Week 3, ahoy! All times eastern, all games picked arbitrarily.

Noon:

• Pittsburgh @ Michigan St., ESPN – Why is this on here? Who knows! I’m not even sure who’s going to win, so I’ll guess MSU.
• Central Michigan @ Purdue, ESPN2 – See above; Purdue.
• Virginia @ North Carolina, LF/Gameplan – The “lolacc” bowl! Two throughly bad/mediocre teams face off in Chapel Hill. Virginia has beaten a 1A team this year, though it was Duke, so I’ll give them a slight edge.

12:30: Mississippi State @ Auburn, LF/Gameplan -USF has sent the Auburn faithful’s, well, faith into tailspin (just see below). However, while this game may not restore the faith, per se, it will sure help. Auburn rolls.

1:30: Iowa @ Iowa State, Versus – Included only because it’s a rivalry game, and apparently the most expensive ticket in Iowa (if not one of the most in the country, especially considering the potential quality of play here). Iowa may get some in trouble because they’re away, but should prevail.

3:30:

• Tennessee @ Florida, CBS – Potentially the best game of the day. Both of these teams have lots of questions with precious few answers this far into the season. Tennessee got beat by Cal, but had a tasty cupcake in the form of Southern Miss. Despite what Troy did last night, that doesn’t really validate Florida’s win over them. As pointed out by other sources, home team doesn’t necessarily confer an advantage in this rivalry, nonetheless I like Florida here.
• Notre Dame @ Michigan, ABC – The game of various names. I call it the Lame Duck Bowl, but I’ve also heard other good ones that I escape me right now. Both teams will start freshman quarterbacks, both of whom got experience last week (Clausen started, Mallett came for the supposedly injured Henne).
• Ohio State @ Washington, ESPN – This game looks a lot more interesting than it did at the beginning of the year. But I don’t think the freshman QB for Washington has seen a defense like Ohio State’s, so I still like them here.
• Texas @ Central Florida, ESPN2 – UCF beat NC State last week, sure. But make no mistake, Texas is – hold on a second here, Texas at Central Florida? Well, Texas will probably win, but hopefully they saw what Troy did to Oklahoma State – they need to be on their toes.

5:00:

• California – Los Angeles @ Utah, Versus – Why did I include this on the list? Why not? Oh, I guess I like UCLA.
• Ball State @ Navy, CSTV – See above. I like Navy. Well, I don’t like Navy (Dad went to West Point, after all). I think there is a good chance they will this contest, however.

6:45: Arkansas @ Alabama, ESPN – Will Nick Saban have time Houston Nutt’s crazier-than-weasels offense? I don’t buy into Alabama being back here, and I think, and hope, that McFadden leads the Razorbacks to victory in Tuscaloosa.

7:00:

• Fresno State @ Oregon, Gameplan – Fresno State almost got the job done in College Station last week, but that said, the game went into multiple overtimes. I can’t imagine the Bulldogs being anything but sapped after that experience. Look for this to be close to the half, but Oregon pulls away in the 3rd quarter.
• Mississippi @ Vanderbilt, Gameplan – “DaCoachO” rolls into Nashville. I saw some promise in Vandy last week, but precious few points outside even if they did get shafted again. My heart says Vandy, but my head isn’t sure.

7:30: Louisville @ Kentucky, ESPN Classic – Another early-season rivalry game put into the backwaters of sports programming. Look for this game not to feature a lot of defense. (I’m not a betting man, but I might consider taking the over here.) Louisville wins, 55-35 or something like that.

8:00:

• Southern California @ Nebraska, ABC – Nebraska needed a few breaks to escape Wake Forest with a win. I see no reason why you should watch Southern Cal steamroll them when you could be watching…
• Boston College @ Georgia Tech, ESPN2 -The first real test for Georgia Tech all season. Once again, I’m nervous because the so-called experts seem to think GT will win on the basis of its defense and Tashard Choice and friends. I have to admit, I like the idea. But I’m also very nervous about Matt Ryan. The crucial factor in this game is the amount of time he has to sit in the pocket. If we can break the pass rush, he will not have enough opportunities to exploit what is by far the weakest area of the Georgia Tech defense – the cornerbacks. If he can camp out back in the pocket, he will have a field day. The numbers are fuzzy on whether or not Boston College’s run defense is any good. But hopefully Taylor gets over the jitters he had at Notre Dame and can complete some passes when BC is putting 8-9 guys in the box to stop Choice. If he can do his part to keep BC off balance, I like our chances here.

10:00: Florida State @ Colorado, ESPN – Man, if this were, like, 1991 this would probably be a great matchup. Now? Not so much. FSU has done little to impress me. I like Colorado here.

That’s all folks. Have a great Saturday!

Couple of interesting games this week, but mostly crap. At any rate, we continue onwards! All times Eastern.

11:00: West Virginia @ Marshall (ESPN2): The Battle of West Virginia! WVU wins going away.

Noon:

• Miami (FL) @ Oklahoma (ABC): I’m not sold on either of these teams – they gorged themselves on cupcakes last week. That said, I have to give the edge to OU based on how terrible Miami’s been the past couple of years.
• Nebraska @ Wake Forest (ESPN): Another ACC-Big 12 game! Wake didn’t exactly look awesome last week. I’m giving a slight edge to Nebraska here, even if I am rooting for wake.
• Duke @ Virginia (LF/Gameplan): Both are terrible, but one is much more terrible than the other. Virginia wins a game!

12:30: Alabama @ Vanderbilt (LF/Gameplan): I so desperately want this to be close and for Vandy to pull off the upset. My brain tells me that it will probably go otherwise, as ‘Bama fans are packing Nashville to see the Saban.

1:30: Samford @ Georgia Tech (ESPNU): Included even though I don’t get das ‘U’. Tech should win this one without much trouble, and hopefully Bennett can work off his nerves in a half of work and get his timing down for the passing game.

2:00: California @ Colorado State (CSTV): Cal’s second toughest OOC game – they need to win this to stay in the national picture after taking care of Tennessee this week. CSU and CU looked about level last week, so the boys from Berkeley should take this going away.

2:30: NC State @ Boston College (ESPN2): Important ACC divisional matchup, but NC State is still terrible as Tom O’Brien faces the school he jilted. BC wins to go to 2-0 heading into Atlanta next week.

3:30:

• Oregon @ Michigan (ABC): Ahahahahahaha. Sorry. Anyway. Oregon runs a spread-offense with a speedy quarterback, the same formula that App State uses. Oregon wins what originally looked like an intriguing matchip.
• Fresno State @ Texas A&M (FSN): Is Fresno back to its giant-killing ways? Probably not. TAMU wins.
• Boise State @ Washington (FSN NW/FCS Pacific): Washington claims to have a found a saviour in its young freshman QB. Boise State claims to be a legit contender. This is probably the Broncos’ most import game until they play Hawaii. I’m going say Washington gives them a run for their money, but they’re still Washington and Boise should win.

5:45: South Carolina @ Georgia (ESPN2): I hope against hope the boys from Columbia can go into Athens and whip the dogs. I hope is probably unfounded, though – UGA looked pretty good last week against Oklahoma State while the Gamecocks looked lackluster against UL-Lafayette.

6:00: Notre Dame @ Penn State (ESPN): Georgia Tech’s renowned defense terrorized ND’s QBs into 9 sacks last week. Penn State’s renowned defense should do similar damage. Happy Valley should be pretty happy about this one.

7:00: TCU @ Texas (FSN): TCU also is claiming to be a mid-major to contend with this year along with Boise and Hawaii. To prove it, they need to go giant-killing in Austin. Will they prove it? Probably not, but they may make it interesting.

9:00: South Florida @ Auburn (ESPN2): Auburn shouldn’t have any trouble with the Golden Bulls. However, they also weren’t supposed to have any trouble with Kansas State last week. If the AU offense bothers to show up for more than the last 5 minutes of the game this week they should win this going away – however, USF is probably better than KSU and if Auburn stagnates again they may not get as many second chances.

9:15: Virginia Tech @ Louisiana State (ESPN): The marquee matchup of the weekend – we’ve got real national title implications here, folks. Baton Rogue will be as nuts as they can get, which is pretty nuts. Virginia Tech looked…uninspired on offense against East Carolina last week and let them hang around way too long. Meanwhile, LSU took a business-like approach in beating Mississippi State (who is probably just as good, if not worse, than ECU). I feel like overall, LSU is probably more competent on offense and just as good as VPI on defense. This, plus home field advantage, gives them a slight edge here. I don’t expect a lot of points, though – something like 14-10 for a final would not be unsurprising.