- The Michigan State Spartans were 6.5 point underdogs but defeated the Miami Hurricanes 38-17.
- The Western Michigan Broncos defeated the Pittsburgh Panthers, 44-41.
- Western Michigan opened as 15 point underdogs and had +490 odds to win the game betting the spread.
KALAMAZOO, Mich. - Betting upsets are the lifeblood of college football and a major focus of the college football betting community.
Week 3 of the season brought several extremely exciting upset wins by underdogs who not only covered the spread, but won the game.
The Michigan State Spartans, road underdogs against the Miami Hurricanes, dominated what appears at this point to have been a drastically overrated Miami squad.
In a truly spectacular upset, the two-touchdown-underdog Western Michigan Broncos defeated the Pittsburgh Panthers in a shocking defeat for Pitt.
Let’s break down these upsets.
Michigan State (+6.5) Defeats Miami, 38-17
The Michigan State Spartans were nearly full touchdown underdogs by kickoff time against the Miami Hurricanes.
They won the game by a full 21 points, demolishing an outmatched Hurricanes defense in the fourth quarter, in which they scored 21 points.
Michigan State QB Payton Thorne passed for 261 yards with four touchdowns and zero interceptions, while RB Kenny Walker added 172 yards on the ground.
This game might mark the end of Miami QB D’Eriq King’s longshot Heisman campaign. King opened the season at +1200 to win the award, and threw for two touchdowns and two interceptions in this game.
King did put up an excellent performance in terms of air yards, however, with 388 yards. Both of King’s passing TDs went to Charleston Rambo, who was a bright spot for Miami with 156 receiving yards.
It seems as though bettors managed to find the right side of this wager, with 72% of bets coming in on Michigan State +210.
On the spread, college football bettors were once again correct, with 66% of bets coming in on Michigan State +6.5.
Western Michigan (+14) defeats Pittsburgh, 44-41
The Pittsburgh offense was fully operational this game, with QB Kenny Pickett putting up 382 air yards and six touchdowns to go along with one interception.
However, it was not enough to stop them from losing an embarrassing game to Western Michigan, who opened as 15 point underdogs, and were 14 point underdogs at kickoff.
Bettors were on the wrong side of the spread, with 60% of bets coming on Pitt -14, and the moneyline was nearly an even split.
And 49% of bettors hit a big one with Western Michigan +490, but 51% took a tough loss on Pitt -630.
The loss was described by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as “the worst of the Pat Narduzzi era”, and it included a truly ridiculous attempt to go for a 4th and 6 conversion that ended up in a sack for a big loss on the play, which gave Western Michigan golden field position to cement their lead.
Any online gambling fans who had money on Pitt this game would be inclined to agree.