College Football betting odds: Week 3
By John Buhler
With many exciting games on the schedule, here are the spreads for all the college football action here in Week 3 of the 2016 NCAA season.
Week 3 of the 2016 college football season should be as exciting as the first two weeks of the season. ESPN’s College GameDay is going to Louisville, Kentucky for an ACC Atlantic showdown between the No. 2 Florida State Seminoles and the No. 10 Louisville Cardinals.
Week 2 didn’t see any two top-25 teams face off, but Week 3 features four such games. These matchups should be the pillar games for what should be another excellent fall Saturday. OddsShark.com has put out the earliest spreads of the Week 3 slate. Here are five of the most interesting lines on the slate for Saturday, September 17th.
No. 2 Florida State vs. No. 10 Louisville: Louisville +4.5
No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 19 Ole Miss: Ole Miss +9.5
No. 17 Texas A&M vs. Auburn: Auburn -4
No. 12 Michigan State vs. No. 18 Notre Dame: Notre Dame -7
No. 3 Ohio State vs. No. 14 Oklahoma: Oklahoma +2.5
Las Vegas is giving Louisville 4.5 points at home against a strong Florida State team. This 12:00 PM ET kickoff in Louisville should feature two of the most exciting young quarterbacks in the game. Florida State has captured lightning in a bottle with redshirt freshman Deondre Francois. Louisville’s Lamar Jackson has had a Heisman worthy September thus far.
The Alabama Crimson Tide will take their No. 1 overall ranking to Oxford, Mississippi to take on the 1-1 No. 19 ranked Ole Miss Rebels. While Ole Miss has defeated Alabama in the last two annual meetings between SEC West rivals, Alabama is a 9.5-point road favorite on the Rebels. Las Vegas thinks the Crimson Tide will blowout Ole Miss, but that is a lot of points the Rebels are getting at home in a huge rivalry game.
One of the odder lines on the slate this week is the No. 17 Texas A&M Aggies as a four-point road underdog to the unranked Auburn Tigers. The Tigers’ defense looks significantly improved under new defensive coordinator Kevin Steele. Auburn did blow out Arkansas State and kept its Week 1 loss to Clemson to single digits. Las Vegas seems to like Auburn’s defense more than the Aggies’ offense in this SEC West game.
While neither of these teams have been world beaters in the first two weeks, the No. 18 Notre Dame Fighting Irish are a touchdown favorite over the No. 12 Michigan State Spartans in South Bend. Perhaps this has to do with the Fighting Irish having the better quarterback in DeShone Kizer, but giving the Spartans seven points feels a bit too generous.
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The last game of interest to keep an eye on is the No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes traveling to Norman, Oklahoma to play the No. 14 Oklahoma Sooners. This is a must-win game for Oklahoma and frankly the Big 12. Oklahoma has already lost once this year to the Houston Cougars. The Sooners will be getting 2.5 points at home on Saturday to Urban Meyer’s Big Ten behemoth Buckeyes.