Week 3 college football best bets and predictions
The college football season is officially under way and VSiN is pumping out more content for it than ever. All of our college football stories and resources are available on this one page, where you'll also get best bets from all of my incredibly talented colleagues. But you'll have to keep reading this one to get my college football best bets every week. I was unfortunately on the wrong side of that brutal Texas Tech beat against Oregon last week, which is why I'm not up on the year. But I'm expecting to bounce back in a big way with my Week 3 college football best bets. I have five plays that I absolutely love and I'll probably add more below in the next couple of days, so feel free to check back in before games are kicking off to see if I have more action.
MORE: Check out our Pro Picks page for college football best bets from all of our analysts
LSU Tigers at Mississippi State Bulldogs
Since Brian Kelly became the LSU head coach, the Tigers are 0-4 against the spread (2-2 straight-up) as favorites of 3.5 to 10 points. They have not performed up to their lofty standards in games like these, and I think we’re going to see that record go to 0-5 in Week 3. This Mississippi State team feels like it was slept on a bit heading into the season, which probably has a lot to do with the tragic death of legendary head coach Mike Leach. But the Bulldogs brought back eight starters from a good offense, and they hired a good offensive coordinator in Kevin Barbay. We have already seen the rewards of that, with Mississippi State averaging 39.5 points per game through two games.
The defensive side of the ball is where there would be some concerns with this Mississippi State team, but new head coach Zach Arnett is one of the brightest defensive minds in all of college football. He was going to get a head coaching job somewhere before Leach passed away, and I think he’s going to end up doing a great job in a difficult situation this year. And after a 2-0 start to the season, I think Arnett will put the world on notice by leading his team to a very competitive effort against LSU. He just needs to make sure his defense doesn’t get diced up by Tigers quarterback Jayden Daniels on the ground. If Mississippi State can avoid letting Daniels get it going with his legs, the Bulldogs should have a chance to win this game late. And that would be plenty good enough for us with 9.5 points to work with.