College Football Results Against The Spread Week 3 2017

College Football Results Against The Spread Week 3 2017

We had 51 FBS vs. FBS games in the third weekend of college football. 54 games were on the schedule, but Hurricane Irma wiped out another three of those games. The powers that be in college football have reshuffled some schedules to get some of these games in, but some others were sacrificed in order to do so. Oh well, better college football is better college football, right?

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I only ended up with 42 points in Pick Em last week, mostly thanks to South Carolina laying an egg at home.

Pistol was the leading scorer in the group last week with 50 points. Gamebreaker_boz took over the lead this week with a solid 48 points. I slipped to second place by five points.

Here we will recap my picks against the spread. The winner against the spread will be in BOLD. My result will follow. Let’s get to it!

In case you want to follow along:
Thursday-Friday
Early Saturday
Late Saturday

New Mexico at Boise State(-14.5): MISS! This isn’t last half point that would burn me this week. Cozart looked pretty solid in this one, but Boise’s lack of a consistent running game is a problem.

Illinois at South Florida(-17.5): MISS! Illinois is a hard team to bet this year. That defense has talent, but they don’t always play like it. The lack of an offense that can give them a break hurts too.

Massachusetts at Temple(-14.5): HIT! This is the best that the UMass offense has looked so far. Of course, that isn’t saying much….

Arizona(-22.5) at UTEP: HIT! This was the greatest show to hit El Paso in quite some time. Can Arizona do it against a real team though?

Air Force at Michigan(-23.5): HIT! This offense will never be where it needs to be with Wilton Speight under center. That is why graduate transfer Jake Rudock started last year, and why there was an open quarterback race this summer in Ann Arbor. Unfortunately for Michigan fans, he seems to be the best they have. It wont be good enough when they finally face a good team.

Oklahoma State(-12.5) at Pittsburgh: HIT! Told you that Oklahoma State offense was good. It is likely the best unit in he conference. Yes, even better than the Oklahoma one that had their way with the Ohio State secondary.

UCLA(-3.5) at Memphis: MISS! Do you think that Power Five teams are going to quit going to Memphis now? Last year they took out Ole Miss. Now it’s UCLA. This was sure a fun game to watch. Unless you like defense……

Northern Illinois at Nebraska(-12.5): MISS! I knew better. This is the worst I have seen a Nebraska line play in at least ten years, and even longer than that for the defensive front. They got pushed around by Northern Illinois the entire game, and Tanner Lee continued to make terrible decisions. Of course, it would help if he weren’t running for his life every play.

Louisiana at Texas A&M(-23.5): HIT! This was looking like a really bad pick until the Aggies rattled off 31 unanswered in the second half.

Kansas at Ohio(-7.5): HIT! This game was closer than I thought it would be. The Kansas offense had a nice fourth quarter after the Bobcats let off the gas, so there’s that if you’re a KU fan.

Iowa State(-10.5) at Akron: HIT! The Cyclones proved that their performance last week wasn’t a fluke. Perhaps the most impressive thing was that they did it with a pedestrian game from Allen Lazard.

Connecticut at Virginia(-10.5): HIT! Kurt Benkert had his finest game as a Cav, and gave this team hope heading into the ACC season. Of course, most defenses they face will be better than UConn’s.

Baylor at Duke(-14.5): MISS! Luckily when I placed my actual bet, I got this as -14. Baylor’s offense finally showed signs of life. They also had a playmaker emerge at receiver. However, that defense still makes even casual football fans nauseous.

Coastal Carolina(-1.5) at UAB: HIT! UAB did a nice job of recruiting players when bringing the football program back. This was a fun game to watch. Coastal Carolina could have a really good team in the next couple of years.

Utah State at Wake Forest(-11.5): HIT! The ACC looks better in the middle than any of the other power five conferences. The top looks pretty good too. The ACC was the best of the bowls last year, and they seem to be picking up where they left off.

Wisconsin(-16.5) at BYU: HIT! This was a huge statement game for Wisconsin in that Alex Hornibrook didn’t just provide a break for James Taylor. Hornibrook made some great throws in this one, and proved that he can be much more than a game manager. If he really did turn the corner here, the Badgers are a serious playoff threat.

Virginia Tech at East Carolina: HIT! Wow! ECU looked like they were going to run off with this one, and held a nice 17-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. Virginia Tech scored a cool half a hundred over the next two quarters while blanking the Pirates. This was the most points Tech has scored in a game since 1995 against Akron. Freshman Josh Jackson threw for five touchdowns in his one as the Hokies established themselves as a force in the ACC.

SMU at TCU(-19.5): MISS! Downed by another half point already. I see where this is going. I’m losing way too many by half points….

Tennessee at Florida(-4.5): HIT! Wow, Florida does have an offense! Can you imagine where teh Gators would be if they had any consistency in that offense? The defense is first class. The offense is just awful most of the time.

Central Michigan at Syracuse(-10.5): MISS! Ouch. There isn’t much more to say here. Syracuse was clearly the far better team.

North Carolina(-10.5) at Old Dominion: MISS! I guess North Carolina still has a pulse on defense. I was worried for a minute there.

Notre Dame(-13.5) at Boston College: HIT! The Irish needed a game like this before the schedule gets tougher. Brandon Wimbush racked up a school record 207 rushing yards by a quarterback. Think about the good running quarterbacks that the Irish have had in the last dozen years or so. Wimbush outdid all of them!

Middle Tennessee State at Minnesota(-10.5): HIT! The Gopher D is just as good as last year without all of the targeting penalties.

North Texas at Iowa(-21.5): MISS! Iowa scored 21 unanswered in the second half and still couldn’t cover this. The question here is was the injury to Akrum Wadley for real, or was it just harsh punishment for him high-stepping into the end zone from the ten yard line? He looked fine while doing that!

Purdue at Missouri(-7.5): HIT! If you have read this at all this year, you know I’m a believer in what is going on in West Lafayette. However, I never would have guessed they would waltz into Faurot Field and stomp Missouri. Want proof that this is for real from the Boilermakers? This was the first time they had held a FBS opponent without a touchdown in ten years!

Army at Ohio State(-30.5): HIT! Ohio State still looked uninspired for most of this game. They needed the 21 unanswered second half points to barely cover this line.

Oregon State at Washington State(-20.5): HIT! The Cougars have managed to avoid the upset loss that has plagued them early in the season since Mike Leach took over. This team has playmakers on both sides of the ball, and I think Pullman finally gets College GameDay at some point this year. My guess is it happens before the end of the month when USC comes to town.

Tulane at Oklahoma(-35.5): MISS! This looked like a good pick in the first half, then Oklahoma realized that you can drop in the polls for a bad game nowadays.

Kent State at Marshall(-14.5): HIT! I figured that was too many points, but I didn’t think that Marshall would get shut out at home!

Colorado State at Alabama(-28.5): MISS! Alabama almost looked as bored as their coach in this one. I should know better than to take the Tide in big lines, but I keep doing it anyway…..

LSU(-7.5) at Mississippi State: MISS! So much for the relentless and unforgiving defense. They were in the first quarter, I guess…..

Southern Mississippi(-6.5) at Louisiana-Monroe: HIT! Okay, so maybe the Eagles aren’t better than Memphis, but they are better than the betting lines are giving them credit for. Will that change this week?

Louisiana Tech at Western Kentucky(-6.5): MISS! How about this one? These two teams combined for just 45 points. They were over that combined at halftime in both of the games last year.

Oregon(-14.5) at Wyoming: HIT! It’s weird seeing Oregon with a defense. Brandon Allen, who is supposed to be one of the best pro prospects, was 2-11 at one point in this game.

Idaho at Western Michigan(-21.5): MISS! Idaho burns me again! How do you get embarrassed by UNLV at home, and play the Broncos tough in Kalamazoo? How?

Tulsa at Toledo(-8.5): HIT! Wow, if you thought UCLA-Memphis was a fun one, you should have watched this! Tulsa’s defense is awful, but their offense sure makes watching them fun. There were 104 combined points in this one! If you want your quarterback to look like a Heisman contender, schedule Tulsa. Mason Rudolph lit them up. Logan Woodside toosed a cool six touchdowns for the Rockets in this one!

Appalachian State(-22.5) at Texas State: MISS! I knew this was too many…..

Georgia State at Penn State(-35.5): HIT! I should get extra points for this since I predicted the Panthers would be shut out.

Kansas State(-3.5) at Vanderbilt: MISS!  This was one of the better defensive performances that I have seen this year. Vanderbilt made a solid veteran quarterback look like a doe in headlights. Derek Mason has a good thing going there in Nashville.

Kentucky at South Carolina(-5.5): MISS! Kentucky sure has Cocky’s number. That is four straight for the Wildcats in this series. They would be dangerous if they could actually beat another SEC team besides the Gamecocks.

Bowling Green at Northwestern(-21.5): MISS! Where did that come from???

Clemson(-2.5) at Louisville: HIT! This was almost too easy. For a split second, almost felt bad for collecting my winnings on this. Almost.

Rice at Houston(-22.5): HIT! Houston’s dominance in this series continues. I want to see Houston play A&M for the true title of kings of southeast Texas.

Troy(-7.5) at New Mexico State: HIT! The Aggies busted another spread, largely because of Tyler Rogers. Moral victories still count for the Aggies, as do spread wins. In that category, they are 3-0!

Cincinnati at Miami(OH)(-4.5): HIT! Okay, so Cincinnati needed a big time pick six to win this game, but in all fairness, the Redhawks wouldn’t have covered anyway.

Arizona State at Texas Tech(-7.5): MISS! Another high point bet lost on a half. At least I pushed when I got the actual line at -7.

Texas at USC(-15.5): MISS! I opined in my pick em article last week that Texas may make this close. I should have listened to my own advice. I knew this was too many.

Fresno State at Washington(-32.5): MISS! And Washington won by………32 points. Figures!

San Jose State at Utah(-26.5): MISS! Well, there is that Utah offensive awakening I was looking for…..

Stanford(-7.5) at San Diego State: HIT! I should have put more on this. After all, I did end up betting the game.

Mississippi(-3.5) at California: MISS! And that is why we put more stock into teams that have shown something so far this year. This is a big win for Cal, and it shows that it’s going to be a long season for the Rebels.

I was a little worse this week, going 28-23 against the spread. Any week over 50% can be considered a good week. That puts my season total at 76-65. Did I gain some pionts along with it? Let’s find out!

This week’s totals follow the number. The season totals are in parentheses.

1. 5-4 (10-12) = -2
2. 10-6 (25-21) = 8
3. 9-6 (26-15) = 33
4. 2-4 (8-11) = -12
5. 2-3 (7-6) = 5

I only gained five points this week to put my season total at 32. I am still down 11 points since I started doing the point system at the start of the 2015 season. That can be fixed with another strong week like this!

Next: ESPN College Pick Em Picks Week 4 2017

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