This Weekend in College Football: Week 3

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• California-Los Angeles @ Memphis (ABC): BODY CLOCK! Okay, with that out of the way, we're now two years removed from the Justin Fuente era at Memphis and ultimately I think the Bruins will be too much for the Tigers.
• Oklahoma State @ Pittsburgh (ESPN): Pitt has looked like, well, they're not the fun, tricksy team from the salad days of #PutPittIn. I like the Pokes here.
• Connecticut @ Virginia (ESPN2): Sometimes I'm given to describe cheap beer as having "certain beer-like properties". I like to think I'm less of a football snob than beer snob, but it's hard to think of this game has having anything other than "certain football-like properties". Uh, UVA here, I guess.
• Northern Illinois @ Nebraska (FS1): Nebraska.
• Kansas @ Ohio (ESPNU): KU already lost to another MAC team, can they make it two? Sure, why not.
• Louisiana-Lafayette @ Texas A&M (SEC): I think TAMU will be okay, at least this weekend.
• Air Force @ Michigan (BTN): Michigan is just going to be too much for the Falcons.
• Iowa State @ Akron (CBSS): I'm still coming to terms with the fact the Iowa State-Iowa game was actually exciting. Hopefully the Cyclones aren't, because they'll need to be focused to prevail here.

12:30: Baylor @ Duke (ACC/RSN): Duke, I guess?

3:30:

• Tennessee @ Florida (CBS): Is this going to be a good game? Eh, probably not. Will you watch it anyway? Yeah, probably. In fairness, there's not much else going for this timeslot. I like the Vols, since they actually play offense.
• Wisconsin @ Brigham Young (ABC): I'll admit I was definitely thinking about whether or not Wisconsin fans could drink Provo dry. Dry is also a pretty good description of BYU's offense so far this season, which gives Wisconsin a decided advantage in this road contest.
• Notre Dame @ Boston College (ESPN): Speaking of offensively challenged, Notre Dame should be able to pick off a team worse at moving the ball than they are.
• North Texas @ Iowa (ESPN2): Iowa.
• Southern Methodist @ Texas Christian (ESPNU): This old Southwest Conference matchup may be interesting for a bit, but I'm not sure SMU will be able to keep up with TCU.
• Middle Tennessee State @ Minnesota (BTN): MTSU lost badly to Vandy but beat Syracuse on the road, so maybe they're good? Minnesota has sailed through their OOC schedule so far, but nonetheless the Gophers will need to not sleepwalk through this one.

4:00: Purdue @ Missouri (SEC): Okay, we're existing in a universe where in the middle of the afternoon we're hoping for a Purdue-Minnesota shootout. That's just the deal now. The thing is, this game may very well deliver. Considering the 3:30 slate, just flip over to this one ASAP. Also, I kinda like the Boilermakers? Picking all these road teams makes me nervous, though.

4:30: Army @ Ohio State (FOX): Buckeyes.

5:30: Oregon State @ Washington State (Pac12): Wazzou. (Seriously, Oregon State is so bad y'all. Of course, it's Wazzou we're talking about, so they could blow this after otherwise looking great, but you can't really predict that, you know?)

7:00:

• Louisiana State @ Mississippi State (ESPN): Here's a game where the rubber meets the road for these two teams. Will Miss State be any good this year? Will Dacoacho have made acceptable progress only three weeks into his first season? That said, LSU has the edge in talent, and so far the new coaching staff seems better able to take advantage of it. Picking another road team...
• Colorado State @ Alabama (ESPN2): Well, yeah, Bama.
• Oregon @ Wyoming (CBSS): Come for the gloriously ugly uniforms, stay for the potentially compelling football! That said the Ducks seem to, uh, have their ducks in a row again? Yeah.
• Louisiana Tech @ Western Kentucky (Stadium): I think I get Stadium? I'll need to check. And you may want to actually check this one out, if you can find it. I like LT here.

7:30:

• Kansas State @ Vanderbilt (ESPNU): Speaking of games where we may learn something about the teams, boy howdy we don't have much to go on for these two. I still like K-State slightly.
• Kentucky @ South Carolina (SEC): I'm not sure I'm prepared for the universe where a Will Muschamp team actually has a good offense, but there's enough else going on at this timeslot that I hopefully won't have to think about it. Taking USC here.
• Georgia State @ Pennsylvania State (BTN): Penn State.

8:00:

• Clemson @ Louisville (ABC): I like Lamar Jackson as much as the next person, and I think he'll get his shots. But if there's any defense he's going to face this year that can contain him, it's Clemson's. Clemson's superiority on the defensive line will just be too much of an issue for Louisville's line to deal with, and Lamar just won't be able escape enough.
• Arizona State @ Texas Tech (FSN/RSN): Arizona State looks so bad, y'all. TTU.

8:30: Texas @ Southern California (FOX): The hype should be enough to get USC up for this game, and this Texas team just isn't fully formed yet. USC all the way.

9:30: Fresno State @ Washington (Pac12): U-Dub.

10:00: San Jose State @ Utah (ESPN2): Utah.

10:30:

• Mississippi @ California (ESPN): Kind of tempted to get some tickets for this one for some prime people watching over in Berkeley. And it's a night game, too! This one could be fun, but I like Cal here just because Ole Miss is so depleted at this point.
• Stanford @ San Diego State (CBSS): The Aztecs were definitely a trendy mid-major pick, and with good cause! But while USC was just able to straight out-athlete the Cardinal, I don't think SDSU will be able to do that.