Week 3 College Football Best Betting Picks: BYU, Notre Dame Face Key QB Injuries

Some key injuries have already taken place early in the 2015 college football season, most notably affecting a pair of starting quarterbacks for independents Notre Dame (2-0) and BYU (2-0).

The Fighting Irish lost Malik Zaire for the year with a fractured ankle last week, while the Cougars are without Taysom Hill due to a foot injury.

But one of those schools is much better equipped to deal with the consequences because of quality depth at the position. BYU has already proved it will be fine without Hill since freshman Tanner Mangum is a more-than-capable replacement.

Mangum has won each of the team’s first two games this season, with Hail Mary touchdown passes in the final seconds to beat Nebraska on the road and Boise State at home.

Next up for the No. 19 Cougars (17-point underdogs at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark) are the No. 10 UCLA Bruins (2-0) on the road this Saturday at the Rose Bowl.

The Bruins have their own freshman quarterback in top recruit Josh Rosen, who has definitely lived up to the hype through the first two games. However, BYU is 3-0 against the spread in its last three road games during the month of September and getting way too many points versus UCLA. Look for the Cougars to cover easily.

No. 8 Notre Dame is not so lucky and heads into Saturday’s home matchup with the No. 14 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets as a 2.5-point underdog after opening as a favorite.

Zaire’s injury is a bigger blow for the Fighting Irish, who are facing a Georgia Tech team that has covered nine straight games dating back to last year. The Yellow Jackets (2-0) are also 4-0 ATS in the past four meetings and will make it 5-0 with a win.

One last best bet for Week 3 takes place in the Pac-12 between the No. 6 USC Trojans (2-0) and the Stanford Cardinal (1-1). This rivalry used to be a lot more interesting when Pete Carroll was coaching the Trojans and Jim Harbaugh was leading the Cardinal.

USC has an excellent opportunity to make an early-season statement on national television with a big win and cover as 10-point favorites. The Trojans are 4-1 straight-up and against the spread in their last five September games, according to Odds Shark's college football database, and will add to that total here.