Ranked and conference match-ups: Week three of CFB
STORY BY DERRICK FRIDLEY
As the college football season heats up and more ranked teams begin playing each other, the games will be getting more and more competitive. This past weeks’ games were just the beginning, and there were many that lived up to these expectations.
One of the most anticipated games of this week was No. 19 BYU against No. 10 UCLA. Everyone watching was wondering if BYU could yet again pull off another miracle upset, and for a while it looked like it would happen. The Cougars were up a score entering the fourth quarter. However, the Bruins fought back to avoid the upset to win 24-23.
Another big game that happened this week matched No. 14 Georgia Tech against No. 8 Notre Dame. Both of these teams came in unbeaten, and the game was a back-and-forth battle that was fun to watch. However, Georgia Tech couldn’t quite sneak out the win, falling to the Fighting Irish, 30-22.
SEC conference play also began to heat up as No. 18 Auburn squared off against their rival, No. 13 LSU. There is always a bunch of hype when these teams meet-up, but this year’s game didn’t seem to live up to the talk.
LSU dominated from the start, shutting down Auburn’s offense in the first half and winning the game 45-21. Sophomore running back Leonard Fournette played a great game this week, and cemented his Heisman campaign rushing for 228 yards and three touchdowns.
The SEC also saw the first loss handed to a top 5 team this year, as No. 15 Ole Miss played a great game and pulled off an upset against No. 2 Alabama. It was a real nail-biter that came down to the very last possession. Alabama came up short on fourth down as the clock wound down and lost, 43-37.
After the loss, Alabama needs to win each of their remaining games for their playoff hopes to remain alive.
Upsets weren’t limited to the SEC this week, as two Pac-12 rivals played in a hard-fought battle. Stanford came into this game 1-1 after an embarrassing loss to Northwestern earlier this year. However, this week, they were able to pull the upset card themselves on No. 6 USC 41-31. Both teams played well, as their quarterbacks combined for over 500 yards and 5 TD’s
This week’s excitement was not only limited to games featuring top 25 teams, and one of the more dramatic games was seen right here in Iowa, as the Hawkeyes battled Pittsburgh.
After the first half, Iowa looked as though they had the game pretty much in the bag, but Pitt fought back tough tying the game up late in the fourth quarter. Thankfully for Hawkeye fans, they left just enough time on the clock to allow Iowa kicker Marshall Koehn to kick a game-winning 57-yard field goal as time expired.
Iowa State didn’t fare too well this week, losing to Toledo 30-23 in overtime. The Cyclones have a week to regroup next week as Iowa looks to remain unbeaten against North Texas.
Many other matchups look to be exciting next week, as Pac-12 conference play begins. One game that looks interesting is Utah-Oregon, as both teams come in to this game ranked inside the top 20. Also in the Pac-12, UCLA will look to keep their title hopes alive against Arizona.
Lastly, Michigan looks to pull the upset on the upset kings of the year so far, BYU.
These three games should be intriguing matchups to follow as the week progresses.