Sam Avellone
Going into Week 2, many said the college football slate would be boring. However, that didn’t exactly turn out to be the case. Arizona State and Florida headlined the ranked teams that were upset in dramatic fashion on Saturday, while other matchups like Baylor-SMU, Virginia-NC State, Kansas-Missouri, Texas State-UTSA and Boston College-Michigan State were thrilling to watch as a college football fun, much less a bettor. With more headline matchups in Week 3, we are in store for another great weekend of football — so make sure to check out our NCAA predictions for all of the hottest games of the week.
Last week wasn’t a kind way to start the year for this article series. We had Tulane -10 and we beat the late-week line move by 3.5 points, but the Green Wave blew a 33-17 fourth-quarter lead and ended up winning 33-31. It was probably a deserved result, as Tulane was out-gained and had 11 penalties despite just 1 turnover and winning the time-of-possession battle. Let’s hope for some better late-game luck this week.
Here are the early lines and odds for the biggest games of Week 3, capped off with my CFB best bet of the bunch.
College Football Week 3 opening lines
Odds available at Caesars Sportsbook at the time of publishing
- NC State -7 (-110) @ Wake Forest – Thursday, September 11
- Houston -4.5 (-110) vs Colorado – Friday, September 12
- Arizona -1 (-110) vs Kansas State – Friday, September 12
- Oregon -27.5 (-120) @ Northwestern – Saturday, September 13
- Clemson -4 (-110) @ Georgia Tech – Saturday, September 13
- Alabama -20.5 (-110) vs Wisconsin – Saturday, September 13
- Texas Tech -24 (-110) vs Oregon State – Saturday, September 13
- USC -21 (-110) @ Purdue – Saturday, September 13
- Pitt -5.5 (-110) @ West Virginia – Saturday, September 13
- Georgia -3.5 (-105) @ Tennessee – Saturday, September 13
- Miami -16.5 (-110) vs South Florida – Saturday, September 13
- Liberty -6.5 (-115) @ Bowling Green – Saturday, September 13
- Appalachian State -1 (-110) @ Southern Miss – Saturday, September 13
- Ole Miss -9 (-110) vs Arkansas – Saturday, September 13
- Ohio State -32.5 (-110) vs Ohio – Saturday, September 13
- East Carolina -7 (-110) @ Coastal Carolina – Saturday, September 13
- Notre Dame -6.5 (-110) vs Texas A&M – Saturday, September 13
- LSU -9.5 (-110) vs Florida – Saturday, September 13
- South Carolina -5.5 (-110) vs Vanderbilt – Saturday, September 13
- Tulane -3 (-110) vs Duke – Saturday, September 13
- Arizona State -14.5 (-110) vs Texas State – Saturday, September 13
- Minnesota -2.5 (-110) @ California – Saturday, September 13
- Boston College -11 (-110) @ Stanford – Saturday, September 13
CFB Early Week 3 Best Bet: Arizona Wildcats ML over Kansas State Wildcats (-115)
We won’t even have to wait until Saturday to get to this best bet, as the battle of the Big 12 Wildcats kicks off on Friday night from Tucson, Arizona. Because this home-and-home series was scheduled prior to when Arizona made the jump to the Big 12, this will be a non-conference game and will not impact the Big 12 standings. Kansas State won last year in Manhattan 31-7.
It’s hard to trust Kansas State right now. The Wildcats enter this contest following a 24-21 home loss to Army in which they were outgained by nearly 100 yards and had the ball for less than 20 minutes of game time. They allowed the Black Knights — who lost to an FCS opponent in Week 1 — to convert 10 of 22 third downs and control the ball for 40 minutes and 29 seconds of game time. While it was the first time KSU was out-gained this year, it was not the first time they put a head-scratching performance on the field. The Wildcats needed a late-game touchdown to beat one of their own FCS opponents at home in Week 1, that on the heels of cross-world travel following their ugly performance against Iowa State.
All of KSU’s early-season woes have been at home or a neutral-site location. This week the Wildcats will travel for a true road game for the first time this season. That’s not exactly a recipe for success for a team struggling to get stops and put points on the board consistently. Meanwhile, Arizona has dropped 40+ points in each of its first 2 games, albeit against inferior opponents, and will enjoy its third consecutive home game to start the year. The Tucson ‘Cats should benefit from a significant quarterback advantage in this one with a seasoned veteran in Noah Fifita, who seems to be much more comfortable in Brent Brennan’s system so far this year. KSU quarterback Avery Johnson has 7 turnover-worthy plays through 3 games — 6 of which were against North Dakota.
I power rate Arizona as a 2.5-point favorite in this game, and — based on the eye test — that may even be light given what we’ve seen from Kansas State to this point. With Arizona listed as a 1-point favorite at multiple books at the time of writing, it presents a cheap opportunity on a money line before a potential line move later in the week. Give me Arizona ML at anything -125 or better, and don’t be afraid to play up to -2 on the Tucson Wildcats.
