If I Were A Betting Man: Week 3 picks

OK, last week I whined about an unfortunate cover by Stanford thanks to an unthinkable scoop-and-score in the final 30 seconds. Now, I must admit I was the beneficiary of a completely meaningless touchdown in the Clemson-Texas A&M game.

The situation: Texas A&M trails 24-3 and is getting 17.5 points. The Aggies drive against the Clemson back-ups in the final minute. On fourth down with 10 seconds left, Clemson decides to leave the Texas A&M tight end uncovered in the end zone, and just like that, a dominating Clemson win fails to cover the spread.

MORE WEEK 3: Rivals team site publishers weigh in on hot topics

Even with that classic backdoor cover, I still limped out of Week 2 at 2-3 in the primetime games. Meanwhile, ace picker Sam Spiegelman rocketed the Rivals analysts into first with a perfect 5-0 week. This week, joining us to represent the publishers is Aslan Hajivandi from Warchant.com, since the Noles will be facing Florida, Clemson and Syracuse down the road, three teams on our Week 3 slate. For the analysts, we welcome Josh Helmholdt, who is quite familiar with how the rosters of Iowa, Iowa State and Michigan State were put together as our Midwest expert.

Off we go.

USC (-4.5) at BYU, 3:30 p.m., ABC

Both teams coming off big, big wins. The Cougars, however beat a Tennessee team that can’t seem to get out of its own way, while USC beat a ranked Stanford squad. Observers thought true freshman quarterback Kedon Slovis was outstanding in fall camp, and he showed it in his first start with 434 yards and three TDs. Slovis keeps it going on the road.

Trocchi’s pick: USC, $200

Hanson: USC

Helmholdt: BYU

Arizona State (+13.5) at Michigan State, 4 p.m., FOX

Can we take one more shot at Michigan State’s hideous neon uniforms? The radioactive font-free ’STATE’ just gives it such style. Nothing says Sparty like lime green. The players inside those uniforms, however, have been playing pretty well, particularly on defense. And they will be facing a true freshman quarterback.

Trocchi’s pick: Michigan State, $100

Hanson: Arizona State

Helmholdt: Michigan State

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