College Football Picks Week 3: Odds, Predictions, Schedule, Rankings for Top 25
The Week 3 edition of the AP Top 25 poll looks a whole lot different than the original edition, but right now, it has little to do with what has transpired on the field.
Instead, the shakeup has to do with the AP taking out the teams that have postponed their seasons in the fall. Clemson remains atop the rankings, while the Big Ten and Pac-12 are no longer present.
In all, 10 new teams were christened as Top 25 teams, including some most unusual suspects. The Sun Belt placed two teams in the rankings, with Louisiana-Lafayette (19) and Appalachian State (24) both getting voted in after big wins over the weekend.
The rankings are still due for plenty of change, too. As it stands, the SEC holds six of the top 10 spots in the country despite not playing a game yet.
That won't change this week as the conference is still not in action. However, the ACC and Big 12 continue play this week, with the Atlantic conference giving us the matchup of the week between the Miami Hurricanes and Louisville Cardinals.
Here's a look at the latest poll along with the schedule and odds for each matchup and predictions for the biggest games on the slate.
Week 3 AP Top 25 Poll
1. Clemson (1-0)
2. Alabama (0-0)
3. Oklahoma (1-0)
4. Georgia (0-0)
5. Florida (0-0)
6. LSU (0-0)
7. Notre Dame (1-0)
8. Auburn (0-0)
9. Texas (1-0)
10. Texas A&M (0-0)
11. Oklahoma State (0-0)
12. North Carolina (1-0)
13. Cincinnati (0-0)
14. UCF (0-0)
15. Tennessee (0-0)
16. Memphis (1-0)
17. Miami (1-0)
18. Louisville (1-0)
19. Louisville-Lafayette (1-0)
20. Virginia Tech (0-0)
21. BYU (1-0)
22. Army (2-0)
23. Kentucky (0-0)
24. Appalachian State (1-0)
25. Pittsburgh (1-0)
Week 3 Schedule and Odds
All Times ET
Odds obtained from DraftKings Sportsbook; predictions against the spread in bold when available.
Saturday, September 19
Tulsa at No. 11 Oklahoma State (-23.5) (noon, ESPN)
Austin Peay at No. 13 Cincinnati (N/A) (noon, ESPN+)
No. 19 Louisiana-Lafayette (-17.5) at Georgia State (noon, ESPN2)
Syracuse at No. 25 Pittsburgh (-21) (noon, ACC Network)
No. 24 Appalachian State (-3.5) at Marshall (1:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network)
South Florida at No. 7 Notre Dame (-26) (2:30 p.m., USA)
Charlotte at No. 12 North Carolina (-28) (3:30 p.m., ESPN3)
No. 14 UCF (-8.5) at Georgia Tech (3:30, ABC)
The Citadel at No. 1 Clemson (N/A) (4 p.m., ACC Network)
No. 17 Miami at No. 18 Louisville (-1) (7:30 p.m., ABC)
Miami (+1) over Louisville
The only matchup of ranked teams this week is Louisville-Miami, which could go a long way towards making sense of the ACC. Clemson is obviously the favorite and Notre Dame is expected to be No. 2, but after that, the picture is a bit muddled.
North Carolina, Miami and Louisville probably make up the next tier, so the winner here will have a good case to break out of that tier.
If 2019 is any indication, Miami holds a fairly big advantage. The Canes' performance against the Cards was one of the few bright spots in their 6-7 season. Their 52-27 win at home was the last win of the campaign for Manny Diaz in his first season.
To repeat that kind of success in the 2020 edition of the game, Miami will need to have the same success they did against Cardinals quarterback Micale Cunningham. The Hurricanes bottled him up as a runner to -8 yards on 10 attempts while their quarterback had a career-night with six passing touchdowns.
This season, D'Eriq King takes the reins of the offense, and the Houston transfer is already off to a strong start. He had 83 yards and one touchdown on 12 carries and threw for another 144 yards with another score through the air.
Cunningham put up some of the best numbers of his career in the season-opener against Western Kentucky.
The quarterback battle should be fun, but the deciding difference in this game could be defense. With both offenses capable of putting up points and featuring dual-threat quarterbacks, the team that can force some turnovers and get key stops is going to have the advantage.
Given Miami's success against Cunningham last season and their strong performance in giving up 14 points against UAB last week, there's enough evidence to believe they'll have the advantage.
Georgia Tech (+8.5) over UCF
For a program that really tries to claim the title of most disrespected team in the country, the Knights of UCF are getting an awful lot of respect in their season opener. They are more than a touchdown favorite against a Georgia Tech team that just beat Florida State last week.
Florida State certainly has had its issues in recent seasons, but that's still a quality win. The scary part is the Jackets were far from perfect.
Their first half featured four straight drives that each ended in either an interception or blocked field goal. Those kinds of mistakes are to be expected when breaking in a new coach. Geoff Collins is transitioning Georgia Tech away from the triple-option offense of Paul Johnson while coaching a freshman quarterback.
Now they'll play a UCF team that is undoubtedly talented but also hasn't seen live action yet. In a strange offseason for every college team in 2020, there's something to be said for having played a competitive match when your opponent hasn't.
The Knights are expected to once again be the cream of the crop when it comes to the Group of Five schools. Quarterback Dillon Gabriel comes back after a stellar freshman season in his own right with 29 touchdown passes to just seven interceptions.
Josh Heupel's team has plenty of weapons despite losing Gabriel Davis to the NFL draft. Tre Nixon (830) and Marlon Williams (717) both had over 700 receiving yards last season, so the offense should be potent once again.
Coming off a big win over Florida State in the opener, Georgia Tech should be playing with confidence. If they can slow down the passing attack and cut down on some of their own mistakes from Game 1 to Game 2, they should definitely keep it close enough to cover, and it wouldn't be shocking if they won outright.
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