College Football Week 3 Betting Recap: Favorites Can’t Cover Point Spreads

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Point spread upsets ruled Week 3 of college football, with the underdogs going 13-6. Of those 13 upsets, six teams won outright.

Navy kicker Bijan Nichols College football Week 3
Navy kicker Bijan Nichols celebrates after converting a 33-yard field goal as time ran out to upset Tulane, 27-24. (Image: USA Today Sports)

The biggest shocker of the day was Navy upending Tulane. The Green Wave, which was favored by 5.5 points, held a 24-0 lead over the Midshipmen at halftime, and lost 27-24 when Navy made a last-second field goal. Last week, the Midshipmen were blown out by BYU, 55-3.

Week 3 Underdog Winners

The list below shows the 13 teams who beat their point spreads and, in some cases, their opponents.

  • Georgia State
  • Miami *
  • Syracuse
  • Marshall *
  • Liberty *
  • Louisiana Tech *
  • Navy *
  • Tulsa
  • Austin Peay
  • Citadel
  • Abilene Christian
  • Campbell
  • NC State *

* Won Outright

It appeared Navy was on its way to another blowout loss before scoring 27 unanswered points in the second half. The improbable comeback was capped by a 33-yard field goal by Bijan Nichols as time ran out.

The Midshipmen were anywhere from +180 to +195 on the moneyline to pull off the upset. They were also getting 10.5 points in second half live betting.

Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo was stunned after the victory.

“I don’t have much to say other than, ‘Wow.’ A testament to the young men at the United States Naval Academy,” he said. “These guys are going to protect us, serve our country. These are the type of young men that you have, that will not quit.”

Clemson Fails to Cover for Second Straight Week

Last season Clemson was 11-4 against the spread, and 7-1 when favored by 28 or more points.

The Tigers were 50-point favorites over the Citadel on Saturday, and scored 49 points in the first half. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who is the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, was 8 of 9 with 168 yards and three touchdowns.

The Tigers, however, decided to take the second half off. With Lawrence on the sidelines, the Clemson failed to score another point, and didn’t cover for the second consecutive week. Clemson also hit the under for the second game in a row.

At FanDuel, bettors had 75% of tickets and 95% of the money on the Tigers. They were also running at 4 to 1 on the over.

Miami Goes From Underdog to Favorite

When the Miami-Louisville game opened, the Cardinals were a three-point favorite. The point spread settled at 2.5 points in Louisville’s favor a day before the game. It was the first matchup of the season between two teams ranked in the AP Top 25 College Football Poll.

Six hours before the game, however, the line moved drastically. Miami suddenly became the favorite, with the line swinging to -2 for the Hurricanes.

The over/under also saw significant movement. It opened at 61 points, but was at 65 at game time. Miami won 47-34.

“It was exciting to see,” Miami head coach Manny Diaz said of the win. “We talk about creating more explosive plays through the passing game, which we were able to do, but we obviously had some big ones in the running game as well. We can still be so much better.”

Stat of the Week

UCF QB Dillon Gabriel passed for a career-high 417 yards with four touchdowns in the Knights’ 49-21 victory over Georgia Tech.

Gabriel is the fifth UCF quarterback to pass for 400 yards and four TDs in a game since the Knights moved to the FBS in 1996. The others are McKenzie Milton, Blake Bortles, Ryan Schneider, and Daunte Culpepper.

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Comments

  1. John: Your comments on the Clemson game should have instead read: All those who are STUPID and bet Clemson late and on bad line got the result they deserved! People who bet Clemson BEFORE around 11A (EDT) on Saturday PUSHED – at worst. Most should have won. If people bet bad numbers they deserve bad results. Sadly this is most of the bettors out there who are too stupid to know when a number has been beaten up and should not be played. Those who are smart (which is a very small percentage) pushed or won on the Tigers. So don’t say those who lost on Clemson got a “bad beat” – they got the result they should have gotten for being stupid and betting a bad line.