FCS College Football Week 3 Preview & Picks Recap
The College Football Experience (@TCEonSGPN) on the Sports Gambling Podcast Network continues its 2026 season coverage with FCS Week 3 picks, a full FCS-on-FCS preview and picks show. Pick Dundee aka (@TheColbyD) and Ryan McIntyre (@Moneyline_Mac) are joined by Phil Steele’s Chris Van Dine (@ChrisV160) to run all 44 games on the board. Is the top-10 game of the week a spot to lay 10 and a half with South Dakota State, or does Youngstown State keep it close? Is Lehigh the national title contender Dundee says it is, laying 16 and a half on Dartmouth? Why is Dayton only getting 10 and a half at Eastern Kentucky? Does Furman cover 10 and a half at home against South Carolina State, the one game that split the booth? And does Gardner-Webb, the favorite play of the week, take care of NC Central in its home opener?
From there they work all the way down the FCS slate, from the Ivy League openers to the Pioneer League games most shows skip, with Chris Van Dine bringing his Phil Steele scouting to the board. They stack their triple locks, split hard on a few, and close by each naming the one play they like most this week. We talk it all and more on this episode of The College Football Experience.
More free college football picks every week at sportsgamblingpodcast.com/college-football-picks.
Lehigh Is A Wagon And The Ivy Finally Shows Up
The Ivy League opens this week. That is the annual oddity of this sport: eight teams start their season against opponents carrying three weeks of film. The booth chewed on it for a while, then came down on the fresh side. Mac also had the receipts. The Ivy went 5-3 in these crossover spots in each of the last two years. It went 6-2 in 2023 and 8-0 in 2022. It has also finished with a winning record five straight years. So nobody here wanted to fade an Ivy opener on rust alone.
Lehigh laying 16.5 on Dartmouth got a double lock. Colby has the Mountain Hawks as a legitimate national championship contender, and 124-44 on the season backs him up. They also wrecked William & Mary last week. Chris was on them in Week 1 and again last week as a Phil Steele tour play. But Mac would not go near this one, because his problem is the spot rather than the team. It is a non-conference game sitting after three straight league games. So Lehigh goes in the ledger as a double and not a triple.
Columbia -2.5 over Lafayette was Colby’s first real fade of the year. And he has watched enough Lafayette to mean it. Chris took the Lions too, because last year’s 2-8 team played three quarterbacks and this one is healthier. Mac then double-locked them in a series that dates to 1889. Princeton -3.5 at Bryant went triple lock. Chris also added the under 43.5, since Bryant’s quarterback is completing about half his throws. Mac locked Penn -3.5 at Bucknell. Harvard at 16.5 and Yale at 19.5 both got passed on, because that is a lot to lay in an opener.
The Best FCS Week 3 Picks On The Board
Eastern Illinois plus 29.5 at Illinois State was the cleanest agreement of the night. Illinois State just knocked off Northern Illinois, and now it hosts an in-state rival. Chris went to the history first. The Redbirds have not beaten Eastern Illinois by this number since 2018, and the margin usually lands between 21 and 28 points. Last year’s was a 12-point win. He still has Illinois State winning the game by 21 to 24. So the number is the problem here, not the team.
Stony Brook plus 14.5 was Chris’s circled game. Rhode Island’s 31-10 win over Elon was not the beatdown it looks like, because that game was 3-3 going to the fourth. Then came a pick six and a three-yard scoring drive off a turnover. So he thinks the Seawolves money line is live. Meanwhile the top-10 game of the week drew a triple lock anyway. South Dakota State laying 10.5 on Youngstown State is a hard spot to fade, because the Jackrabbits were 7-0 and No. 1 last year before the injuries hit. Weber State laying 33.5 also went triple, and the case there is short. Northwestern State lost to an NAIA team.
Gardner-Webb -3.5 over North Carolina Central was the favorite play of the week for Colby and Chris, whose computer spit out 34-15. It is also the Running Bulldogs’ home opener. NC Central’s win over North Carolina A&T also came with even yardage and a plus-four turnover margin. Mac’s top play was Richmond -11.5 at Georgetown, and he wants it by three scores. Eastern Kentucky laying 10.5 on Dayton then drew a triple lock. The Colonels beat Chattanooga, and Dayton’s wins are Thomas More and Fairmont State. So all three went hunting for the injury news that would explain a number that low. Nobody came up with it. VMI -3.5 at Davidson rounded out the triples.
Where The Booth Split
Furman catching 10.5 at home against South Carolina State was the best argument of the show. Colby locked the Paladins, who are a double-digit dog for the second straight week. Mac joined him. But Chris would not go near that side, first because of how South Carolina State is playing under Chennis Berry, and also because Furman’s offense did nothing against Mercer. And he is not wrong about that tape. So this one goes down as a real split rather than a lean.
McNeese at UT Rio Grande Valley broke the same way. Chris took the Cowboys plus the points, and both hosts laid the 4.5 at home. Colby then locked North Alabama -13.5, because North Alabama is opening a brand new stadium at home. Chris took the Alcorn State points anyway. Mac also worked for Austin Peay once, and he still locked West Florida as a 6.5-point home dog against his old shop. So that tells you how good the Argos have looked since they hammered Central Arkansas in Conway.
Totals And The Pioneer League Fade
Colby is on the over 63.5 in Presbyterian at Western Carolina. The last time these two played, the Catamounts won 77-21. Presbyterian also gave up 472 yards to Virginia-Wise, and it scored three points on Mercer. Western Carolina overs have been a cash cow for three years, because that defense gets picked apart every season. Chris then locked the side. Next came Houston Christian at Incarnate Word, where Colby took the over 48.5. He likes the Huskies’ offense far more than last year’s after a 34-28 win at Southeastern Louisiana. Incarnate Word also just hung 606 yards on Northern Arizona.
San Diego plus 18.5 at Cal Poly is the Pioneer League play of the week, mostly because Cal Poly nearly lost to Central Washington. Colby had that one bet before the show started. Prairie View plus 17.5 then got all three votes, behind dual-threat quarterback Tevin Carter and the 519 yards he put up on Texas Southern. Finally there is Stetson at UC Davis laying 48.5, where nobody had a play at all. Colby talked himself into it, saw the words Davis, California, and talked himself right back out. So they laid it and moved on.
Podcast Chapters
0:00 Download the SGPN App Today!
1:03 Week 2 Recap & Phil Steele’s Chris Van Dine Joins
12:39 Brown vs. New Haven Picks
18:22 Dartmouth vs. Lehigh Picks
21:06 Lafayette vs. Columbia Picks
23:08 West Georgia vs. East Tennessee State Picks
24:53 Villanova vs. Long Island Picks
27:00 Princeton vs. Bryant Picks
31:12 Valparaiso vs. Indiana State Picks
33:38 Harvard vs. New Hampshire Picks
38:26 Cornell vs. Colgate Picks
41:29 Chicago State vs. Butler Picks
42:33 VMI vs. Davidson Picks
45:13 Southern Utah vs. St. Thomas Picks
48:11 Yale vs. Holy Cross Picks
49:54 Rhode Island vs. Stony Brook Picks
52:22 Presbyterian vs. Western Carolina Picks
54:56 Penn vs. Bucknell Picks
57:13 Eastern Illinois vs. Illinois State Picks
1:00:06 Central Connecticut vs. Montana State Picks
1:01:22 Monmouth vs. Albany Picks
1:02:33 Georgetown vs. Richmond Picks
1:04:14 Abilene Christian vs. Idaho Picks
1:05:56 Hampton vs. Norfolk State Picks
1:07:31 NC A&T vs. Campbell Picks
1:09:38 Dayton vs. Eastern Kentucky Picks
1:11:39 Sacred Heart vs. Elon Picks
1:13:20 Fordham vs. William & Mary Picks
1:15:52 NC Central vs. Gardner-Webb Picks
1:17:34 Wofford vs. Chattanooga Picks
1:19:59 Morgan State vs. Towson Picks
1:22:11 Houston Christian vs. Incarnate Word Picks
1:22:57 Merrimack vs. Tarleton State Picks
1:24:17 Central Arkansas vs. Southeast Missouri State Picks
1:26:46 South Carolina State vs. Furman Picks
1:29:03 Youngstown State vs. South Dakota State Picks
1:32:12 Tennessee State vs. Florida A&M Picks
1:33:01 Morehead State vs. Western Illinois Picks
1:35:14 Austin Peay vs. West Florida Picks
1:36:54 Alcorn State vs. North Alabama Picks
1:39:10 Northwestern State vs. Weber State Picks
1:40:40 San Diego vs. Cal Poly Picks
1:41:56 Northern Arizona vs. Utah Tech Picks
1:43:07 McNeese vs. UT Rio Grande Valley Picks
1:44:17 Stephen F. Austin vs. Prairie View A&M Picks
1:45:32 Stetson vs. UC Davis Picks
1:46:51 Sign-Off & Socials
