When all the pre-game TV crews were on the air last Saturday morning, even the paid professionals betrayed that they were looking ahead to this weekend’s games. There are six matchups featuring ranked teams as conference play begins across the country, with a meeting of top ten foes in the Midwest between Ohio State and Notre Dame in South Bend as the headliner.
The Buckeyes are three-point favorites on the road a season after beating the Fighting Irish in Columbus by a score of 21-10 in 2022. Ohio State trailed at the half before outscoring Notre Dame 14-0 in the final 30 minutes while gaining nearly 150 more yards in the contest overall. Both teams will rely on new starting quarterbacks this season in what is projected to be a close game with playoff hopes on the line.
The Pac-12 is proving to be a deep conference in its last season with many of the teams people recognize as key members. They boast an FBS-high eight teams in the AP and Coaches polls, including four of the top 11 spots.
At least three of those eight will have a loss on their record after this weekend, as Colorado travels to Oregon, UCLA hits the road to play Utah, and Washington State welcomes Oregon State to Martin Stadium in Pullman. Oregon is a massive favorite of 20.5 points against Colorado, who escaped with a win in double-overtime last week against Colorado State at home.
Our Week 3 picks went winless as Roman Hemby rushed for just 23 yards on nine carries in a Friday night Terps’ win, and Alabama continued a confusing start to their season with a 17-3 victory in Tampa, during which Jermaine Burton caught a single pass for seven yards.
We are eager to collect on some winning plays this week and present our best bets for player props in Week 4.
Shedeur Sanders OVER 330.5 Passing Yards
The Buffs quarterback has attempted 136 passes over three games in an emphatic FBS welcome for Team Sanders. While many quarterbacks have no problem heaving the rock that many times, Sanders is also completing 78.7% of his throws for an average of 417 yards per game during Colorado’s 3-0 start.
They face a challenging test this weekend in Eugene, but this team has already won on the road as an underdog of 20 points or more this season. Oregon allowed 7.4 yards per pass to Texas Tech in a game they shouldn’t have covered and trounced Portland State and Hawaii in two other non-conference games.
If Coach Prime truly wants to put his son on track to win the Heisman, this national TV game at Autzen Stadium can be a huge steppingstone. We’ll ride the hot hand and play Sanders to go over the total.
Quinshon Judkins UNDER Rushing Yards
After carrying the ball more than 21 times per game in 2022, Judkins is experiencing some adversity to begin his sophomore season. Opposing teams are forcing Jaxson Dart to beat them, and Alabama will be no different.
Judkins averaged 5.7 yards per carry as a freshman with that outsized workload. He’s managing a rushing average of 3.3 yards on 44 carries through the first three games in 2023.
Despite a slower-than-expected start, the Crimson Tide are allowing 3.2 YPC this season to opposing rushers. We see Judkins being removed from the game if Alabama hopes to control the line of scrimmage.
Trevor Etienne UNDER Rushing Yards
Florida just played the biggest game on their schedule before Georgia comes to the Swamp on October 28. The spread is around four touchdowns in their upcoming matchup with Charlotte, and Florida has more to lose than gain this Saturday.
With a road game in Lexington on the horizon, the Gators won’t risk injury to their starting back. Billy Napier should allow younger players like Treyaun Webb to handle more of the work, and we expect that to keep Etienne under his rushing total.
