Now it's time to have some fun with my 'Bear Bytes.' PICK: Texas A&M (-36) to win by more than 36 points Those things will absolutely be cleaned up, and Bobby Petrino's offense should score at will on the Warhawks.Ī shutout is very much in the cards as well, being that ULM scored just 17 on Army and 24 vs. The Aggies were sloppy last week against the Miami Hurricanes, and the defense allowed 48 points. But the circumstances here are a little different. Normally, I'd expect a team coming home off an upset loss taking on a bad team as a huge favorite to just sleepwalk, especially with a conference game on tap against Auburn next week. Louisiana-Monroe at Texas A&M, 4 p.m., SEC PICK: Purdue (+2.5) to lose by fewer than 2.5 points (or win outright) This just feels and looks like one of those games where people are seeing Syracuse's scoring margin and assuming the Orange are better than they probably are. Will Syracuse be able to do the same against Hudson Card? I like Garrett Shrader, but I would think Purdue coach Ryan Walters should be able to draw something up to slow the Orange QB. I'm not sure why the Boilermakers are a home 'dog here. Purdue probably should be 2-0, and is Syracuse's 48-7 win over Western Michigan, one of the worst teams in the MAC, that big of a deal? Joel Klatt joins Colin Cowherd after another exciting week of college football. PICK: Illinois (+15) to lose by fewer than 15 points (or win outright)

Is it enough to hang in there? We'll find out. Penn State is better and should win, but I expect Illinois to play its best game of the season here. In 2021, it beat a down Wisconsin team by six points and lost at Indiana in overtime in 2020. This will be Drew Allar's first road start, and the Nittany Lions as a whole have had trouble lately with their first road game of the season - last year, it needed some help from Purdue coach Jeff Brohm in a 35-31 comeback win against the Boilermakers. But conference road games can be tricky, especially against teams coming off a poor performance. It was expected Illinois' defense might take a step back this year, and it has. The Illini were very fortunate to beat Toledo and were never in the game at Kansas, as it was 28-7 at the half and 34-7 in the third quarter.

There isn't much on paper to like about Illinois' first two games. 7 Penn State at Illinois (noon, FOX and FOX Sports App )

College football spread picks week 3