Central Florida hasn’t lost a regular-season game since 2016 but has been ignored by the College Football Playoff selection committee. The Knights would get a boost to this year’s playoff hopes by beating Stanford on Saturday in Orlando. Here’s a look at that and one other matchup we will parlay together this week on the College Football odds.
2019 College Football Week 3 Parlay Picks
Stanford at No. 17 Central Florida (-7)
- When: Saturday, 3:30 PM ET
This was to be a rare ranked team to visit UCF but Stanford fell out of the Top 25 with last Saturday’s 45-20 loss at Southern Cal. Freshman Kedon Slovis passed for 377 yards and three touchdowns for the Trojans. Slovis went 28 of 33 and set a school record for yards passing by a freshman in his first start. Stanford led by 14 early and had won eight of the previous 12 in the series.
First-time starter Davis Mills went 22 of 36 for 237 yards for Stanford. Cameron Scarlett rushed for 82 yards and a touchdown, but the Cardinal were outscored 42-3 in the final 43 minutes. Leading 20-10 with 7:57 remaining in the second quarter, Stanford surrendered 35 unanswered points.
“Honestly, we didn’t come out there and execute,” said fifth-year senior outside linebacker Casey Toohill. “That hurts to say. You never, ever want to look back and realize it was completely on your own execution, that it was completely in your control, but it was. We just didn’t have a good game, didn’t execute.”
Mills started because KJ Costello was out injured, but he will return Saturday. Costello was going into a sliding motion against Northwestern the week prior when he absorbed a forearm to the head, but the play did not draw a targeting penalty. However, star Cardinal left tackle Walker Little will not after also being injured in Week 1.
Central Florida has blown out two overmatched in-state schools so far. It was 48-14 last week at Florida Atlantic. Freshman quarterback Dillon Gabriel threw for two touchdowns and rushed for another in his first career start. Gabriel finished just 7-of-19 passing, but totaled 245 yards through the air. UCF gashed the FAU defense for 312 rushing yards, the second straight game the Knights eclipsed the 300-yard rushing mark.
Who will start at QB for this one? Notre Dame transfer Brandon Wimbush went Week 1 but missed last week with a minor injury. Projected starter Darriel Mack Jr. suffered a broken ankle over the summer and missed all of training camp, but he’s expected to be in the mix as the Knights prepare to host Stanford on Saturday. Mack has been cleared to return. He led UCF to a 56-41 win over Memphis in the AAC championship game year, throwing for 348 yards and two touchdowns while adding 59 yards and four scores on the ground.
TCU at Purdue (-2)
- When: Saturday, 7:30 PM ET
- TV: Big Ten Network
Purdue likely will be without starting quarterback Elijah Sindelar after he suffered a concussion in last week’s 42-14 win over Vanderbilt. Sindelar must go through the concussion protocol before team doctors allow him back on the field. Through two games, Sindelar has completed 68 of 104 passes with nine touchdowns and three interceptions. He leads the nation with 932 yards passing and has 11 carries for 36 yards.
On Monday, the Big Ten named Sindelar its offensive player of the week after he was 34 of 52 with a career high 509 yards, a career best five touchdown passes and one rushing touchdown vs. Vandy. Sindelar is the first Purdue quarterback with five or more touchdown passes and 500 yards in a game since Kyle Orton in 2004. Saturday was Sindelar’s second straight game with 400 or more yards passing, becoming the first Boilermaker since Drew Brees in 1998 to surpass that mark. Sindelar’s 1-yard sneak in the fourth quarter gave him six overall touchdowns. It’s the program’s first six-touchdown performance since Curtis Painter in 2007. If he can’t play, redshirt freshman Jack Plummer would start.
The Boilermakers lead the nation with 19 passes of 20 or more yards through the first two weeks of the season. Head coach Jeff Brohm’s offensive scheme has already produced scoring plays of 50, 49, 39, 38, 34 and 20 yards against Nevada and Vanderbilt.
Purdue is hosting a Big 12 Conference school for the first time. The Boilermakers have played three Big 12 opponents previously, all in bowl games. They defeated Oklahoma State in the 1997 Alamo Bowl (33-20) and Kansas State in the 1998 Alamo Bowl (37-34), while losing to Oklahoma State in the 2013 Heart of Dallas Bowl (58-14).
TCU hasn’t played since a 39-7 win against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Aug. 31. TCU has five straight wins in its first road game of the season. TCU’s 39 road wins since 2009 are third in the nation. The Horned Frogs are 39-14 (.736) in that stretch. TCU’s 47-21 record (.691) in road and neutral-site games since 2009 is the nation’s sixth-best mark.
The Horned Frogs have the Big 12’s longest active winning streak at four games, a run that is tied for eighth nationally. TCU has won 13 of its last 17 regular-season games after an open date.
Expert 2019 College Football Week 3 Parlay Picks
If Sindelar sits, parlay TCU and UCF on the spread.
