College football schedule for Week 3 and predictions for all the biggest games, including Alabama at Florida and Auburn at Penn State.
After two weeks of a return-to-normal college football season, itās clear weāve forgotten what great teams look like.
Two consecutive weeks of upsets in the Top 25 have led us to a bizarre world where Iowa is in the Top 5, USC is looking for a new coach, and the Pac-12 has a legitimate CFP contender.
Will Week 3 be another week of chaos? Letās take a look at the schedule and find out.
College football Week 3 schedule and predictions
Predicted winner in bold
Saturday, September 18 (12:00 p.m. ET)
Nebraska atĀ No. 3 Oklahoma
New Mexico atĀ No. 7 Texas A&M
No. 8 Cincinnati at Indiana
No. 15 Virginia Tech at West Virginia
No. 16 Coastal Carolina at Buffalo
Michigan State at No. 24 Miami
Northern Illinois at No. 25 Michigan
Saturday, September 18 (2:30 p.m. ET)
Purdue atĀ No. 9 Notre Dame
Saturday, September 18 (3:30 p.m. ET)
No. 1 Alabama at No. 13 Florida
Kent State atĀ No. 5 Iowa
Georgia Tech atĀ No. 6 Clemson
Tulsa atĀ No. 9 Ohio State
Saturday, September 18 (4:00 p.m. ET)
Georgia Southern atĀ No. 20 Arkansas
Saturday, September 18 (7:00 p.m. ET)
South Carolina atĀ No. 2 Georgia
Saturday, September 18 (7:30 p.m. ET)
Stony Brook atĀ No. 4 Oregon
No. 22 Auburn at No. 10 Penn State
Virginia at No. 21 North Carolina
Saturday, September 18 (8:00 p.m. ET)
Tulane atĀ No. 17 Ole Miss
Saturday, September 18 (10:15 p.m. ET)
No. 17 Arizona StateĀ atĀ No. 23 BYU
Saturday, September 18 (10:30 p.m. ET)
No. 14 Iowa State at UNLV
Saturday, September 18 (10:45 p.m. ET)
Fresno State at No. 13 UCLA
At first blush looking at the early games, the Miami-Michigan State game looks like a potential upset. The Hurricanes have looked very flawed, to say the least, this season. But can anyone really expect a team that made Hunter Johnson look good to do anything to stop DāEriq King? Okay, fine. Miami does a great job of that already, but still. The āCanes should win this one.
Also in the early slate, Virginia Tech (dogs according to Vegas) will have their hands full. That being said, the Hokies should take care of business against West Virginia who might end up making a change a quarterback sooner than later.
The mid-afternoon games have mostly lighter fare except for the game of the week: Alabama at Florida. Apologies to Texas A&M, this is probably Alabamaās toughest regular-season game this year. Though an upset doesnāt seem likely, it will be a great litmus test for the Tide.
Night games are where all of the magic will happen this week. We will have a chance to catch two possible upsets at the 7:30 p.m. slot. First, the toughest pick this week: Penn State beats Auburn. This is less an endorsement of Penn State so much as it is an un-endorsement of Bo Nix. Itās neither an easy pick, nor a fun pick, but it has to be made. Yuck.
Second, Virginia travels to Chapel Hill and will add to UNCās miserable 2021, giving Bronco Mendenhall yet another win over UNC. He has only lost once as UVAās head coach, and that was in 2016. The Cavaliers keep their streak rolling this year.
Arizona State is in this weird kind of purgatory where theyāre better than Arizona and usually good enough to be ranked, but just donāt have anything memorable about them.
For more NCAA football news, analysis, opinion and unique coverage by FanSided, including Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff rankings, be sure to bookmark these pages.