Pat and Jack are back to make their college football predictions for the biggest games of Week 3, including Louisville hosting Clemson.
Another week of college football and another week of dominating Jack in our college football pick ’em. Maybe he’s just saving all his prognostication for the NFL because he’s only the best in the country after a 13-2 opening week. That said, with a 9-1 record to his 6-4 record, I’m kicking his tail in this friendly rivalry after two weeks. I’ll look to extend my lead with the Week 3 slate of games.
Unlike the first two weeks of the season that spoiled us with top-five matchups like Alabama vs. Florida State and Oklahoma vs. Ohio State, this weekend is a little thin on marquee matchups. Week 3 does give us No. 3 Clemson going to No. 14 Louisville where they’ll try to slow reigning Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson. He’s well on his way toward a second Heisman with more than 500 yards in his first two games and six total touchdowns in last week’s win vs. North Carolina. A win vs. the defending champions would go a long way toward his Heisman candidacy, although it’s a long way to go until December when the Trophy will be awarded.
Week 3 also gives us the annual SEC East showdown between Florida and Tennessee. The Vols snapped an 11-game losing streak to the Gators last year after they overcame an 18-point deficit and will look to make it a two-game winning streak on Saturday.
But that’s really it for the marquee games pitting ranked teams against each other so we had to go into the deep end to find five games worthy of picking. There are so many blowouts waiting to happen this week that we tried to limit it to games with a single-digit point spread, so that’s why you won’t see us picking USC-Texas or Alabama vs. Colorado State because it doesn’t take a genius to pick the team favored by four touchdowns to win.
No. 23 Tennessee at No. 24 Florida – 3:30 p.m. ET – CBS
Schmidt: Florida
Jorgensen: Florida
No. 12 LSU at Mississippi State – 7:00 p.m. ET – ESPN
Schmidt: LSU
Jorgensen: LSU
Kentucky at South Carolina – 7:30 p.m. ET – SECN
Schmidt: South Carolina
Jorgensen: South Carolina
Arizona State at Texas Tech – 8:00 p.m. ET
Schmidt: Texas Tech
Jorgensen: Texas Tech
No. 3 Clemson at No. 14 Louisville – 8:00 p.m. ET – ABC
Schmidt: Louisville
Jorgensen: Clemson
To recap, Jack and I are thinking alike for four of the five games this week, so we’ll try to embrace debate a little more next week. The one game we differ on is the Game of the Week though. College GameDay will be in Louisville for the Cardinals game against Dabo Swinney’s Clemson Tigers who escaped an upset bid last year. Clemson won 42-36 after getting a crucial fourth-down stop on the three-yard line last year. It was a win that propelled them to the national championship because if they lost that game, they don’t get in the playoff with two losses on their resume (Clemson later lost to Pitt).
After last year’s close game, I think the home crowd will be the difference. Not to mention, Deshaun Watson doesn’t play for Clemson any longer. As great as the Clemson defense is, especially the defensive line, I can’t pick against the best player in college football. This just has the feel of a game that will see him do something we’ll be talking about for years to come.