Week 4 – The Best Games and My Top 5 Heisman Candidates

Remember, I’m doing 3 bullet points for each team for just the first 5 games, then 2 for each team for games #6 through #15, so just 1 bullet point for each team will start at game number 16.

My Week 3 Record: 18-7

Closest (Or Exact) Pick: West Virginia @ Pitt, my pick was a Pitt win, 35-31, final score was a Pitt win, 38-34

Excited I Got This Pick Right: UNLV beating Kansas

Ashamed I Got This Pick Wrong: Purdue upsetting Notre Dame

Reactions: I swear I do not hate Kansas. This is 2 weeks in a row that I have picked that my most exciting correct pick was against Kansas, but they were both upsets. The Illinois win was an obvious upset, and Kansas were 10.5-point favorites this time. Even though UNLV was out gained, they picked Jalon Daniels off twice, turning both into scores. UNLV’s defense also held Kansas to just 3 points in the second half. As for the pick I’m ashamed I got wrong, that was a potential Purdue upset over Nore Dame. I thought Notre Dame would still be focused on their upset loss last week, but that couldn’t be farther away from the truth. Notre Dame came out and blew Purdue out, winning 66-7. If this game was closer, it wouldn’t be in the spot. I also picked Washington, South Carolina, and FSU to win. If the Purdue game was close, one of those would’ve been in that spot. There was one game that I left of my list entirely because I thought it was going to be a blow out, and that Georgia @ Kentucky. I thought Georgia was going to come into Lexington and destroy the Wildcats, but that obviously did not happen.

1. (6) Tennessee @ (15) Oklahoma – What better environment for GameDay to come to this week? Oklahoma is going to play their first SEC game, and they do it at home against a top 10 team with one of the best offenses in the country. Some people, including myself, have doubted Oklahoma, asking – or even claiming – that OU is not ready for the SEC. The Sooners are ready to prove all of them wrong. I’ll start with the Volunteers, however,

• Oklahoma is going to have a hard time stopping Tennessee’s offense. I stated in the intro that Tennessee has one of the best offenses in the nation, coming in at second, averaging 639.3 yards per game. They’re also averaging 336.3 rush yards per game, which is third in the nation. They’re ahead of Rutgers and Boise State, however, who have Kyle Monangai and Ashton Jeanty, 2 of the best running backs in college football. They’re averaging 303 pass yards per game, which is fourth in the SEC. Some might claim that they have the best offense, however, scoring 63.7 points per game. That’s first in the nation, and no other team is even averaging 60 points per game. Tennessee started their season off by blowing out Chattanooga 69-3, then destroying NC State 51-10, and most recently hanging 71 points on Kent State in a shutout. Tennessee got real cruel last week, attempting a surprise onside kick and recovering it while up 30-0 in the first quarter. However, 3 of these games were at home, with the other being a neutral sight. Tennessee’s offense obviously scored less points against their greatest competition. With a mix of Oklahoma being the best team they’ve played so far and this being a road game for them, I would expect Tennessee’s offense to slow down a little, and maybe score with in the 40’s (saying that a low scoring game would be them scoring in the forties is wild). Nico Iamaleava is leading this offense, and he’s leading it well. He’s thrown for 700 yards, 6 touchdowns, and 2 picks, both against NC State. He’s also ran for 102 yards and a touchdown, while only being sacked once. The only game Nico has finished was the NC State game, but threw the ball once in the final quarter, an 18-yard touchdown on 3^rd and 4. His only rushing touchdown came in this game, and it was 31 yards long. He had 65 rushing yards overall. Iamaleava has a myriad of targets to throw to, but it looks like his favorite is Chris Brazzell II, who has 10 catches for 140 yards and a touchdown. Nico does spread it out well, as Donte Thornton Jr. has 5 catches, Bru McCoy had 8, and Squirrel White also has 5. Thornton had 170 yards and 2 touchdowns, while McCoy and White both have 108 yards.
• Dylan Sampson is the best running back in the SEC. Although some might have better numbers, Sampson reigns supreme when it comes to touchdowns. He had 9 rushing touchdowns, and no one else has more than 6. Most of Sampson’s touchdowns have come within the red zone, 7 to be exact. 6 of them are in between the 10. Sampsons carries also jump up in the red zone, as he has 16 down there so far this season. In total, he has 45 carries for 360 yards, and the 9 touchdowns I’ve previously stated. He’s also averaging 8 yards per rush. It isn’t just Sampson in the rushing game, however. DeSean Bishop has 22 carries for 222 yards and 3 touchdowns, 2 of them coming last week. Peyton Lewis has 17 rushes for 118 yards as well.
• Oklahoma has a great rush defense, however. They’ve allowed just 233 total rush yards, which comes out to 77.7 rush yards per game. That’s 6^th in the SEC. Leading rushers against Oklahoma have had 31 yards, 33 yards, and 71 yards. Although I expect Tennessee to slowly chip away at OU’s rush defense, it’ll be a big team effort. The rest of Oklahoma’s defense isn’t bad either. They’ve allowed 187 passing yards per game, meaning they’ve allowed 264.7 total yards per game. Those are 10^th and 7^th in the SEC. respectively. OU has also allowed just 34 points in total, which is 11.3 points per game. Their defense has also forced 10 turnovers, getting 4 picks and 6 fumbles. They have 11 sacks as well. Danny Stutsman leads the defense from his middle linebacker spot, with 33 tackles, while Billy Bowman Jr. has a pick and a fumble recovery. Oklahoma should slow down Tennessee’s offense early, kind of how Tennessee took a while before they got things going against NC State.
• Tennessee has a good defense as well. They’ve allowed 4.3 points per game, third in the nation, and 160.7 yards per game, second in the nation. There isn’t a standout, as no player has more than 1 sack, 1 pick, or 1 fumble, either forced or recovered. Edress Farooq and Will Brooks are tied for the most tackles on the team, with 10. Brooks did return a pick for a touchdown, but that’s the standout for the Volunteers defense. Tennessee’s defense played their best game last week, holding Kent State to jut 112 yards and 8 first downs. Tennessee’s defense is more than up for the challenge against…
• Jackson Arnold and OU’s great offense. Arnold struggled against Houston, which led to them winning just 16-12. Arnold went 19/32 for 175 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 pick. Arnold improved a lot in the week in between these games, throwing for 170 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 pick on 18/29 passing. That pick went to Tyler Grubbs, and he returned it for a touchdown. Those numbers did not look like he improved, but he ran for 100 yards and 2 touchdowns. They were 1 yard and 24 yards long. That means on the year, Arnold has thrown for 484 yards, 7 touchdowns, and 2 picks. He’s also ran for 160 yards, making him Oklahoma’s leading rusher. He also has 2 rushing touchdowns. Oklahoma’s top receiver is Deion Burks, who has 22 catches for 170 yards and 3 touchdowns. Although all 3 of his touchdowns came in week 1, Burks’ receptions and yards have gone up in his past 2 games. Nic Anderson could also return this week after catching 38 passes for 800 yards and 10 touchdowns last season. He hasn’t played a game yet this season. No one else on Oklahoma have over 100 receiving yards, and that has mainly been the case because of injuries. Jalil Farooq only caught 1 pass before breaking hi foot, and some offensive linemen are out with injuries, which has let to Arnold going down 9 times. The key to this game for Oklahoma, however, is their…
• The key to the game for Oklahoma is their rushing game. Simply said, Jackson Arnold can’t do it all. Before last weeks game, Taylor Taum was the leading receiver with just 75 yards on 6 carries, but he did expand on that with 9 carries for 27 yards and a touchdown. He also caught a 9-yard touchdown. Jovante Barnes had 17 carries for 73 yards before last week as well. He had 14 carries for 53 yards against Tulane, putting him at 126 yards on 31 carries. Like I stated earlier, Arnold ran the ball very well last week, rushing for 100 yards and 2 touchdowns on about 11 carries. It’s not a surprise that once Arnold starts running the ball well, the rest of OU starts to run the ball well, too. They jumped up from 75 rushing yards against Houston to 182 against Tulane.

I think Oklahoma will try to run the ball early in order to control the clock, but Tennessee should find a way to turn it on Oklahoma’s head and force them to throw it. From their defense will take advantage of mistakes Jackson Arnold has made, but Oklahoma stays in the game, only to fall to the Vols, 44-41.

   2. (12) Utah @ (14) Oklahoma State – A Big 12 matchup between 2 top 15 teams that’s certainly going to have an impact on the conference and how it shapes out will be won between the trenches and on the ground. Both teams are coming into this game undefeated, but Utah is tainted by a big injury, and we’ve already seen Oklahoma State struggle mightily. I’ll start with Utah, and they’re going to have a hard time this week because…

• Utah is going to have a hard time this week if Cam Rising can’t go. Cam Rising is available for this game, but his finger injury might cause something to go awry. He already missed last week, which caused Isaac Wilson to start. If Rising reaggravates his injury, Wilson will have to step up. He looked pretty good last week, throwing for 240 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 pick. Utah did have a cupcake, taking on Utah State. It did take a while before Utah pulled away, but Wilson threw 2 touchdowns in the first half, both of which were 11 yards long. His last touchdown was a 2-yard pass to Carsen Ryan in the fourth quarter. Utah was down 14-3 in the second quarter, but once Wlson threw his touchdowns, which took them up 17-14 at half. They let up just 1 more touchdown, while scoring 21 points themselves in the second half. This is going to be a much harder defense for Wilson to go up against if he plays, and should give Rising troubles as well. Rising has thrown for just 346 yards and 7 touchdowns, but on the other hand he only has 29 passing attempts. He has completed 18 of them, but those came against South Utah and Baylor. Whichever QB will play most of the game won’t have much of a difference because…
• Utah has a great rushing game. Not only did they take a lot of pressure of Wilson last week, Utah controlled the clock for 37 minutes. Because of this, Utah took the ball out of Utah State’s hand for a while. When the game was over, Utah had 41 carries for 221 yards, but just 1 touchdown. Micah Bernard led the team with 17 carries for 123 yards and the only touchdown, which was 3 yards long. Mike Mitchell backed him up with 14 carries for 75 yards. Outside of that, no one had rushing yards over 10. Utah averages 192 rush yards per game, but have only 2 rushing touchdowns, with one from Bernard and Mitchell. On the year, Bernard has 41 carries for 274 yards and a touchdown, while Mitchell has 26 carries for 116 yards and a touchdown. No one else has more than 55 yards, but Rising might scramble more this game if his injury impacts his throw. Although Utah hasn’t had the best year on the ground, they’re going to have to run the ball to keep the ball out of Ollie Gordon’s hand.
• Utah’s defense looks really, really good. They’re in the top 5 in points allowed, yards allowed, and sacks in the Big 12. They’ve allowed 11 points per game, which is tied for second in the conference. They’ve allowed 252.7 yards per game, 5^th in the conference, and are tied for first in sacks with 10. Van Fillinger has the most sacks with 3.5, and he also leads the team in tackles with 16. Connor O’Toole has 2.5 sacks as well. Utah’s defense has 3 picks and a fumble recovery as well. The defense’s numbers have been bolstered because of Utah’s average time of possession, which is about 34 minutes. They’re going to have a big task slowing down…
• Ollie Gordon, and he is going to have to run rampant. Ollie Gordon could be considered as the best back in college football, and although he’s had a slow start, I’m not ready to write him off just yet. Through 3 games, Gordon has 62 carries for 216 yards and 4 touchdowns. 3 of his touchdowns came in the first week, and his fourth came in the second overtime against Arkansas. Gordon is 10^th in the Big 12 in rush yards, but through 3 games last year, Gordon had just 109 yards. That would be 26^th in the conference this year. No, Gordon did have just 19 carries, but it seems like teams have figured out how to stop him. After rushing for 126 yards and 3 touchdowns on 28 carries in week 1, he had 17 rushes for 50 yard and a touchdown against Arkansas. He had 41 yards in the same amount of carries last week against Tulsa. Oklahoma did blow out Tulsa, so his performance didn’t make much of a difference. But they’re going to need him for this game. Gordon will still be able to perform at a high level, its just up to Utah’s defense to stop him.
• Alan Bowman has stepped up, however. Bowman has thrown for 967 yards, 8 touchdowns, and 2 picks so far this year. His passing yards are 6^th in the country and fourth in the Big 12. He had another game manager-like performance against South Dakota State, throwing for 245 yards and 2 touchdowns. But as Gordon has slowed down, more opportunities for Bowman have arisen. He threw for 326 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 pick against Arkansas, but really turned it on last week, throwing for 400 yards and 5 touchdowns. He hasn’t been sacked so far this year, and that has a direct benefit on his game. Oklahoma State has a great group of wide receivers as well. De’Zhaun Stribling is the leading receiver with 17 catches for 300 yards and 2 touchdowns, while Rashod Owens has 11 receptions for 188 yards and a touchdown. Brennan Presley has the most catches, however, with 23. He also has 172 yards and 4 total touchdowns, 3 of them through the air.
• Oklahoma State’s defense isn’t bad either. Their stats have been a bit skewed because they went to 2 overtimes against Arkansas, but they’re still in the top 5 for sacks in the Big 12, with 7. They have 3 picks as well, returning 1 for a touchdown against Arkansas. That was 73 yards, and Cam Smith has a 51-yard interception return as well. Oklahoma State also has 2 fumble recoveries. Trey Rucker is Oklahoma State’s leading tackler, with 39. That’s first in the conference and third in the nation. Nick Martin is right behind him with 34. That’s second in the Big 12, and tied for sixth in FBS. No one else has 30 tackles in the conference. Both of these guys will a have a big difference in this game, and will have to slow down Utah’s rushing offense.

Oklahoma State will have to get a big game out of Ollie Gordon, and I think that happens as Oklahoma State wins 28-24.

   3. (24) Illinois @ (22) Nebraska – After an upset at home over Kansas and another win at home against Central Michigan, Illinois has earned themselves not only a ranking, but also a tough road game that will bolster their resume if they win. They go up against Big Red, who certainly have a big offense. The reason they have this good of an offense is because of…

• Nebraska’s offense is so good because of Dylan Raiola. Since flipping his commitment to Nebraska, more eyes have been on him. And he has shined through 2 games so far, throwing for 670 yards, 5 touchdowns, and 1 pick. He’s already led them to a rivalry win over Colorado as well. That game was probably the worst of his season so far, but he didn’t play bad. He had his highest completion percentage so far, at 76.7%. He only threw for 185 yards and a touchdown, both lows of his young career. However, he showed a lot of poise in the pocket, which led to his 18-yard touchdown pass. Isaiah Neyor has been a part of Nebraska’s offensive success, but the reason why Nebraska won their game against Colorado was undoubtedly because of…
• Nebraska’s defense has smothered their competition. They’ve allowed 6.7 points per game, third in the Big 10, 255.3 yards per game, fifth in the Big 10, and 9 sacks, tied for third in the conference. We say just how lethal Nebraska’s defense was against Colorado, not only holding them to just 10 points, but getting 6 sacks and a pick six. They held the Buffs to just 16 rushing yards, and also forced a fumble which iced the game. Colorado also missed 2 field goals, with the first one being blocked. Nebraska was just constantly forcing Colorado’s offense off the field, and they were doing it quickly, so Colorado only held the ball for 24 minutes and 40 seconds. Nebraska’s defense has also showed up against UTEP and Northern Iowa, but its UTEP and Northern Iowa, so I’m not going to rave about those games.
• Nebraska is going to need to run the ball a bit better. They average 171.3 rush yards per game, and although that is ninth in the Big 10, they only have 514 yards. They’ve done that on 104 rushes, which is 5 yards per rush, about smack dab in the middle of the Big 10. Dante Dowdell is the leading rusher with 31 carries for 184 yards and 3 touchdowns, while Emmett Johnson has 13 rushes for 124 yards and a touchdown. Now backup QB Heinrich Haarberg was the leading rusher for Nebraska last year, and without him playing this year, Nebraska’s rushing game has taken a hit.
• How is Illinois ranked? They haven’t gone on the road yet, and the win that they’re hanging their hat over is a 23-17 win against Kansas. Kansas was ranked 19^th at the time, and dropped out of the polls the next week, only getting 22 votes to stay in. They once again lost last week to UNLV, so that hasn’t helped Illinois’ case at all. This is different than the Boston College ranking, however, because they still had to go on the road to FSU in their home opener. Regardless of my gripes against Illinois, they’re going to be playing a lot better with a number next to their name, and that’s going to start with…
• Luke Altmyer is going to have to show up this game. When you’re playing a team with a quarterback as good as Raiola, all of the graphics when it comes to quarterbacks are going to be comparing the two. Altmyer has had a good year thus far, throwing for 650 yards and 6 touchdowns. He’s been a solid rusher, but hasn’t done that much so far this year. He had to run a lot last year, however, as he was sacked 34 times. He’s been sacked 5 times in 2024, making him tied for the second most sacked QB in the Big Ten. Altmyer has improved a lot from last year when it comes to the picks, as he threw 10 last year, but none this year. He also has about third the amount of passing yards he had last year. Altmyer hasn’t played that good of a defense yet, however. It’ll be interesting to see how he does against a truly good defense.
• Outside of their top 2 wide receivers, someone is going to have to step up. Pat Bryant and Zakhari Franklin are those top 2 receivers, both in the top 10 in the conference in receiving yards. Bryant has the better stats off the two, with 15 catches for 235 yards and 4 touchdowns. He caught 2 touchdowns against Eastern Illinois and 2 touchdowns last week against Central Michigan. He also had the least amount of catches in a game so far against Kansas, so Nebraska should key in on him. Franklin is right ahead of Bryant in terms of catches, with 16. He has 193 yards, which is 8^th in the Big Ten. Bryant’s yards are second. Franklin doesn’t have a touchdown yet, and only 1 catch in the red zone. I would expect Bryant to be slowed down, so Franklin could be the leading receiver. After him, however, no one else has more than 100 yards. Malik Elzy is the closest to them, but he has just 51 yards off two catches. Outside of Byrant and Franklin, no one else on the team has more than 3 catches. Someone is going to have to step up because Nebraska will try their hardest to stop Bryant and Franklin.

There’s a lot of hype surrounding Illinois, but this is their first road game of the season, and they fall to the Cornhuskers, 22-18.

   4. (11) USC @ (18) Michigan – After 3 bad offensive performances and an even worse 3 games for Davis Warren, he’s been benched in favor of Alex Orji. This probably couldn’t have come at a worse time, as it’s the start of conference play for the Wolverines. As for USC, they have 2 home wins, and now have to go on the road after a bye week. I’ll start with Michigan however, and…

• So why did Michigan bench Warren? Well, if you haven’t read the countless articles of the situation, I’ll give you the run down. Warren surprisingly won the starting gig in camp, and started the season out rough. Michigan struggled against pulling away from Fresno State with 2 late touchdowns. One of those touchdowns was a pass from Warren to Colston Loveland for 18 yards. Warren finished the game with 118 yards, 1 touchdown, and a pick off 15/25 passing. Everyone on the Michigan offense struggled the next week against Michigan, especially Warren. Warren went 22/33 for 204 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 picks. His first pick led to a Texas field goal. His second happened when Michigan was down 31-6. Warren’s stats hit rock bottom against Arkansas State, as he only had 122 yards and 3 picks. All 3 of his interceptions were his incompletions, however, but he should still not be throwing 3 picks. Orji threw the passing touchdown of the game, which was a 9-yard pass. This came after Orji replaced Davis Warren in the game. Warren has thrown for 444 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions. So far this year, whenever Orji has come in, that means Michigan is going to run the ball. But now with him in the entire game, that is going to keep defenses on their toes for the first few weeks.
• Michigan is still going to beat teams on the ground. Although they average just 176.3 rush yards per game, they haven’t had the balls in their had because of all of Warren’s mistakes. Donovan Edwards once again disappeared, as he had 19 carries for 68 yards in the first 2 games. He did catch a touchdown, however. It felt like Edwards made a rare appearance last week, with 17 rushes for 82 yards and a touchdown. That was 7 yards. On the year, Edwards has 36 carries for 150 yards and a touchdown. Michigan’s leading rusher is Kalel Mullings, who has 270 yards and 2 touchdowns on the same number of carries as Edwards. He had 92 yards in week 1, struggled a bit against Texas (But who didn’t?), and exploded last week. He had 15 carries for 153 yards and 2 touchdowns. His touchdowns went for 30 and 5 yards. With Orji mixing into the rushing game, these guys should fill the Blake Corum sized hole that was left.
• How will Michigan’s defense fair? Although it’s a small sample size, against lesser competition, we’ve seen them do good, but the offense hasn’t been able to pull away. Against seemingly better teams, they’ve crumbled. I would consider USC to be the better team, but that obviously doesn’t mean they’re going to win. So far this year, Michigan has allowed 304.3 yards per game, sixth worse in the Big Ten. They’ve also allowed 19.7 points, fifth worst in the conference. Although they’ve done really well at stopping the run, USC isn’t much of a running team. They’ve gotten 3 turnovers, all of them were picks and 2 of them came back in week 1. The other did come last week, however. They’re going to need the secondary to shine once again, because…
• Miller Moss has lived up to the expectations. After starting USC’s bowl game last year and throwing for 372 yards and 6 touchdowns, very high expectations were set on him. After Jayden Maiava transferred in this offseason from UNLV and Moss won the job, even more eyes and even bigger expectations were set on him. First of all, he looked insanely good in his first start, secondly, he was the heir to the Caleb Williams throne at USC, and thirdly, he beat out a quarterback with insane hype. He’s going to have to do good. And he did just that, showing what he did in Las Vegas against LSU. He threw for 378 yards and a touchdown of a 75% completion percentage, leading USC to the win. His passing touchdown ended up being the touchdown that gave USC a 20-17 late lead. He followed that up with another great performance against Utah State, throwing for 229 yards and a touchdown. He hasn’t had to do much so far, but when you’re not making mistakes, you can’t be looked at as a bad quarterback. That means he’s thrown for 607 yards and 2 touchdowns so far this year.
• Can Woody Marks keep it up? Marks is USC’s leading rusher, with 29 carries for 171 yards, which is about 6 yards per carry. He also has 3 touchdowns. He had 16 carries for 68 yards and 2 touchdowns against LSU, but took it up one notch against Utah State, as he had 13 carries for 103 yards and another touchdown. He added 40 receiving yards as well. Like I stated earlier, Michigan gas a great rushing defense, allowing just 70 rushing yards per game. Marks is going to have a tough time trying to break through the Michigan defense.
• Is USC’s defense good? They’re a very up-and-down team, but that might be because of their competition. They’ve played just 2 games so far, one against a great team in LSU, and another against a subpar team, that being Utah State. USC’s defense has allowed 305.5 yards per game, but have allowed just 20 points, and 10 pointes per game. Hey shut out Utah State, which makes this a tough defense to grade. They have just 3 sacks and 2 picks, most of those coming against Utah State.

I think Michigan’s offense will continue to struggle no matter the quarterback, but they shouldn’t have as many picks or mistakes as they did under Warren. Ultimately, Miller Moss should be able to deliver a big game, leading USC to 28-20 win.

   5. Georgia Tech @ (19) Louisville – This game was a close and exhilarating matchup last year, and it should be this year as well. Georgia Tech barely upset Florida State in week 0, before losing at Syracuse 2 weeks later. That lost them their ranking, but destroyed VMI last week and now go on the road again. They have an underdog gene, which should come out, as Louisville hasn’t played anyone in 2024. I’ll also start with the Cardinals.

• Louisville has had 2 easy games, and this one is going to jolt them awake. Louisville destroyed Auston Peay in week one, winning 62-0. They were up 38-0 at half off the back of 4 passing touchdowns from Tyler Shough. Louisville continued to roll, taking down Jacksonville State 49-14. This time, it was the running game, scoring 5 of the 7 touchdowns. They had a bye week last week, so they’ve had 2 weeks to prepare for Georgia Tech, and that should keep them in the game.
• Tyler Shough has been great for Louisville. I briefly talked about Shough in my last bullet point, and for good reason. He’s had the best start to a season for him, and hopefully he can stay healthy this season and play a full season. So far this year, he has 581 yards and 6 touchdowns. He’s only been sacked once, and keeping him upright is crucial to Louisville’s season. Shough has found Ja’Corey brooks many times, and Brooks has come down 13 times for 172 yards and a touchdown. He’s the only one on Louisville with more than 100 yards, but a bunch of the other receivers have added something. Spreading the ball out has something Shough has done well, and that has helped the Cardinals because it makes defenses have a harder time guarding these guys.
• Louisville is a running team, and they need to keep on running. The Cardinals have the best rushing offense in the ACC, averaging 263 rush yards per game, which leads them to the second-best offense in the conference. They average 590.5 yards per game. Isaac Brown leads the team with 166 yards and a touchdown. Duke Watson has 137 yards and 2 touchdowns, and Keyjuan Brown also has 2 touchdowns, along with 116 yards. Although Maurice Turner has the least amount of yards of these 87, he has the most carries on the team with 16.  He also has a touchdown. The reason why I didn’t mention the first 3 players carries is because they all have over 10. Brown has 13, Watson has 10, and Brown has 14. Just like how Shough was spreading the ball out, the ball is also distributed pretty evenly between backs, but that could be for the sole reason that they’ve been playing the backups, but the regular running backs should also get an even breakdown of carries. We saw how well the rushing game was against JVST, with once again 5 of the first 7 touchdowns being on the ground.
• Georgia Tech is also a running team. The reason why I wrote that Louisville needs to keep on running is because of Georgia Tech, and they need to do that to keep the ball out of Jamal Haynes has. He should’ve had pretty favorable stats because he’s played 4 games, but he doesn’t because Georgia Tech pulled their starters early against VMI. On the year, Haynes has 46 carries for 213 yards and 4 touchdowns. His carries are fifth in the ACC, and his touchdowns are tied for first. The yards are seventh in the conference as well. Haynes had 11 rushes for 75 yards and 2 touchdowns in week 0, had 17 rushes for 84 yards against Georgia State, and had a down game against Syracuse, rushing 11 times for 35 yards. He did score however. Last week, Haynes had just 7 rushes for 19 yards. Definitely not his best performance, but GT was up 38-0 at halftime. Throughout the season, Haynes has also caught 10 passes for 53 yards. Quarterback Haynes King has added 160 yards on 25 carries, scoring 3 touchdowns. Both of these guys have led to GT averaging 180 rush yards per game. They have 13 total rushing touchdowns, the most in the ACC by 4.
• The passing game isn’t bad, either. Haynes King has been a very consistent quarterback, throwing for 962 yards, 6 touchdowns, and a pick. His averaging 9.1 yards per pass, and has completed 76.4% of his passes. He’s found Malik Rutherford 22 times for 285 yards and 2 touchdowns, while Eric Singleton has come down with 16 catches for 250 yards and a touchdown. Chase Lane and Avery Boyd have also added something into the passing game. Just like how Tyler Shough has spread the ball out, so has Haynes King, and that’s going to make it a tough day for both defenses.
• Georgia Tech was beat through the air against Syracuse. Although Syracuse held the ball for 37 minutes, it wasn’t because they ran the ball. It was because Kyle McCord kept picking apart the secondary and Georgia Tech couldn’t sting a drive together. I’m more concerned about the first part, because we’ve seen Georgia Tech have really good drives in their other 3 games. McCord went 32/46 for 381 yards and 4 touchdowns, with his first 3 touchdowns coming on 3 of Syracuse’s first four drives. Their other drive ended in a missed field goal. Shough has shown his talented arm, which should do something similar this week.

Georgia Tech’s defense will have to adapt, and they I think they will, and excel at the start. However, as the game goes on, Louisville will be able to run the ball and tire GT, along with keeping it out of the Yellow Jacket’s hands. Louisville wins, 31-24.

   6. Arkansas @ Auburn – Both of these teams are 2-1, and this game will be a pivotal early season SEC matchup. After losing a heartbreaker on the road at Oklahoma state, Arkansas struggled at home against UAB. They now go on the road to face Auburn, who benched their QB, and the new starter shined.

• Hank Brown is the new starter, and getting to rhythm is key for this game. After Auburn benched Payton Thorne after throwing for 487 yards, 5 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions to start the season, Hank Brown started against New Mexico and looked great. He obviously had a favorable matchup, but Brown still threw for 235 yards and 4 touchdowns on 17/25 passing. They were 10, 3, 14, and 26 yards long. He started off 4/6 for 24 yards and a touchdown on Auburns first drive. They had great field position to start because of a kickoff return. On Auburn’s next drive, which was 75 yards in length, Brown went 2/2 for 57 yards. Brown completed passes early, whether big or small, which helped him get comfortable in the game, and led to his big performance. Against a much better defense, Brown will have to do the same. If he starts the game off bad, its going to be much harder for him to climb back into the game.
• Continue to let Jarquez Hunter run. Another way to keep Brown in the same form as last week is to keep the pressure off of him, and you can do that by running the ball. Jarquez Hunter is the leading back for the Tigers, rushing for 273 yards and 2 touchdowns on 6 carries. He had the biggest game of his season last week, rushing 20 times for 152 yards and a touchdown. He also caught a 14-yard touchdown. Now, you do lose something in the rushing game by benching Thorne, as he had 92 yards and 2 touchdowns. However, there are a lot less mistakes being made through the air. Plus, this should make Damari Alston step up. He has 15 carries for 100 yards and 2 touchdowns.
• Although Arkansas doesn’t have a QB controversy, I think they should. Taylen Green transferred in this offseason, and looked great in week 1, but then again Arkansas was playing UAPB. Green threw for 230 yards and 2 touchdowns off a 70% completion percentage, while also rushing for 88 yards and 2 touchdowns. His numbers dropped off a bit the following week at Oklahoma State, throwing for a touchdown and an interception on a 58% completion percentage. He did throw for 416 yards, but the game did go into double overtime, so his stats were boosted by that a bit. He was sacked 3 times as well, leading to just 61 yards. Last week, against UAB, Green went 11/26, which is a 42.3% completion percentage for 160 yards and a pick. He was sacked 3 times, but ran for 100 yards and 2 touchdowns. That means Green has thrown for 806 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions, while rushing for 245 yards and 4 touchdowns. Obviously, those aren’t the best stats, and if I was Sam Pittman and Green was struggling, I would give the backup Malachi Singleton a chance. Singleton has only played in one game this season, which was the first one. He threw for 120 yards, going 8/10. He also ran for 6 yards and a touchdown. Singleton was a 4-star recruit, and was the ranked as the ninth best dual threat QB in his class. Although Singleton probably won’t come in for Green, he could if Green continues to struggle.
• Ja’Quinden Jackson has been a great back, leading to a top 3 offense in the SEC. Just like Taylen Green, Jackson transferred into Arkansas this offseason, although from Utah and not from Boise State like Green. Jackson is off to the best starts of any of his seasons, rushing for 400 yards and 6 touchdowns on 47 carries. His yards are the most in the SEC. Like I stated in the last bullet point, Taylen Green has been a great runner for the Hogs, but Jackson is in the backfield pretty much every play. This has led to Arkansas averaging 259 rushing yards per game. They average 587.3 yards in total, which is third in the conference as well. Jackson should be hard for Auburn to stop this week, and that goes for defenses in general. He’s already outplayed Ollie Gordon, rushing for 3 touchdowns in Arkansas’ loss.

Regardless of how Green does against Auburn, I think Hank Brown will be able to settle into the game early, which leads Auburn to the 27-24 win.

   7. Rutgers @ Virginia Tech – This game will be won on the ground, and its not hard to see why. Kyle Monangai of Rutgers is tied for the sixth most rushing yards in all of FBS, while VT has one of the best rushing offenses in the ACC. Rutgers is coming into this game 2-0, but have played horrible competition at home. As for Virginia Tech, they’ve rebounded with 2 big wins after a close loss at Vanderbilt. I’ll start with Rutgers, and…

• What’s up with Athan Kaliakmanis? After a disastrous 2023 with Minnesota, which saw him throw for 1,840 yards, 14 touchdowns, and 9 interceptions on a 53% completion percentage, Kaliakmanis transferred to another Big Ten school, that obviously being Rutgers. And so far this season, he’s looked great. He’s thrown for 377 yards, 6 touchdowns, and 1 pick on a 61.7% completion percentage. He went down 21 times last year, and hasn’t been sacked once in 2024. Now, this is Rutgers first test of the season, but when you play good, you feel good, and then play even better.
• Kyle Monangai has been the heart and soul of this offense. Like I stated in the intro, Monangai has the sixth most rushing yards in the FBS. He has 46 carries for 373 yards and 4 touchdowns. His yards are also second in the Big Ten, and so are his touchdowns and his carries. He had 165 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries in week 1, but had a much bigger performance against Akron, rushing 27 times for 208 yards and 3 touchdowns, which were 3, 1, and 2 yards long. Monangai ran for 1,262 yards and 8 touchdowns on 242 carries last year, so I have no doubt that he should perform against Virginia Tech.
• Kyron Drones has had an up and down season thus far. I thought Kyron Drones could’ve been a dark horse Heisman candidate before the season, and although I don’t think that anymore, Drones could still be a surprising break out player for some college football fans. He started his season off pretty well, throwing for 322 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception in week 1. He was sacked 3 times as well, keeping him down to 20 rushing yards, He then regressed against Marshall, throwing for 130 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for a touchdown however. He was also sacked 4 times, rushing for just 13 yards. Then, in week 3, he threw for 176 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 pick. He wasn’t sacked at all, rushing 12 times for 120 yards and a touchdown. Drones has thrown for 630 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 2 picks, while running for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns. Every game Drones has had a good part of his game, whether it be his arm strength, accuracy, rushing ability, or something else. If he can put all of those together this game, he can lead VT to the win.
• VT’s rushing offense is elite. Like I stated in the opening intro, Virginia Tech has one of the best rushing offenses in the ACC. They’re averaging 190.7 rush yards per game, and have 6 rushing touchdowns. In total, they have 572 yards, basically all because of Bhayshul Tuten and Kyron Drones. Tuten has 52 carries for 270 yards and 4 touchdowns, averaging 5.2 yards per carry. Tuten and Drones are the main reason why VT averages 33 minutes time of possession, which has led to their 2 wins.

Virginia Tech will be able to damage Rutgers on the ground, which leads to their 21-14 win.

   8. Michigan State @ Boston College – I’ve bashed Aiden Chiles and Michigan State in the past, but it’s hard not to recognize that they’re 3-0, and that takes some guts and talent. As for Boston College, they fell to Missouri in a top 25 matchup last week, but still have a lot of momentum going into this game because its…

• This is Boston College’s annual Red Bandana game, and that means great things. The Red Bandana game started in 2014 to honor Boston College alum and 9/11 hero, Welles Crowther. Like I just said, the Red Bandana game started in 2014, where BC knocked off USC 37-31, who was ranked 9^th at the time. In 2015 and 2016, they did fall both years, but they were both against top 10 teams, so you can’t fault them too much. They came back in 2017 to beat FSU, and beat Miami in 2018. BC lost a close game in 2019, and a semi-close game in 2020. In 2021, BC beat Virginia Tech, but got destroyed the following year against Clemson. BC pushed FSU to their limits in this game last year as well. Usually, Boston College has either had a big upset, or played a big team close. BC has a very good shot of that happening again this year, and that’s because of...
• Thomas Castellanos has been the reason why BC has succeeded. Obviously, it’s not solely because of Castellanos, but he is the main reason. He’s thrown for 590 yards, 9 touchdowns, and 2 picks, while rushing for 100 yards and a touchdown. Castellanos ran a lot last season, but hasn’t done that as much so far this season. And as a result, he’s been a much more accurate passer. His completion percentage jumped up from 57.3% last year to 64.8% this year. Castellanos went 16/28 last week for 250 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 2 picks. He wasn’t his best self last week, but was still really good, and almost led Boston College to an upset. He should get back to his prior self this week, but it’ll be tough because Michigan State’s defense is…
• Michigan State’s defense has been pretty good. Their defense is near the top of the Big Ten, allowing 11.3 points per game, seventh in the conference. 242.3 yards per game, fourth in the conference, and have 11 sacks, second in the Big Ten. Although it’s a big team performance, Jordan Turner and Khris Bogle are the standouts. Turner leads the team with 19 tackles, and has 2 sacks to go along with it. Bogle has 13 tackles and 2.5 sacks as well. Charles Brantley is another standout on the defense, as he has 3 pass deflections and 2 picks, returning 1 for a touchdown. All of these guys will make a big difference in this game.
• The Aiden Chiles dilemma. A lot of people, including me, had big expectations for Chiles coming into the year, and for good reason. His head coach at Oregon State left for Michigan State, so he followed, and so did Jack Velling, who should’ve been one of Chiles’ top targets. He has just 6 catches so far, 5 of them on Michigan State’s side of the field. The other catch is not in the red zone, where he shined last year, catching 6 touchdowns. Instead, Chiles has not target one of his biggest receivers, and instead has subpar numbers. He’s thrown for 650 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions. He’s done all of this on a 56.8% completion percentage. It isn’t all bad, however, as Chiles has added 2 rushing touchdowns. He’s thrown 2 picks in both of his games against FBS competition, and I would expect him to throw at least 1 in this game.

Michigan State has a lot of struggles, and I don’t think they overcome them in such a big game. Boston College wins, 29-23.

   9. TCU @ SMU – The Battle for the Iron Skillet is a rivalry that dates back to 1915, and SMU is trying to steal back the Skillet after 2 straight TCU wins. Both of these teams are coming into this game at 2-1, with TCU falling just last week to UCF in a close game, while SMU lost 2 weeks ago to BYU, and had a bye last week. I’ll start with the Horned Frogs, who…

• TCU barely fell to UCF last week. TCU went up 14-0 early, and took that lead into the second quarter, before giving up a touchdown run. TCU scored another touchdown, their third passing touchdown, to go into the half up 21-7. They added another passing touchdown in the third quarter, this time a 50-yarder, but let up 2 more UCF touchdowns. They did get a field goal, however, which put them up 31-20 at the end of the third. Everything fell apart in the fourth quarter, however, letting up 2 touchdowns while only kicking a field goal. They missed a game winning field goal, but it was 58 yards, however. They let up 290 rushing yards, which happened on 54 carries. TCU only had 58 yards on 17 carries, which made them only hold the ball for 27 minutes. That’s going to have to change this week, and it starts with…
• TCU’s rushing game has to improve, and they are going to be led by Cam Cook. Cook is the only rusher with more than 50 rushing yards on the team, and the only one with multiple touchdowns. Cook has 44 carries for 175 yards and 4 touchdowns. His touchdowns are tied for the second most in the Big 12. Cook’s rushing numbers have decreased throughout these 3 weeks, going from 81 in week 1, to 58 in week 2, and 35 last week. He had 1 touchdown against Stanford, but ran it in 3 times the following week. They were 1, 12, and 5 yard(s) long. Like I stated, he had 35 rushing yards last week, but that came on 11 carries, which is 3.2 yards per rush. He’s going to have to bring that number up this week because…
• SMU’s offense is elite. Although they are in the middle of the road in the ACC when it comes to yards and points per game, that’s more because the ACC has some of the highest scoring and yardage gaining teams in the country. SMU is averaging 421.3 yards per game, 9^th in the ACC, and 34.3 points per game, which is 8^th in the conference. Before being benched, Preston Stone threw for 336 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 pick. He was benched after a bad start 2 weeks ago against BYU, and Keving Jennings took over and will be the starter for this game. Jennings has thrown for 342 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 pick. He’s also ran for 100 yards and a touchdown. Against BYU, he threw for 140 yards and a pick on a 47% completion percentage. Both of the quarterbacks haven’t been the best this season, but if Jennings can get some consistency this game, he should be able to put it together.
• SMU’s defense isn’t bad, either. They’re closer to the top of the ACC than the offense, coming in at fifth for yards per game, allowing 263.7 yards per game. For points per game, they’re allowing 16.3 points per game, 7^th in the conference. They’ve gotten 4 picks and 2 fumbles so far this year as well. They’ve gotten 5 sacks as well. Isaiah Smith leads the team in sacks, with 2. 3 players are tied for the most tackles on the team, those being Ahmaad Moses, Kobe Wilson, and Isaiah Nwokobia. All of these guys will make a big difference in this game.

SMU has been great on defense and on the ground, but have some quarterback struggles. I don’t think they overcome them, and Josh Hoover and TCU win, 20-16.

   10. Iowa @ Minnesota – Although the Big Ten West is now defunct, this game will the most Big Ten West game that you’ve seen in a while. Iowa is going to try to steal back the Floyd of Rosedale after their loss last because of an invalid fair catch. I’ll start with Iowa, and…

• Don’t be surprised by Iowa’s offensive stats. Although Iowa is averaging 419 yards per game and 32.2 points per game, they scored 40 points against Illinois State and 38 against Troy. In their only real test, they scored 19 in a loss to Iowa State. All of those games were at home as well. Against Iowa State, they gained 300 yards and had 2 turnovers. Cade McNamara threw for just 100 yards and 2 picks on a 45% completion percentage. He bounced back a bit last week, throwing for 176 yards on an 82.6% completion percentage. On the year, he’s thrown for 530 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions. He’s done that on a 64% completion percentage. McNamara struggled against Iowa State, and hasn’t thrown a touchdown since week 1. He should struggle once again this week. Although McNamara doesn’t look the best…
• Kaleb Johnson is one of the best backs in the Big Ten. He leads the Big Ten in the 3 biggest running categories, those being rushing attempts, rushing yards, and rushing touchdowns. He has 61 carries, 480 yards, and 6 touchdowns. On top of that, he’s the only back in the conference that has more carries than 50, the only back with yards in the 400’s, and the only back with 6 touchdowns. No one else even has 5. Kyle Monangai is second in the conference in rushing yards, but has 106 less than Johnson. Johnson has scored 2 touchdowns in every game, and averaged 11 yards per rush back in week 1. He averaged 7 yards per rush last week. Obviously, expect him to have a big game this week.
• Just like Iowa, don’t be fooled by Minnesota’s offensive stats. In Minnesota’s only true test, they scored 17 points in a loss to North Carolina. They then scored 48 against Rhode Island and 27 against Nevada. Just like Iowa, all of these games have been at home. The boost that they get from being at home this week should contribute to them scoring more points, but Iowa’s defense is still really good, so don’t count them out. Minnesota is averaging 350.7 yards per game and 30.7 points per game. Max Brosmer has looked alright, throwing for 630 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 pick. Outside of Daniel Jackson and Elijah Spencer, no one is catching that much passes, which makes it harder for Brosmer to have good stats. Jackson and Spencer have combined for 22 catches.
• Minnesota isn’t as blessed on the ground. Darius Taylor and Marcus Major lead the Minnesota rush offense, the second worst in the Big Ten. They average 130 rush yards per game, and have 390 yards in general. They have 103 carries as well, the third worst out of teams that have played 3 games. They average 3.8 yards per rush, second worst in the conference. Taylor is the leading rusher, with 188 yards on 25 carries. He has 3 touchdowns as well, 2 of them against Nevada last week.  Major has 35 carries for 130 yards and 2 touchdowns, but didn’t score last week. As a team, the Golden Gophers have 6 rushing touchdowns. Taylor and Major have combined for 5, and Brosmer has ran one in as well.

Ultimately, Minnesota has problems everywhere on offense, and I don’t think their defense will be able to stop Kaleb Johnson, and Iowa wins, 21-13.

   11. Kansas @ West Virginia – Kansas has had a fall from grace, and it doesn’t get much better for them this week, as they travel to a much better 1-2 team. West Virginia started their season off with a loss against Penn State, but then blew out Albany before losing at Pitt last week in a close game. As for Kansas, they destroyed Lindenwood in week 1, but were then upsetted against Illinois, and lost at home last week to UNLV. I’ll start with Kansas, and…

• I can’t trust Jalon Daniels anymore. I put Jalon Daniels at 6^th on my preseason Heisman candidates list, and though that if he could stay healthy, he could be in New York by the end of the season. He’s stayed pretty healthy so far, but has not played anything like a player that would finish 6^th in the Heisman voting. Daniels has thrown for 442 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions this year. He’s ran for just 100 yards and 2 touchdowns on about 20 carries. Both of his rushing touchdowns came last week, where he also threw for 153 yards and 2 picks on a 50% completion percentage. Daniels still has immense talent, but he hasn’t been able to put it together this season, unlike the last few years. Maybe its because of Jeff Grimes, the new OC at Kansas, but many of these mistakes are because of Daniels.
• Kansas’ defense is much better, however. They’re one of the best defenses in Big 12, which has led to Kansas still being close in these games. Both of their losses have been by 1 score, falling by 6 to Illinois and by 3 to UNLV. They’re allowing 246.7 yards per game, fourth in the Big 12, and 16.3 points per game, sixth in the conference. Kansas has 6 sacks as well, but just 2 turnovers. Jereme Robinson leads the team with 2.5 sacks. Mello Dotson has the only interception on the team, which he returned for 33 yards and a touchdown against Lindenwood. They had a fumble against Illinois, and they turned it over on downs the next series. Kansas had 4 turnovers in that game, and had 2 against UNLV and Lindenwood. Even though their defense is out their so frequently, they’ve still done a great job at stopping their opponents’ offenses.
• WVU let up a lot of big plays late last week, which needs to change. On Pitt’s last two touchdown drives, West Virginia let up 5 plays of 17 yards or more. 1 of those was a 40-yard touchdown pass, and WVU let up a 24-yard run from Eli Holstein a few plays before. On Pitt’s game winning touchdown drive, Holstein made a 17-yard pass, and then ran for 17 yards 2 plays later. In between those 2 plays, Holstein threw a 23-yard pass. Those plays let Pitt run for the game winning touchdown. West Virginia got the ball back the next drive, but turned it over on downs, losing them the game. All of those big plays stopped the clock for Pitt, which in turn made it harder for WVU to salt the game away.
• Garret Greene does have West Virginia in these games, however. Greene broke out last season, throwing for 2,400 yards, 16 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions. He did have a 53% completion percentage, however. He’s stepped hat up so far this year, as he has a 59.3% completion percentage. He’s thrown for 607 yards, 5 touchdowns and 2 interceptions this year. Now, he has been sacked the most in so far in a season, as he’s gone down 6 times. Both of his picks did come last week, and he also got sacked 3 times last week. He’s added something to the rushing game as well, with 122 rushing yards and a touchdown. Greene has a solid group of receivers, as Kole Taylor and Traylon Ray have combined for 19 receptions for 210 yards and a touchdown. Kansas’s defense is going to have to key in on those players.

There’s a lot of problems with Jalon Daniels and Kansas’ offense, which I think helps WVU win, 28-14.

   12. Florida @ Mississippi State – These are 2 the most embarrassing SEC teams, and you can easily see why. The Swamp was touted as one of the hardest places to play this season, but Florida has been blown out there twice. Their only win this season came at home against Samford. As for Mississippi State, they started their season off with a big win, but followed it up with a road loss to Arizona State. They almost made a comeback however, and I thought that was going to give them enough momentum to destroy Toledo at home. Nope. They lost 41-17, only holding the ball for 23 minutes. They do get this game at home, but they don’t have that much hoe field advantage. I’ll start with the Bulldogs, and…

• Blake Shapen has looked good, and Mississippi State’s losses were not because of him. Shapen has had a rocky college career, going from starter to backup a few times at Baylor before transferring to Mississippi State this offseason. He’s been amazing thus far, throwing for 834 yards, 7 touchdowns, and just 1 pick on a 70% completion percentage. He started the season off in the best way possible, completing 75% of his passes for 250 yards and 3 touchdowns, while also rushing for a touchdown. He was only sacked once as well. He followed that performance up by throwing for 270 yards and 2 touchdowns. He was sacked 4 times this week, which led to his completion percentage of 64.3%. Even when Mississippi State hit rock bottom last week, Shapen shined. Although he did throw a pick and was sacked 5 times, he still threw for 320 yards and 2 touchdowns on a 72% completion percentage. His 320 yards were almost all of Mississippi State’s yards, as they gained 385. Shapen has excelled, but the reason why Mississippi State has been struggling is because…
• The reason why the Bulldogs have struggled is because of the ground game. They’re last in the SEC in yards per game, behind teams like LSU and Kentucky, and also have the worst yards per rush in the conference. They’re averaging 97.7 rush yards per game and 3.3 yards per rush. They do have 4 rushing touchdowns, but 1 of them comes from Shapen, and another comes from a wide receiver. Keyvone Lee is the leading rusher, with 88 yards, and he also has a touchdown. He’s done all of that on 21 carries as well. Johnnie Daniels is right behind Lee, with 18 carries for 81 yards. Davon Booth has the other rushing touchdown by a running back, and has 20 carries for 58 yards. Because all of these guys are splitting carries, its hard for one of them to break out. On the other hand, however, none of these guys are doing anything spectacular with their touches. They’re stuck in a weird place, which hasn’t helped Mississippi State at all.
• Florida’s QB plan for this game is convoluted. Billy Napier said that Graham Mertz, who’s thrown for 286 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 picks, will start both halves. However, he also said that DJ Lagway, who’s thrown for 541 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 3 picks, will be involved early. How early and how often will he be used? I don’t know, but it should be something similar to what they did last week against Texas A&M. We all know the famous saying that if you have 2 quarterbacks, you have none, coined by the late great John Madden. That was the case last week, as Florida got trounced at home, 33-20. Mertz went 12/15, for 195 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception. DJ Lagway went 6/13 for 54 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 picks. Mertz was a bit better, but because of Lagway’s mistakes, Florida fell into an early hole.
• Florida’s defense has been struggling. Their either dead last or at the bottom of every defensive stat in the SEC. They’re allowing 407.3 yards per game, last in the SEC. They’re also giving 27 points per game, tied for last in the conference. They only have 1 pick, tied for last, and have 5 sacks, tied for third worst. Their leading tackler is Jaden Robinson, who has just 13 carries. That’s tied for 40^th in the conference. They let up 41 points in week 1, and 33 points last week.

I’m expecting Florida’s offense to not get much going until the end, where it will be too late. I’m also expecting that their defense to allow a lot of points, with Blake Shapen leading Mississippi State to a bounce back win, 34-20.

   13. Arizona State @ Texas Tech – This is Arizona State’s first Big 12 game, and I had doubts about them coming into the season. However, they started 3-0, and now have a tough test at Texas Tech. they’ve started 2-1, with just a slight hiccup on the road against Washington State. I’ll start with the Red Raiders as well.

• They’re going to continue to score points. Texas Tech got into a surprising shoot out in week one with Abeline Christian, winning 52-51. They scored just 16 points the following week, but destroyed North Texas last week, 66-21. Behren Morton shined, throwing for 273 yards and 4 touchdowns, going 15/19 through the air. His touchdowns were 10, 70, and 45 yards long. He threw two 10-yard touchdowns Morton added a 10-yard rushing touchdown for good measure. TTU was up 52-7 at half, which tied a school record for scoring in a half. Behren Morton has been the reason why TTU has scored so many points, throwing for 974 yards, 10 touchdowns, and 2 picks. He has the fifth most passing yards in FBS and the most passing touchdowns. Morton should continue to pick apart defense this year, and he gets a lot of help from his wide receivers. Josh Kelly has come down with 21 catches for 287 yards and 2 touchdowns, while Coy Eakin, who caught that 70-yard touchdown pass last week, has 11 catches for 200 yards and 3 touchdowns. Plenty of other receivers have helped out Morton as well, but those 2 are the standouts.
• Another reason why TTU has scored a lot is the rushing game. That’s spearheaded by Tahj Brooks, who has 44 carries for 262 yards and 2 touchdowns. He missed the Wazzu game, but if he was playing, there’s no doubt that he would’ve ran for over 100 yards like he did in his other games. He had 17 carries for 110 yards and a touchdown last week, which helped Texas Tech hold the ball for 32 and a half minutes. Without Brooks, Texas Tech ran 27 times for 150 yards and no touchdowns. Cameran Brown was the leading rusher, with 70 yards on 5 carries. TTU also turned the ball over 4 times, 2 fumbles and 2 interceptions. The offense clearly struggles without Brooks, but Brooks will play this week, so that is a good sign.
• Arizona State night be undefeated, but they just got by last week. They took down Texas State 31-28, and conceded 4 passing touchdowns, something that Texas Tech will definitely attack. On offense, Sam Leavitt threw for 246 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception. His touchdown was 52-yards long, which kept Arizona State in the game. He added a rushing touchdown and 40 yards on the ground. Cam Skattebo was the star of the show on the offense, rushing 24 times, but for just 62 yards, He did have 2 touchdowns, however, which were 1 and 2 yard(s) long. He averaged 2.6 yards per rush. That was a very disappointing stat line from Skattebo, as he had 33 carries for 262 yards the prior week in a win over Mississippi State. He ran for 783 yards and 9 touchdowns last year, and has 373 yards so far this year. He has 68 carries and 3 touchdowns to go along with it. If Skattebo can get back on track, ASU could get the win this week.
• ASU has a great rushing defense. They’re second in Big 12 in rush yards allowed per game, allowing 65.3. They’ve allowed 196 rushing yards in total, just 4 yards behind UCF. ASU allowed just 134 rushing yards last week, and allowed 24 rushing yards against Mississippi State. Mississippi State had 27 rushing attempts in that game, which means ASU held them to .9 yards per rush.

Arizona State’s defense should be able to shut down Tahj Brooks, but Behren Morton will be able to attack ASU through the air, and win 35-10.

   14. Vanderbilt @ (7) Missouri – After upsetting Virginia Tech, everyone in the college football world love Vandy, unless you’re a Tennessee fan. However, they did a Vandy, and lost to Georgia State. Now, this game was on the road, but it gets even tougher for Vanderbilt, as they go to the 7^th ranked Missouri Tigers, and they survived a top 25 matchup last week.

• Mizzou is still perfect, and they have a great resume and momentum. Their defense was lights out in the first 2 weeks, allowing 0 points. Things did look bleak early, falling down 7-0 early. Missouri let up a long touchdown pass in the second quarter, which out them down 14-3. However, Mizzou rallied, and went into the half up 17-14. They scored 10 more points, and only let up 1 more touchdown before winning 27-21. Brady Cook went 21/30 for 264 yards and a touchdown, while also rushing for a touchdown. Cook’s thrown for 720 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception so far this year. He’s added 90 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns. Because Mizzou blew out their opponents in the first 2 weeks, Cook didn’t have to do much. When he was faced with a tough defense last week, he didn’t budge and played well. He found Luther Burden III 6 times for 117 yards and a touchdown, who finally had a break-out type of game. Obviously, it wasn’t a break-out game because Burden’s one of the best wide receivers in CFB, but he had just 7 catches for 64 yards and a touchdown through the first 2 weeks. He did also have a rushing touchdown. However, Burden had a very characteristic game, and now has 13 catches for 181 yards and 2 touchdowns. Mizzou got a lot of momentum from that game, and will carry it into this game.
• Missouri has filled the hole of Cody Schrader. Schrader was Mizzou’s star running back last year, and after leaving for the draft, Missouri had a big hole to fill. I feel like they’ve done a good job at filling it with Nate Noel and Marcus Carroll. Noel is a transfer from App State, while Marcus Carroll transferred in from Georgia State. Noel has 45 carries for 242 yards and 2 touchdowns, while Carroll has 30 carries for 154 yards and a touchdown. Noel had the biggest game of his season last week, rushing 22 times for 121 yards, leading to Mizzou holding the ball for 35 minutes and 45 seconds. Carroll is the RB2, but still packs a punch when Noel comes out. He had 12 carries for 60 yards last week. With Brady Cook running it in for 4 scores, Missouri’s rushing game is more of a team performance, where it was more of a singular performance last year.
• Diego Pavia can’t be doing everything on offense. Pavia has thrown for 543 yards and 4 touchdowns, but is also the leading rusher, with 195 yards and 2 touchdowns on about 50 carries. When your quarterback is the leading rusher on your team, that mean they’re generally taking a lot of hits, which will lead to a higher chance of injury. If Pavia does get hurt, that would take the little momentum Vanderbilt has, and would crush it. Sedrick Alexander is the leading back, with 40 carries for 165 yards and 3 touchdowns. He only had 42 yards last week on 11 carries last week, which was not the best for Vandy’s chances against Georgia State. He’s going to have to step up this week of Vanderbilt even wants a shot at upsetting Mizzou.
• Vandy’s defense has been horrible this year, and was really bad last week. They’re letting up 298 yards per game and 21 points game, 7^th worst and 5^th worst in the SEC, respectively. They have 6 sacks, with Linus Zunk leading with 1.5 sacks. Vandy has just 3 picks on the year, and no fumbles, showing how bad this defense truly is.

Vandy is going to struggle on both sides of the ball, and Missouri easily wins, but not without a little scare, 38-21.

   15. Northwestern @ Washington -Washington will make their debut in the Big Ten by taking on another purple team, the Northwestern Wildcats. Both teams are 2-1, with Northwestern losing a close one in double overtime vs Duke, while Washington fell in the Apple Cup last week. I’ll start with the Huskies as well, and they need to…

• Washington needs to run the ball better. In week 1, Washington ran all over Weber State for 204 yards. Jonah Coleman led the way, with 16 rushes for 127 yards and 3 touchdowns. They were 1 and 5 yard(s) long. He had two 5-yard touchdown runs. Against Eastern Michigan, they threw the ball a lot, but their running game did not suffer. They ran the ball 28 times for 185 yards, which is 6.6 yards per rush. Coleman had 11 carries for 104 yards. Washington didn’t have any rushing touchdowns. However, their rushing stats fell to 126 yards and 4.1 yards per rush. On Washington’s last 3 drives, where they were always down 24-19, Washington ran the ball 7 times for 41 yards. Their longest rush was 9 yards, but their last rush came of 4^th and goal from the Washington State 1. Coleman was stuffed, and loosed 2 yards. Coleman is sitting at 306 yards and 3 touchdowns on 41 carries, while no one else on UDub has a touchdown or over 100 rushing yards. As a team, Washington is averaging 171.7 rush yards per game, which is about middle of the road in the Big Ten. However, mostly every team that’s played just 2 games in the conference is below them, so they’ve obviously had less attempts to run and to gain yards.
• Will Rogers has looked great, however. He’s been great after transferring in this offseason, and even looked pretty good last week in Washington’s only loss. He threw for 314 yards and a touchdown on a 74.2% completion percentage. So far this year, Rogers has thrown for 825 yards and 6 touchdowns on a 77% completion percentage, Rogers has remained his gunslinger self, while becoming a lot more accurate. He has a great group of wide receivers as well, led by Giles Jackson. Jackson has caught 24 passes for 326 yards and a touchdown, while Denzel Boston has 17 receptions for 166 yards and 3 touchdowns. Both of these guys should get open quite a bit because…
• Northwestern’s secondary has been burnt many times before. They allow 214.7 pass yards per game, which is fourth worst in the Big Ten. They do have 4 picks, but half of those came back in the first week. Northwestern has gotten 9 sacks so far, which has made it a challenge for opposing quarterbacks. However, those quarterbacks have breezed through them. Although Brett Gabbert threw 2 picks, he still threw for 227 yards. Because Northwestern shut down Miami of Ohio’s rushing game, that forced them to pass, and made them pass for a lot of yards. I’m not saying that shutting down opposing teams rushing games is bad, in fact I think its really good and everyone should, but it is leading to your secondary getting tired. Against Duke, they let Maalik Murphy throw for 243 yards and 3 touchdowns. They did pick him off, but fumbled it right back to the Duke Blue Devils. Murphy’s passing touchdowns were 16, 25, and 3 yards long. Once again, Northwestern shut down Duke’s rushing game, and their secondary got tired and burnt, which led to them losing in double overtime, where Murphy threw 2 touchdowns. Obviously, Northwestern was going to shut down Eastern Illinois on offense, so I don’t need to talk about that. Will Rogers throws a lot and gets a lot of yardage from it, so he should be able to do something against Northwestern’s defense. However, I think they can pose a real challenge to Rogers.
• How will Jack Lausch do in his first big game? Northwestern’s head coach, David Brun benched Mike Wright, who struggled through the first 2 games. He threw for 334 yards and a pick on a 57% completion percentage. He also ran for a touchdown. They new starter is Jack Lausch, and he unsurprisingly looked good against Eastern Illinois. He went 20/31 foe 227 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also ran for 62 yards. His touchdowns were 3 and 9 yards long. Lausch looked pretty good, but it was against an FCS team. Washington has a really good secondary, allowing just 157.3 pass yards per game and have 9 sacks. This should cause a lot of problems for Lausch, but he should be able to get by and get some good plays going.

I do think that Will Rogers will be able to bypass Northwestern’s secondary, and Washington wins, 34-20.

   16. Baylor @ Colorado – Some people, precisely the people that live in Boulder, Colorado, will call this a great matchup between 2 teams that can make noise in the Big 12. But those people are college football delusional, and this game is The Big 12 Mid Game of the Week. Colorado’s defense was finally competent for the first time under Deion Sanders, while it looks Baylor might have their quarterback.

• That quarterback is Sawyer Robertson, and he looked really good against Air Force. He took over for Dequan Finn after he suffered a shoulder injury, shined, and looks like he could be Baylor’s quarterback for the future. It was no surprise that Finn struggled. I called it out last week, and Finn has thrown for 307 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 2 picks. He wasn’t as valuable in the rushing game as he was at Toledo, and because Robertson played well, he should be the starter from here on out. He threw for 248 yards and ran for a touchdown while completing 75% of his passes. He also got into a garbage time game earlier this season against Tarleton State, and threw for 67 yards and a touchdown. On the year, Robertson has thrown for 315 yards and a touchdown. However, if Colorado’s defense can play like they did last week, Robertson is going to have a hard time. Speaking of Colorado’s defense…
• They finally looked good! I’m actually surprised that Colorado didn’t throw a parade in the street for this. For the first time under Deion Sanders, they held their opponent to under 10 points. The closest they got was when they faced Nebraska last year, holding them to 14 points. However, Nebraska was starting Jeff Sims that game, and if you’ve read any of my posts, you would know how much I dislike Sims. The Buffs’ defense held Colorado State to 9 points, and 3 of those came in the first 3 quarters. Colorado forced 4 turnovers, 2 picks and 2 fumbles. They all came in the second half as well, which helped Colorado win by 19.  This was all without Shilo Sanders, star safety for the Buffs. Dayon Hayes was the only player to get sacks, but had 2. He also had 2.5 TFLs. LaVonta Bentley and BJ Green II recovered the 2 fumbles, while Preston Hodge and Travis Hunter got the picks.

Baylor does have a better offense than Colorado State, but Colorado should play good in this game because of their momentum. That leads to Colorado State getting the win, 27-14.

   17. James Madison @ North Carolina – Both teams are undefeated, with James Madison at 2-0 with what should have been easy wins, while UNC is 3-0, with 2 easy wins and a gutsy win against Minnesota that lost them their quarterback.

• North Carolina has another new quarterback. I stated in the introductory paragraph that when UNC took down Minnesota, they lost their starting quarterback. Max Johnson went down in that game with a horrific leg injury, and Conner Harrell took over from there. Once Harrell struggled against North Carolina Central, and FCS program, Mack Brown inserted Jacolby Criswell, and Criswell will start this game. Criswell went 14/23 for 161 yards and a touchdown in UNC’s blowout win over NCCU. North Carolina more so won off a big game from Omarion Hampton, who ran 25 times for 210 yards and 3 touchdowns. Criswell has barely played in his college career, but Hampton will be in the backfield, so that will take a lot of pressure off of him.
• This is JMU’s first real test. James Madison opened their season on the road, travelling to Charlotte to take on the 49ers. They blew them out, wining 30-7. JMU gained 413 yards, while forcing 3 turnovers. James Madison returned home the next week to play Gardner Webb, and James Madison were 35.5-point favorites. Its very safe to say to JMU did win by that much, skating by 13-6. The Dukes were shut out at half, and were nearly outgained. GWEB had 270 total yards, while the Dukes had 285. JMU did force 2 turnovers, but held the ball for just 26 minutes. They then had a bye week.

This is a big game for James Madison and I think they can put North Carolina on upset alert early. JMU has had 2 weeks to prepare, and UNC is starting a new quarterback. However, Omarion Hampton, who’s ran for 416 yards and 3 touchdowns this year, will lead UNC to a 28-9 win.

   18. Houston @ Cincy – After starting their season off on a sour note, Houston finally got in the win collum against Rice. They now focus their attention to Cincinnati, who are 2-1, but very well could’ve been 3-0. I’ll start with the Bearcats as well, and…

• Brendan Sorsby has looked amazing. Sorsby transferred in this offseason after playing a bit and looking good at Indiana, and has improved even more at Cincy. He threw for 1,587 yards, 15 touchdowns, and 5 picks on a 57.2% completion percentage. He improved on his completion percentage, as it’s jumped up to 63% so far this year. He’s thrown for 867 yards and 6 touchdowns. Obviously, he’s played in less game so far this year than last, but his numbers will look a lot better when he comes around to the same number of games than last year. Sorsby has also ran for 2 touchdowns. Sorsby’s best game of the season potentially came against Pitt, where he threw for 300 yards and 3 touchdowns. He had better stats against Towson, but Pitt’s defense poses a much bigger challenge than Towson did. Sorsby threw for 186 yards and a touchdown last week. Sorsby has a great group of receivers as well, lead by Xzavier Henderson. Henderson has come down with 23 passes for 292 yards. He does have just 1 touchdown, but he should make an appearance in the end zone this week. He caught 10 passes last week. One of his catches surely has to go for a touchdown this week.
• Houston got their first win last week, but still have glaring issues. The biggest issues of them all has been the play of Donovan Smith. Smith was pretty good at Texas Tech, and transferred into Houston this offseason. He hasn’t looked his best, throwing for 540 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions. He had the best game of his season thus far last week, throwing for 142 yards and 1 touchdown, while rushing for 2 touchdowns. He did complete only 57% of his passes, but Houston still got the win. His stats might’ve taken a hit because of his 11 sacks taken, third most in the nation. Smith’s stats are really chalk, playing bad against better competition and good against worse competition.

I think Cincy is a much better team than Houston, and Smith will struggle. Cincy wins, 24-13. This could’ve been The Big 12 Game of the Week, but I don’t think Houston could be considered mid.

   19. Cal @ Florida State – At this point, I feel like we are living in an alternate reality. After an undefeated regular season and winning their conference, FSU has fallen off a cliff. Yes, they did lose a lot of starters, but roster turnover shouldn’t be your excuse with the transfer portal. If you’ve been living under a rock, FSU is 0-3. They paid Memphis $1.3 million to play in Tallahassee, and the Noles lost 20-12. The worst part of these last 2 losses were that they took place at home. This game is once again a home matchup, and they face a Cal team that already has a win over an SEC team. I’ll start with the Golden Bears as well, and…

• Fernando Mendoza has been a nice surprise. Mendoza showed flashes of potential last year, throwing for 1,700 yards, 14 touchdowns, and 10 picks. So far this year, he’s thrown for 590 yards, 5 touchdowns, and a pick. He’s also ran for a touchdown. Although he was sacked 6 times last week, he looked really good. He completed 72.4% of his passes, the best in a game so far for him. He threw for 200 yards and 2 touchdowns, while rushing for another touchdown. He did throw a pick, however. I wouldn’t expect Mendoza to have turnover problems in this game at all. Mendoza has improved a lot, and even in the face of pressure, he’s stayed calm and played well. The ACC is surprisingly stacked with a lot of good quarterbacks, and Mendoza fits into the top 10 somewhere. One quarterback that isn’t in the top 5, however, is…
• DJ Uiagalelei is just simply not good. I’ve thought DJU has been a serviceable quarterback through his college career, and haven’t thought of him as a game manager. Now, I realize, that I was completely wrong. He’s doing everything he can to win games for FSU, but it almost seems like he’s making them mess up. It’s obviously not intentional, but Mike Norvell either needs to pull the plug with DJU starting, or change something drastically in the game plan. If his play hasn’t been a sign of how bad DJU has been this season, he’s thrown for 666 yards so far this season. He’s also notched a touchdown and 2 picks. He threw for just 200 yards and a pick last week. DJU has struggled mightily in the red zone, going 2/8 for just 11 yards. He’s also taken 2 sacks there. FSU has no rushing game, averaging 52 rush yards per game. This means DJU has to do everything, which has not helped his case. Norvell is going to have to put a bit more trust into the rushing game this week, and FSU could see an 0-4 start.

I think Norvell does that, but it doesn’t help their case, and Cal wins, 24-7.

   20. SJSU @ Washington State – Wazzu got a rivalry win last week, and now host SJSU at home with insane momentum. AS for SJSU, they’ve beat up on an FCS team, and a team playing their first year in FBS this year. Their other win did come on the road against Air Force, but that doesn’t look as impressive when they get blown out the next week. I’ll start with the Cougs, and…

• John Mateer is going to need to keep on playing well. Mateer had the best game of his career last week, throwing for 245 yards and 1 touchdown. He did complete just 50% of his passes and threw a pick, but evened it out with 2 rushing touchdowns and 62 rushing yards. It’s kind of unfair to call that the best game of his career, because that was his third start, and one was against an FCS team. He was obviously going to play well, and scored 6 touchdowns. His other start came against Texas Tech, where he went 9/19 for 115 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 pick. He added a rushing touchdown. On the year, Mateer has thrown for 712 yards, 7 touchdowns, and 2 picks, while also rushing for 314 yards and 4 touchdowns. All Mateer needs to do is complete more of his passes and stop throwing picks, and then he would be one of the best dual threat quarterbacks in the nation. I think his numbers this week should be a mix of his Portland State game and his games against Washington and Texas Tech, just because SJSU isn’t crazy good, but aren’t bad either.
• Emmett Brown and Nick Nash are a dynamic duo. They both lead the Mountain West in passing yards and passing touchdowns, along with and receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. Brown has thrown for 915 yards and 9 touchdowns, along with 2 picks. Brown has thrown 104 passes, and is the only quarterback to complete a pass on the team. The only other player to complete a pass on SJSU, is Nick Nash himself. Brown has completed 63 of his passes, and Nash has caught 34 of them. He has 485 receiving yards and 6 receiving touchdowns to show for it. His only pass was a 26-yard completion that was also a touchdown. Last week, Brown found Nash 17 times for 225 yards and 3 touchdowns. Brown himself went 26/38 for 355 yards and 4 touchdowns. I’m genuinely surprised that these aren’t CFB 25 stats and are real. For some context, Nash himself had more yards than the entire Kennesaw State team.

This is going to be a high scoring game, but Wazzu will pull away with enough time left to win, 54-35.

   21. NC State @ (21) Clemson – After being embarrassed in week 1 against Georgia, Clemson bounced back against App State, scoring 56 points in the first half. They had a bye the next week, meaning they’ve had 2 weeks to prepare for an NC State team that is not looking the best. I’ll start with the Wolfpack as well.

• Although they are 2-1, they very well could be 0-3. Their season started with a seemingly easy game against Western Carolina, but that quickly was proven false, as WCU had a 14-7 lead after the first quarter, and were up 21-17 at the end of the third. The following week, they faced Tennessee in a neutral sight, and got destroyed, losing 51-10. They only gained 143 yards and had 3 turnovers. They only scored once on offense, and it was a field goal. Their only touchdown came on an interception returned. They returned home last week, and were down 17-6 at half, and the game was tied at 20 going into the fourth. They needed backup QB CJ Bailey to get the job done after Grayson McCall left with an injury. Bailey went 13/20 for 156 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for a touchdown. Bailey didn’t look phenomenal, but will have to be this week, as he is the starter. Outside of Kevin Concepcion and Justin Joly, Bailey is going to have a tough time finding a receiver.
• How does Clemson do that again? Clemson dominated App State on both sides od=f the ball for the entire game. Clemson gained 712 total yards, while forcing 3 turnovers out of App State. Cade Klubnik went 24/26 for 378 yards and 5 touchdowns. All 5 of them came in the first half, and 3 of them came in the first quarter. Klubnik added 2 rushing touchdowns, both of which were in the first half. Phil Mafah ran 10 times for 118 yards and a touchdown. His touchdown was a long one, as he rumbled for 83 yards. Clemson had 8 first half touchdowns, and 5 of them weren’t in the red zone. 2 of them were Cade Klubnik runs, and the other was a 17-yard touchdown pass. Clemson eased up in the second half, putting in the second stringers and eventually the third stringers. These stats are very impressive because it came against an actually competent team, and wasn’t against an FCS cupcake.

Clemson’s offense should have a big game once again, winning 45-16.

   22. (13) Kansas State @ BYU – After a big win at home, Kansas State goes on the road to Mormon country to face the BYU Cougars. BYU is coming off of 2 road wins, barely taking down SMU and blowing out Wyoming. I’ll start the Wildcats, and if they need to win, the key is…

• The key to Kansas State winning is Avery Johnson. Johnson has looked very good in his first 3 starts, throwing for 490 yards, 6 touchdowns, and 1 pick. He’s added 187 rushing yards. He’s had pretty similar numbers in all of his games, with the least amount of passing yards in a game being 153 and the most being 181. He’s thrown 21 passes in 1 game and 23 in the other 2, and has thrown two touchdowns in every single game. He was sacked 3 times last week, the only times he has gone down. Kansas State is a rush focused team, so Johnson hasn’t had to do much. He made a big mistake before the end of the first half last week, and he’s going to have to be perfect this week. BYU is going to try to take the ball out K-State’s hands so they can’t run the ball, and that’s going to force Johnson to throw to keep them in the game.
• BYU’s defense has been great so far this season, and they have to be great again. The BYU defense is top 5 in the Big 12 for both points allowed and yards allowed. They have allowed 14 points per game, fifth in the conference, and 236.3 yards per game, second in the Big 12. They’ve gotten 6 sacks as well, just outside of the top 5. They have 5 turnovers as well. BYU forced 5 field goals against SMU, and let up 14 points last week. Both of those were on the road, so I can only image what they could do this week at home.

BYU’s defense will provide a force, but Kansas State’s rushing game and Avery Johnson will give Kansas State the win, 28-7.

   23. Virginia @ Coastal Carolina – Virginia lost a game that I saw going either way, but their quarterback did not look good. They now have to go onto the road to take on an undefeated team who hasn’t really played anyone. I’ll start with Coastal Carolina, and if they want to win, they need…

• Coastal is going to need a big game out of Ethan Vasko. This is the biggest game of Vasko’s college career, and potentially the biggest game of his life so far. Vasko is from Virginia, and can now go out and beat the state school. Vasko has thrown for 512 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 pick, while also rushing for 190 yards and a touchdown. He balled out against Jacksonville State in the opener, throwing for 250 yards and 2 touchdowns, rush for 1 as well. He also threw an interception. He had a much worse game against William & Mary, only completing 34.8% of his passes for 160 yards. He added 60 yards. Against Temple, he improved his completion percentage to 71.4%. He threw for 103 yards and a touchdown, while rushing for 92 yards. If Vasko can take all of the good parts of his game and put them together this week, Coastal should get the upset. Speaking of putting all of the good things together…
• Anthony Colandrea needs to also put all of the good parts together. He started off his season in a good way, throwing for 300 yards and 2 touchdowns, going 17/23. He also ran for 50 yards and a touchdown. His numbers took a bit of a dip in week 2 against Wake Forest, going 33/43 for 360 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 2 picks. He only ran for 23 yards. His stats took a complete nose dive last week, going 21/37 for 250 yards and 2 picks. He did have a rushing touchdown, but just 17 yards. Although you could defiantly see the improvement from last year, Colandrea still looked like his 2023 form for most of his snaps. I chalked his performance against Wake up to him being on the road. After last week, I’d rather take his game against Wake rather than his performance against Maryland.

I think Colandrea should improve, but not without Vasko and Coastal Carolina give Virginia a run for their money. Virginia wins, 24-12.

   24. UCLA @ (16) LSU – After a surviving a close game at Columbia, LSU goes from the Gamecocks to the Bruins as they host UCLA in Tiger Stadium. After struggling in week 1, they had to host Indiana in their first Big Ten game, and they lost. Their games just get tougher and tougher, and if they want to pull off the massive upset, they’re…

• UCLA is going to need a rushing game. Putting Ethan Garbers struggles aside, if he is going to continue to be UCLA’s leading rusher, he’s going to need to do better than just 68 yards. That’s how many he has so far, and he doesn’t have a touchdown to go with it. T.J. Harden is the leading back, with 21 carries for 60 yards and UCLA’s only rushing touchdown. UCLA has 46 carries for 167 yards and a touchdown so far. That’s 83.5 yards per game, obviously last in the Big Ten. 5 other teams have played 2 games in the Big Ten, and the closest to UCLA in yards per game is Purdue. They’re averaging 143 yards per game. We all know how bad LSU’s defense has been in prior years, and that includes this year. If UCLA can’t attack LSU’s defense on the ground this week, they’re going to struggle keeping up in the Big Ten.
• Nice job coming back, but you can’t let that happen again. LSU came back from down 17-7 to win 36-33, but it was a roller coaster of a game. LSU let up a touchdown on SC’s first drive before punting. They did get a pick the next drive, but punted it right back. They let up a field goal before having their punt blocked. SC scored on the next play to make it 17-0 with 12 minutes left in the second quarter. LSU turned it on from there, eventually getting up 29-24. They let SC go on 2 scoring drive, however, and were down 33-29. They did get a touchdown late, but let SC get into scoring range. They kicked a field goal but missed it, sealing the game in favor of LSU. Their defense was unsurprisingly bad, letting up 400 yards. They did force 3 turnovers, but all they got was a field goal out of it. LSU did get an advantage with SC’s starting quarterback, LaNorris Sellers, getting injured and not playing at all in the second half. Even though that happened, LSU still almost blew their late lead. They did get the rushing game working, running for 132 yards and 3 touchdowns on 32 carries. Garrett Nussmeier threw a pick late and lost a fumble, but still played pretty well, throwing for 285 yards and 2 touchdowns. They’re going to need him to be perfect if they want to win bigger games on their schedule. For this game, they just have to keep the ball out of UCLA’s hands. If UCLA can get the ball, they can throw it to Rico Flores Jr., who seems to be their only competent offensive player.

I think LSU will do just that, and win big 38-14.

   25. (8) Miami @ South Florida – Two weeks in a row that I have Miami as the last game on my list, and last week it was a bigger blow out than I thought. However, USF gave Alabama struggles, so why can’t they do the same to Miami? I’ll start with the Canes, however, and they actually need…

• Miami actually needs Damien Martinez to show up this week. My bullet point about Miami last week was how he needs to get involved, and he didn’t get involved what so ever. He had just 3 carries for 3 yards, as his yards per game is now 53. In contrast, he was averaging 78 yards per game coming into the Ball State game. He has just 29 carries for 160 yards and a touchdown. Martinez needs to get more impacted in this game, because otherwise Miami could fall into the same trap Bama did in week 2. Outside of their first touchdown drive, Alabama ran the ball 4 times for just 11 yards on 3 of their first 4 drives. That other drive was their touchdown drive. Miami did have a solid group of running backs to lead the way last week, but I don’t know if they’re going to be able to play on the same level as last week. If they played like that every week, they would be starting over Martinez.
• USF gave Alabama a run for their money. How can they do it again? They way USF ran against Bama was what gave them fits, running for 206 yards in total. Byrum Brown had the most rushing yards he’s had so far, taking off about 19 times for 110 yards. He only threw for 103 yards, completed just 43% of his passes, and was sacked four times, which certainly didn’t help USF stay in the game. Behind Brown was Nay’Quan Wright, who had 11 carries for 64 yards. He has 33 carries for 188 yards and 2 touchdowns so far this year. Kelley Joiner had a small impact on the game, rushing 6 times for 25 yards. He is the leading back, however, rushing for 220 yards and 4 touchdowns on 30 carries. USF averages 268.7 rush yards per game, third in the American. USF did force 3 fumbles and got bailed out by some Bama penalties, but we’re too far into the season for Miami to make those mistakes.

Miami should be able work Martinez into the game plan more this week, and Cam Ward is going to perform like he has been for the past weeks, leading the Canes to a 43-10 win.

My top 5 Heisman Candidates:

1. Dillon Gabriel, QB, Oregon – Gabriel rises to the top of this list, but not because of what he did. Carson Beck had an off-brand performance, and Quinn Ewers injury made Gabriel number 1. Gabriel still played, great, going 20/24 for 291 yards, and 2 passing touchdowns. He added 64 yards and a touchdown on the ground in a 49-14 rout of their rivals, Oregon State. He was never sacked, which was a nice change of pace after being sacked 3 times in week 1 and 4 times in week 2. Oregon finally got it together, and Gariel was at the forefront of that. So far this year, Gabriel has thrown for 914 yards and 6 touchdowns, while rushing for 2 touchdowns as well. He leads the Big Ten in passing yards as well. Oregon has a bye week this week, so the only way Gabriel is going to stay at number 1 is if the players under him don’t do well enough to push the needle.
2. Carson Beck, QB, Georgia – Beck did not play like he has been, and that showed in the final score. Georgia pulled out a 13-12 win, with a Branson Robinson touchdown being the only touchdown of the game. Beck went 3-3 for 22 yards and ran for 3 yards on that drive. Overall, Beck went 15/24 for 160 yards. He added 18 rushing yards. Unlike Gabriel, Beck has only been sacked once, and he should continue to have a clean pocket. Beck has thrown for 680 yards and 7 touchdowns on the year. Just like Gabriel and Oregon, Georgia has a bye week. Right after their bye week, Georgia has to go to Alabama. If Beck performs well and leads Georgia to the win, Beck could be first on the list again.
3. Cam Ward, QB, Miami – Miami hasn’t played anyone since Florida, and his numbers have reflected that. He’s thrown for 1,035 yards, which is second in the FBS and first the ACC. He also has 12 total touchdowns, 11 through the air and 1 on the ground, and just 1 pick, which came against Florida. Ward’s 11 passing touchdowns are the most in FBS. Miami blew out Ball State last week, 62-0. Ward went 19/28 for 346 yards and 5 touchdowns. 3 of them were 21 yards, another was 17, and his longest was 37 yards. Maimi’s offense has been clicking under Ward, and should continue to do the same, as Miami plays USF.
4. Jalen Milroe, QB, Alabama – Milroe makes his first true appearance on this list after a 5-touchdown performance at Wisconsin. Milroe had 3 passing touchdowns of 31 yards, 26 yards, and 37 yards. His rushing touchdowns were 3 and 10 yards long. Through the air, Milroe went 12/17 for 200 yards and the 3 touchdowns. He added 75 yards on the ground as well. On the year, Milroe has thrown for 590 yards and 8 touchdowns, while also running for 156 yards and 6 touchdowns. He has the most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in all of FBS, and is tied for the third most in general. Just like Georgia, Bama has a bye week before the teams square off.
5. Jaxson Dart, QB, Ole Miss – Dart had another good performance last week, but he stays at 5 because Ole Miss just keeps beating up on worser teams. The Rebels have played Furman and Middle Tennessee State at home, and traveled to Wake Forest last week. Everyone else on this list have at least 1 good performance against a team better than Wake. Oregon has played Boise State and Oregon State, Beck showed up against Clemson, Ward and Miami beat Florida, and Alabama just took down Wisconsin. All of those teams that I just named I think are better than Wake Forest, Ole Miss’s toughest opponent so far. Ole Miss’s schedule continues to be really easy, facing both Georgia Southern and Kentucky at home the next 2 weeks. If Dart plays well when Ole Miss goes on the road to South Carolina, maybe he’ll move up this list. I’m not disrespecting dart’s numbers, however. He’s thrown for 1,172 yards, the most in FBS, 8 touchdowns, and 1 pick.