Week 3 recap

Yeah! We're still not good at football, but the football gods like us
more than Utah St!

1) I picked Utah St to win this weekend because I believed a) they were as good as Wisconsin and b) the football gods owed them one. I was right. I was wrong in thinking that the football gods cared.

2) I reported that Nick Saban would pick a score from 2011 and challenge his team to match that score against Arkansas. I still have not heard which game he picked, but we can narrow it down to two: a) the Ole Miss game and they forgot to let Arkansas score or b) the Arkansas game but they decided to match the total, not the actual score. Either way, Arkansas did not beat 'Bama 100-3.

3) We also learned that coaching matters in football; see Houston, Southern Miss, the aforementioned Arkansas and, at the next level, the Saints of New Orleans. I would throw USC in the mix.

3) We learned that ULM's defense is really letting that team down. Giving up 31 points in consecutive weeks to offenses that look like something we were running in 8th grade? Seriously, Auburn and Arkansas have looked absolutely inept on offense since the first week. Every team in the SEC now must become serious ULM fans to keep these games from too dramatically bringing down the conference ranking.

4) We learned that those pundits that lost their pundit cards after the Syracuse game for saying USC has the nation's best starting 22 are not getting them back. Ever. San Jose St came closer to beating Stanford that USC. But before learning that USC is not legit, I learned that Florida St is, and even if they weren't they'd still go undefeated (for more on this, search Hokies, Panthers, and Penguins).

5) I was actually disappointed because a UCLA running back failed to top 200 yards rushing in a game (I predicted here that he'd be closer to 500 yards). It is just amazing how quickly expectations can change for a  team and a program.

My theory: UNC was intimidated by the size of Wright's arms
until they remembered you don't run with your arms. (AP)

6) You can't judge a game by the first 17 minutes. Louisville was up 29-0 on North Carolina and won by 5. Texas A&M was scoreless against SMU, and then scored touchdowns on 7 of their next 8 possessions. Speaking of A&M, we learned that losing by 3 in their season opener with a freshman QB might end up being a positive mark on an otherwise very good resume . . . and Tennessee is still 21st century Tennessee (they allowed 336 yards rushing against Florida to A&M's 142).

7) Mississippi St beat Troy by 6, Ole Miss gave up 66 to Texas. I've already discussed Auburn and Arkansas. Who's afraid of the SEC West? If you took out Alabama and LSU, who's afraid of the SEC?