The third full week of the 2025 college football season is shaping up to be a doozy with some massive ranked clashes, including Georgia at Tennessee and Notre Dame hosting Texas A&M. SportsLine college football expert Bruce Marshall, the longtime executive editor of The Gold Sheet, has gathered information on Saturday’s top games and shares everything bettors need to know about Week 3 of the college football season. For those who are into college football betting, you need to see Marshall’s plays, as he’s 106-73-1 (+2484) over his last 180 college football picks.
Georgia at Tennessee
We have to go back in the memory banks to recall the last time the Vols beat the Bulldogs. It’s been nine years since that happened in 2016, which was Kirby Smart’s maiden run as Georgia’s HC, and it took some kind of magic for UT to survive that one between the hedges as a pair of Hail Marys in the last 10 seconds created a finish for the ages. Joshua Dobbs hit Jauan Jennings with his the UT version of the Hail Mary for a last-play, 34-31 win that some, mostly Vols fans, are still talking about nine years later.
Tennessee folks would rather talk about the next win over the Bulldogs, which has been extremely difficult to come by across most of the past decade at Knoxville, partly because Smart has turned Neyland Stadium into a Georgia playground, winning four straight on the banks of the Tennessee River — not just winning, but romping. The Bulldogs’ win margin here is 31 points per game, and it hasn’t been closer than 24 points (2021). In fact, the Vols haven’t been closer than 14 points in those last eight meetings, all Bulldogs spread covers as well. That makes this 3.5 spread quite intriguing; if UT hasn’t come within two TDs against Georgia for the last eight meetings, what’s going to different about this game?
Several SEC insiders, however, won’t hesitate to tell you why…the Bulldogs’ offense doesn’t yet look other-worldly behind new QB Gunner Stockton, who got his baptism late last season in the SEC title game and subsequent Sugar Bowl playoff loss to Notre Dame. Not in the classic pro-style mode of Bulldog predecessors such as Matthew Stafford and Carson Beck, Stockton’s rough-hewn style is more Diego Pavia-like, including the fearless factor. Yet the Georgia offense was bit herky-jerky last week when waiting a long while to put away FCS Austin Peay, with the Guvs providing a highlight-reel goal-line stand at the end of the first half. Against lesser opposition (the Peay and a rebuilt Marshall in the opener), and with admittedly sky-high prices, Georgia has also yet to cover a spread in two tries this season. Those non-covers have dropped Smart’s spread mark to 3-11 across the Dawgs’ last 14 games.
So, is this the year the Vols can reverse the series trend?
UT did something similar three years ago in Knoxville when upending Alabama for the first time in over a decade, and the Vols liked it so much they did it again against the Tide last October. To do the same against the Bulldogs, transfer QB Joey Aguilar will likely have to continue his early-season hot hand, including 535 yards passing, a 69% completion percentage, five TD passes and no picks in two weeks. To this point, Aguilar is treating the Georgia foes like the Sun Belt foes he routinely riddled with the Mountaineers, and to this point, giving the Vols the edge over UCLA in the effective “QB trade” in the offseason that saw Nico Iamaleava move to Westwood before Aguilar could take an official snap for the Bruins, to whom he had transferred in the first open portal window.
The 734 yards of offense produced last week versus FCS East Tennessee State don’t impress us quite as much as the variety of Vols who ran the ball (seven) and caught passes (13!) last Saturday for Josh Heupel’s offense. Remember, trends like Georgia’s run in this series aren’t etched in granite; the Bulldogs have had a few more slips than usual since last season…and it’s about time that UT breaks that series streak.
USC at Purdue
There’s some history between these two, though it requires the way-back machine to recall what happened back in the ’60s and ’70s. Into this weekend, the 2-0 Trojans are the highest-scoring team in the country at 66 points per game, and the top-ranked offense at a whopping 676 yards per game. But the question is whether that is mostly a function of a soft early schedule, or is USC that improved? A little of both, we suspect, perhaps a dash more of the former, as Missouri State and Georgia Southern were simply outclassed and overwhelmed. Everything is clicking for the offense, especially QB Jayden Maiava, the former UNLV transfer who has completed 74% of his passes for 707 yards, with six TDs and zero picks. JuCo transfer RB Waymond Jordan is also running like Ashton Jeanty, gaining better than 10 yards per carry. Defensive quicks have scuttled a pair of offenses in two weeks. Yet again, who have the Trojans beaten?
A year ago, we might have said Purdue isn’t much better than Missouri State and not better at all that much better than Georgia Southern, but that’s all changed under new HC Barry Odom, who cleared out much of the roster and loaded up from the portal for a new-look Purdue squad, which was a good idea after last year’s ugly 1-11 pratfall caused second-year HC Ryan Walters to get the axe. One of the few holdovers has been QB Ryan Browne, a sophomore who left the program via the portal last winter (briefly landing at North Carolina) before changing his mind and moving back to Ross-Ade after the decision to hire Odom. He’s already passed for more than 400 yards as the Riveters sit at 2-0 — just one win away from rewarding season-win players who have the “over 2.5” wins on Purdue’s side. Another of the few holdovers, RB Devin Mockabee, has more than 2,600 uards in his career. Meanwhile, Purdue’s defense, which was roadkill last season, has allowed only 17 points in two games, though, like with USC, Ball State and Southern Illinois are dubious opposition.
Still, this is a more confident Purdue entry than the uncommonly bad 2024 version, and Odom noted at Big ten Media Days in July that this was going to be a completely different Purdue team in 2025. At this big of a price, the Boilermakers seem worth a good look, especially as we’re a long way from anointing USC as owning the greatest-ever offense. Remember, the Trojans didn’t win at all a season ago (0-5) as a regular-season visitor outside of L.A. County, and the last time we checked, West Lafayette was far away from L.A.
Texas A&M at Notre Dame
Some interesting sidebar angles to note here, not the least of which is that the Fighting Irish could provide one of the earliest results for season-win wagers in recent history. Remember, Notre Dame was being listed at 10.5 wins for the 2025 campaign during much of the summer, but the Irish are already on one loss after the opener at Miami. Lose again on Saturday at South Bend and anyone holding a “10.5 Under” ticket on Irish wins will already be a winner by the early date of Sept. 13.
Another very peripheral angle to note is Aggies HC Mike Elko returning to Notre Dame, where after several years at Wake Forest, he would spend one season as DC for Brian Kelly in 2017 before being lured to A&M for the same job under the just-hired Jimbo Fisher. Of course, Elko would eventually move to Duke as HC and enjoy good success before being lured back to College Station to replace Fisher last season, and in his debut game, he would lose a bitter 23-13 decision to the Irish, who scored 10 points in the last two minutes to seal the win.
Subsequently, results have been mostly encouraging for Elko with the Aggies, but not necessarily versus the points pread, with A&M on a stunning seven-game spread losing streak entering Saturday. Drill a bit further, however, and that subpar mark against the line seems more a quirk; all but the loss at South Carolina last November have mostly been “PSTs” (point spread thrillers). Indeed, the Aggies are 2-0 straight-up from the gate in the new season, with rather impressive wins, with the only reason A&M hasn’t covered yet in 2025 is due to the opposition being too underrated by oddsmakers. A somewhat potent UTSA would also need a 34-yard TD pass in the final 14 seconds to slip inside of a 24.5 spread on opening night at Kyle Field, while Bronco Mendenhall’s Utah State was far too undervalued as a 30+-point dog in the Aggies’ 44-22 cruise last week.
On the plus side, the A&M offense is humming, especially livewire sophomore QB Marcel Reed, who has already passed for more than 500 yards while recording a 7-0 TD-interception ratio through two weeks. Elko’s defense has also been running into better-than-advertised opposition with veteran QBs (Owen McCown with UTSA and Bryson Barnes with Utah State). That’s not the case this week.
Marcus Freeman’s starter CJ Carr is making just his second start, and his inexperience is one of the main reasons there were several willing to look Under that 10.5 win total, given that the Irish were going to be facing perhaps the two toughest foes on their schedule right out of the chute with essentially a rookie QB. It wasn’t like that the past two seasons for Freeman, who had experienced pilots (two years ago, Sam Hartman via Wake Forest; last year, Riley Leonard via Duke, where he played in 2023 for Elko) via the transfer portal. Freeman decided to stay in-house for 2025 and ride with Carr, who gave indicators that he might turn into something special in the Miami opener, yet also had moments when he looked like a first-time starter. Those rough edges may start to disappear later in the season, but in mid-September, they’ll be harder to camouflage.
Slashing RB Jeremiyah Love, an 1,125-yard rusher last fall who is garnering peripheral Heisman mention this season, was a marked man in the opener at Hard Rock Stadium when he was held to just 33 rushing yards by the Canes. With the Notre Dame defense also adjusting to the loss of sage DC Al Golden to the NFL, this looks like a bit of a work in progress at South Bend.
Winning this game looks tough enough for the Irish, and clearing the 6.5-point price seems even tougher. Also note a curious totals stat, with the last three A&M games landing on exactly 66 points dating to the Las Vegas Bowl vs. USC last December, with resultant Over results in each contest.
Vanderbilt at South Carolina
There are some historic angles in this matchup that at least need to be acknowledged. First of all, the last time the Commodores beat the Gamecocks, the respective coaches were Bobby Johnson and Steve Spurrier; it was 2008 and Vandy scored a 24-17 home win in the second game of the season. The teams have met annually since, and each of those last 16 times, Carolina has won, including last Nov. 9 in Nashville, when the short-priced Gamecocks (favored by only 3) bossed proceedings and rolled to a 28-7 win. It was the only time in a breakthrough 2024 season that the Commodores were effectively bullied, as Shane Beamer’s active defensive front would punish Vandy up front and neutralize quarterback Diego Pavia. Meanwhile, the Gamecocks ran for over 200 yards, with RB Rocket Sanders banging for 126 rushing yards and wearing down Clark Lea’s defense while scoring three second-half TDs as SC pulled clear.
Carolina would close last season as one of the hottest teams in the country and were thought by some to be deserving of a chance to make the 12-team playoff (which it narrowly missed). The regular-season win streak is now eight (we’re reluctant to count bowl results outside of the playoffs these days), and the Gamecocks are now up to 11th in the polls after their 2-0 break from the gate.
Yet it hasn’t always been pretty, especially for an offense that has been in a lurch, with four of the TDs via punt returns and/or the defense. Granted, Vicari Swain looks a modern-day Rick Upchurch after taking back a pair of punts (one each versus VPI and SC State), but from traditional sets, the attack is sputtering, with ballyhooed QB LaNorris Sellers already damaging his longshot Heisman hopes by passing for just 148 yards and running for only 48 more across the first two wins. There are also more than a few SEC insiders who openly wondered about Beamer promoting well-traveled Mike Shula to the OC position after Dowell Loggains accepted the HC job at App State. Thru two games, at least, Shula isn’t clicking with Sellers or the offense in general, as the high national ranking seems more a byproduct of the fast finish from a year ago. Beamer’s defense, which reloaded up front after most of last year’s line was drafted into the NFL, has held its own but figures to get a more-serious test this week.
That would be Pavia, who should be getting Heisman consideration on multiple fronts, not the least of which making long-downtrodden programs like New Mexico State and Vandy relevant and bowl-eligible, but also looking the NCAA straight in the eye and beating the governing body in court to get an extra year of eligibility (related to his earlier JC career). More power to him! Looking to go out with a big hurrah in his last year (we think…who knows these days?) of eligibility, Pavia is off to a fast start, completing nearly 75% of his passes and running for more than 100 yards across the first two games, both resounding Dores wins. Indeed, in the “round robin” involving Vandy, SC and Virginia Tech, the Commodores have looked the best, with last week’s 44-20 romp over the Hokies in Blacksburg almost breathtaking as Pavia led five consecutive TD drives to start the second half.
Vandy is also one side that can match SC’s recent spread performance; while the Gamecocks are 9-2 versus the line in their last 11 regular season games against FBS-level opposition, the Dores are 9-2 as an underddog since last season with six straight covers away from Nashville. Vandy backers also note the timing of this meeting, in mid-September, compared to last year’s in mid-November when the fearless Pavia had taken a near season’s worth of punishment and was slowing down. He looks fresh as a daisy right now. At the moment, we like Vandy’s offense a lot more, and this is the Dores’ best chance in a while to end this numbing series losing streak.
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