Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Condon: Best Bets for Week 3
Welcome to Week 3 of the college football season. Last week it was a struggle as I went 2-3 against the spread. Love the slate of games coming up this week. Overall, I have 15 games circled. Let’s find my 5 best bets:
Western Michigan (+14.5) @ Pittsburgh 11:00 am CT, FSN
Pat Narduzzi and his Pitt Panthers were outstanding last week in the road victory over Tennessee. The offense was humming and they found just enough defense. Now they come back into a sleepy spot against Western Michigan. WMU has been efficient in both red zone offense and 3rd down efficiency. Pitt doesn’t have a normal high end defense and a letdown is expected.
The Pick: Western Michigan (+14.5)
Georgia Southern (+24) @ Arkansas 3:00 pm CT, SEC Network
Speaking of letdowns, we’re looking at a huge spot here. Arkansas coming off the dominating victory over Texas along with a look ahead as Texas A&M is on deck next. Georgia Southern isn’t good, but they run the triple option. They can eat up a ton of clock and keep this thing tight enough to get the cover.
The Pick: Georgia Southern (+24)
Nevada (-1.5) @ Kansas State 1:00 pm CT, ESPN+
Kansas State is off to a nice 2-0 start and look to be a dark horse in the Big 12 race. But they lost starting quarterback Skyler Thompson. When Thompson is healthy, the Wildcats have been very good. Without him has been a major struggle. Carson Strong is a NFL prospect at the quarterback position for the Wolf Pack and former Hawkeye Jay Norvell has done a nice job in Reno. More than anything, I’m shorting K-State minus Thompson.
The Pick: Nevada (-1.5)
Ball State (+6.5) @ Wyoming 3:00 pm CT, Stadium
We’re going Group of 5 for our 4th pick. Ball State needed a late rally to get by Western Illinois in the opener and then got blasted last week by Penn State 44-13 while Wyoming is 2-0 after wins over Montana State and NIU. The Cowboys can run the ball while Ball State has been a sieve on defense. The Cardinals are also giving up 310 yards per game through the air. Coupled with back to back road trips from State College, PA, back to Muncie, Indiana and now to Laramie, I see tired legs.
The Pick: Wyoming (-6.5)
Fresno State (+11.5) @ UCLA 9:45 pm CT, Pac 12 Network
UCLA is riding high after knocking off LSU two week ago at the Rose Bowl. Fresno got back on the right track after falling late to Oregon with a 63-10 win over Cal Poly. Jake Haener has been great all season for Fresno. The question is can the Bulldogs hold up against the physical Chip Kelly squad. I saw them do it against Oregon, they’ll do it again. And maybe even with this outright.
The Pick: Fresno State (+11.5)
Season record: 2-3
