College Football Week 3
Posted: September 13th, 2018, 10:33 am
[font=Calibri]Through 2 weeks:[/font]
[font=Calibri]Local Games: 3-0[/font]
[font=Calibri]Five others to watch: 6-4[/font]
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[font=Calibri]Local Games:[/font]
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[font=Calibri]No. 11 Penn State vs. Kent State 12:00 FS1 (PSU -35)[/font]
[font=Calibri]After a sluggish week 1 against App State and 1[sup]st[/sup] half against Pittsburgh, they finally seemed to find their stride the last 2 quarters. People are failing to recognize how young this team really is. On offense, now that Brandon Polk has replaced DeAndre Thompkins and Will Fries has replaced Chaz Wright, the only senior starter on offense is Trace McSorley. On defense, there are 3 senior starters listed as starters on the depth chart but only Oruwariye is not splitting significant time with underclassmen. The others, Koa Farmer splitting significant snaps with Micah Parsons and Nick Scott in a 5 player rotation with the 2 safety positions. As for the game this week, Kent State is probably the worst program in the MAC right now. They did hang tough with Illinois week one losing by a touchdown. Last week they beat up on Howard pretty good. Still I don’t even see them covering the spread.[/font]
[font=Calibri]My prediction: Penn State 54 – Kent State 3[/font]
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[font=Calibri]Pitt vs Georgia Tech 12:30 AT&T SportsNet (GT -4.5)[/font]
[font=Calibri]This is a very important game in the Narduzzi era. They played well in the first half last week and just literally couldn’t get out of their own way in the second half. Georgia Tech is coming off a disappointing double digit loss to South Florida. They also lost their running back KirVonte Benson for the year due to a knee injury. This game could be over by 2:30 because I don’t think either team will throw 20 passes. [/font]
[font=Calibri]My prediction: Pitt 23 – Georgia Tech 21[/font]
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[font=Calibri]Five Others to Watch:[/font]
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[font=Calibri]#7 Auburn vs #12 LSU 3:30 CBS (Auburn -10)[/font]
[font=Calibri]Two teams that both have OOC victories over teams in the top 10 at the time. Burrow may finally be a steady, consistent QB for LSU. He’s not going to single handily will LSU to victory but he also can make enough plays to give his defense a chance. Auburn has the better QB in Stidham. I think the defenses are comparable, I think the skill positions are comparable, Auburn is at home and has a better QB. [/font]
[font=Calibri]My prediction: Auburn 19 – LSU 10[/font]
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[font=Calibri]#24 Oklahoma State vs #17 Boise State (Oklahoma State -2.5)[/font]
[font=Calibri]Boise State has scored 118 points in two weeks and their defense is probably their better unit. They very easily could be the UCF of last year or the Western Michigan of 2 years ago. With that said, it is never easy to go into Stillwater and win. Even though Mike Gundy lost most of his offense from last year this program is to the point where they can retool pretty quickly. OSU has scored 113 points in their 2 games. Neither team has truly been tested. Boise State brought back 19 starters from last year and Oklahoma State is young but at home.[/font]
[font=Calibri]My prediction: Oklahoma State 35 – Boise State 34[/font]
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[font=Calibri]#15 TCU vs #4 Ohio State 8:00 ABC (Ohio State -13)[/font]
[font=Calibri]Even though the game is played in Texas, I expect more scarlet then purple. Up and down the roster, Ohio State is more talented. Almost everyone on the field for Ohio State was a blue chip recruit. They have a fierce defensive front led by Bosa. But I can’t discredit the fact the Gary Patterson is one of the most underappreciated coaches in the history of college football. He puts out quality team after quality team and wins big games. In fact, TCU is 6-0 when Gameday is at their game. He gets to work his defensive magic against a quarterback making his first meaningful start of his career and gets to call a game against a coach that hasn’t made an impactful in-game decision as a head coach yet. Giving Ohio State 13 points is crazy. But that doesn’t mean they won’t cover.[/font]
[font=Calibri]My prediction: Ohio State 38 – TCU 20 (yeah, I still think they cover)[/font]
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[font=Calibri]Texas vs #22 USC 8:00 FOX (Texas -3.5)[/font]
[font=Calibri]When the athletic departments of these schools put this home and home series together almost a decade ago, who would have thought these 2 games would have carried as little of significance as they have. Somehow, USC is ranked after scoring a whopping 3 points against Stanford. They are starting an 18 year old true freshman behind a line that is suspect at best. I really thought Texas would start to turn the corner this year but they lost a game to Maryland who doesn’t even know who their coach will be next week. The coach that loses this game better log onto their Monster account on Sunday and update the ole’ resume. This game only made the list because it is Texas vs USC and that alone just sounds fun.[/font]
[font=Calibri]My prediction: Texas 23 – USC 13[/font]
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[font=Calibri]Utah vs #10 Washington 10:00 ESPN (Washington -6.5)[/font]
[font=Calibri]I really think this is a game of 2 of the best 3 teams in the PAC12. Is there a more disrespected team nationally than Utah? Much like Peterson and TCU, Kyle Whittingham puts one heck of a football team on the field every year but always seems to take 9 or 10 weeks and few upsets for anyone to notice. Washington played a stingy game against a very good Auburn team in week 1 only to come up a few plays short. Utah traveled to a usually pretty stout MAC school in Northern Illinois and came away with a 17-6 victory. Washington still has Jake Browning at QB but I was disappointed in his week 1 effort against Auburn.[/font]
[font=Calibri]My prediction: Utah 27 – Washington 24[/font]
[font=Calibri]Local Games: 3-0[/font]
[font=Calibri]Five others to watch: 6-4[/font]
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[font=Calibri]Local Games:[/font]
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[font=Calibri]No. 11 Penn State vs. Kent State 12:00 FS1 (PSU -35)[/font]
[font=Calibri]After a sluggish week 1 against App State and 1[sup]st[/sup] half against Pittsburgh, they finally seemed to find their stride the last 2 quarters. People are failing to recognize how young this team really is. On offense, now that Brandon Polk has replaced DeAndre Thompkins and Will Fries has replaced Chaz Wright, the only senior starter on offense is Trace McSorley. On defense, there are 3 senior starters listed as starters on the depth chart but only Oruwariye is not splitting significant time with underclassmen. The others, Koa Farmer splitting significant snaps with Micah Parsons and Nick Scott in a 5 player rotation with the 2 safety positions. As for the game this week, Kent State is probably the worst program in the MAC right now. They did hang tough with Illinois week one losing by a touchdown. Last week they beat up on Howard pretty good. Still I don’t even see them covering the spread.[/font]
[font=Calibri]My prediction: Penn State 54 – Kent State 3[/font]
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[font=Calibri]Pitt vs Georgia Tech 12:30 AT&T SportsNet (GT -4.5)[/font]
[font=Calibri]This is a very important game in the Narduzzi era. They played well in the first half last week and just literally couldn’t get out of their own way in the second half. Georgia Tech is coming off a disappointing double digit loss to South Florida. They also lost their running back KirVonte Benson for the year due to a knee injury. This game could be over by 2:30 because I don’t think either team will throw 20 passes. [/font]
[font=Calibri]My prediction: Pitt 23 – Georgia Tech 21[/font]
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[font=Calibri]Five Others to Watch:[/font]
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[font=Calibri]#7 Auburn vs #12 LSU 3:30 CBS (Auburn -10)[/font]
[font=Calibri]Two teams that both have OOC victories over teams in the top 10 at the time. Burrow may finally be a steady, consistent QB for LSU. He’s not going to single handily will LSU to victory but he also can make enough plays to give his defense a chance. Auburn has the better QB in Stidham. I think the defenses are comparable, I think the skill positions are comparable, Auburn is at home and has a better QB. [/font]
[font=Calibri]My prediction: Auburn 19 – LSU 10[/font]
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[font=Calibri]#24 Oklahoma State vs #17 Boise State (Oklahoma State -2.5)[/font]
[font=Calibri]Boise State has scored 118 points in two weeks and their defense is probably their better unit. They very easily could be the UCF of last year or the Western Michigan of 2 years ago. With that said, it is never easy to go into Stillwater and win. Even though Mike Gundy lost most of his offense from last year this program is to the point where they can retool pretty quickly. OSU has scored 113 points in their 2 games. Neither team has truly been tested. Boise State brought back 19 starters from last year and Oklahoma State is young but at home.[/font]
[font=Calibri]My prediction: Oklahoma State 35 – Boise State 34[/font]
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[font=Calibri]#15 TCU vs #4 Ohio State 8:00 ABC (Ohio State -13)[/font]
[font=Calibri]Even though the game is played in Texas, I expect more scarlet then purple. Up and down the roster, Ohio State is more talented. Almost everyone on the field for Ohio State was a blue chip recruit. They have a fierce defensive front led by Bosa. But I can’t discredit the fact the Gary Patterson is one of the most underappreciated coaches in the history of college football. He puts out quality team after quality team and wins big games. In fact, TCU is 6-0 when Gameday is at their game. He gets to work his defensive magic against a quarterback making his first meaningful start of his career and gets to call a game against a coach that hasn’t made an impactful in-game decision as a head coach yet. Giving Ohio State 13 points is crazy. But that doesn’t mean they won’t cover.[/font]
[font=Calibri]My prediction: Ohio State 38 – TCU 20 (yeah, I still think they cover)[/font]
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[font=Calibri]Texas vs #22 USC 8:00 FOX (Texas -3.5)[/font]
[font=Calibri]When the athletic departments of these schools put this home and home series together almost a decade ago, who would have thought these 2 games would have carried as little of significance as they have. Somehow, USC is ranked after scoring a whopping 3 points against Stanford. They are starting an 18 year old true freshman behind a line that is suspect at best. I really thought Texas would start to turn the corner this year but they lost a game to Maryland who doesn’t even know who their coach will be next week. The coach that loses this game better log onto their Monster account on Sunday and update the ole’ resume. This game only made the list because it is Texas vs USC and that alone just sounds fun.[/font]
[font=Calibri]My prediction: Texas 23 – USC 13[/font]
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[font=Calibri]Utah vs #10 Washington 10:00 ESPN (Washington -6.5)[/font]
[font=Calibri]I really think this is a game of 2 of the best 3 teams in the PAC12. Is there a more disrespected team nationally than Utah? Much like Peterson and TCU, Kyle Whittingham puts one heck of a football team on the field every year but always seems to take 9 or 10 weeks and few upsets for anyone to notice. Washington played a stingy game against a very good Auburn team in week 1 only to come up a few plays short. Utah traveled to a usually pretty stout MAC school in Northern Illinois and came away with a 17-6 victory. Washington still has Jake Browning at QB but I was disappointed in his week 1 effort against Auburn.[/font]
[font=Calibri]My prediction: Utah 27 – Washington 24[/font]