Another weird college football weekend in the books, making 2019 a perfect three-for-three in that aspect. Almost a month into the season, and we still have more than a few questions to be answered for teams with playoff aspirations.
CFB Week 3 Recap
Clemson smashes Cuse: Trevor Lawrence scored four touchdowns, but did throw two more interceptions. With the Tigers defense being insufferable, it really didn’t matter, but you’ve got to think Lawrence is just too good to keep turning the ball over like this. It’s also worth noting that Travis Etienne has been held in check in back-to-back games.
Georgia and Notre Dame cruise into their matchup: After a less than stellar performance in Week 1, then a bye in Week 2, the beating Notre Dame gave New Mexico was a welcome sight for Irish eyes. In the 66-14 win, the only glaring issue had to be the Irish run defense. They gave up a couple of gash runs to the Lobos (after doing the same against Louisville) which they simply can’t have next week against the Dawgs. Still, a complete performance like this has to have the Golden Domers feeling confident heading to Athens on Saturday.
Through their three games, Georgia has outscored opponents 148-23, though that has come against lesser talent at Vandy, then at home against Murray St and Arkansas St. This will be the biggest test of the season so far for them, even if we aren’t sure which ND team will show up. That said, if the aforementioned Irish run defense doesn’t take some strides from what we’ve seen so far, it may be a HUGE day for D’Andre Swift.
Florida struggles: It took UF outscoring Kentucky 19-0 in the fourth quarter to secure the comeback win, but the Gators did it. Feleipe Franks suffered a terrible injury, leading to Kyle Trask taking over. He played well and even scored a rushing touchdown (technically the game winner) to go along with his ZERO turnovers. Trask has a couple of games to really get settled before facing off against Auburn and LSU on consecutive Saturdays.
Just Business: The rest of the top 10 had very business like days with Bama, LSU, Oklahoma, Ohio St and Auburn all getting blowout victories. Yes, Bama struggled a bit in the first half, but with so much going on with their defense, some growing pains are to be expected. The real story is Tua Tagovailoa having a career day. The quarterback play has to be the story of the year so far as Tua, Joe Burrow, Jalen Hurts, and Justin Fields have all been sensational so far. Auburn focused more on the ground this week with three backs going for 100+ rushing yards. I can’t lie – I’m getting very excited for these top tier SEC teams to start playing each other.
Penn St holds on to beat Pitt: Rivalry games can get downright kooky, so I’m not gonna hold this one against PSU too much. Still, with games against Iowa, Michigan, and Ohio St (not to mention Michigan St and a feisty Minnesota team), the Nittany Lion offense is really gonna have to put some big boy drives together. Even this week’s game against Maryland could be an issue if the PSU defense can’t keep this low scoring momentum up.
Iowa beats Iowa State amid delays: The Hawkeyes secured their fifth straight win over Iowa State thanks to some timely defense along with a devastating muffed punt by the Cyclones. ISU hit the big plays for touchdowns with two long receiving touchdowns but they also coughed the ball up twice. The win keeps Iowa undefeated as they head into a bye week with a showdown at The Big House against Michigan coming up in early October.
Michigan St and Maryland go down: As expected, the Michigan State Spartans have really had to lean on that defense. I mean, they only gave up 10 points, but still find themselves with a loss. Arizona State led MSU 3-0 heading into the fourth, which should be all the story you need. If the Sparty offense doesn’t come alive soon, this season could be a big time wash, which is a shame for the guys on the defensive unit.
Speaking of offenses, Maryland seemed to be scoring at will through the first two games of the season. That all came to a screeching halt against a tough Temple team in Philadelphia. The Owls get the win 20-17, which had them getting the only visit to pay dirt in the fourth quarter. The Terrapins had just as many safeties (two) as they did touchdowns. If Temple’s defense holds up, they could be a little bit of a dark horse in the AAC.
John Mosley is the independent wrestling correspondent of the SoBros Network. He graduated from ETSU with a degree in Radio, TV and Film along with a minor in Film Studies. Since graduating he’s done pretty much nothing but watch, film, edit or commentate for local wrestling promotions and is the current color commentator for Resolute Wrestling. #Preds #Titans #DefendOrVacateConor Follow on Twitter: @SoBroMose.
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