Eastern Illinois and Tulsa. Vanderbilt QB Mike Wright doesn’t have the best arm but he is one of the more mobile quarterbacks in the country and I expect him to have a big day on the ground. Northern Illinois can score as well with former Michigan State quarterback Rocky Lombardi leading the way. The Vanderbilt defense is not strong and is live to give up big plays. Keep in mind that the over has hit in every game these two teams have played this season. The winner of this game is too close to call for me but I like both teams to score in the 30’s and cash this over.

Peter Cornell

Troy +12.5 @ Appalachian State

App St is coming off probably the 2nd biggest win in its program’s history with the road W @ Texas A&M. College Gameday is rolling into town with a sold-out crowd expected for this sun belt tilt. I don’t think I can imagine there possibly being more distractions for this App St team. The defense has proven vulnerable this year with the 63 points given up to North Carolina. Trey Cobb, starting middle linebacker and best player on this defense got hurt last week and is questionable which hurts tremendously. I have never been a believer in Chase Brice and have thought him to be highly overrated ever since he led that comeback win for Clemson against Syracuse. Give me Troy against a distracted App St team.

Charlotte/Georgia State over 61.5

This handicap couldn’t be clearer. The Charlotte defense might be one of the worst defenses ever put onto a college D1 field. They have given up points and yards at a massive clip. The offense will hopefully have 6th year senior Chris Reynolds back at quarterback this weekend to help try and keep this Charlotte offense on pace with what the defense will give up. Georgia State can run the football very effectively and will look for play action resulting in big chunk throws when the defense tries to stop that solid run game. I expect a lot of points in this one, take the over.

Fresno State +12 @ USC

USC has proven that its offense is one of the best in the county behind Caleb Williams and Lincoln Riley. However, I don’t believe the Trojan defense is anything better than average at best. This will be the biggest test of the year to this point for the Trojan defense coming from the Fresno offense. Senior Jake Haener leads this potent offense with his massive arm. Haener also has a very good complement in the run game with Senior Jordan Mims. I look for the Fresno offense to keep up its 520 YPG average against this average USC defense to stay close enough in this one to cover the spread. Fresno won outright at UCLA last year, call me crazy but I could possibly see it happening here. Give me Fresno +12 and sprinkle a little on the ML.

Roger Murdock

UTSA +12.5 @ Texas

Letdown & sell-high spot for Texas after a great performance last week. Question marks at QB after the Ewers injury. Roadrunners should probably be 2-0 right now and come in with great offensive metrics and I expect the scoring to come around soon. Meanwhile, Texas has relied on big plays that might not be there without Ewers.

Fresno State +12.5 @ USC

USC is getting a lot of hype due to Lincoln Riley’s new offense, but they have had some turnover luck by forcing 8 turnovers against bad opponents (Stanford & Rice). Other than the turnovers, this looks like a classic Lincoln Riley defense. Fresno will be the biggest challenge USC has faced thus far, and they has only turned it over once in 2 games. If Fresno can take care of the ball, they can keep this close. 12.5 points is a good backdoor opportunity against a bad USC defense.

Wake Forest Team Total over 40

With the return of Sam Hartman, this offense is back to being one of the best in the country. Wake put up 45 points in a downpour against Vanderbilt last week. The only way to disrupt this offense is to blow up the line of scrimmage, and Liberty’s defensive line isn’t good enough to do that. Wouldn’t be shocked if this hit early in the 3rd quarter.