College Football Week 2 didn’t bring a ton of drama, though the highly-anticipated game between LSU and Texas in Austin was a treat. The Tigers pulled out the win, as five of our nine staff members predicted entering the weekend.
There were some games that tripped us up, big time. UCLA continues to free fall, losing to San Diego State, which we did not anticipate. Kansas’ loss to Coastal Carolina, Miami falling to UNC, and Washington’s late night upset loss to Cal were also unanimous losses.
We’re starting to get a better sense of the season. On paper, Week 3 doesn’t have a ton in the way of intrigue, with no Top 25 showdowns on the schedule.
Of course, that doesn’t mean it is a Saturday worth skipping out on. Sometimes these weeks bring the most craziness.
Through two weeks of staff picks, a five-pick difference remains between first and last place. Here is how the standings look so far:
1. Matt Hladik: 91-15
2. Stephen Driscoll: 90-16
3. Tzvi Machlin: 89-17
T-4. Andrew Holleran: 88-18
T-4. Dan Lyons: 88-18
T-4. Chris Rosvoglou: 88-18
T-4. Alek Arend: 88-18
8. Andrew McCarty: 87-19
9. Matt Lombardi: 86-20
We do have some interesting games in Week 3.
On Friday night, North Carolina and Wake Forest play in what is technically a non-conference game. Figure that one out. They’re followed by a fun potential shootout at NRG Stadium in Houston between the hometown Cougars and Washington State.
On Saturday, Ohio State and Clemson travel to underdog schools at which they often struggle: Indiana and Syracuse, respectively. Red-hot Maryland looks to keep it going against a tricky Temple squad. Penn State and Pitt play the last scheduled game of their rivalry and Mississippi State and Kansas State have a Power Five vs. Power Five non-conference battle.
Elsewhere on the schedule, Alabama has its first trip to South Carolina since enigmatic quarterback Stephen Garcia led the Gamecocks to a shocking upset over the Tide in 2010, UCF and Stanford face off in Orlando, USC looks to stay undefeated at BYU, and of course, the Iowa-Iowa State rivalry gets College GameDay treatment in Ames.
Florida looks for revenge against Terry Wilson-less Kentucky, undefeated Hawaii makes its way to the mainland for the first time to face a Washington team coming off a shocking loss, and struggling Florida State and UCLA teams look to show something, anything against ranked Virginia and powerhouse Oklahoma.
Here are our picks for College Football Week 3. We have some pretty big splits on UNC-Wake Forest, Iowa-ISU, Purdue-TCU, FSU-Virginia, and Texas Tech-Arizona:
Every week, we pick each game involving Power Five and other Top 25 programs. Check back to see how the contest, which often comes down to the final slate of games, shakes out.