That was an old-fashioned drubbing last week. I couldn’t buy a win in college football. Thankfully the NFL saved me during the weekend, but I would appreciate if the teams I pick in college wouldn’t hit me over the head continuously with bad beats.
But it’s another week and college football is beginning to show more clarity than in the first two weeks. Finally, Saturdays are featuring good teams squaring off against each other, eliminating many of the big spreads that haunted me last week.
Here’s the week 3 college football best bets edition, hopefully loaded with far less bad beats than week 2.
Last Week: 1-5 ATS
Season: 5-7 ATS
Texas A&M at Auburn (-3.5)
It’s time for me to be right about Auburn. I was all over the Tigers before the season, so now’s the time for Gus Malzahn and the crew to prove me right.
It wasn’t hard to predict Auburn in week 1 against Clemson. It’s tough to come back from a national championship game appearance and have all the hype surrounding your season. Alabama can handle it. The rest of the country (see Ohio State last year and Florida State two years ago) can’t.
But this is a different game, and so far, the Aggies have done a lot to impress me. An opening week win against UCLA surprised me, and they followed it up with a dominating performance against Prairie View A&M last week.
Auburn, meanwhile, shook off the opening week loss and did what it had to do in dominating Arkansas State. Who would have thought a few years ago that these teams would feature better defenses than offenses? That’s what we’ll see this week and I’m taking the home team. — Go Chalk with Auburn
UCLA (-3) at BYU
Did you watch last week’s game featuring Utah and BYU? If not, you missed a snapshot from the past, with so much hard-hitting that BYU’s best defensive back is out for the first half of this game.
That poses a major problem with Josh Rosen as the opposing quarterback.
I like teams that challenge themselves in the early going, but BYU has likely gone too far. This is the third consecutive game in which it will play a top-tier Pac-12 team. And after last week against one of the hardest-hitting teams in the nation, I’m not sure the Cougars have anything left against the Bruins.
I haven’t been as impressed with UCLA as I thought I would have been this season, but there’s still time to get better. The Bruins take advantage of an exhausted BYU squad and cover the three points. — Go Chalk with UCLA
Pittsburgh (+6) at Oklahoma State
I wasn’t high on Oklahoma State entering the season. After last week’s ridiculous loss against Central Michigan, I don’t see the Cowboys having enough in the tank to come back this week against a good Pittsburgh squad.
It’s tough for college kids to bounce back from losses. It’s even tougher to come back from a loss that shouldn’t have happened. The Cowboys just don’t seem as in sync as last season. That poses not only a problem for this week, but for the duration of the season.
And what hurts in this matchup is that the Panthers are showing me more than in the past. Forget about Penn State’s comeback last week. Pittsburgh displayed an ability to move the ball at will. That hasn’t been the case in the past.
The defense also looked competent until Penn State got desperate, making a major comeback until falling just short. The Panthers are much improved and the Cowboys are taking a step back from last year’s surprising season. — Go Against The Chalk with Pittsburgh
Bonus Bets
Georgia (-7) at Missouri — This could be a low-scoring affair, but I’m not sure if the Tigers can score double-digits against a Kirby Smart defense. The Bulldogs will struggle at times this season, but they’re far superior to the Tigers. — Go Chalk with Georgia
Boston College (+6) at Virginia Tech — Boston College has a good enough defense that it should frustrate the Hokies. Virginia Tech has a major letdown after last week’s showdown with Tennessee. — Go Against The Chalk with Boston College
Vanderbilt at Georgia Tech (-6.5) — Georgia Tech is a better team than last year and will show that improvement against Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt will compete for a half, but the Yellow Jackets will pull away behind a strong running game in the second half.
