In college football, it’s easy and simple to back a top-10 team against an inferior opponent. What about backing an underdog in that same matchup? It may not feel as great or be as simple, but after all, sports betting is about numbers and not about teams.
Week 3 of the 2025 college football season has a ton of great games on tap, and here, we highlight five of the boldest spread bets you can make for this upcoming weekend (with odds via DraftKings Sportsbook).
Kansas State -1.5 at Arizona (Friday, 9 p.m. ET)
Kansas State has had an awful start to 2025 and, quite frankly, the Wildcats should feel lucky that they’re 1-2 and not 0-3 to begin the year. Chris Kleiman’s squad opened the season with a 24-21 loss to Iowa State in Ireland before needing a last-minute touchdown to beat FCS program North Dakota 38-35 in Week 2. And in Week 3, the Wildcats blew a 13-0 lead to lose 24-21 against Army.
The Ireland loser curse may be alive and well. After all, Florida State was No. 10 overall in preseason polls last year before losing in Dublin and going 2-10 in a disastrous campaign. In 2022, Nebraska began the year with a loss across the pond, which played a part in head coach Scott Frost getting fired midway through that campaign. Even in 2023, Navy finished with a losing record after losing to Notre Dame in Ireland.
Not only is Kansas State favored this weekend, but the Wildcats are laying points on the road. Arizona hasn’t played the strongest schedule so far, but those two wins have come by a combined score of 88-9 against Weber State and Hawaii.
UCLA -14.5 vs. New Mexico (Friday, 10 p.m. ET)
UCLA has gotten off to very slow starts in both of its games, as the Bruins trailed 23-7 to Utah at halftime in Week 1 and 23-3 at halftime to UNLV in Week 2. With an 0-2 start, Year 2 of the DeShaun Foster era looks bleak in Westwood, and Nico Iamaleava could already be feeling regret about leaving Tennessee to come to UCLA.
The Bruins aren’t going to be a fun team to put money on this season, and here you need them to win by at least 16 points in order to win your bet. Maybe start with a win first before worrying about winning by a bigger margin? New Mexico had a respectable 34-17 loss to Michigan to start its season, followed by a 32-22 win over Idaho State.
Northwestern +27.5 vs. Oregon (Saturday, 12 p.m. ET)
Oregon just shredded Oklahoma State 69-3, a week after looking dominant in a 59-13 win over Montana State. People aren’t exactly lining up to bet against the Ducks, let alone with a team that looked feeble in its only game against FBS competition.
Northwestern is coming off a 42-7 win over Western Illinois but dropped its season opener 23-3 to Tulane. In that game, the Wildcats only ran for 2.8 yards per carry, threw for 4.5 yards per pass and quarterback Preston Stone tossed four interceptions. This same Tulane defense allowed 6.5 yards per play and 31 points to South Alabama last weekend.
Iowa -35.5 vs. UMass (Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET)
UMass is not a very good football team, as the Minutemen have lost 42-10 to Temple and 24-23 to FCS program Bryant to start the campaign. So I understand why the line is as high as it is against a Big Ten team like Iowa.
But when you are laying Iowa -33.5, you need Iowa to score at least 34 points just to have a chance of covering that spread. The same Iowa offense whose starting quarterback, Mark Gronowski, has mustered 127 passing yards total in two games this season—with one of them coming against FCS school Albany. Iowa did score 34 points in that contest but also allowed seven points, so this 33.5-point spread wouldn’t have cashed there either.
UAB -11.5 vs. Akron (Saturday, 8:30 p.m. ET)
UAB is allowing the third-highest yards per play of any FBS defense at 7.88, only ahead of Eastern Michigan (8.04) and Georgia Southern (9.50). To make matters worse for UAB, this is despite facing an FCS team in Alabama State (where the Blazers won 52-42) and Navy.
So not only do you have to back one of the worst defenses in the country, but they also have to win by at least 12 points. You may ask, how bad is Akron that the Zips are getting 11.5 points against UAB? Well, they haven’t scored in 120 minutes this season after a 10-0 loss to Wyoming and a 68-0 loss to Nebraska.
Honestly, betting on either side in this game is a bold bet, but I think it’s bolder to go with the team that has to win by a rather decent-sized margin.
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