Let us recap Week 3, shall we?
Game of the week: No. 2 USC at No. 21 Stanford
Final score: Cardinal 21, Trojans 14.
Pregame rant: The Cardinal want to prove they’ve been more than Andrew Luck, but they’re going to need a lot of luck to get past the Trojans.
Barkley has 10 touchdown passes to only one interception and has only been sacked twice, but the Trojans haven’t been tested. If Stanford can take an early lead, it will be interesting to see how Barkley fares when the defense knows he’s passing.
Post-game commentary: No Luck needed in this one. The Cardinal pounded out 202 yards rushing with senior Stephan Taylor going for 153 and a score on 27 carries. As for Barkley, he was just 20-of-41 for 254 yards, no touchdowns and two picks.
The good news for USC is it lost early. The bad news is the Trojans still have to play Oregon. A loss Nov. 3 to the Ducks will end all hopes of an opportunity to play for a national title.
Junior quarterback Tyler Bray threw two interceptions as the Volunteers fell Saturday to SEC East rival Florida./AP Photo.
No. 18 Florida at No. 23 Tennessee
Final score: Gators 37, Vols 20.
Pregame rant: Nice to see the Gators and Vols play a meaningful game. It’s been a while.
Looking forward to seeing how junior quarterback Tyler Bray does against Florida, which is allowing just 15.5 points a game. Bray is completing a career-high 73.8 percent of his passes for 643 yards, six touchdowns and no interceptions.
Post-game commentary: Bray and the Vols aren’t quite ready to rejoin the SEC elite. They were outscored 27-6 in the second half. Florida didn’t turn the ball over, picked Bray off twice and had the ball for 33 minutes, 13 seconds, which is a direct result of rushing for 336 yards on 43 carries.
Manti Te'o and the Irish defense had their way with the Spartans in Saturday's 20-3 win at Michigan State./AP Photo.
No. 20 Notre Dame at No. 10 Michigan State
Final score: Irish 20, Spartans 3
Pregame rant: If the Irish are going to show the nation they’re back, a win here would send that message loud and clear. The Spartans have a grown man at tailback in Le’Veon Bell, who has 280 yards rushing and four touchdowns.
However, Notre Dame limited him to 27 yards on seven carries in its upset victory against the Spartans last season.
Even though the Irish squeaked past Purdue, 20-17, last week they did just give up 288 yards of total offense. Now they’re offense has looked nothing like the one Brian Kelly had while at Cincinnati, but maybe Tommy Rees gave them the spark needed to break out against the Spartans.
Post-game commentary: The Irish got ‘em again.
Notre Dame limited the Spartans to 237 yards of total offense in beating them in East Lansing. Bell had 77 yards, no touchdowns and will be remembered for his l;ate-game lateral while falling out of bounds that Manti Te’o caught in flight for the Irish.
The amazing thing about this game is Notre Dame won despite going 1-of-14 on 3rd down conversions and completing less than 50 percent of its passes.
Coming back from a season-ending knee injury in 2011, tailback Ray Graham had 94 yards rushing and two TDs in Pitt's upset win against Virginia Tech./AP Photo.
No. 13 Virginia Tech at Pitt
Final score: Panthers 35, Hokies 17
Pregame rant: Although undefeated, the Hokies are boring. As for the Panthers, they lost to Youngstown State. Pitt has got to win a game sometime this season and Virginia Tech will give it chances to do so. Add all that up and you have a recipe for catching Zzzz.
Post-game commentary: Not sure how to take this. Either Pitt woke up or the Hokies slept through this one. Regardless, the Hokies had four turnovers. Pitt only scored seven points off them, but had the ball for 38 minutes, 27 seconds.
You have the ball that long, you’re going to score points. Pitt had 27 points combined its first two games.
Throwing for five TDs in WVU's 30-point win against James Madison, Geno Smith became the school's all-time leader in passing yards with 8,153./AP Photo.
As happy as the Panthers were to see Tino Sunseri throw three touchdowns, they had to be happier tailback Ray Graham (94 yards, 2 TDs) looked more like himself since returning from a major knee injury.
James Madison vs No. 9 West Virginia (FedEx Field, Landover, Md.)
Final score: Mountaineers 42, Dukes 12
Pregame rant: Now I’m not sleeping on James Madison. The FCS school has outscored their opponents, 97-10. Know Mickey Matthews from when he was defensive coordinator at Marshall during their glory days in 1990s.
However, WVU has not only had two weeks to prepare for this game, it will be well rested and ready to roll. The Dukes will hang in. For how long is the question.
Post-game commentary: Less than 14 minutes into the game, WVU lead 28-0. Enough said.
Idaho at No. 3 LSU
Final score: Tigers 63, Vandals 14
Pregame rant: The Vandals are averaging just eight points this season. They’ll be lucky to score in any fashion against the Tigers.
Post-game commentary: Idaho and LSU each had 14 points in the second quarter. Unfortunately for the Vandals, they had to play three more quarters.
The Tigers limited Idaho to 3-of-14 on 3rd down conversions and 1.5 yards per rush. They also intercepted four passes. Total domination as expected.
