College Football Week 3 Recap

1. Southern Miss loses to Alabama by less than 45 points

As predicted, Alabama blew out Southern Miss, but not as badly as Vegas projected. More importantly for the Crimson Tide, they may have finally settled on a starting QB in Blake Sims. Sims led Alabama to a 52 - 12 victory, well under the spread and my 45 point prediction.

2. Penn State beats Rutgers by double-digits in Big Ten opener

The Nittany Lions came away with a win but it was about as close as they come. Penn State rallied late, after being down by 10 at halftime, to pull out a victory in the final minutes. But the Scarlet Knights showed that they will not be pushovers in their first season in the Big Ten.

3. Georgia falls to South Carolina

Nailed this one. Not only did South Carolina beat Georgia, but they did it with a score eerily close to my prediction. My score prediction : 34 - 31. Actual score : 38 - 35. I should have taken this one to Vegas. Take-away from this one: the SEC East is wide open.

4. Buckeyes bounce back and put up 50+ points

Looks like I actually underestimated Ohio State on this one. The Buckeyes were angry and it showed, as they clobbered Kent State 66 - 0. I was right that we would see improvements in all 3 phases of the game as well : the defense played lights-out and there were big plays on special teams. But while the offensive numbers looked similar to 2013, the way the Buckeyes earned the yards was vastly different. Barrett threw for over 300 yards and tied a school record with 6 TD passes. And it was more about getting the ball out quickly to various play-makers out in space, as opposed to relying on the quarterback or one running back to carry the team. We'll see in a few weeks if these are tangible improvements or if this can just be attributed to the difference in level of competition.

5. USC coach Steve Sarkisian calls his mother down to the field because: Mom, the refs are being mean to me!

As far as I know, Steve's mom didn't come down to the field, but it couldn't have hurt if she did - USC needed all the help they could get in this one.  Unranked Boston College shocked USC in a 37 - 31 victory.  If Mrs. Sarkisian wasn't successful in swaying the referees to help out the Trojan's cause, perhaps she could have slipped on a jersey and provided extra run support (The Eagles racked up 452 rushing yards against USC.)

Week 3 record: 3 - 2
Overall record: 6 - 9

Other headlines from week 3:

A B1G disaster: Part II

There wasn't as much visibility as in week 2, but several Big Ten teams had the opportunity to earn a bit of respect back for the conference with wins over other Power 5 teams.  In actuality, we saw Minnesota and Illinois get blown out.  Indiana lost to MAC foe Bowling Green.  Iowa gave in-state rival Iowa State their first win of the season.  Purdue put up a fight against Notre Dame but were unable to keep up in the second half.  Maryland lost a nail-biter to West Virginia.  If the Big Ten wants to be taken seriously, they need to start winning some of these games.  The only Big Ten victories this week (aside from Penn State's win over conference opponent Rutgers) came against winless teams from weaker conferences.  Heading into week 3, there were 8 undefeated Big Ten squads, which is already somewhat low after only two weeks of football.  After week 3, only 2 Big Ten teams remain undefeated.  This is unacceptable.

Hokies head-scratcher

When Virginia Tech upset Ohio State, the initial reaction was to say that the Hokies were back.  Beamer Ball was alive and well, so VT shot into the rankings.  A week later, Virginia Tech lost to East Carolina and we are all left wondering about the true identity of the Hokies, and by extension, Ohio State.  Are the real Hokies the ones that came in to Columbus and out-played the mistake-prone Buckeyes for sixty minutes?  Was the loss to East Carolina a fluke?  It was a classic trap game scenario, right?  Or is Virginia Tech just not that good?  What does that say about Ohio State then?  Can the loss to the Hokies be attributed to a young team succumbing to the pressure of an early-season night game against a quality opponent?  Or are there still lingering problems with this year's Buckeyes?  Only time, and more football, will tell.

And the Oscar goes to...

Arkansas State's Booker Mays, who turned in the performance of a lifetime as part of a fake punt against Miami.  He may not have been successful in distracting the other team, and the play failed miserably, but you've got to give the guy credit for trying.  The play is apparently called "The Fainting Goat."  You'll see why: