Last week’s slate of college football games ended up being way better than anyone (including myself) anticipated. We had plenty of awesome games, including two that established themselves as the frontrunners for the craziest ending of the season and the wildest game of the year, and this was all despite a bunch of people saying that Week 2 was going to be lame as all heck.
So what should we expect in Week 3? Well for one, we have three of the biggest games of the year, all with major national title implications: Florida State at Louisville, Alabama at Ole Miss, and Ohio State at Oklahoma. Even the “undercard” this week is littered with match-ups worth checking out.
Settle into your couches, order some wings, and get ready for one heck of a college football Saturday. Here’s everything you need to watch this weekend.
Early Slate
FRONT AND CENTER
Noon: Florida State at Louisville (ABC)
Things get off to an awesome start on Saturday with what should be the best game of the weekend. Clemson is (in all likelihood) the best team in the ACC after returning a bunch of key contributors including DeShaun Watson from last year’s team that reached the National Championship. However, the winner of this game has a legitimate argument for why they should be the top team in the conference.
Florida State goes into this game without one of its two best players on either side of the ball in star safety Derwin James. The good news is the guy who holds that title with James is Dalvin Cook, and as long as the running back plays, the Seminoles have a chance. Plus FSU’s defensive defensive front – led by DE DeMarcus Walker and LB Matthew Thomas – is still really, really good (even though freak of nature defensive end Josh Sweat is a question mark). Not to mention redshirt freshman quarterback Deondre Francois has been fantastic at throwing the football so far.
On the other side, all eyes are on Lamar Jackson. The sophomore quarterback has 13 (!!!) touchdowns in two games this year. While those games have been against Charlotte and Syracuse, he has still looked like a total superstar, to the point that he may be the runaway winner of this year’s Kenny Hill September Heisman Award. If he wants to be a competitor for the actual Heisman, tearing up Florida State would be a really good start.
This game is going to rule. If Louisville can win and beat Clemson in two weeks, it has a legitimate case for being the No. 1 team in America (well, the No. 1 team not named Alabama assuming the Crimson Tide keep winning, but we’ll get to that later). If FSU wins, it passes its second big early-season test and gets to focus on the de facto ACC Championship game against Clemson in a month and a half. The only safe prediction is that either Cook or Jackson will walk out of this game as one of the frontrunners for the Heisman. Clear your schedule and watch this one.
On that note…
SECOND SCREEN SPECIAL
Nothing
The FSU/Louisville game has serious national title implications and the rest of the early slate isn’t all that great. Miami has to travel to Appalachian State, which could be fun if only because why on earth would Miami agree to travel to Boone, N.C. for a game, but other than that, make sure you keep your eyes locked on ABC, because ‘Noles/Cardinals is going to be a war.
Dog Day Afternoon
FRONT AND CENTER
3:30 p.m.: Alabama at Ole Miss (ABC)
According to Matt Brown of Sports on Earth, only two teams have ever beaten Nick Saban three times in a row: Michigan from 1996-98 and Purdue from 1997-99 (the Boilermakers are technically still on a winning streak against Saban-coached teams, so there’s that). Both of those came when Saban was at Michigan State.
Basically, the best college football coach of his era has not lost three straight against an opponent in a long time, and it’s never happened at Alabama. On Saturday, Ole Miss has the opportunity to do that. The game is in Oxford. Due to LSU’s early-season loss to Wisconsin, the winner of this game gets to call themselves the best team in the SEC West for now, which usually means that they’re the best team in the conference, too.
Saban wasn’t exactly excited about the way the Crimson Tide played against Western Kentucky. They won by 28. Saban really, really wants this one, and he knows how dangerous heading down to Ole Miss is going to be. The matchup to watch is the chess match between Rebels QB Chad Kelly, who is underrated despite being the best quarterback in the SEC, and Alabama’s ultra-talented back seven, namely stud linebacker Reuben Foster and the cornerback duo of Minkah Fitzpatrick and Marlon Humphrey.
On the other side of the ball, Ole Miss and its aggressive defense is going to try and confuse true freshman QB Jalen Hurts. Of course, if Hurts can get the ball into the hands of his playmakers (RB Damien Harris, WR Calvin Ridley, etc.) with room to operate, ‘Bama should be able to put up some points. Considering how last week’s game went, expect Saban and Lane Kiffin to draw up a game plan that looks to rain fire on the Rebels in an attempt to make a statement.
SECOND SCREEN SPECIAL
3:30 p.m.: Oregon at Nebraska (ABC)
3:30 p.m.: Pitt at Oklahoma State (ESPN)
Oregon vs. Nebraska is an interesting game because plenty of people have questions about how good the Ducks are this year, while Nebraska could really use a marquee win to vault themselves back into national relevance. The only definite is this game will feature a ton of points: Oregon is second in offensive S&P+, while Nebraska is 16th.
Pitt and Oklahoma State is going to be fun because the Panthers are coming off of the highest possible high (beating Penn State) while the Cowboys are coming off of the lowest possible low (getting hosed against Central Michigan). This is a matchup between two good teams, and while it might not be the most aesthetically pleasing game, it will be such an interesting game from a psychological standpoint. Besides, it’s always worth watching the Panthers to see what James Conner will do on any given Saturday.
Under the Lights
FRONT AND CENTER
7:30 p.m.: Ohio State at Oklahoma (FOX)
7:30 p.m.: Michigan State at Notre Dame (NBC)
Let’s start in South Bend. Notre Dame could really use a big win over a ranked opponent after losing to Texas a few weeks back. The only issue: no one really knows how good Michigan State is yet. This is mostly because the first two weeks of the season for the Spartans have been an unconvincing win over Furman and a bye, and the team has question marks to varying degrees at quarterback, wide receiver, and along the offensive line. But the Spartan defense, led by LB Riley Bullough and DL Malik McDowell, is stout, and should be able to keep the ship steady while the offense rounds into top form.
For Notre Dame, DeShone Kizer has a stranglehold on the quarterback job, and the Fighting Irish’s skill guys are outstanding (the RB duo of Tarean Folston and Josh Adams is dangerous, while Equanimeous St. Brown and C.J. Sanders and Torii Hunter, Jr. make for one heck of a wide receiver trio). If the Irish can shore up their defense – currently ranked 89th in S&P+ – then they should be able to win enough games that we’ll all forget about the loss to the Longhorns.
This game is an awesome example of strength vs. strength (ND’s offense vs. MSU’s defense) and weakness vs. weakness (MSU’s offense vs. ND’s defense). Plus Brian Kelly and Mark Dantonio are two of the best coaches in the business.
The other game is one of those fun reminders of how great college football is when blue bloods have a home-and-home (and not, you know, the absurdity of games at a NASCAR track). Ohio State may be the most talented team in America, but the Buckeyes are *really* young. Oklahoma is also super talented, but the team is facing an uphill battle after it fell to Houston in pretty convincing fashion in the opening week of the season.
This game also features the weekend’s best quarterback battle, as two Heisman contenders in OSU’s J.T. Barrett and Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield are smart, dynamic, and a whole hell of a lot of fun to watch. It’s almost an oversimplification to say that whichever quarterback plays better will win, but this game could come down to that. Oh, and watch the running back battle, because both teams have a 1-2 punch that can make the lives of those aforementioned stud signal callers a lot easier – Mike Weber and Curtis Samuel for the Buckeyes, and Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine for the Sooners (while Abdul Adams has gotten more carries than Perine, all of Adams’ reps came in the second half of Oklahoma’s win over Louisiana-Monroe).
I’ll probably keep most of my focus on Ohio State vs. Oklahoma. If you want to, awesome. If you want to keep your focus on Michigan State vs. Notre Dame, that’s also awesome. Both of these games should be really, really great.
SECOND SCREEN SPECIAL
7:00 p.m.: Mississippi State at LSU (ESPN)
7:00 p.m.: Texas A&M at Auburn (ESPN2)
8:00 p.m.: USC at Stanford (ABC)
The night schedule is so loaded that three games that should all be headliners are getting put on second screen duty. Mississippi State vs. LSU is a matchup between two teams trying to prove they’re better than anyone thinks they are (the Tigers are trying to get back into the Top 20 after losing to Wisconsin in week one, while the Bulldogs didn’t even get any votes in the AP Poll last week after losing to South Carolina by 13). TAMU vs. Auburn is between a team that may be really good (the Aggies) and a team that desperately needs a big win and some positive momentum (the Tigers). And USC vs. Stanford has JuJu Smith-Schuster and Christian McCaffrey trying to out-highlight one another.
Saturday night’s gonna rule, everyone.
The Late Show
FRONT AND CENTER
10:30 p.m.: Texas at California (ESPN)
Every Texas game has become must-watch television thanks to Sterlin Gilbert’s wonderfully insane offense and Shane Buechele’s emergence as the best freshman quarterback in the nation. Texas has also ran the ball extremely well in 2016 behind the two-headed running back duo of Chris Warren III and D’Onta Foreman.
But this game will be so much fun because of the other side of the ball. Cal is going to put up a whole bunch of points and yards on the Longhorn defense behind quarterback Davis Webb and the Bears’ own running back duo: Vic Enwere and Khalfani Muhammad. Texas hasn’t gone on the road this year, and in its only game against a team that isn’t UTEP, Notre Dame hung 47 points and 444 yards on the Longhorns. This is the perfect test for Texas, and if it can keep Cal’s offense in check while hanging a lot of points on the Bears, then the Longhorns may rightfully earn themselves a spot in the Top 10.
If not, at least there will be points. Lots and lots of points.
SECOND SCREEN SPECIAL
10:15 p.m.: UCLA at BYU (ESPN2)
Josh Rosen and Taysom Hill have both struggled a bit to start the season, but I can think of no better way to end the weekend then a potential shootout between two of the nation’s premier signal callers. If you’ve got any energy left in you after a marquee Week 3, sit on down, take a deep breath, and watch some late-night pigskin.
