College football games to watch, best bets for Week 3
Here are three games to watch Saturday and three best bets for college football Week 3.
Games to watch
Louisiana State at Auburn (-10)
The Tigers are a lock to cover this one.
The Auburn Tigers opened as a 9-point favorite over the LSU Tigers, and the line has climbed as high as 10½ at some Las Vegas sports books. Auburn beat Washington 21-16 in the season opener, and LSU whipped Miami 33-17.
“Auburn’s in a different class than LSU,” Westgate sports book manager Ed Salmons said. “I think LSU has a false rating from the one game.”
The home team has won and covered the last four meetings, and LSU has covered one of its past nine games (1-7-1 ATS) at Auburn.
Ohio State (-12½) vs. Texas Christian, at Arlington, Texas
The final game of coach Urban Meyer’s three-game suspension should be the toughest test yet for the Buckeyes, who were as high as 13½-point favorites.
“It’s a big number. I could see TCU keeping the game somewhat competitive. If I had a leaning, it would be to the ’dog,” Salmons said. “It’s the kind of game Ohio State wants to make sure it doesn’t lose. If they won by seven, they’d be happy to get out of town with a win.”
The Buckeyes beat Oregon State and Rutgers by a combined score of 129-34, and the Horned Frogs whipped Southern and Southern Methodist by a combined score of 97-19.
“We know how good Ohio State is, but we don’t know how good TCU is,” William Hill sports book director Nick Bogdanovich said. “The one million dollar question is does TCU have enough to compete with them. They usually do. But they’re breaking in a new quarterback (Shawn Robinson), and he’s looked mediocre at best.
“I know we’ll need TCU.”
Washington (-5) at Utah
The Huskies are favored by 5 or 5½ points at Las Vegas sports books after the line opened at 6½. The Utes have covered the last three meetings and are 45-19-2 ATS in their past 66 games as underdogs.
“It’s the late night, get out game,” Bogdanovich said. “I think the ’dog’s live.”
So does Salmons.
“I expect Utah to give them everything they’ve got,” he said. “Utah’s really good defensively. I think it will be fairly close.
“It’s always tough playing at Utah in the elevation. Utah has an amazing home-field advantage there.”
Best bets
PURDUE (+6) over Missouri
The Tigers opened as 7-point favorites in their first road game of the season. The Boilermakers, who crushed Missouri 35-3 last season, have started with two close losses at home to Northwestern and Eastern Michigan.
“I think Purdue is going to beat Missouri straight up,” Salmons said. “I like (Boilermakers coach Jeff) Brohm a lot. They’ve struggled a little, but they really need to win this game.”
Boise State (+2½) over OKLAHOMA STATE
This line opened at 3 and is down to 1½ at some spots. The Broncos have arguably their best team since the Chris Petersen glory years and are on a 14-5 spread streak on the road. Taylor Cornelius has replaced Mason Rudolph as Cowboys quarterback.
“I think Boise’s the better team and wins the game,” Salmons said.
Syracuse (+3) over Florida State
This line opened at 4. The Seminoles are 0-2 ATS this season and on an extended 4-9-2 spread slide. They needed two late touchdowns last week to beat FCS school Samford.
“Not Stanford. But Samford,” Salmons said. “Florida State is just so bad this year. You try to give them credit because they’re Florida State, but this is unbelievable.
“(The Carrier Dome) is a tough stadium to play in, and the way Florida State is playing, Syracuse should score a lot of points on them. Just based on what we’ve seen this year, you have to think Syracuse should win this game.”
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Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.