Week 3 Preview

Week 3 is here and more teams are starting conference play. There are two huge games in the SEC West and a couple other top 25 matchups. We are starting to see what teams are really made of. Injuries have already played a major role in this season, so here is hoping to a healthy week 3 for all.

Notable Games
15Ole Miss at 2Alabama This is a huge game. Both teams have looked very good in their first two games. Alabama’s defense is going to be the main focus of this game. Ole Miss has scored 76 and 73 points so far this season, but I doubt that will be the case in their third game. This will also be the first real test for the Ole Miss Land Shark defense. They have their work cut out for them with RBs Derrick Henry and Kenyan Drake. I think this a really interesting matchup. I think it should be another great game, but I expect Alabama to pull ahead in the end. I am picking Alabama.

Stanford at 6USC Stanford has not been as good as expected this season. They were able to score 31 points while holding UCF to just 7. I think this will be a competitive game as usual. The Trojans have scored 55 and 59 in their two games and might be too much for Stanford. I would be surprised if either team scored more than 30 points. That being said, I’m not sure Stanford has the offense to match USC. Both teams should be playing their best football in this game. Rivalry games almost always are the best games of the season. I am picking USC.

14Georgia Tech at 8Notre Dame Notre Dame lost their starting QB, Malik Zaire, to a broken ankle in the third quarter of the Virginia game last week. Backup DeShone Kizer came in and won the game with a 39-yard TD pass with 12 seconds remaining in the game. The Fighting Irish have lost two of their top offensive players and I think that will set in this week. The ND defense is much improved from last year, but I think Georgia Tech will be too much. I think it will be a very close and exciting game. I am picking Georgia Tech.

19BYU at 10UCLA BYU has had two amazing games. The Cougars provided one of the plays of the year with their Hail Mary win over Nebraska, and then last week they scored 14 points in the final 45 seconds to beat Boise State. BYU has shown that they can still be competitive without QB Taysom Hill. Freshman Tanner Mangum has done great in relief. UCLA has also done well this season, but they haven’t had much competition. This game will tell us a lot about UCLA and their freshman QB. Maybe we’ll get another amazing ending for this BYU team. I am picking UCLA.

18Auburn at 13LSU This is a tough one. Auburn has not looked good this season. Auburn needed a TD with 39 seconds left just to get to OT in their game against FCS team Jacksonville State. Tiger QB Jeremy Johnson has a TD-INT ratio of 3-5 in the first two games. LSU didn’t look extremely dominant in their game against Mississippi State. LSU allowed 2TDs in the 4th quarter after being up 21-6. Auburn is going to need to stop RB Leonard Fournette (has all 3TDs for LSU) if they want to win this game. This is technically the home opener for LSU, and it will probably be loud in Tiger Stadium. This is another major game in the SEC West race. I think it’s a close one. I am picking LSU.

Florida at Kentucky Kentucky has been able to barely hold on to big leads in their last two games. Florida came close to losing their lead against ECU last week. I am interested in seeing if this will be a back and forth game or if one team will jump out and then lose their lead. I think Florida’s new offense will win the game for the Gators. Kentucky hasn’t shown that they are a dominating defense, and UF will take advantage of this. This has the potential to be a relatively high scoring game. Maybe we will get another OT thriller like last year. I am picking Florida.

Texas Tech at Arkansas This is a huge game for the Razorbacks. They need to prove to the country (and themselves) that they deserved the hype they got in the offseason. Unfortunately, Arkansas has been hit with injuries. RB Jonathan Williams got hurt before the season and will likely miss the entire season. Now WRs Keon Hatcher and Cody Hollister will both miss time after having surgery this week. Arkansas has to get back to their physical run game, especially since the receiving core is down a couple guys. I would also like to see the Hogs utilize their TEs. Hunter Henry is one of the best in the country at his position, but he is barely used. Texas Tech will test Arkansas’ defense in this game. They have scored 59 and 69 points in their two games. The Razorback defense did not look good against Toledo, even though they only allowed 16 points. The Hogs need this win to gain momentum going into SEC play.

Top 25
Northern Illinois at 1Ohio State
SMU at 3TCU
Air Force at 4Michigan State
South Carolina at 7Georgia
9Florida State at Boston College (Friday)
11Clemson 20 Louisville 17 (Thursday)
Georgia State at 12Oregon
Tulsa at 16Oklahoma
Nevada at 17Texas A&M
Northern Arizona at 20Arizona
21Utah at Fresno State
Connecticut at 22Missouri
23Northwestern at Duke
Troy at 24Wisconsin
UTSA at 25Oklahoma State

Other Games
Nebraska at Miami(FL)
California at Texas
UNLV at Michigan
Western Kentucky at Indiana
Rutgers at Penn State
Utah State at Washington
Colorado State at Colorado