Week 2 of the 2024 college football season wasn’t short on fireworks with plenty of upsets and near pitfalls changing both major polls significantly and altering the perception around some of the nation’s top teams. Though Week 3 doesn’t look as exciting on paper, there are some intriguing matchups — especially in the nonconference — that should have an impact on the national scale.
No. 20 Arizona and No. 14 Kansas State are set to face off Friday night in a game pitting two Big 12 competitors that won’t count towards the conference standings. Even so, Kansas State, which narrowly avoided a setback of their own in Week 2, is favored to make it back to the conference’s title game for the first time since 2022, while Arizona is hoping to make a big splash in its first year in the league.
Meanwhile, a pair of top-25 teams in No. 4 Alabama and No. 24 Boston College face intriguing out-of-conference road games. The Crimson Tide travel to Wisconsin in an SEC-Big Ten clash, while the Eagles are looking to stay hot against a No. 6 Missouri team that wants to maintain a sterling record before conference play begins.
Week 3 lines are out, so let’s take a look at what oddsmakers are thinking as we look ahead.
Odds via SportsLine consensus
The big games
No. 20 Arizona at No. 14 Kansas State (-8) (Friday): Arizona and Kansas State get the weekend started with a bang as they take the field for one of two games featuring ranked opponents in Week 3. Both teams got taken to the brink in Week 2, though Kansas State’s struggles were more understandable. Kansas State was able to scrape out a 34-27 win on the road against a good Tulane team, while Arizona eked out a 22-10 win against Northern Arizona one week after putting 61 points on the board…
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