College Football Week 3 – Winners and Losers

The Biggest Winner: Oklahoma Sooners

The Sooners were able to withstand the tenacious defense of Florida State to grind out a 23-13 victory in Tallahassee.  Landry Jones didn’t have a Heisman like evening against the Seminoles defense managing only 199 yards in the air, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions but it was enough for the Sooners to hold onto their number 1 ranking.

The Big 12 is always a tough game week in and out but the Sooners should be heavy favorites in each match-up until they face #8 Texas A&M on November 5^th and that game will be in Norman.  The game to circle will be the final one in Stillwater, Oklahoma against the #7 Oklahoma State Cowboys.

LSU Tigers – The Tigers get another big victory early in the season surviving a low scoring affair in Mississippi State 19-6.

Boise State Broncos – Toledo nearly took down Ohio State the week before but they were no match for Boise State.   The Broncos continue to impress.

Utah Utes – BYU Cougar fans have been bellyaching all offseason about the Utes being invited to the Pac-12 and were hoping to give the Utes a beatdown in Provo.  After a 54-10 rivalry game embarrassment you won’t hear a peep from one Cougar fan.

West Virginia Mountaineers – The Mountaineers go into ACC country and win on the road against Maryland to keep the critics silent about the Big East’s weak conference for another week.   We will see how the Mountaineers do against LSU this week at home.

The Biggest Loser: Ohio State Buckeyes

It was football scandal versus football scandal when Ohio State visited the Miami Hurricanes last weekend in Miami.  The Buckeyes struggled the week before at home against Toledo but they may have been looking forward to the game against the Hurricanes.  Unfortunately for Buckeye fans their performance last Saturday might be something they will see week to week.

Ohio State quarterbacks completed 4 of 18 passes for a dismal 35 yards.  That’s an average of 1.9 yards per passing attempt.  The Buckeyes will need their running game to take the load until they can fix this passing mess.  Keep your eye on this week’s game at home against Colorado to see if they can turn it around.

Central Florida Knights – Conference USA favorites took it on the chin when they lost to Sun Belt Conference favorite Florida International 17-16.

Mississippi State Bulldogs – Bulldog fans had big hopes this year but a last second loss at Auburn and scoring only 6 points at home to LSU has them in the middle of the pack in the SEC this season.

Michigan State Spartans – The Spartans had a great chance to steal a victory in South Bend after Notre Dame melted down in their first two games this season.  Instead Notre Dame turned the ship around and gave the Spartans their first loss of the season 31-13.

Arizona State Sun Devils – The Sun Devils get the monkey off their back in close games by defeating Missouri two weeks ago but invite the monkey back the next week by losing 17-14 to Illinois.

UCLA Bruins – Don’t expect to see Kevin Prince on the field again for the Bruins after throwing 3 interceptions to start the game against Texas in a 49-20 loss.

Welcome to the Bowl Projections

We would like to welcome the Cincinnati Bearcats and Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks to our projections this week.

The Northwestern and Arizona Wildcats are on the verge of not going bowling if they don’t step up in the next couple of weeks.

View all the 2011 college football bowl predictions.