This Weekend in College Football: Week 3

I’ve tried to roll with the various time changes and cancellations due to Hurricane Florence the best I can, but there may still be inaccuracies.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

  • Oklahoma @ Iowa State (ABC): Iowa State didn’t look that good against Iowa last week, a bad sign for the forthcoming Sooner attack.
  • Florida State @ Syracuse (ESPN): Things are about to get quite salty at one of these places, I’m just not sure which. I like FSU here I guess?
  • Miami @ Toledo (ESPN2): So, yes, this isn’t a MAC game, it’s the Miami from Florida. Either way, they’re at Toledo to save some money. After taking care of business when they had to go to a much more hostile Appalachian State last year, I’m sure the ‘Canes will be fine.
  • Georgia Southern @ Clemson (ESPNU): Clemson had a tough time with TAMU last weekend. They should have no such problems here.
  • Kent State @ Pennsylvania State (FS1): Turns out Penn State is probably still pretty good. Kent State, not so much.
  • Rutgers @ Kansas (RSN): Rutgers?
  • Middle Tennessee State @ Georgia (ESPNEWS): Georgia.
  • Texas-El Paso @ Tennessee (SEC): Vawls.
  • Ball State @ Indiana (BTN): Hoosiers.
  • Temple @ Maryland (BTN): Terps.
  • Troy @ Nebraska (BTN): Huskers, probably.
  • Hawaii @ Army (CBSS): Is this Hawaii team as good as everyone’s hoping? Hopefully they won’t be too jet lagged after voyaging to West Point, because I otherwise see them as a favorite.

12:30: Georgia Tech @ Pittsburgh (ACC/RSN): Okay, so… the defense still sucks. I mean, yeah, it’s early, but it was a bad show last week. Sure, special teams allowed two kickoff return TDs, but there’s little evidence the defense would’ve stopped them anyway, so at least it gave us more time with the ball in the end. The only thing sustaining me right now is that USF might be better than Pitt.

2:30: Vanderbilt @ Notre Dame (NBC): Any notion that Vandy is good this year should be dispelled quickly in this one.

3:30:

  • Louisiana State @ Auburn (CBS): This is the “Who’s Line Is It Anyway?” of college football games: everything’s made up and the points don’t matter. That said, LSU still appears to lack the offense to keep up with the Plains Tigers.
  • Brigham Young @ Wisconsin (ABC): Wisky.
  • Boise State @ Oklahoma State (ESPN): I don’t think Boise will win, but boy howdy this one could get fun.
  • Duke @ Baylor (FS1): Duke, I guess?
  • Miami @ Minnesota (BTN): So here’s the Miami from Ohio. They will probably lose.
  • Southern Methodist @ Michigan (BTN): Wolverines.
  • South Florida vs. Illinois (@Chicago, IL; BTN): Like I said, USF had better be pretty good. At least good enough to beat a consistently mediocre-to-bad Illinois squad.

4:00:

  • Houston @ Texas Tech (FOX): If Kliff is trying to avoid getting fired, this game will likely do him no favors.
  • Texas-San Antonio @ Kansas State (RSN): K-State.
  • Colorado State @ Florida (SEC): Florida?
  • North Texas @ Arkansas (SECA): Arkansas?

4:30: Ohio vs. Virginia (@Nashville, TN; ESPN2): Rather than cancel, this game got moved to the empty Vanderbilt Stadium since the ‘Dores are up in South Bend for the weekend. It does boggle the mind a bit that Virginia surveyed all their possible neutral site sites and somehow came up with the SEC school that is the most like Virginia.

5:00: San Jose State @ Oregon (Pac12): Ducks.

7:00:

  • Alabama @ Mississippi (ESPN): Remember when this game was fun and drove Bama fans nuts? Yeah…
  • Arkansas State @ Tulsa (CBSS): I don’t know anything about either of these teams, so I’ll take Tulsa and venture to guess this might be more fun to watch than Bama-Ole Miss.

7:30:

  • Missouri @ Purdue (BTN): Purdue is… kinda bad probably. Mizzou.
  • Akron @ Northwestern (BTN): Northwestern.
  • Massachusetts @ Florida International (beIN): UMass?
  • Western Kentucky @ Louisville (ACC/RSN): This one could also be fun, unless you’re a Louisville fan. (They should win easily, though.)

8:00:

  • Southern California @ Texas (FOX): Welcome to ANGST BOWL 2018. USC is angsty after getting pretty much Stanforded by Stanford last weekend. And Texas is, well, Texas. Which is why I’m going to take USC in the rematch of the greatest BCS title game ever. (Vince Young should’ve won the Heisman.)
  • Ohio State vs. Texas Christian (@Arlington, TX; ABC): Here’s the big one for the day. I think Ohio State will get through it, but that it’ll be a game.

10:00: Washington @ Utah (ESPN): Utah usually pretty game, but there’s not much to suggest they’ll be able to stop UDub right now.

10:30:

  • Fresno State @ California-Los Angeles (FS1): Surely UCLA isn’t bad enough to lose to Fresno, right? Right?
  • Arizona State @ San Diego State (CBSS): HERM! No, seriously, we can’t all be wrong, can we? I’m taking the Aztecs.