College Football Picks for Week 3: B/R Experts' Predictions for Top 5 Games – Bleacher Report
With two weeks done and dusted on the 2015 college football season, it’s already apparent that this is going to be a chaotic year. With so much uncertainty still clouding the futures of some of the sport’s best teams, fans should be prepared for a wild ride.
Week 3 on the schedule will go a long way toward answering some of the lingering questions.
The SEC is loaded once again, to no one’s surprise, and two conference games are sure to be memorable.
In the week’s marquee matchup, Ole Miss and its high-octane offense, which leads the FBS in points scored, come to Tuscaloosa to face Alabama. The Tide will be looking to exact revenge on the Rebels for last year’s upset at the Grove. And head coach Nick Saban knows a thing or two about revenge. Since 2000, and including his stints at both LSU and Alabama, Saban is 17-2 when facing a team that beat him the year before.
The SEC’s other big showdown is the Tiger Bowl, as Auburn heads to Baton Rouge to face LSU.
Auburn almost threw away its title hopes last week, escaping in overtime against Jacksonville State. And LSU didn’t show much rust from having its Week 1 game postponed by weather, as it gave Mississippi State more than the Bulldogs could handle last week. Can Auburn rebound enough to pull off the “upset”?
Notre Dame will also look to stay undefeated as it hosts Georgia Tech. Down to its backup quarterback following Malik Zaire’s brutal ankle injury, the Irish will really show if they are playoff contenders, facing by far their toughest opponents all year in Paul Johnson’s Yellow Jackets, featuring dynamic QB Justin Thomas.
Out West, a pair of Pac-12 heavyweights will try to stay unbeaten as well. USC faces a familiar foe in Stanford, and the 1-1 Cardinal will look to avenge last season’s low-scoring 13-10 loss to the Trojans.
And UCLA freshman QB Josh Rosen will look to stay hot against the darlings of college football so far, BYU. After pulling off two unbelievable game-winning Hail Mary passes in consecutive weeks, does the Cougars’ fellow freshman signal-caller Tanner Mangum have any more magic left?
B/R
The standings have tightened up after two weeks. Which one of our experts can pull ahead following Saturday’s action? Sound off in the comments below on their picks and who you think will win in Week 3.
*All picks made straight up. Spread is not a factor.
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.