College football Week 3: The 10 best games of the weekend
Week 3 is upon us, and there are a lot of intriguing matchups, including a number of games involving Group of 5 teams against Power 5 squads.
This week has the only Big Ten-SEC matchup of the regular season, and it also has a repeat of the 2020 SEC Championship Game, the 127th renewal of one of the nation’s oldest rivalries and an interesting ACC-Big Ten contest.
Here are the 10 best games of Week 3. All times Eastern
10. Nebraska (1-1) at Oklahoma (2-0)
Time/TV: Noon, Fox
The buzz: We’re ashamed to admit it, but this has a sort of “slow down to look at the crash on the highway” kind of vibe. This should be a Sooners rout, and the potential exists that the few folks who still have Scott Frost’s back will desert him afterward. But it’s also a rare meeting between programs that annually used to play one of the most anticipated games of the season (this will be the 87th meeting, but the first since the 2010 Big 12 title game and just the ninth in the past 24 years). It’s also the 50th anniversary season of one of the best games in college football history, the Huskers’ 35-31 victory over the Sooners in 1971.
9. Virginia Tech (2-0) at West Virginia (1-1)
Time/TV: Noon, FS1
The buzz: The campuses are about four hours apart and the schools played every year from 1973-2005, including time together in the Big East. But this will be just the second meeting since ’05. Virginia Tech opened the season with an upset of North Carolina, but the offense remains a concern, especially the passing attack. The defense has been stout and has 18 tackles for loss already. WVU lost to Maryland in the opener, then bounced back with a rout of vastly overmatched Long Island U. Truthfully, nothing can be gleaned from that win. If the Mountaineers can protect QB Jarret Doege, WVU has receivers who can do some damage.
8. Nevada (2-0) at Kansas State (2-0)
Time/TV: 2 p.m., ESPN+
The buzz: The Wolf Pack’s Carson Strong is one of the best quarterbacks in the nation, and he has a deep and talented group of receivers, including star TE Cole Turner. Nevada also has a veteran defense. K-State starting QB Skylar Thompson was injured in the Week 2 win over FCS Southern Illinois, and if he is out, the Wildcats will struggle offensively unless RB Deuce Vaughan gets loose. (Yes, the Deuce needs to get loose.) K-State has played top-notch pass defense thus far, but Nevada’s passing attack is miles better than anything the Wildcats have seen.
7. Oklahoma State (2-0) at Boise State (1-1)
Time/TV: 9 p.m., FS1
The buzz: This will be the first regular-season visit to Boise by a Power 5 team since Virginia in 2017. Oklahoma State rolled when the teams met in 2018 in Stillwater. Boise entered the season as the favorite to win the Mountain West, and even with the season-opening loss at UCF, that’s still the case. But the Broncos’ big bowl hopes are barely there (think of one strand in a spider web). This is a chance for Oklahoma State to pick up a solid road win. Can the Cowboys get it done?
6. Michigan State (2-0) at Miami (1-1)
Time/TV: Noon, ABC
The buzz: The Spartans have opened with back-to-back wins, including a physical whipping of Northwestern in the opener. A win over the Hurricanes could have Michigan State looking at a 6-0 start (the next three games: Nebraska, Western Kentucky and Rutgers). Wake Forest transfer Kenneth Walker III has provided a big boost to the rushing attack, and new starting QB Payton Thorne has been steady and avoided mistakes. UM opened with a big loss to Alabama, then barely fended off Appalachian State. The Hurricanes have struggled to run, putting way too much pressure on QB D’Eriq King and the passing attack. One positive for UM: Michigan State’s run defense has been so-so.
5. Virginia (2-0) at North Carolina (1-1)
Time/TV: 7:30 p.m., ACC Network
The buzz: UNC’s season-opening loss to Virginia Tech has made this a lot more interesting; the Tar Heels’ hopes of winning the ACC’s Coastal Division would take a devastating hit with a second division loss. UNC QB Sam Howell has thrown for 796 yards and eight TDs (with no picks) in two career games against the Cavs — and lost both. The Heels have to get their tailbacks involved in the offense. Virginia QB Brennan Armstrong is off to a great start, with 744 yards and seven TD passes in two wins. This is one of the oldest rivalries in the nation; this will be the 127th meeting and the Cavs have won the past four; three of the four have been decided by seven or fewer points.
4. Cincinnati (2-0) at Indiana (1-1)
Time/TV: Noon, ESPN
The buzz: Both opened the season in the top 20. Cincinnati still is there (in the top 10, actually), but IU fell out after a season-opening loss to Iowa. All the pressure is on Cincinnati. The Bearcats headed into the season as the favorite to earn the Group of 5’s New Year’s Six bid, but a loss here makes things a lot more interesting. IU QB Michael Penix Jr. must play at a much higher level than he did in the opener. The Hoosiers’ defense actually played solid football against Iowa and held up relatively well against the run. That needs to happen again. This is the beginning of a season-defining four-game stretch for the Bearcats: There’s this game against IU, a week off, then a visit to Notre Dame, a game against woebegone Temple, then a big conference visit from UCF.
3. Arizona State (2-0) at BYU (2-0)
Time/TV: 10:15 p.m., ESPN
The buzz: When considering this game before the season, there were two schools of thought. One was that distractions would wreck Arizona State. The other was questioning how far BYU would drop without Zach Wilson. Well, neither has come to fruition — at least not yet. Instead, ASU is one of the few Pac-12 teams that doesn’t have a loss, and BYU is coming off an impressive win over archrival Utah to move to 2-0 (the Cougars also have beaten Arizona). This has the makings of a top-notch quarterback matchup between Arizona State’s Jaylen Daniels and BYU’s Jaren Hall. Hall is a good story: He is a fourth-year sophomore even though he signed with BYU in the 2016 class (he spent two years on a mission). Hall played in two games in 2018, then in seven in 2019, including two starts. He suffered a concussion in the eighth game of that season, against Utah State, and hadn’t played since. Hall is a legitimate dual-threat guy, and that aspect of his play needs to be kept under control by the Sun Devils.
2. Auburn (2-0) at Penn State (2-0)
Time/TV: 7:30 p.m., ABC
The buzz: This is the first regular-season meeting between the programs, who have met twice in bowls. This will be the first tough game for new coach Bryan Harsin and the Tigers; the Nittany Lions opened with a slobber-knocking win at Wisconsin, then beat MAC favorite Ball State in the second game. In other words, Penn State comes in well-tested, while Auburn has played two vastly overmatched foes (Akron and Alabama State). Penn State held up well against Wisconsin’s running game; can the Nittany Lions do the same against RB Tank Bigsby and the Tigers’ rushing attack? PSU has to like its chances if it can force Auburn QB Bo Nix to the air, despite Nix’s gaudy early stats. This is the only regular-season game in 2021 matching Big Ten and SEC teams.
1. Alabama (2-0) at Florida (2-0)
Time/TV: 3:30 p.m., CBS
The buzz: On paper, this matches the best team in the SEC West (well, on paper, it’s the best team in the nation) against the second-best team in the SEC East. But there are those who think the Gators are overrated; this game should give us an idea if that is true. Last season, Florida played Alabama closer than anyone else, but the Gators lost a ton of firepower. Can the Gators’ rebuilt offense cause problems for the Tide’s defense? Florida must run effectively, or it has no shot. How much will the home-field advantage help the Gators? And how will Florida coach Dan Mullen deploy presumptive backup QB Anthony Richardson, who has been a big-play machine in extremely limited playing time?