College Football - Week 3

Tennessee vs. Florida used to be such a great matchup, but Florida St./Florida was great too, then Urban Meyer came to Gainesville and changed all that. I don't know when Tennessee is going to be relevant again, they are in major rebuilding mode and Derek Dooley has his hands full. I like Derek Dooley, and I think he's the right coach for Tennessee right now. But there's one thing that I'm not sure about, and that's the reminder of Coach Croom I get when I hear him talk. When I hear phrases like "we don't have any depth", "2/3 of our team has never played a down", "we just want to run a simple play without penalties" it takes me back to 2004 when Slyvester Croom was talking about what he inherited at Mississippi State. It may be true but that's not what your players need to hear. For 5 years MSU players had a coach that didn't really believe in them, and so they didn't believe in themselves. Croom said State could be great, but it would take a long time...I feel like Dooley is echoing those same thoughts to the Vol's fans. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think Tennessee going to do much for a while if that is their attitude. And I'm going to have to go with Florida this week going to Knoxville. Rainey may not be playing but I don't think it makes a difference. It could be close the way Florida is playing but I don't see UT winning.

Saturday starts off solid again with Georgia playing at noon for the 3rd straight week, this time against Arkansas. Still no A.J. Green for the dawgs and that is huge, but Aaron Murrey should be a little more settled in being at home and having already gone through his first SEC game I think he will do well. Their offensive line hasn't been the force everyone expected, but Arkansas' defense is average so I don't think it will be an issue here. Vegas likes UGA by 2 points and I'm going to stick with my preseason pick in this game and go with the them. Arkansas hasn't shown me much so far this year, and maybe that is because of the competition or maybe it's looking ahead to the conference schedule. The Hogs have a huge game next week against Alabama, and with this game being on the road their focus might not be entirely on Georgia. Still, UGA's defense leaves a good bit to be desired and Ryan Mallett will have his typical 300 yards and 3 TD passes, but it won't be enough. Georgia 31 Arkansas 28. Vanderbilt at Ole Miss should be a 4-quarter game, and I expect it to come down to the last play, but I think Ole Miss will pull it out at home since they have better players and depth.

Alabama at Duke? Why are the tide playing in a 30,000 seat stadium? I don't know but I'm taking #1, big. South Carolina takes a break this week, they win big, and Kentucky continues their tour of cupcakes and they will go to 3-0. Auburn is hosting Clemson and College Gameday (which I'm not sure why for this game). It is an interesting game since Auburn is Clemson without a lake, but that's about it. Kyle Parker is a pretty good quarterback and I think Clemson's a pretty good team. They are the only team from the ACC that is supposed to be good this year that hasn't embarrassed their conference. They haven't been tested so far this year but they have 13 returning starters, and although they lost the dynamic C.J. Spiller they return a highly-touted offensive line. It should be a close game for 3 quarters but I look for Auburn to pull away in the 4th and cover the spread (-7).

The last game is Mississippi State at LSU. LSU has been playing horrible on offense, Jordan Jefferson is the biggest waste of talent in the SEC. I think we might see Jarett Lee at some point in the game, which may not be bad for the Tigers. State is going to have to get its young players to get past the huge hurdle of playing in front of 90,000 people in the most hostile environment in the country if they want to compete. But Les Miles is such as terrible coach I think he will leave State in the game throughout even though LSU's talent is superior, and he will find a way to use their strengths in the secondary against themselves. Vandy played LSU close for 3 1/2 quarters until LSU just wore them down, but I don't think they can do the same with the Bulldogs. Last year State had a chance to win but were held up at the goal-line and two years ago it was an unusually close game in Baton Rouge. I think State takes that confidence down there and upsets LSU in their own stadium, at night, 17-16 (the same score as the last time MSU won--1999).

Elsewhere around the country it's kind of a big thud in terms of big games. But there are a few intriguing matchups. Before the season I said a possible stumbling block for Nebraska was going to Washington in week 3; I still think they could be upset but it's unlikely if Taylor Martinez continues to play well, I'll take the Cornhuskers. In July I would've thought the GA Tech/North Carolina game would be a big one but it is much less now, I expect the Tar Heels to win being a home. This is such a lean weekend nationally I'm going to predict the Notre Dame/Michigan State game--Michigan State. Big test for Tuberville in Lubbock against Texas, I think the game will be very close but I'm going with Texas. Iowa vs. Arizona is the only Top 25 matchup of the weekend and I think it will be a good game. Iowa has a really good team, they are just outside my top 5 and I think their experience will serve them well in the 4th quarter to win the game. Houston is traveling to Los Angeles to play a UCLA team that has lost its first two games. Case Kennum's status is in jeopardy since he suffered a concussion, so this could be a tough game if he's not playing or isn't all there. I picked Houston to lose one game this year and it wasn't this one, Houston wins 31-24.

It doesn't look like a big Saturday, certainly nothing like what last week looked like. I could almost just not change the channel through the day as I watch UGA/Arkansas, Florida/Tennessee, and LSU/Mississippi State. But last week ended up being a little overrated and this week could be underrated. Who knows, there may be a ton of upsets tomorrow. We are still within that first 3-week window when teams are trying to find their identity and so it should still be very interesting. One thing I know is that I love college football and there are only 14 Saturdays full of it and this is going to be one of them so I better enjoy it while I've got it. Go dawgs!

JB