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College football week 3 schedule

College Football Coverage: The Week 3 Undercard

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The big game of college football Week 3 is Alabama-Texas A&M, and that game, along with a couple other marquee TV games, are previewed here. The SportsNotebook’s college football coverage closes out our prep for the weekend with eleven other games that are worth at least finding out the score when you get caught up on the events of Saturday.


SEC SHOWDOWNS

Vanderbilt-South Carolina (7 PM ET, ESPN): South Carolina is giving two touchdowns in this game, and if they aren’t ready to play, that’s going to be a tough number to cover. The Gamecocks defense looked soft last week at Georgia and I’m frankly still mad at them. One advantage they have here—while Vandy’s become a solid program, they don’t have the offensive weapons to do a lot of damage. South Carolina wins it but grab the Commodores and the points.

Mississippi State-Auburn (7 PM ET, ESPN2): This is an important game in the pecking order of the SEC West. Mississippi State has enjoyed the status of the “nice, competitive team”, but Auburn is showing some signs of life under first-year coach Gus Malzahn.

The Tigers beat Washington State—a win that looks even better now that the Cougars have won at USC—and then followed up with a win over a good Sun Belt team in Arkansas State. Saturday night at home against the Bulldogs will tell us how far Auburn has come, and whether Dan Mullen’s program in Starkville might show some slippage. Mississippi State should have quarterback Tyler Russell back from a concussion and running back Lardarius Perkins back from a foot injury that kept him out last week.

And one more conference tilt, this one from the ACC….

Georgia Tech-Duke (3:30 PM ET, ESPNU): Georgia Tech needs this win to retain its status as a prime challenger to Miami in the ACC Coastal Division. The Yellow Jackets buried Elon in a tuneup game, and now Duke quarterback Anthony Boone is out. The flip side is that Boone hadn’t really established himself in his first year as a starter with two games under his belt. Duke has bowl aspirations, but needs to find someone who can get the ball to Jamison Crowder.

MID-MAJOR MOVES

Bowling Green-Indiana (Noon, ESPNU): This is a big game for both teams. If Bowling Green wins, they set themselves up, along with Northern Illinois, as MAC teams with a shot at an undefeated season with a win over a Big Ten opponent.

Indiana lost to Navy last week and with the Hoosiers having bowl aspirations this year, you don’t want to have two losses on your record before conference play even starts.

Virginia Tech-East Carolina: The Pirates are another midmajor team with high hopes and an explosive quarterback in Shane Carden. The Hokies defense showed its mettle against Alabama, basically shutting down the Tide offense and now gets a new challenge with Carden.

Perhaps the most intriguing question will be whether Logan Thomas and the rebuilding VT offense can move the ball. They got a pass before the non-performance against Alabama for obvious reasons. They got no credit for a good showing against Western Carolina for obvious reasons. Now we need to Thomas and his mates pile up points against a team that’s good, but defensively challenged.

Marshall-Ohio: Rakeem Cato, quarterback of the Thundering Herd is one of the best players on the mid-major radar. His offense has dropped 107 points in a pair of tune-ups. Ohio’s Tyler Tettleton is pretty good himself, and Marshall’s defense isn’t very good.

This game is a good testing ground for determining whether the MAC or C-USA is the better conference, something that could matter if each league gets unbeaten teams into the BCS conversation.


ROSE BOWL SATURDAY

The Big Ten & Pac-12 are tussling in Week 3. The two marquee games surrounding ‘Bama-A&M on the TV schedule are Wisconsin-Arizona State and UCLA-Nebraska. Then there’ these two…

Washington-Illinois: If Washington is going to be a contender in the Pac-12—and by contender I mean win around nine games, since asking them to beat Oregon or Stanford in the North Division isn’t really realistic—then I want to see the Huskies put a smackdown on Illinois in Soldier Field.

Illinois showed its first signs of life in the year-plus reign of head coach Tim Beckham when they pounded Cincinnati last week. That makes it a good test for Washington, if they can run the ball with Bishop Sankey and veteran quarterback Keith Price can play well on the road.

Ohio State-Cal  (7 PM ET, Fox): Buckeye quarterback Braxton Miller is going to play and that removes at least some of the suspense from this one. I’m still interested to see if Cal quarterback Jeff Goff can put up huge numbers again, as he did against Northwestern. I don’t have any doubt Ohio State will win, but if they aspire to a national championship run, I’d like to see their defense get the job done against an offense that’s enjoyed early success.

PRIME-TIME POWER

Notre Dame-Purdue (8 PM ET, ABC): I’m only putting this game on the list because it’s the game Brent Musberger and Kirk Herbstreit will call, which has to be the worst programming decision of the young season, even allowing it was probably made months ago. Notre Dame’s defense was not up to snuff last Saturday night in Ann Arbor and new Purdue head coach Darrell Hazell has a significant rebuilding project on his hands.

Ole Miss-Texas: I’ve paired this game with ND-Purdue, because this is the one that Brent & Herbie should be at. Ole Miss has all that young talent thanks to the successful recruiting of second-year head coach Hugh Freeze. They nipped Vanderbilt in the opening game and now take on a Texas team that’s reeling after being literally overrun by BYU last week (550 yards on the ground for the Cougars).

Ole Miss can also move the ball, with versatile quarterback Bo Wallace, while Texas QB David Ash is out. A lot of pressure on Mack Brown in this home tilt that deserves  more exposure than just the Longhorn Network. Texas is a three-point favorite coming in.

And one more, just to humor my obsession with thinking Pitt is still going to be good…

New Mexico-Pitt: Both teams hoping to make a bowl game and both may end up needing this game before it’s all said and done. The visiting Lobos have a fantastic running back in Kasey Carrier. Pitt’s defense is experienced, and needs to establish that their Labor Day Night humiliation at the hands of Florida State was more about the Seminoles than the Panthers. If Carrier gets rolling watch out, because Pitt’s offense is still incompetent.

 

College Football Coverage: Alabama-Texas A&M Keys TV Trifecta

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Week 3 of the college football season is highlighted by the big Alabama-Texas A&M battle from College Station on Saturday. And bracketing that game in the early and late time slots are games featuring contenders from both the Big Ten and Pac-12. Let’s hone in on the three biggest games of Week 3, taking them in TV order…

UCLA-Nebraska (Noon, ABC): Both of these teams won their divisions a year ago, but came up short of what would have been a rematch in the Rose Bowl. The Bruins hosted the Cornhuskers in September of 2012 and UCLA’s 36-30 win set the tone for the hard-nosed running game that would characterize Jim Mora Jr.’s first year in Hollywood.




Jonathan Franklin is gone from that UCLA rush offense, but Jordan James stepped in with a 155-yard performance in a 58-20 tuneup win over Nevada, a program that’s usually been a bowl team in recent years and gave the NFL world Colin Kaepernick. UCLA’s opening day win served notice that they’re a strong threat to win another Pac-12 South title, particularly with USC looking like such a disaster.

Nebraska did not play well in an escape over Wyoming, and then blew out Southern Miss, a team who went winless last season. What’s disturbing about the Cornhuskers is that they continue to look subpar defensively, at least when measured against the standard of other good teams. This is something my Monday podcast colleague, Greg DePalma at Prime Sports Network has expressed mysticism over—how can head coach Bo Pellini, who’s expertise is defense, continue to be bereft of talent on that side of the ball?

We do know Nebraska can score, with Taylor Martinez pulling the trigger at quarterback. But the key to this game will be the play of UCLA’s quarterback, sophomore Brett Hundley, in his second year as a starter. If Hundley plays well, the Bruins then become a significantly better team the Huskers, even in Lincoln.

But if UCLA does not have a passing attack, then it becomes a fight for tempo, with Martinez trying to drive the pace like a point guard on a fast-break basketball team, and UCLA wanting to use James and their defense to grind it out.

What I like about UCLA is that there is one scenario where they become much better, and another scenario where they still have a pick’em, shot. What I don’t like is that they’re on the road and I’m feeling burned after picking the road team in all three of last week’s big games (losing with South Carolina, Florida and Notre Dame). I’m going to hedge my bets here and take the Bruins, but only with the (+4) the linesmakers are offering.

Alabama-Texas A&M (3:30, CBS): The big battle here is Johnny Manziel against the Alabama defense. The Tide has a veteran group of linebackers that can keep Manziel in the pocket and force him to win the game without improvising, where he is at his best. Alabama’s defense played very well in their Week 1 win over Virginia Tech, but Manziel is no Logan Thomas, A&M’s supporting cast is much better, and Aggie coach Kevin Sumlin is much more an offensive mind than Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer.


The other big battle is one defined more by combined incompetence. Alabama’s offensive line was lousy against Virginia Tech was universally panned by a media that’s usually anxious to heap adoring remarks on the Crimson Tide.

On Saturday, though, they get to block a defensive front seven from A&M that’s not going to remind anyone of the 2000 Baltimore Ravens. If neither unit improves, give the edge to A&M, simply because it’s incumbent on the offensive line to win battles and create space, where defensive players need only hold the battle to a draw and keep everything clogged up.

I think Alabama is going to contain Manziel, but unless A&M self-destructs with turnovers, ‘Bama is likely to need at least 21-24 points, even if all goes well. It may come down to A.J. McCarron making a few plays down the field to Amari Cooper. Even if McCarron doesn’t get consistent protection—and he probably won’t—it only takes 2-3 big strikes to change the game. But we do have to note that the Tide quarterback couldn’t make those plays against the Hokies.

Alabama is an eight-point favorite, something that seems excessive, given that they lost when these teams played head-to-head last season. And that was a home game for ‘Bama. I wouldn’t lay this number with the Tide, but I will pick them to win without a lot of hesitation.

For one, I think the “self-destruct” theory is going to work with Manziel. I expect Nick Saban to have a good game plan, to frustrate him and get some forced throws.  I’ll give McCarron and Cooper the benefit of the doubt, that they can make some plays. And ultimately, I think Manziel has just put a big target on his back for everyone in the SEC, and Alabama already has reason to be fired up to play him.  Saban gets this win, his last serious test before November’s home date with LSU.

Wisconsin-Arizona State (10:30, ESPN): Arizona State looks like the best possible challenger to UCLA in the Pac-12 South, while Wisconsin is the only realistic challenger to Ohio State on their side of the Big Ten, and the Badgers also have realistic hopes of making a BCS bowl game.

Neither team has given up a point this year, although the opposition is Sacramento State, UMass and Tennessee Tech. This is the first legitimate game either team is playing.


The battle in the trenches when Wisconsin has the ball should be fun. The Badgers have their usual power running game, now led by James White and Melvin Gordon. The former brings the shiftiness between the tackles, the latter a classic combo of speed and strength. Arizona State counters with a defensive front led by All-American Will Sutton on the nose.

When Arizona State has the ball, it’s going to the pass rush that defines life in the trenches. Wisconsin’s secondary is suspect, while they are strong up front. Sun Devil quarterback Taylor Kelly can have a good game if he gets time—and left tackle Evan Finkenburg is one of the best—and Wisconsin coach Gary Anderson has a tough decision to make about whether to bring pressure or play it safe.

The Sun Devils have been a hot choice in this game since lines were posted in Las Vegas in the summer, with ASU now at (-4.5), a surprising number. Even if you grant them (-3) as the home team, this is a lot of respect given to a program that’s not actually accomplished anything in recent years. As a Wisconsin fan I’m biased, but I like our chances here. Joel Stave is an underrated downfield passer at quarterback and he can open the defense to pound with White and Gordon. I suspect a fair amount of points will be scored, and the desert heat is a concern for a Midwest team on the road in September. But at least the game is at night, and a lot of UW fans will be in attendance. I’ll take Bucky to get a big road win.

TheSportsNotebook’s college football coverage also looks at 11 other notable games on the Week 3 undercard. 

College Football Week 3 Undercard

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The NFL will draw the attention of most football fans tonight with the Bears-Packers game with possible supremacy in the NFC North ultimately on the line. But for those who also like college football it’s a good night to either go to sports bar, like I’m doing, or at least be ready to audible down at commercial time, because ESPN’s Thursday night college game of Rutgers-South Florida might be the one that decides the Big East title and with it an automatic spot in a BCS bowl game. It’s a good way to kick off college football Week 3 and this game leads our look at the weekend undercard.

South Florida is coming off a thrilling 32-31 come-from-behind win at Nevada last week and what’s most impressive is that it was a breakout game for quarterback B.J. Daniels. The mobile quarterback has not always been consistent throwing the ball, something that’s the big question looming over the Bulls this season, but Daniels came through against a good Nevada team. He now goes against a Rutgers defense that has dominated lesser competition and has run the ball with Jawan Jamison. Now it’s Scarlet Knights’ quarterback Gary Nova, who has to prove he’s worthy of essentially being gift-wrapped the starting job (the reward for being a touted recruit) even though backup Chas Dodd outplays him every time he gets the chance. The game will be at South Florida, and unless Nova does a drastic turnabout, I don’t think a Skip Holtz-coached team will miss this opportunity on their homefield.

The Rutgers-South Florida game is one of a few conference games that will be significant in the bigger picture. Looking ahead to Saturday, the ACC has two big ones in Wake Forest-Florida State and Virginia-Georgia Tech, each intra-divisional matchups on opposite sides of the conference alignment. Wake got a win last week over North Carolina, but Tanner Price was not at his best, something that’s going to be a big problem against a much faster Florida State defense playing in its backyard. The Seminole issue will be focus—they can’t get caught looking ahead to Clemson next week. As to Virginia-Georgia Tech, a Yellow Jacket win is necessary given they’ve already lost to division frontrunner Virginia Tech. The Cavs have to produce more offense than they did last week at Penn State, since I don’t expect Georgia Tech to butcher four field goals the way the Nittany Lions did.

Based on television exposure, I suppose I should save Alabama-Arkansas (3:30 PM ET, CBS) for tomorrow’s  preview of Saturday’s marquee games. But given Arkansas’ loss to UL-Monroe and a shaky win over Jacksonville State prior, plus the fact quarterback Tyler Wilson is questionable, I almost feel guilty for mentioning it at all. This game is the equivalent of the Red Sox-Yankees baseball series going on right now—it’s a matchup that can get your attention, but only one of the participants is actually any good. Other conference games are at the midmajor level and are rounded with East Carolina-Southern Miss in Conference USA and Bowling Green-Toledo in the MAC. With Bowling Green having pushed Florida, and Toledo pushed Arizona and beaten Wyoming, this game could be a good launching pad for someone.

Moving to non-conference games, Cal pays a visit to Ohio State, one of two interesting road tests for Pac-12 teams. The Golden Bears have not looked sharp thus far, but the Buckeye offense was a little sluggish last week against Central Florida and the running backs are banged up for this week. We’ll get a better look at Braxton Miller against a major conference opponent who is at least respectable. And Arizona State, fresh off that big win over Illinois, goes to Missouri. The Tigers can’t be licking their wounds after losing to Georgia in the SEC debut or the Sun Devil passing game will make them pay for it.

North Carolina-Louisville is one of two games on the 3:30 PM ET ABC card, and with the other being Navy-Penn State, these might be the worst marquee matchups since…well, since this year’s presidential election. All we can really learn is whether Louisville can join both Syracuse and the Rutgers-South Florida winner as a championship contender in the Big East, and just how bad Penn State is going to be. And a couple halfway interesting storylines are in the ACC. Virginia Tech plays Pitt, a renewal of what was once a Big East rivalry (I attended the best game of this series back in 2003 when Pitt drove the distance and won on a TD pass to Larry Fitzgerald) and will be an ACC game next year. And Maryland coach Randy Edsall takes on his old team in UConn, including most of the players he recruited to Storrs. It’s also a rematch of the schools that played for the Final Four in 2002 when Maryland won the NCAA title, by way of bringing in a meaningless outside storyline.

MID-MAJOR ACTION

There are four games at the mid-major level that at least warrant some attention. We can start with Miami (Ohio) going to Boise State. We’ve seen Chris Petersen’s rebuilt Bronco defense do well against a run-first offense against Michigan State. Now they’ll take on a pass-first offense led by Zac Dysert. Boise, playing at home against a less-talented opponent than the Spartans should win, but I’m curious to see how well they pressure the passer and cover. A great quarterback battle looms in the Ohio-Marshall game between Tyler Tettleton and Rakeem Cato (Did I just say “great quarterback battle” in an Ohio-Marshall game? I desperately need to get a life). Houston goes to UCLA, and with the soft Cougar defense the real question is not whether Bruin back Jonathan Franklin gets his yards, but whether he will actually get tackled. And rebuilding Northern Illinois has looked pretty decent so far this year, but if the defending MAC champs are going to make another title run in a competitive league, they will demonstrate such by taking care of Army in a trip to West Point.

We’ll wrap it up with our list of games where a mid-major team playing a power conference foe at least has a chance to make it interesting.

Western Michigan-Minnesota
Arkansas State-Nebraska
Northern Iowa-Iowa
Utah State-Wisconsin
Ball State-Indiana

*Put simply, the Big Ten is mostly a disgrace this year. The only one I’m sure will win on Saturday is Nebraska, though I do want to see how the Cornhusker defense, fresh off getting smacked in the mouth at UCLA,  fares against an offense that will spread the field.

UL-Monroe-Auburn
Western Kentucky-Kentucky
UL-Lafayette-Oklahoma State

*I’m not sold that UL-Monroe’s win over Arkansas was a fluke. Kolton Browning was a prolific passer before he came to Little Rock, Arkansas had problems and Auburn does too. Although the element of surprise is gone and we have no idea how long it took the Monroe kids to stop the celebration and refocus on football. Oklahoma State’s secondary was lit up by Arizona and Lafayette signal-caller Blake Gautier can do the same. And can the best in the Sun Belt match up to below-average SEC team? We’ll find out in the Western Kentucky-Kentucky game.

Friday’s feature will hone in on the three best games of Saturday—Notre Dame-Michigan State, Florida-Tennessee & USC-Stanford.