NCAAF Week 3 Review

By Owen Pannell | KZA Sports

Week 3 was wild, a ton of shifts took place in the AP poll. Time for the week 3 report to get you caught up on all you need to know.

Important Results

- Miami - 49 USF - 12

Well, we learned that USF is not a top 5 team. Miami absolutely blew the brakes off of them, and Boise State and Florida might have just been really bad. Miami looks pretty dang good though.

- Georgia 44 Tennessee - 41

Despite the loss, the Vols looked very good. Georgia was able to come out with a very solid win, but both teams are SEC contenders. It stings for Tennessee, but their season is not over.

- Texas A&M - 41 Notre Dame - 40

Texas A&M gets a monumental win in a game that they usually wouldn’t have won. Notre Dame falls to 0-2 which is a disastrous start to a team without a conference championship to fall back on. They need to run the table if they want a shot at a playoff birth, but the Aggies could be in good position to finally make it happen.

- Georgia Tech - 24 Clemson - 21

Clemson is cooked, they are not a playoff caliber team and after all the offseason hype this is a very bad look. Georgia Tech looks like ACC contenders along with Miami and FSU, so there are some big takeaways from this game.

- LSU - 20 Florida - 10

Florida is terrible, DJ Lagway threw an atrocious 5 interceptions in a loss that all but eliminates them from the playoffs, considering their extremely difficult schedule. LSU didn’t look all that good either, only winning by 10 off of 5 turnovers is bad.

- New Mexico - 35 UCLA- 10

UCLA is just absolute garbage, starting 0-3 caused them to fire head coach DeShaun Foster. It might be dark times in the Rose Bowl coming up.

- Texas - 27 UTEP - 10

Arch Manning is trash, no denying that anymore. He got booed by his own fans, and Texas struggled with UTEP. They’ve got another cupcake next week, but then Florida and Oklahoma, could be trouble.

- North Texas - 59 Washington State - 10

A crazy blowout by the Mean Green, Wazzu is in shambles after losing a ton of important pieces. They need the Pac 12 to come back ASAP, the no conference is clearly killing them.

Upset Alert

This includes almost upsets, and doesn’t include games previously mentioned

- Vanderbilt - 31 South Carolina - 7

Vandy might be a great team honestly, they went on the road an absolutely dominated a consensus top 15 team. The Gamecocks might be in trouble, especially with the LaNorris Sellers injury. Not many people saw this coming, but the folks in Nashville did. Especially that man Diego Pavia.

- Iowa State - 24 Arkansas State - 16

This game was way to close for comfort for the Cyclones, Arkansas State isn’t a great team but they kept it close all game. Iowa State is still a top 3 team in the Big 12, but this should worry them a bit.

Best Games

This does not include previously mentioned games

- Arizona - 23 Kansas State - 17

This Friday night game was a real treat, Kansas State almost made a nice 2nd half comeback but Arizona was able to hold them off. Kansas State is in a lot of trouble this year with a terrible 1-3 start.

- Ole Miss - 41 Arkansas - 35

This was a good game all throughout, and absurd 45 point 2nd quarter was the outlier, as there was only 31 points during the other 3 quarters. Ole Miss has struggled with Kentucky and Arkansas now, it’ll be interesting to see how they do against the top SEC teams with Austin Simmons back.

- Delaware - 44 UConn- 41

Most people probably weren’t watching this one, but it was crazy. After Nate Reed's last second field goal to send the game to OT, Delaware QB Nick Minicucci punched the game winning touchdown in to win by 3. The Fightin' Blue Hens certainly aren’t as bad as I thought they might be in their first FBS season.

- West Virginia - 31 Pittsburgh - 24

The Backyard Brawl NEVER disappoints. Overtime was the perfect ending for this game. West Virginia was able to get the home victory, which is huge following the disappointing loss to Ohio.

- Duke - 27 Tulane - 34

Tulane was up 24 to 9 at halftime, and the 4th quarter comeback wasn’t meant to be for Darian Mensah vs his former team. This is a disappointing loss for the Blue Devils, who had high hopes for the season but now fall to 1-2.

Best Players

- Alabama QB Ty Simpson

Simpson looked great in a nice win over Wisconsin, it was an absolute must win for the Crimson Tide, and he delivered with 382 yards and 4 TDs.

- Texas A&M QB Marcel Reed

Reed’s stats weren’t necessarily insane, but he led the Aggies to a crucial win, and he played great for most of the game. They don’t win without him.

- Missouri RB Ahmad Hardy

They didn’t have good competition, but a 250 yard 3 TD game just has to be talked about. That’s Ashton Jeanty type numbers right there.

- Texas A&M WR Mario Craver

Craver was massive in the Texas A&M victory on Saturday, and he had 7 catches for 207 yards and a TD.

- Alabama WR Ryan Williams

We’ve been waiting for Williams to have another electric game, and he showed out with 165 yards and 2 TDs against the Badgers.

- Georgia LB Chris Cole

In a game where defense was hard to come by, Chris Cole was great for the Bulldogs in a massive win over the Vols.

- Vanderbilt S CJ Heard

Heard had an absurd 12 SOLO tackles, 12 tackles is great but 12 solo tackles is just nuts. He was a key part of the defense that held the Gamecocks to only 7 points.

My Predictions

Weekly record: 11-14 (44%)

Total record: 42-38 (53%)

Weekly points: 32

Total points: 108

I do not want to talk about it. This was an absolutely embarrassing showing. This season has been off to a rough start, but we will hit our stride. I’ve been trying to hard by predicting a lot of upsets, it’s time to lock in. Also feel free to play along! Just pick 25 games each week and post them using #KZACFBpicks and use the scoring system down below. The winner each week gets a cash prize!

-35+ = 0.5 points

-21.5-34.5 = 1 point

-15.5-21 = 1.5 points

-11-15 = 2 points

-7-10.5 = 2.5 points

-3.5-6.5 = 3 points

-0.5-3 = 3.5 points

+0.5-3 = 4.5 points

+3.5-6.5 = 5 points

+7-10.5 = 5.5 points

+11-15 = 6 points

+15.5-21 = 6.5 points

+21.5-34.5 = 7.5 points

+35+ = 10 points

You can find Owen Pannell on X here.

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