Week Three Headlines: Bulldogs Rebound, ACC Tumble and Sooners and Badgers Roll

Four questions for this weekend.

First, how will Georgia’s offensive line perform against Arkansas? The Dawgs came into the season with an experienced offensive line led by senior LT Clint Boling and junior C Ben Jones, both all-SEC linemen.  Expectations were high for this unit to pave the way Ealey and King, and protect new QB Aaron Murray until he matures later in the season.  They failed last week against South Carolina. 

There are four reasons why the Dawgs offensive line will be much better this week. First, the return of King from an ankle injury providing both a change of pace to Ealey, and much needed depth.  Second, the Dawgs are playing at home.  Even though Richt’s teams have traditionally played well on the road, home field is always an advantage. Sanford Stadium should be rocking on Saturday.  Third, the team is desperate for the win.  Starting 0-2 in the SEC will be a death blow to their season.  Lastly, the Razorbacks’ defensive line is not as good as the Gamecock’s defensive line.  Arkansas is better defensively this year, but still not as good as South Carolina. 

Second, will the ACC win a key game this week?  Week two was a disaster for the ACC with all of the top ranked teams suffering humiliating losses.  This week brings more challenges that could spell doom for the conference if they fail to win at least one of them.  Sadly, none of the games are “locks.”  Here are a few of the must win games if the ACC wants to win back some credibility.

Clemson at Auburn.  If there was one game the ACC needed to win, this is it.  Auburn is a favorite to challenge for the SEC West title, and a win in Jordan-Hare would be impressive.  The only problem is Clemson allowed almost 500 yards against North Texas in week one.  Cameron Newton and Co. will have a field day against Clemson’s defense.  Auburn easily wins this game.

Maryland at West Virginia.  Are the Terps legitimate?  Are the Mountaineers over-rated?  This game will provide a lot of insight into answering these questions. The answer is usually somewhere in the middle.  Maryland is better, but they looked vulnerable against Navy on Labor Day.  West Virginia was terrible last week against Marshall, but somehow found a way to win the game. 

Maryland has lost the last four against WVU, and a win in Morgantown would be great. Is it really significant though? The Mountaineers are a favorite to win the Big East, but this conference looks equally bad right now.  It may not matter anyway.  Noel Divine is going to slash through the Terps’ defense.  He’ll finish with 180 yards and three touchdowns as WVU cruises to a victory.

Wake Forest at Stanford.  The Demon Deacons stormed back in the second half to beat the Cardinal last year.  This was Wake’s only good win in 2009.  Getting a repeat performance might be difficult, but beating Stanford would be a considerable achievement. 

This game will come down to Wake’s ability to stop Stanford.  They allowed Duke to roll up 500 yards of offense and 48 points last week, but fortunately managed to get 55 points to win the game.  Stanford is much better than Duke on both sides of the ball so Wake’s defense must be much improved, or the Cardinal win in a blow out.  Stanford wins this game 45-17.

Which Oklahoma team shows up against Air Force?  The Sooners looked pedestrian in the season opener against Utah State, and then they dominated Florida State last weekend.  Sooner Nation is hoping last week was only the beginning of another title run led by offensive firepower.  In spite of their advantages, Oklahoma has reason to be concerned.

The Falcons are a good team, and their triple-option offense is very difficult to prepare for in just one week.  Just ask BYU.  Air Force rushed for 409 yards in a 35-14 win last week.  They also controlled the clock for 37 minutes.  When they are on, the Falcons are tough to stop. 

Oklahoma’s challenge is staying disciplined in their defensive assignments. They cannot allow Air Force to sustain drives that will keep the Sooner offense off the field.  If the Sooners stay fundamentally sound, they will win comfortably. Oklahoma wins 34-17.

Fourth, will Wisconsin beat Arizona State? Every year, the Badgers lay an egg early the season.  Wisconsin does not always lose the game, but they definitely look bad.  Is this that game?

Losing at home to Arizona State is doubtful.  The Sun Devils are 2-0, but they have played two FCS schools.  Last week’s 41-20 win over Northern Arizona was much closer than the final score indicated.  Wisconsin needs to line up, and smash the ball down Arizona State’s throat.  Clay should have at least 150 yards in this game.  If this game is close, the Badger faithful need to be concerned about the Big Ten.  Wisconsin wins 31-10.