Witt's Wagers: Week 3
Ben Wittenstein offers insight on: Indiana's First Quarter Team Total against ISU, as well as other games he's eyeing this week.
Some of you may remember Witt’s Wagers, featured in each BSB weekly preview during the 2024 season and produced by my good friend and respected betting expert (and IU alumnus) Ben Wittenstein. We’re bringing it back for 2025 and expanding it into its own weekly guest BSB post!
Ben will offer at least one Indiana bet that he likes each week, as well as other bets around college football that may or may not be Indiana-related.
I’m thrilled to have Ben back in the BSB fold, and I know he will make us all lots of money! The edition below is the first installment.
I mean…C’mon. The sports books are just producing comedy at this point. -48.5? Are you kidding me? Plenty of teams won’t even score 49 points this weekend, let alone beat a team by that margin.
Yet, I have no doubt that IU can, in fact, beat a team like Indiana State by 49+ points, but I’ll stick to the time frame where I know starters will play.
Bet: 1Q total Over 13.5 (-105, Fanatics)
Season Record: 1-1
As Taylor mentioned in Wednesday’s Bite-Sized Bison, this isn’t your older brother’s Indiana State. This team has some fight. With that said, Indiana is still ages ahead of them in terms of talent. So, I’m simply betting on some first-quarter scoring. Indiana has shown it can score more than two TDs in a quarter with ease, as they did last week. And if 2-0 Indiana State has any game plan, their first scripted drive could produce points.
We’ll see more growth from Fernando Mendoza and an IU team that has regained its sea legs after last week’s offensive walloping of Kennesaw State. Expect the Hoosiers’ top-50 EPA/Play ranking to push them to the end zone early on.
OTHER GAMES I’M EYEING
Season Record: 2-1
Miami -17.5 (-110) vs. South Florida — USF shocked Florida last week but now faces another tough test against Miami. As much as I respect the Bulls (more than the Chicago Bulls, honestly), this talented Miami team might finally break them. Miami dominates in the trenches—they bullied Notre Dame in Week 1. If they did that to the Irish, USF is in for a rough day. The Hurricanes look like a serious playoff contender, and I expect them to leave USF in the dust in this letdown spot.
Georgia -3.5 (-110) @ Tennessee — We think we know Georgia this year. But we really don’t. Kirby Smart’s team has faced only Marshall and Austin Peay so far, so what we’ve really seen is a basic offense intended to shield their real ability before their conference opener. Gunnar Stockton and Georgia’s offense should overwhelm Tennessee. The Georgia defense hasn’t allowed a touchdown from starters yet (Marshall’s score came against backups). This weekend, we’ll see the full force of Georgia football.
Western Michigan +27.5 (-108) @ Illinois — Illinois is coming off a big road win against Duke and faces a tough primetime game at Indiana next week. So this week, they’ll play conservatively at home against an inferior Western Michigan team. Brett Bielema won’t reveal much, likely sticking to a basic, injury-avoiding game plan. Meanwhile, this is Western Michigan’s biggest game of the year—a rare Top 10 matchup for a MAC team. Expect the Broncos to treat it like their Super Bowl. One team’s just looking ahead, the other’s playing with everything on the line. I’m taking the team playing hard to cover.
Ben Wittenstein has created sports betting content during the last six years for various media outlets, including CBS Sports, Stadium, Bleav Network, BetMGM, and Bet QL. He graduated from IU with a journalism degree in 2017 and spent four years broadcasting IUFB games on top of Memorial Stadium’s press box (shoutout WIUX). You can find Ben on Twitter at @BenWittenstein, where you can ask betting questions about IU and beyond.