College Football Week 3 Odds: Irish, Buckeyes, Tide Are Week 3 Betting Favorites

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish won't have starting quarterback Malik Zaire on the field for their Week 3 contest at home against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, but they still opened as small betting favorites for the game at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark.

Zaire suffered a broken ankle in the Fighting Irish's 34-27 win over the Virginia Cavaliers in Week 2, with redshirt freshman DeShone Kizer now the team's starting quarterback. Kizer tossed a 39-yard touchdown strike to Will Fuller late against the Cavaliers to give his team the victory, though it failed to cover the 13.5-point spread.

For this week, Notre Dame opened as a two-point home favorite against Georgia Tech, with the Yellow Jackets 2-0 both straight up and against the spread so far this season. The betting trends for the week also point out that Georgia Tech is 4-0 ATS in its last four games against Notre Dame and 9-0 ATS in its last nine games overall.

Meanwhile, the top-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes opened as huge 31.5-point home favorites for their Week 3 game against the visiting Northern Illinois Huskies. Ohio State was a 42.5-point home favorite against the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors in Week 2 and fell short of covering the spread in a 38-0 shutout win. The Buckeyes have an all-time record of 22-0 straight up against MAC teams.

The Alabama Crimson Tide are 29-0 straight up in their last 29 games in the month of September, according to the Odds Shark college football database, and they opened as 8.5-point home favorites against the Mississippi Rebels for Week 3. The Auburn Tigers, 4-1 ATS in their last five games against the LSU Tigers, opened as 6.5-point road underdogs for the matchup between those two schools this week.

Out on the West Coast, the USC Trojans opened as eight-point home favorites against the Stanford Cardinal for Saturday, with the Trojans holding a 4-1 record both straight up and ATS in their last five games in September. The UCLA Bruins, 6-1 ATS in their last seven games overall, opened as 14.5-point home favorites for their Week 3 matchup against the BYU Cougars.

And in a pair of marquee weekday clashes, the Florida State Seminoles opened as 10.5-point road favorites against the Boston College Eagles for Friday night, and the Clemson Tigers vs. Louisville Cardinals matchup for Thursday opened as a pick 'em on the betting lines.

Florida State is 29-1 straight up in its last 30 games, while the under wager has paid out in nine of its last 11 games on the road for totals bettors. Clemson is a perfect 4-0 both straight up and ATS in its past four games, while Louisville is 0-5 ATS in its five most recent games at home.