There is something inherently difficult about predicting the result of a college football game. On paper, one team may outclass the other across every position group, have multiple All-Americans on its roster and be a title favorite in both its conference and on the national scene, yet still lose by multiple scores – sorry, Florida State. So, instead of spending the handful of hours it takes to write this article pulling my hair out deciding whether or not Kansas State’s offensive line can hold off the Arizona pass rush long enough for Avery Johnson to create, I have decided to preview week three through a different lens. I have taken a little bit of everything from the last two weeks of college football and fused it into one preview capsule for this upcoming Saturday.
Rising Stars: The Best Underclassmen in College Football
Dylan Stewart (South Carolina): Five-star true freshman controlled the line of scrimmage against Old Dominion, displaying freakish bend off the edge and finishing with 1.5 sacks and two forced fumbles. Stewart added another sack to his total against Kentucky this past Saturday while notching a 67.8 pass rush grade.
Ryan Williams (Alabama): The 17-year-old true freshman established himself as the Tide’s deep threat, catching both of his targets for 139 yards and two touchdowns in Alabama’s 63-0 drubbing of Western Kentucky. Williams brought in another touchdown in a 42-16 victory over USF.
D’Angelo Ponds (Indiana): One of the top transfer defensive backs in college football this past off-season, Ponds opted to follow Curt Signetti to Bloomington after a stellar freshman campaign in 2023. Ponds logged a 68.6 coverage grade in a week two victory against WIU.
Makhi Hughes (Tulane): Hughes followed up a 59-yard outing in week one with a 128-yard, one-touchdown, five-reception game against No. 17 Kansas State this past Saturday. Hughes comes off a 2023 that saw the then-true freshman back rush for 1,378 yards and seven touchdowns.
Previewing the Games with the Highest Stakes
Arizona (2-0) @ Kansas State (2-0) – Saturday’s matchup between the Wildcats and… the Wildcats will be the second of two Big-XII conference games that will not count towards the actual conference standings. The game, scheduled prior to Arizona’s move to the Big-XII, will carry enormous amounts of pressure as both top-20 squads look to gain the all-important head-to-head win over the other. Arizona leads the series 5-1-1 all-time, but the two have not met in over 46 years.
Memphis (2-0) @ Florida State (0-2) – Florida State became just the third team in 35 years to go from the preseason top-10 to unranked in just two weeks, following its 0-2 start. Memphis rolls into Tallahassee behind the strong-armed Seth Henigan and a tough-nosed defense allowing just 8.5 PPG. This matchup represents a critical point between a surging G-5 team and a floundering P-4 squad. Saturday’s showdown will test Memphis’ ability to contend with an uber-talented roster as well as act as Florida State’s last chance to revive an already-fractured season.
West Virginia (1-1) @ Pitt (2-0) – West Virginia rebounded from a 22-point week one loss by handling Albany 49-14. Pitt, for the first time in two years, is more than two games above .500. Both the Mountaineers and Panthers enter week three’s “Backyard Brawl” in desperate need of a resume-boosting win. West Virginia has won four of the last five meetings, including last season’s 17-6 victory. WVU opens as 5.5-point favorites.
Reacting to Reactions
Boston College is the ACC’s giant killer.
VERDICT: True, but not really.
The Eagles’ upset of then top-10 ranked Florida State last Monday night led to an onslaught of criticism towards the Seminoles after a startling 0-2 start. Following Saturday’s 56-0 victory against FCS-Duquesne, the Eagles are now starting to be looked at as the ACC’s daredevil – a tricky, slippery team that opposing squads dread lining up against on a week-to-week basis. While Boston College does spin a clever offensive attack centered around the legs of quarterback Thomas Castellanos, the Eagles don’t face another “giant” in its conference aside from Louisville in late October, facing only teams ranked sixth or lower in the ACC preseason poll from here on out.
Texas State is the G-5’s best hope for a Playoff upset.
VERDICT: Not true.
The Bobcats and quarterback Jordan McCloud routed fellow-CFP hopeful UTSA, 49-10 on Saturday. With questions surrounding the strength of Boise State’s defense and Appalachian State’s early season punching bag performance at Clemson, many now consider Texas State to be the frontrunner for Group-of-Five’s inaugural guaranteed bid to the College Football Playoff. While the Bobcats do bolster one of the more talented rosters in the G-5 and now have a clear path to an undefeated regular season (hardest remaining game vs. Louisiana), fellow bid-hopefuls Memphis, UNLV and Tulane will all have weightier resumes, which may include wins over each other, possible wins over national powers and a conference title with more notoriety than that of the Sun Belt.
Not every top-10 team is a top-10 team.
VERDICT: Very true.
No. 5 Notre Dame scored 14 points and lost to Northern Illinois. No. 7 Oregon has looked skittish at best in its two outings thus far. No. 8 Penn State took three and a half quarters to close out Bowling Green, and No. 10 Michigan lost by 19 at home this past weekend. The top-10 in Monday’s AP Poll may look awkwardly different, with (aside from the top three of Georgia, Texas and Ohio State), no other teams being truly set in their rank. Sure, Ole Miss has outscored opponents 128-3 in 120 minutes thus far, but the Rebels have not played a team inside the top 110 in ESPN’s preseason FPI. Alabama’s deceiving 42-16 win against USF protected the Tide’s stock marginally, with the same being true for Missouri (No. 9). Look for a lot of teams entering the top-10 this weekend, including Miami, Tennessee and Utah.