College Football Week 3 Pick’Em Picks

Week three in college football has some quality matchups with a pair of games featuring two ranked teams including the all top-ten matchup as the Crimson Tide face Johnny Football and the Aggies looking to avenge last season’s loss. It’ll be a great day of games, so make sure to get your picks locked in and ranked in order of confidence in ESPN’s College Pick’Em.

Last week, I had eight of the 10 games picked correctly but unfortunately put too much confidence in the Longhorns and Bearcats who lost me 17 points, so I finished with 38 for the week. Mdaallen outscored me as a result with his 41 to keep the top spot in our Fantasy CPR group (invitation here).

I’m headed out of town for the weekend, but wanted to make sure to get my picks posted. I’ll get back to analysis, hopefully, next week, but here are my quick picks for this week and the order of confidence I have in them.

1 point: Auburn Tigers over Mississippi State Bulldogs: Neither SEC team has been particularly impressive in the early season, but since the Tigers are at home and they’ve won 10 of 13 in the series I’ll take them to stay undefeated and move to 3-0.

Sep 7, 2013; Iowa City, IA, USA; Missouri State Bears linebacker Christian Hoffmann (45) tackles Iowa Hawkeyes C.J. Fiedorowicz (86) at Kinnick Stadium. Iowa beat Missouri State 28-14. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports

2 points: Iowa Hawkeyes over Iowa State Cyclones: This always seems to be a close, hard-fought, high-intensity matchup. The Cylcones have won the last two and are at home for this one, but they lost last week to Northern Iowa so I think the Hawkeyes get the W this year.

3 points: UCLA Bruins over Nebraska Cornhuskers: Taking UCLA on the road is a tough one, but their rushing attack has looked good while the ‘Huskers D hasn’t so far this season.

4 points: Alabama Crimson Tide over Texas A&M Aggies: I just can’t see anyone beating Nick Saban’s juggernaut two years in a row. Bama’s D will be jacked up and ready to shut down Johnny Manziel.

5 points: Wisconsin Badgers over Arizona State Sun Devils: Neither team has played a quality opponent yet, but this should be a fun nightcap from the desert. I think the Badgers D will slow down the spread enough to get the win with their run-heavy attack grinding them a big road win.

Sep 7, 2013; Oxford, MS, USA; Mississippi Rebels quarterback Barry Brunetti (11) carries the ball up the field during the first half against the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Spruce Derden-USA TODAY Sports

6 points: Ole Miss Rebels over Texas Longhorns: The Rebs are 2-0 as they travel to Austin where the Longhorns badly need a bounceback win. Their defense looked so bad, though, I think they’ll drop this one at home.

7 points: Penn State Nittany Lions over UCF Knights: Both schools are undefeated, but Penn State has a more solid team top-to-bottom and is at home.

8 points: South Carolina Gamecocks over Vanderbilt Commodores: South Carolina lost a tough one in Georgia last week and will look to bounce back against the Commodores. Steve Spurrier is 18-1 against Vanderbilt in his career.

9 points: Oregon Ducks over Tennessee Volunteers: Oregon’s offense has looked phenomenal and I don’t see the Vols coming into Eugene and stopping it.

Sep 7, 2013; Louisville, KY, USA; Louisville Cardinals quarterback Teddy Bridgewater (5) looks to pass under the defensive pressure of Eastern Kentucky Colonels defensive lineman Avery Pitt (97) during the second half of play at Papa John

10 points: Louisville Cardinals over Kentucky Wildcats: Lousiville looks like the real deal and Teddy Bridgewater should lead the Cards to a win in this Governor’s Cup game.