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College football Week 3 trend plays

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Last week, we saw North Texas fail to cover another spread and Stanford hit the "over" in a situational spot.

Here are some trends to keep an eye out for in Week 3.

North Carolina at Wake Forest

Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson has done some good things for the program. Covering at home isn't one of them.

The Demon Deacons are on a 1-8 run against the spread (ATS) at home, allowing an average of 38.3 points per game. Wake Forest is also 1-6-1 ATS after a straight-up (SU) win, a situation that applies after it rolled Rice last Friday.

Trend play: North Carolina +2.5

North Texas at Cal

Cal has experienced one of the most drastic identity shifts in all of college football over the last few years. Once an offense-first, pass-happy team in the Pac-12, the Golden Bears flipped to a defensive-minded club under head coach Justin Wilcox. They've since become one of the best "under" teams and are on a 1-10 run on the total. Of those 11 situations, seven of them have come with a total of 50 or less.

Trend play: Under 52

Eastern Michigan at Illinois

Death, taxes, and a trend play involving Eastern Michigan. The Eagles are one of the best underdogs to play in the country, as head coach Chris Creighton goes into Illinois on Saturday on a spectacular 13-2 run ATS when getting points away from home. Eastern Michigan nearly padded its road 'dog stat last weekend when it lost by 21 and blew the cover late as a 15.5-point underdog to Kentucky.

Trend play: Eastern Michigan +8

Hawaii at Washington

Unfortunately, bettors won't be able to chase their losses with a late-night Hawaii game - kickoff against Washington is slated for 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. Nightcap or not, the Rainbow Warriors are in a pretty profitable spot in Week 3. Under head coach Nick Rolovich, Hawaii is on an 8-0 run to the "over" as an underdog.

Trend play: Over 58.5

Clemson at Syracuse

You can make sense of certain trends. For instance, some coaches are better when getting points - Texas' Tom Herman, Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald come to mind - perhaps because they know how to get their players up for big games. When it comes to this Clemson angle for Saturday's prime-time contest against Syracuse, we're not entirely sure how or why it's been as profitable as it has been. But it's been good.

Under head coach Dabo Swinney, the Tigers are on a 17-5 run to the "over" when laying double digits on the road. It was a trend we mentioned frequently last year, and it hit four out of five times.

Trend play: Over 58.5

UNLV at Northwestern

Right on cue, Fitzgerald and the Wildcats get the floor here, but they're in a situation they've struggled in recently. As well as the program has performed when catching points, the same can't be said about its play as the favorite. Northwestern hasn't covered a spread in each of the last six when laying chalk and is giving roughly three touchdowns to UNLV on Saturday.

Trend play: UNLV +20.5

Alex Kolodziej is a betting writer for theScore. He's a graduate of Eastern Illinois who has been involved in the sports betting industry for 12 years. He can quote every line from "Rounders" and appreciates franchises that regularly wear alternate jerseys. Find him on Twitter @AJKolodziej.

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