Games to Watch Week 3

In preparing to write tonight I was wondering if I should do my regular piece and simply ignore all the noise going on in the world of college football this week, or if I should combine everything into one massive blog, which I am not afraid to do, or if I should do my usual piece tonight and then write about the Oklahoma State mess and the new report about players (one from Alabama) receiving benefits, and defensive coordinators not getting any benefits in Texas. Alas I have settled on the third option. I am going to preview this weekend's games and then later in the week I will post about all the other goings on that are going on.

TCU (24) @ Texas Tech on Thursday

Team with the most to lose: TCU cannot afford to start losing to un-ranked teams now, they are in the bottom of the Top 25 and although their situation isn't as bad as Texas', if you want to be a contender you cannot lose to the teams you are supposed to beat. This will be Boykin's first start of the season I don't expect him to be splitting time with anybody, so now it's his show and I expect there to be fireworks. The only question mark: how good is that TCU D? Texas Tech will give them their biggest test to date and we will learn a lot.

Team with the most to gain: Texas Tech will definitely be looking to get in on the "Who's gonna win the B12 conference?" debate and they would with a win. They might be darn close to be getting ranked with a win here as well. And from what I've seen from the B12 this year the question we need to be asking may not be "Who's gonna win the B12?" but it might need to be, "Why not Texas Tech?"

Top 25 Impact: Medium

UCLA (17) @ Nebraska (15)

Team with the most to lose: Nebraska is trying to get back to a national stage but keeps falling short in the big games, and the game against UCLA last year was a great example. Nebraska should have won that game, Nebraska should have been B10 champs last year, Nebraska should have been contending for a national championship last year, Nebraska shouldn't be selling Blackshirts to anybody who wants them for $.50...Okay so the last one is false, but that's about the going rate for a Blackshirt these days. This game is going to be wild, I don't expect a lot of defense and it will depend on whether the Huskers can avoid the big turnover. A win here and maybe Nebraska starts "really" coming back as a program, another loss and it's just another middle of the road team.

Team with the most to gain: UCLA can start putting a stamp on their relevancy and what should be a special season this weekend. A win against a ranked opponent on the road would be a huge feather in the cap and a huge confidence boost for a young team. It won't hurt their ranking either.

Top 25 Impact: Medium

Washington (23) @ Illinois

Team with the most to lose: Washington was hopefully watching what Illinois did to Cincinnati. And does anybody remember 2 years ago when Illinois was beating people and was looking like a program on the tip of stardom? This is not a team to sleep on. This is the type of game that Washington cannot lose, because this is the type of game a 7-7 team loses. If they are going to break the cycle of mediocrity this game is crucial. They took apart Bosie State but that was a season opener, now they are on the road; and a long ways from home against one of the better un-ranked teams in the country this year.

Teams with the most to gain: Washington can get instant respect with this win and keep their season in-tact. Illinois could benefit from a win here, but probably not as much as they would like. There's still too much about them that we don't know. They play in the over-ranked B10 that already over-populates the Top 25, so a win here might help them long-term if they continue to win, which is 50-50 at this point, but instant gratification would not be a by-product of beating Washington. And Washington hasn't done anything yet to make us think that a team that beats them is worth something.

Top 25 Impact: Medium

In my blog later this week I am also going to do a work up of Illinois quarterback: Nathan Scheelhouse

Ohio State (4) @ California

Team with the most to lose: Ohio State, like any other Top 10 team cannot afford a loss to a un-ranked opponent. Northwestern got all they could handle from Cal when they went out west. Now it's Ohio State's turn to see if they can handle the long road trip, most likely with a new quarterback, who did look impressive last week. This is the best offense Ohio State has played yet, but should have no problems scoring points of their own.

Team with the most to gain: Does either team really have a lot to gain here? If Ohio State wins they stay in the Top 5. If Cal wins, do we really wet ourselves and think they are worth being ranked? Do we really think that a win over Ohio State at home means that Cal is ready to have a break-through season? I don't.

Top 25 Impact: High with a Cal win

Vanderbilt @ South Carolina (14)

Team with the most to lose: South Carolina CANNOT fall to a another SEC team and hope to make it to the national championship. They cannot lose again period. A two loss team will not make it. Can South Carolina rebound to take on a talented Vandy team that I am sure saw all the tape from the Georgia offense abusing that Scar defense?

Team with the most to gain: I said it at the start of the year and if Vanderbilt wins this game I will start campaigning in the streets for Vanderbilt to be ranked. To go on the road against a former Top 10 team and knock them off would be huge. Carta-Samuels, Mathews, and those Vandy running backs have got to be licking their chops at a chance to go after this Scar defense. Remember, once it gets to the second level it's over.

Top 25 Impact: HIGH

Ole Miss (25) @ Texas

Team with the most to lose: I think Texas has already lost everything they had to lose. Ole Miss is only #25, they still have the worst parts of their schedule ahead of them and they are young. Its great to have success and to be ranked, but this ranking will be short-lived regardless of a win or loss here.

Team with the most to gain: Texas needs to start the road to redemption here. Big change on the defensive side of the ball but there's problems on the offensive side too. They rely on the big play and they start too slow. If they lose to upstart Ole Miss in Austin.....the only questions left will be who gets fired next? Who is left on the coaching staff by the time B12 play starts? Who's gonna win the B12? Why not Texas Tech?

Top 25 Impact: Low

Oregon State @ Utah

Team with the most to lose: Oregon State has had their mulligan, now they need to start winning games. An SEC team has no chance of playing for a national championship with 2 losses; so what does that do for a Pac12 team with 2 losses? Is Oregon State worthy of the pre-season hype? Or do they belong with the rest of Over-Ranked Nation?

Team with the most to gain: Utah is 2-0 and is looking sharp. They haven't had the best of times since joining the Pac12 and a 3-0 start and a win over what seemed to be an up and coming Pac12 darling could go a LONG way to getting this team some confidence and maybe get them to a bowl game this year. Maybe they can replace Oregon State on my teams to watch. But they could be caught looking ahead to their BYU match-up next week.

Top 25 Impact: Low

Wisconsin (18) @ Arizona State

Team with the most to lose: Wisconsin is riding high after two dominating victories over Massachusetts' School for the Blind and some JUCO team from Tennessee. Now they get to travel across country for a real road game against a sleeper of a team. If Wisconsin can win this I will get closer to believing, if they lose it, I would drop them out completely.

Team with the most to gain: Arizona State is an intriguing team. They quietly  have gone to bowl games the past 2 years and last year they only lost to the better teams in the Pac12 (Oregon, USC, Oregon St, UCLA etc). If they can knock off Wisconsin and find a way to beat another Top 25 team or two, they could be looking at a Top 25 ranking themselves.

Top 25 Impact: Low to Medium

Alabama (1) @ Texas A&M (6)

I had no idea the national championship game was being played so early this year....

Team with the most to lose: Alabama will not be #1 with a loss here. They will be 0-1 in the SEC and looking up at A&M who will sit atop the SEC West standings. Alabama would have to hope for 2 A&M losses, which I don't see happening and Alabama could not lose a game.

Team with the most to gain: Texas A&M. They may not be as good as I gave them credit for in the pre-season because of that defense, but I would still take them over 90% of the rest of the country. They jump into the Top 3, I believe, with a convincing win here. But will their defense hold Bama off the score board or is the A&M D just what the doctor ordered for Saban's offense? And how many points does A&M score? The Tide defense will still be tough and they will not be emotionally drained like they were last year. I have not done the research, but I have an un-easy feeling that Alabama does not play D well against quarterbacks like Manziel; not because the Tide aren't talented, but because of their discipline, and the defensive scheme. I think when things break down and Bama players are forced out of the scheme they can't operate as good as a defense say like LSU's (who aren't un-disciplined, but I believe are given more freedom to break scheme and make the play). Like I said I don't have any stats to back this up but I will be looking into it and will post my findings.

Most interested team in the country NOT playing in this game: LSU

This is the game that I will be breaking down in all of its glory Saturday night!

Top 25 Impact: VERY HIGH

Other games worth noting:

Tennessee @ Oregon (2) should be a for-gone conclusion but the Volunteers are 2-0 and have scored 97 points in 2 games. What's that? Oh yeah Oregon has scored 125...

Notre Dame (21) @ Purdue as a bounce back game for the Irish or have we seen the coming of the real Tommy Rees?

As always thanks for reading. I look forward to posting again when I tackle the Oklahoma State fiasco, 5 SEC players receiving benefits, the D coordinator in Texas, Nathan Scheelhouse, and whether or not Alabama struggles against running quarterbacks.

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