WEEK 3

It’s rare that I don’t know where to start the weekly, recap, but yesterday left me shook. Week Three felt like rivalry week, with better weather. Holy football gods. Al Pacino’s words are living rent-free in my head this morning: “Football is a game of inches!”

Let’s start in South Bend. Marcus Freeman, undefeated coming off a bye week, was a lock at home, right? WRONG! After a back-and-forth from start to finish, the Fighting Irish crossed the goal line yet again to take a TD lead with 2:43 remaining. BUT WAIT! A bobbled hold. No XP. After the day we’d already seen, you had to know what was coming next. Aggies drove. 11-yard strike with 13 seconds remaining. No problems with their XP. Game A&M. First ranked win on the road since 2014, conveniently the same number of years as that 11-yard winning TD. ND needs TD Jesus more than ever after an 0-2 start that easily could have been 2-0.

And if you thought the Holy Spirits were broken in Indiana, let’s head further south to Knoxville, where the Vols were carrying an 8-game losing streak into their matchup with UGA. The fans showed up, as they always do, creating a meticulous orange and white checkerboard in the stands, one of the coolest images in sports. And the boys responded to the energy, going up 21-7 in Q1. Kirby Smart’s name, however, is no misnomer, and the dogs fought back, taking a 27-21 lead in the 3rd. From there, a game of cat and mouse to the finish, or what Rocky Top faithful sure hoped would have been the finish. Squared at 38 after a Georgia TD + 2-point conversion with 2:32 remaining. Football Joey leads his squad back down the field. 43 yards and the foot of a freshman kicker was all that stood between them and bedlam in Tennessee….Wide right. Dogs get it done in OT. Soul-crushing. The streak extends to 9…

FURTHER South we go, to Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, SC. I ask again: DID NOBODY WATCH ANY GIVEN SATURDAY: SEC THIS OFFSEASON?! Expectations were high for the #11 Gamecocks, at home. Sandstorm was blaring. And yet, the Goliaths played spoiler once again, in stunning fashion, dropping (the other) USC 31-7. Stop sleeping on Vandy, folks!

Might I add, all three of the above involved losses to ranked teams at home. Brutal.

Staying in-state, is it safe to say that Clemson might actually suck this year? I’m still reading about how Divine Dabo has turned around bad starts before, but woof, 1-2 with a loss to unranked GA Tech is ugly. This team should not have a number in front of their name come Monday.

And despite all the above, the biggest Vegas upset of the day amongst out Pick ‘Em games? The Mountaineers took issue with my affront to country roads last week, and handed a dangerous Pitt team (and seven point favorite) a loss in Morgantown in OT. I’ll bet the moonshine was flowing in WV last night, and possibly in the living rooms of OTC competitors, given not a single one of us picked against the Panthers.

Ok, what else, what else. Memphis trucked Troy. North Texas throttled Washington State (making the PAC-2 an abysmal 0-2 in Texas this week after Oregon State also lost to Texas Tech). Southern Miss picked up a W against App State, stumping the entire OTC league for a SECOND winless game of the week. Tulane held off the Blue Devils. And Cal sunk the visiting Gopher boats.

It was a shitshow in OTC, with the high score of the week going to 404PointsNotFound (frontrunner for best name) with a 28. I need an ESPN intern, but I’m pretty sure that’s the lowest weekly high score ever. 

Things tightened at the top, and we now have a 3-way tie for top dog between RecordSetter 98, dallas2697, and KingBrutus (who should be kicked out of the league after posting a 17, and actually trying).

The good news? It’s only up from here folks. If the rest of the season is anything like what we saw yesterday, the NCAA championship and the OTC pot are anyone’s. It’s all up for grabs!

           VEGAS

Memphis (-4.5) @ Troy

#12 Clemson (-3) @ Georgia Tech

#6 Georgia (-3.5) @ #15 Tennessee

Washington State @ North Texas (-6.5)

Pittsburgh (-7) @ West Virginia

Appalachian State (-3) @ Southern Miss

Vanderbilt @ #11 South Carolina (-3)

#16 Texas A&M @ #8 Notre Dame (-6.5)

Duke @ Tulane (-1)

Minnesota (-2.5) @ California