College football's Week 2 exposed some ranked frauds out as Michigan and Notre Dame were clearly not worthy of being top 10. Northern Illinois became this week's feel-good story for beating the Irish in South Bend.
Texas and Tennessee painted the week orange with dominant performances that made it clear the Southeastern Conference isn't just a collision course for Georgia and Alabama to meet again in the league's title game.
From now until the end of regular season, I’ll take a look at the opening betting lines for college football games and come up with an early look at my favorite picks for the week. The numbers tend to fluctuate as the week progresses, sometimes quite rapidly, so best to lock in sooner than later.
Here’s a look at the fantastic four:
The way the Wildcats played in their 31-6 home loss to South Carolina , I was going to take the Bulldogs no matter how big the number.
Under coach Mark Stoops , UK is 4-7 against the spread (ATS) when facing Georgia. That breaks down to 2-3 in Lexington, 4-5 as double-digit underdogs and 2-1 as double-digit home underdogs.
It’s not a great spot for UK either because, although UGA has Alabama lined up as its next game, it has an off week before facing the Tide on Sept. 28.
There’ll be no looking ahead. But Georgia has won the last 13 in the series going back to the Cats’ 2009 win in Athens. The only way UK covers this spread is if the Dawgs look at their past history and don’t come to play.
The pick: Take the Dawgs.
So far in ACC versus SEC matchups, the SEC is 3-2 both straight up and ATS. (And yes, that includes California defending the pride of the ACC by pulling out a road win at Auburn .)
Boston College, which already boasts a road win at Florida State, will be the toughest opponent to date for the Tigers . Mizzou beat up on Murray State, 51-0, and Buffalo, 38-0, but the Eagles represent a bigger challenge.
New head coach Bill O’Brien has BC believing. Associated Press voters, too as the Eagles are newly ranked at No. 24 in the poll.
Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz is just 7-11 as a home favorite during his five seasons at the helm.
The pick: Take the Eagles.
The Sooners looked less than impressive with their 16-12 win over Houston last week. And the Green Wave ride into Norman sandwiched between OU’s SEC debut against Tennessee next week.
Houston outgained the Sooners' offense 318-249 in total yards. The Green Waves’ defense is better than the Cougars, so OU could be locked in another tight game.
It’s a great spot for Tulane, especially getting two touchdowns.
The Green Wave nearly pulled off an upset of No. 16 Kansas State , but essentially lost on a strip sack fumble returned for a touchdown. The thought is that they won’t be so unlucky at Oklahoma.
The pick: Ride the Green Wave.
This week features a lot of rivalry games including Oregon-Oregon State, Washington State-Washington and Colorado-Colorado State. The Backyard Brawl could be the best of them.
Because of conference realignment, and the two no longer being Big East foes, this game is just being played for the third time since 2012.
Pitt is riding high after an improbable road comeback after trailing Cincinnati 27-13 entering the fourth quarter. To the delight of some Louisville fans, the Scott Satterfield-led Bearcats coughed up 15 points as the Panthers rallied to win the game.
The Mountaineers under coach Neal Brown are just 2-5 ATS as road favorites.
The pick: Take the Panthers.
Last week wasn’t the best start ever as my picks went 2-3. The wins were Louisville and Texas. The losses were Kentucky, Colorado and the under in Tennessee-N.C. State.
Week 3 will be better.
Record last week: 2-3
Overall record: 2-3
Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com , follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter at profile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/cl-browns-latest to make sure you never miss one of his column s.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: C.L.'s college football Week 3 picks against the spread: Will Kentucky cover vs Georgia?
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