College football betting: Favorites offer value in Apple Cup, Lambeau standoff

By Steve Makinen VSiN September 5, 2026 - 10:44 am As we look ahead to a typical NFL Sunday, there is an unusual slate of college football action on tap. Three games are scheduled, featuring a intriguing potential showdown between Louisville and Ole Miss, though that matchup does not appear on Steve Makinen’s radar. Instead, Makinen highlights two contests: the Apple Cup pitting Washington State against Washington and the neutral‑site meeting at Lambeau Field between Wisconsin and Notre Dam­e.

VSiN, The Sports Betting Network

### Washington State at Washington (‑23½) How much adjustment can a program absorb? This season we will find out as Washington State launches its inaugural campaign in the reconfigured Pac‑12. The Cougars will do so under a new coaching staff headed by Kirby Moore, who will become the program’s fifth different head coach since 2019. So far Washington State has managed to avoid the typical pitfalls that accompany such turnover, yet Makinen believes those issues could surface this year. After splitting its first two games last season, Washington enters the contest as a 23½‑point favorite. Makinen notes that first‑year head coaches own a 92‑154 straight‑up and 111‑133 against‑the‑spread record (45.5 percent) in the opening four weeks of college football since 2021, while rookie defensive coordinators are 167‑198 SU and 165‑195 ATS (45.8 percent) over the same span versus their experienced counterparts. He also points out that the Huskies have been strong at home under Jedd Fisch, posting an 8‑2 record as home chalk in his two seasons. **Best Bet:** Washington -23½ ### Wisconsin at Notre Dame (‑20½) A decade has passed since Wisconsin last took the field at Lambeau Field, where it hosted an LSU squad and pulled off a memorable upset. Makinen argues that the current Badgers team is nowhere near the caliber of that 2013 group, which won eleven games followed by a thirteen‑win season the following year. This matchup follows two seasons in which Wisconsin managed a combined nine victories. Although the outlook for 2026 may be brighter than a year ago, Makinen doubts that opening the slate against what could be the nation’s most complete roster aligns with Luke Fickell’s hopes. Notre Dame returns seventeen starters, a cohort that historically performs well. Teams with seventeen or more returning starters are 108‑89 SU and 108‑87 ATS (55.4 percent) in the first four weeks of the college football season since 2021, compared with squads returning sixteen or fewer. In his Weeks 0/1 analysis, Makinen showed that modest and heavy favorites tend to prevail in early neutral‑site clashes