College Football Week 3

Week 3 gets under way on Thursday night with an important Big East match-up between South Florida and Rutgers. Both teams are 2-0. South Florida had an amazing comeback win against Nevada out in Reno on Saturday. Two long TD passes in the final 2:37 allowed the Bulls to wrest a 32-31 victory from the Wolf Pack. Rutgers has had two rather lackluster offensive performances (the exception is Jawan Jamison who has had two 100-yard rushing games so far) but their defense and special teams have been doing just fine, thank you. So far they’ve had one blocked punt returned for a TD and one interception returned for a TD. Saturday they held Howard to just 149 yards net offense. Now, if they could just get the kinks worked out on offense….

Friday night Washington State plays at UNLV. The Cougars enter the game 1-1 having lost to BYU on the road (30-6) and beaten Eastern Washington at home (24-20). The Rebels are 0-2 with 3-point losses at home to both Minnesota (30-27) and Northern Arizona (17-14)

Everybody else (who is playing) is playing on Saturday.

After upset loses suffered over the past weekend, four teams are gone from the AP Top 25 are Arkansas, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Oklahoma State. In their stead are UCLA, Tennessee, Arizona, and Brigham Young. Will these teams—all at the bottom of the AP rankings—be here next week? Time will tell.

(Numbers given are the rankings of: AP/Coaches’/CBSSports. NR = Not Rated Those in parentheses are last week’s rankings.)

1/1/6 (1/1/4) Alabama (2-0) The Tide rolls into Arkansas to play with—I mean—against the Razorbacks (1-1). Roll Tide!

2/3/2 (2/2/1) Southern California (2-0) The Trojans will travel a little closer to home this week as they play the Stanford Cardinal (2-0). Last year, the Cardinal pulled came away with a road victory, but they had Luck on their side at the time. USC did display a bit of a porous defense against Syracuse last week. This one could be close but look for USC to prevail.

3/2/1 (3/3/2) LSU (2-0) The Tigers host Idaho (0-2). Idaho? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Will the Lsu starters even get to finish the first quarter?

4/4/8 (4/4/7) Oregon (2-0) The Ducks will host Tennessee Tech (2-0) (an FCS school). There may be a lot of points scored in this one—by BOTH sides, but the Ducks should score more.

5T/5/3 (5/5/3) Oklahoma (2-0) The Sooners will have the week off.

5T/6/7 (6/6/12)) Florida State (2-0) The Seminoles will host the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (2-0). FSU should win this one fairly easily but they really haven’t been challenged yet this year. Wins over Murray State (69-3) and Savannah State (55-0 in a rain shortened contest) may have built stats but not metal.

7/7/12 (7/7/17) Georgia (2-0) The Bulldogs host the Florida Atlantic Owls (1-1). The Bulldogs will have a new toy for Ugga.

8/9/15 (9T/9/19) South Carolina (2-0) The Gamecocks will host the UAB Blazers (0-1) Saturday evening. Won’t be much fun for the Blazers who have the 104^th best(?) rushing defense.  It’s a very young group that will have plenty of gray hair after this one.

9/8/18 (9T/8/25) West Virginia (1-0) The Mountaineers will host the James Madison Dukes (2-0) (an FCS team). The Dukes have posted wins of 55-7 (St. Francis, PA) and 42-3 (Alcorn State) in their first two games. West Virginia beat Marshall 69-34 in their opener two weeks ago. The Mountaineers should romp.

10/10/4 (11/11/6) Michigan State (2-0) The Spartans will host #20 Notre Dame (2-0) Saturday night. MSU edged Boise State (17-14) and romped over Central Michigan (41-7). The Irish creamed Navy (50-10) in Ireland and edged Purdue (20-17) at home. What will happen in East Lansing? Flip a coin.

11/11/10 (12/12/16) Clemson (2-0) The Tigers will host the Furman Paladins (0-2). The Tigers should win handily, but the Paladins two loses (Samford 24-21 and Coastal Carolina 47-45 in three overtimes) have been…well…entertaining.

12/NR/5 (14/NR/13) Ohio State (2-0) The Buckeyes will host the California Golden Bears (1-1). Cal has given up 31 points in each of their first two games. They were able to score 50 against Southern Utah but only 24 against Nevada. They will need that 50 to beat the Buckeyes…but they won’t get it.

13/13/11 (15/18/23) Virginia Tech (2-0) The Hokies will head north to play the Pitt Panthers (0-2). It’s going to be a loooong year for Pitt.

14/12/19 (17/15/14) Texas (2-0) The Longhorns will play at the home of the Ole Miss Rebels (2-0). Texas should leave the Rebels in Ashes.

15/14/20 (21/20/NR) Kansas State (2-0) The Wildcats will host the North Texas Mean Green (1-1). Look for the Wildcats to come close—if not surpass –their 51 ½ point average while holding the Mean Green to far less.

16/15/NR (20/17/NR) TCU (1-0) The Horned Frogs will play at Kansas against the Jayhawks (1-1). Kansas’ one victory came by one point over Rice. TCU should have no difficulty.

17/18/22 (19/19/5) Michigan (1-1) The Wolverines host the Massachusetts Minutemen (0-2) who are not having a good time in their first year on the FBS level. Michigan by 30.

18/17/16 (24/23/22) Florida (2-0) The Gators will play on the road against the #23 Tennessee Volunteers (2-0). Tennessee has put up some impressive offensive numbers while Florida has struggled. The Vols pull off an upset in this one with the help of their home field advantage.

19/20/9 (23/24/10) Louisville(2-0) The Cardinals will host the North Carolina Tar Heels (1-1). Louisville will roll over NC.

20/19/17 (22/22/21) Notre Dame (2-0) The Fighting Irish will face #10 Michigan State (2-0) on the road.  

21/16/NR (25/21/NR) Stanford (2-0) The Cardinal host #2 Southern California (2-0) in what should be a very close game.

22/23/NR (NR/NR/NR) UCLA (2-0) The Bruins host the Houston Cougars (0-2).  UCLA will score big in this one.

23/NR/NR (NR/NR/NR) Tennessee (2-0) The Volunteers will host #18 Florida (2-0) and will pull off the upset.

24/25/NR (NR/NR/NR) Arizona (2-0) The Wildcats will host the South Carolina State Bulldogs (1-1) (an FCS school).

25/NR/NR (NR/NR/NR) Brigham Young (2-0) will play down the road against the Utah Utes (1-1) in a game that could go either way.

NR/21/24 (8/10/20) Arkansas (1-1) The Razorbacks host their worst nightmare: The #1 Alabama Crimson Tide (2-0).

NR/22/23 (13/13/8) Wisconsin (1-1) The Badgers look for redemption when they host the Utah State Aggies (2-0). They may get it…but it won’t be easy.

NR/24/14 (16/14/15) Nebraska (1-1) The Cornhuskers host the Arkansas State Red Wolves (1-1) and should come away with a solid victory.

NR/NR/13 (NR/25/11) Boise State (0-1) The Broncos host the Miami (Ohio) Redhawks (1-1). The result should be a win on the blue carpet for the home team.

NR/NR/25 (NR/NR/NR) Washington (1-1) The Huskies will be licking their wounds after their drubbing by LSU with a home game against Portland State Vikings (1-1) (an FCS school). They should be very successful.