College Football Update: Week 3

Sorry for the delay folks. The College Football Update will usually run on the Sunday following the game but this week we're giving you a special midweek edition covering the first two weeks as well as previewing some games for the upcoming week 3 matchups.

Boise State – BCS Buster or BCS Busted?

• The first two weeks of the college football season for Boise State have been extremely bipolar for the Broncos. They started out with a big 4th quarter comeback to beat Virginia Tech and catapult themselves to number 3 in the nation and the talk of National Championship game was in full effect. Then the very next week Virginia Tech loses to lowly  James Madison and, in the opinion of many media members, submarines any chance of Boise make the Title game. It’s only week 3 and there are still many games to be played so I don’t think that Boise is out of the running yet. It does seem a bit convenient that Boise State’s strength of schedule would be so dramatically affected the week after the National Championship game was so certain for them but perhaps that is just the conspiracy theorist in me coming out. What do you think?

Strong QB Showings

• The first two weeks also gave us some great quarterback play (Kellan Moore, Andrew Luck, Ryan Mallett) as well as some early Heisman candidates in Michigan’s QB Denard Robinson (43 for 62, 430 yards and two touchdowns through the air & 455 yards and three touchdowns on the ground) and Ohio state QB Terrelle Pryor (29 for 52, 480 yards through the air and four passing touchdowns & 130 yards with 1 touchdown rushing the ball.) These two guys can get it done with their feet but they would almost prefer to beat to beat you down with their ability to pass. When Michigan and Ohio meet on November 27th I hope both of these guys are still on a roll because if so, that should be one special game.

What to Watch for This Weekend

• No. 24 Arizona at home against No. 9 Iowa
• These two teams have allowed a combined 11.0 points per game in their first two so the defense may be the key to this match-up. Both team’s offense thrived in their first two games but those were against inferior opponents. This week should spell the true test to see which team actually deserves its ranking.

• Nebraska traveling to Washington to take on Jake Locker and company
• While Nebraska seems to outmatch the Huskies at every position except for quarterback, that won’t stop Jake Locker from trying to push his team to the next level and use the big stage to demonstrate why the Bills should choose him first in next year’s draft.

• No.19 Stanford matching up against Wake Forest
• The Cardinal will be hosting the Demon Deacons at home trying to avenge a loss suffered at the hands of Wake Forest last season. The game last year was decided by a single touchdown but now these two teams look to be trending in opposite directions. Wake Forest was embroiled in a shootout with usual ACC bottomfeeder Duke while Stanford absolutely demolished a once proud UCLA team. The ACC teams struggled last weekend, let’s see what they come up with this week.

Upset Pick(s) of the Week:  No.10 Florida at Tennessee & No.12 Arkansas at Georgia Bulldogs

• I have two this week to make up for lost time. I picked South Carolina to upset Georgia last week but this time I’m going the other way Though the Bulldogs dropped out of the rankings on the heels of its loss to South Carolina and the possible continued suspension of leading receiver A.J. Green, they may bounce back against a Razorbacks team that has lost six straight to Georgia. If Green returns for this, I think we may see an upset.
• I also think that the struggles that Florida had been having on defense will finally come to bite them in the butt in Neyland Stadium on Saturday. Tennessee struggled to finish the game against No.5 Oregon last week but maybe that experience toughened them up for this upcoming matchup with the Gators. Florida quarterback, John Brantley will look to rebound from a slow start but might find that difficult in such a hostile environment in Knoxville.