Week three of the college football season brings plenty of Top 25 action this week as teams across the country get geared up for conference play.
This week we will get some hard-nosed SEC action as some of the top teams in the conference do battle, and we will also get some action out West in the Pac 12 as the two teams that call Los Angeles home will do battle with some quality opponents.
Lets take a peek at some of the top matchups for the weekend.
#19 BYU vs. #10 UCLA
UCLA has got off to a nice start to the season with true freshmen quarterback Josh Rosen under center, but don’t sleep on BYU’s freshmen quarterback Tanner Mangum. The freshmen has led the Cougars to two Hail Mary victories over Nebraska on the road and an upset over Boise State last week. This is going to be a nice battle between freshmen quarterbacks, but I think UCLA is the more talented team and will prevail at home.
Prediction: UCLA
#18 Auburn vs. #13 LSU
The first of two top 25 matchups down in this SEC this weekend takes place in Baton Rouge as the Tigers come rolling into town. Auburn has played with fire in back to back weeks to open the season, including barely getting by FCS opponent Jacksonville State last week in Auburn. LSU is coming off a tough road victory in Starkville against Mississippi State, and features a tank at running back in Leonard Fournette. Taking into consideration that Auburn has looked very overrated early on and that one of their defensive backs more or less called out Fournette earlier in the week, I am taking LSU in the battle of the Tigers.
Prediction: LSU and Fournette goes for 120 yards + 2 touchdowns
#15 Ole Miss vs. #2 Alabama
This is the biggest matchup of the weekend for me. Alabama is looking to get some revenge after being handed a loss in Oxford last year, but they haven’t found a way to iron out a sure fire starter at quarterback and they face a stiff challenge in the Landshark defense of Ole Miss. On the other hand, Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly will be getting his first big SEC start this week, and that is big step up from Fresno State. Call me crazy, but I think the Rebels get the best of Alabama for the second year in a row.
Prediction: Ole Miss
#14 Georgia Tech vs. #8 Notre Dame
The Irish have been anything, but lucky on the injury front two weeks into the season. Last week against Virginia they lost starting quarterback Malik Zaire for the rest of the year due to an ankle injury and then earlier in the week it was announced starting tight end Durham Smythe will be out for the year as well. All of this leaves them ripe for the picking as the Rambling Wreck of Georgia Tech comes into town with their unorthodox rushing attack. Notre Dame will need to keep the ball away from Justin Thomas, but I don’t think they will be able to all things considered.
Prediction: Georgia Tech
#6 USC vs. Stanford
These two teams have been involved in some very interesting matchups over the past few years, but things are different this year. Andrew Luck isn’t walk through that door for Stanford, and the Trojans have looked great early this year as they look primed and ready to get back to prominence after being on probation. Stanford’s early performance against Northwestern doesn’t leave me with much confidence in them being able to keep up with Cody Kessler and the USC offense. I think the Trojans take this one going away.
Prediction: USC
