The Slate: College Football’s Change Reflected In Week 3 Picks
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Welcome to The Slate, your home for college football picks at NESN.com. Here you can find our best bets to follow across each time slot on (mostly) Saturdays in the fall. Let’s keep it pushing with Week 3.
We don’t want to jinx it or anything, but some are saying we’ve found ourselves in a groove.
If you’ve been following our picks throughout the season you’d know that we have surpassed the .500 mark for the very first time this season, with a 3-1 record in Week 2 giving us plenty to feel comfortable about. Getting on a winning track was a nice change of pace, and happens to be perfectly representative of our slate this weekend.
If you’ve followed college football throughout the offseason, you know how much talk there’s been about change in the sport. If it’s not conference realignment people are complaining about, it’s NIL endorsements or new transfer rules. In fact, the four games we’ll be making picks on will be played by two teams at the forefront of the realignment, and five transfer quarterbacks. The times are changing in college football, and so are our betting fortunes.
Here are your Week 3 picks, with all odds coming from DraftKings Sportsbook.
UTSA (-8.5) vs. Army
(Friday, 7 p.m. ET on ESPN)
The UTSA Roadrunners have been one of the most consistent teams in college football over the past two seasons, winning 23 games and making their first two appearances in the AP Poll. Army hasn’t quite been as consistent, winning just six games last season.
There are going to be a ton of people on the Black Knights this week after they put up 57 points last weekend, but that came against a school called Delaware State.
No, we’ve never heard of it, either.
We’re going to roll with the Roadrunners in this one, with a home game at the Alamodome being just what they need to run all over Jeff Monken’s squad. UTSA quarterback Frank Harris has been at the school for seven seasons and owns 30 school records, expect him to put together a big-time performance here in his fourth matchup with Army.
The Pick: UTSA -8.5
The Slate
Mississippi State vs. LSU (-9.5)
(Saturday, 12 p.m. ET on ESPN)
Don’t let LSU’s horrid performance against Florida State two weeks ago fool you — they (probably) aren’t that bad.
SEC play opens up this week and it is paramount the Tigers get off to a hot start if they hope to make the College Football Playoff. We expect a big win in this one.
The Pick: LSU -9.5
Oregon State (-24.5) vs. San Diego State
(Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1)
It’s hard to get a great read on the current Pac-12 schools, even though most of them will call another conference home in 2024.
There’s one thing that will forever remain true about schools out on the West Coast, however, and that is the fact that they’re going to score a ton of points. Oregon State is one of the few schools that isn’t currently slated to leave the Pac-12, while San Diego State remains a wild card and could end up joining the conference.
We respect the (soon-to-be-dead) conference so much that we’re all in on the Over.
The Pick: Over 48.5
Florida vs. Tennessee (-6.5)
(Saturday, 7 p.m. ET on ESPN)
This game is the living embodiment of how the new transfer rule does and doesn’t work.
Tennessee has used the portal to its advantage, landing star QB Joe Milton, wideout Bru McCoy, left tackle John Campbell and defensive tackle Omar Norman-Lott. Florida has landed … QB Graham Mertz.
We like the new rules, so out of principle let’s take the Vols. They also happen to be one of the best teams in the country, so there’s that too.
The Pick: Tennessee -6.5
Season Record: 6-5-0
