College Football Picks: Five Week 3 Picks Against the Spread

We look to keep the hot streak going on with our college football picks on “Stay Ahead Saturday.” Here are five Week 3 picks against the spread.

This week is important for many teams to keep the momentum they have built in the first two weeks going forward. With slow starts by Oklahoma and Clemson, some other top 10 teams have gotten ahead of where they thought they might be in the rankings this early in the year.

Teams like Houston and Ohio State have a great chance to stay ahead in the College Football Playoff talk as they play their first true road games. Ohio State (-2) will really have their hands full in Norman Saturday night. Second tier ranked teams like Georgia, Oregon and Texas A&M could stay ahead in the standings as they all look to go 3-0 this weekend with tough road tests.

The Maryland Terrapins can stay ahead of expectations as they look for their second straight victory in the state of Florida. I may still place a small wager on the Terps (-9), but it feels like they should only be giving up six points. Most importantly, this Saturday is an opportunity for us to stay ahead of the book.

If you have followed along the first two weeks, you have a bit of house money to play with. While John Q. Public is parlaying the favorite with the over on every team with ‘sick’ uniforms this weekend, we are going to bet smart and stay ahead.

Note: Winners are mark in bold

Florida State (-2) at Louisville – Noon

This game marks the first battle of top ten teams and the first time College Gameday will take place on a college campus this year. Lamar Jackson deserves all the hype surrounding his play over the first two weeks. He has tallied over 1,000 yards of offense already and has been absolutely electric. What I have noticed, however, is how free he is with the football. He switches hands in between the hash marks, lowers the ball to his hip with each stride and windmill dunks when he hurdles.

Demarcus Walker sacked Jackson five times last year in FSU’s 20 point win. I expect Walker and friends to punch, pull and poke that football enough to create some game changing turnovers. Opportunistic defense and ball control football from Dalvin Cook will help the Noles escape Louisville with the win.

Kansas at Memphis (-20) – Noon

Memphis has had an extra week to prepare for Kansas. Unless they go Knibb High and become dumber for having watched all that Jayhawk film, I think Memphis rolls big as Kansas hasn’t beaten an FBS opponent since November 2014.

More from The Baltimore Wire

Akron at Marshall (-16) – Noon

Akron lost all five starting offensive lineman from last year’s team and that inexperience will show against what has been an underrated and overshadowed Marshall defense. Marshall has an outside chance to be in the mix for the group of five bowl game.

In order to do so, they will need style points while they can get them. No better time to get those style points than this weekend at home where they have won 20 of their last 21 games.

San Diego State (-11) at Northern Illinois – 3:30 p.m.

Northern Illinois has given up over 40 points in both games this year to teams that aren’t on the same level as SDSU. The injury to starting quarterback Drew Hare will leave the Huskies having to rely on that questionable defense. Aztec running back Donnel Pumphrey, fresh off of breaking Marshall Faulk’s school career rushing record, is chomping at the bit to go against a defense that has already given up over 500 rushing yard on the young season. San Diego state wins by three scores.

Texas A&M (+4) at Auburn – 7:00 p.m.

Auburn struggled offensively in Week 1 and their defensive performance seems less impressive after Clemson failed to light up the score board against Troy. Gus Malzahn’s offense is simply better with a running quarterback. Myles Garret will be the first non-quarterback taken in next year’s draft. He will set the edge defensively for A&M and disrupt a lot of those misdirection plays in the backfield. Aggies quarterback Trevor Knight will take another step forward this week as they withstand the early frenzy at Jordan-Hare and pull away in the second half.

Obviously, staying ahead will involve staying hot by picking winners. But part of staying ahead is making that choice to live to fight another day. If Lamar Jackson makes me and the FSU defense look stupid and the other noon games aren’t kind to us, then lay off the late games if you aren’t comfortable.

Next: Maryland vs. UCF Score Prediction

We are going to be doing this all season long and we are just starting to get into conference play. You can’t stay ahead by falling behind, so don’t chase losses. And remember, you can’t go broke by taking a profit.

These picks are brought to you by Nick Larichiuta. You can find him on Twitter at @cudaball.

Home/Baltimore Sports