College Football Week 3 Early Odds, Picks & Prediction: Washington vs. Michigan State (2022)

Let’s take a look at the College Football Week 3 odds, picks, and predictions for this week’s game: Washington vs. Michigan State.

• Texas vs. UTSA
• Rutgers at Temple
• Ohio State vs. Toledo
• Kentucky vs. Youngstown State
• UCLA vs. South Alabama
• Notre Dame vs. California
• Kansas State vs. Tulane
• UNLV vs. North Texas
• Texas A&M vs. Miami
• Western Kentucky at Indiana
• New Mexico State at Wisconsin
• Marshall at Bowling Green
• Charlotte at Georgia State
• Oklahoma at Nebraska
• Florida State vs. Louisville
• Air Force vs. Wyoming
• Georgia v. South Carolina
• UConn v. Michigan

Check out Thor Nystrom’s Week 3 College Football Power Rankings >>

College Football Week 3 Early Odds, Picks & Prediction: Washington vs. Michigan State

Speaking of my system disagreeing with the sportsbooks on the favorite, we have two more interesting cases in the P5 this week.

On Sunday, sportsbooks opened Mississippi State as a 3-point favorite at LSU. As I talked about with Thomas Viola on our Sunday lookahead show, I felt that was a mistake. Sure enough, the line had dropped to MSU -2 overnight.

The public is having a hard time getting LSU's one-point loss to Florida State in primetime in the opener out of their minds. With the credit of home field, this game should be pick 'em or LSU -1.

My numbers are showing an even bigger discrepancy in the Michigan State-Washington tilt. The market is increasingly confident in the new-look Huskies now that they can play some offense under new HC Kalen Deboer and transfer QB Michael Penix.

That's certainly understandable amid UW's 2-0 start - the Huskies have outscored opponents 97-26. But those opponents were an FCS team and Kent State. Kent State is notorious for scheduling payout games against P5 opponents in September and laying down for them with an eye on MAC play. Since 2019, KSU is 0-8 in those spots, with the closest loss coming by 23.

Michigan State opened 2-0 with a pair of blowouts over MAC teams (87-13 combined scores).

Both teams have looked good against cupcakes. But the market may have upgraded UW too much while overlooking the Kenneth Walker-less Spartans. I didn't buy a ticket on this one yet - but you better believe I'll be digging deep into this matchup in the coming days.

What is Betting Against the Spread?

Betting "against the spread" refers to the act of choosing the winning team based on a numeric handicap placed on the team that oddsmakers believe is superior, rather than picking the outright winner. For example, if the Rams face the Bengals, and oddsmakers set the spread at Rams -3.5, you would need Los Angeles to win by 4 or more points in order to cash your Rams bet.

What is an Over/Under Bet?

Over/Under is a wager based on how many points you think will be scored in a specific game. Oddsmakers set the total, and bettors decide whether the final score will be higher or lower than that number. If an Over/Under is set at 44.5 points and you bet Over, you will need the combined score of both teams to be 45 points or higher to win your bet.

What is a Moneyline Bet?

A moneyline bet involves choosing which team you believe will win a specific matchup. The moneyline favorite carries a minus designation, like -130. This means that you need to wager $130 to earn a $100 profit. Conversely, the underdog carries a plus designation, like +110. This means that you win $110 in profit on a $100 bet.

Prop Bet Analyzer: View top rated props and historical prop performance by player >>

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