What to Watch in Week 3

Thursday Night

#6 Houston @ Cincinnati- 7:30 ESPN

Greg Ward Jr. is expected to play after missing last weekend’s game with a shoulder injury.  Cincinnati should be one of the top contenders outside of Houston for the AAC crown.  With Houston missing East Carolina, this could be their toughest conference game until the conference championship game. 

Friday Night

#21 Baylor @ Rice- 8:00 ESPN

Arizona State @ Texas San Antonio- 9:30 ESPN2

Two Big 12 teams head on the road for Friday Night games against group of five teams.  This looks to be Baylor’s first nationally televised game since their scandalous off-season.  It will be a good look into how much, if at all, Jim Grobe will change their high powered offense.  Under Art Briles, this is a type of game Baylor would put up 70 or 80 points.  Arizona State, is coming off a big win over Texas Tech, in which they scored 68 points.  Look for them to put up big numbers again.

Saturday Day

#2 Florida State @ #10 Louisville- 12:00 ABC

#25 Miami @ Appalachian State- 12:00 ESPN

North Dakota State @ #13 Iowa- 12:00 ESPN2

The first top ten matchup of the season takes place as Florida State heads to Louisville.  This is a great matchup of dual-threat quarterbacks, as FSU’s Deondre Francois and Louisville’s Lamar Jackson have been two of the most impressive players all season.  Florida State took a big blow this week as they lost their best defensive player in Derwin James for 5-7 weeks with a knee injury.  This game may be decided by which Florida State shows up, the one that went down 28-6 in the first half to Ole Miss, or the one that proceeded to score 30 straight points in the second half.  Also during this time slot, Miami and Iowa try to avoid upsets against Appalachian State and North Dakota State.  App State almost beat Tennessee in their opener, while NDSU has won the last 5 FCS National Championships.

Saturday Afternoon

#1 Alabama @ #19 Ole Miss- 3:30 CBS

#22 Oregon @ Nebraska- 3:30 ABC

Pittsburgh @ Oklahoma State- 3:30 ESPN

Alabama has lost 2 straight to Ole Miss, their only 2 losses of the in the regular season over the past two years.  Nick Saban has only lost to 2 teams 3 straight times, both of these occurred when he was head coach of Michigan State, and each had an QB who now is an NFL Star, as Purdue (1997-1999) had Drew Brees, and Michigan (1996-1998) had Tom Brady.  Chad “Swag” Kelly may not be in the same echelon as those two, he is the type of gunslinger that gives Nick Saban trouble.  Elsewhere, Oregon heads to Nebraska in Mike Riley’s biggest non-conference game since becoming head coach at Nebraska.  Both of these teams had disappointing 2015s, but are both undefeated this year.  This will be a good sign of which team will have a bounce back year, and if either could contend for a conference title.  In Stillwater, Oklahoma State tries to recover against Pittsburgh after being cost a game because of an officiating error.  Pitt is coming off of a win over rival Penn State.  Both of these teams are probably the most underrated team in their respective conferences, and each are darkhorse candidates to win their conference championship.

Saturday Night

#17 Texas A&M @ Auburn- 7:00 ESPN

#3 Ohio State @ #14 Oklahoma- 7:30 Fox

#12 Michigan State @ #14 Notre Dame- 7:30 NBC

USC @ #7 Stanford- 8:00 ABC

Texas A&M heads to Auburn to kick off the primetime slate of games.  A&M looks to build open their season opening upset of UCLA, while Auburn has solidified their QB position with Sean White.  Trevor Knight needs to be careful with the ball, and limit turnovers against a strong Tiger defense.  St 7:30, Oho State heads to Oklahoma in one of the biggest non-conference games of the year.  With a loss, Baker Mayfield, and Oklahoma may already be out of the playoff.  This will most likely be the toughest opponent for Ohio State until they head to East Lansing to play Michigan State on November 19.  The Spartans take on Notre Dame, in a rare night game at Notre Dame Stadium. Notre Dame lost a heartbreaker at Texas in the season opener, where their young defense was exposed.  A loss here could knock them out of playoff contention.  With a win, Michigan State would be thrust right into the thick of the playoff race.  Spartans quarterback is used to big games, as he led the victory over #1 Ohio State last season.  Out in California, Stanford host USC in a Pac-12 clash.  USC was the South division favorite until getting blown out by Alabama in the opener.  Stanford looks to use all-everything Christian McCaffrey over the USC defense that gave up 56 points to Alabama. However, USC should be able to respond with receiver Ju-Ju Smith-Schuster for big plays through the air.  If USC can take an early lead, they may get QB Ryan Burns to press in one of his first few starts.  

Saturday Late Night

UCLA @ BYU- 10:15 ESPN2

#11 Texas @ California- 10:30 ESPN

BYU looks to respond after losing a heartbreaker to rival Utah last weekend on a two point conversion against a tough UCLA team.  BYU has struggled to score in its first two games, as it has yet to hit 20 points, however, it is led by its tough defense which has only given up a total of 36 points over two games.  UCLA lost on opening weekend in overtime at Texas A&M.  Sophomore quarterback Josh Rosen made some costly turnovers early in the game, but then lead a ferocious comeback before falling in overtime. If he can limit the mistakes, UCLA should be able to put up some offense against BYU’s tough defense.  In the last game of the night, Texas heads to Cal in a rematch of a heartbreaker from a year before, in which Texas missed an extra point in the last minute.  Texas has been able to solidify its quarterback position this year with Shane Buechele handling most of the snaps, while Tyrone Swoops still comes in on running situations.  Cal has played some high scoring games so far this season, and their only hopes to pull the upset is if they turn the game into a shootout.