Week 3 - The Call Sheet

The demise of a dynasty – Split Zone Duo co-host Richard Johnson nailed it when speaking about Alabama on Sunday’s Hurry Up podcast segment. In talking about the Bama dynasty, he noted that dynasties don’t die, it’s a slow decay. Is that what we’re seeing with Bama? Maybe.

Hot seat in Houston – Man, y’all lost to a carbohydrate. Houston head coach and Red Bull aficionado Dana Holgorsen had a warm seat heading into the season and the temperature got turned up a few notches after a stunning 43-41 OT loss to crosstown foe Rice. That’s a horrendous loss for Dana. There’s been some silent pondering if he would make it to Halloween and after something like that, I’m not so sure.

Statue Shedeur Sanders – In last week’s Sunday Storylines, I praised Sanders for being ultra-patient in the pocket. After doing some thinking and listening to people smarter than me, this could be a problem moving forward. He probably needs to get rid of the ball much faster than he has been.

Meep, Meep – Upon further review, UTSA’s 20-13 win over Texas State might turn into a good one. Both of those teams are pretty frisky and could make life hard for their opponents as the season progresses. That said, UTSA’s offense has been kind of wonky this year. I wonder if that’s a sign of things to come.

Culture War - I stayed up until nearly 1 AM to watch that awful Auburn-Cal game, and buddy, you wanna talk about awful offense? What a stinky, perfectly beautiful PAC 12 After Dark game that was.

The SEC West might be secretly stinky – The SEC West has had a helluva run, but this might be the year they fall flat on their ass. Bama looks mortal, A&M is A&M, LSU looks soft, Arkansas and Mississippi State are probably mid and Ole Miss looks ripe for an upset. It feels like a massive gulf in quarterback talent more than anything.

Hey everyone, welcome to Dog Food Week. This week’s slate is pretty tough, but we are going to eat it even if we don’t really like it.

LSU vs. Mississippi State

There’s no way Mississippi State could win this game, right? Right?

Hell no. But that doesn’t mean this game is any less watchable.

I really think this is a ‘how bad do you want it’ type of game for LSU. LSU needs to pull themselves off the mat against a formidable opponent post-FSU thumping. In that opening weekend matchup, the offensive line looked below par, their receivers looked far from special and we pretty quickly learned that using Harold Perkins as a spy is not the move. So what does LSU do now?

The Bulldogs needed all the help they could get to beat a topsy-turvy Arizona team last week, but a win is a win. They seem determined to be a ground-and-pound, defensive team under Zach Arnett. I suspect we’ll need to see the ball in Will Rogers’ hands a lot more on Saturday if they hope to pull off the upset.

Kansas State vs. Missouri

Kansas State is legit good this year, but they’ll face a real test Saturday on the road in Columbia. Will Howard has crushed it so far this year and I have no doubt he’s going to have a big year if he can stay healthy. And while K-State hasn’t beaten a P5 opponent yet, they did make light work of a solid-to-good Troy team last week. Klieman always has his teams ready to rock and I suspect they’ll take care of business.

For Missouri, your guess is as good as mine. They really dicked around and barely won last week against MTSU. I’m skeptical of their ability to score enough to compete with the Wildcats. For them to win, this might need to be a messy rock fight.

For strong analysis on all things Kansas State football, be sure to check out 2201 Kimball Ave, my buddy Cameron Morgan’s substack. You’ll feel smarter after reading it.

Minnesota vs. North Carolina

This game felt a lot more exciting during the preseason before I actually watched Minnesota play football. I have little to no confidence that Minnesota will pull their head out of their rear end and score enough points to beat UNC.

Minnesota likes to play this slow, marching brand of football which is an interesting contrast to the exciting, eye-catching nature of Drake Maye (even though he’s kind of been mid this year) and the Tar Heels. Minnesota’s game plan will be to control the clock, limit the number of times the Greek Rifle has to throw the ball and do everything in their power to keep Drake Maye on the sidelines.

All that said, we saw North Carolina at least show a pulse on defense in their first two games and I’m curious to see if they can keep that up. The Gophers could make life hard on them if they can use their big offensive line to lean on ‘em.

Tennessee vs. Florida

This game screams rock fight. Tennessee looked pretty mid against Austin Peay last week and I think it’s safe to say Joe Milton is no Hendon Hooker. This will be the toughest environment that he’s ever started in, and I have some real concerns with their ability to sustain drives and hit big plays.

For the Gators, this game has to be about defense and limiting Graham Mertz’s ability to screw this thing up. All summer, the CFB community heard about how Mertz was different, and yet he was what we thought he was in the season opener against Utah. He and the rest of the Gators really disappointed on a big stage, and it sort of sent the vibes in a downward spiral.

This game might be close just because of the nature of the rivalry, but I like Tennessee to score just enough against this Gator defense.

Pittsburgh-West Virginia

One of these two fanbases is going to absolutely slam the panic button after losing this game. No way around it.

Pittsburgh is a home run-or-strikeout offense right now, and last week it resulted in a very unlikely loss to Cincinnati. And on the other side, we have West Virginia, who got pushed around by a really strong Penn State team in Week 1. The Mountaineers have a coach on the ropes, but if they can win this game Neal Brown might be able to salvage his job.

I don’t have a great read on which team wins, but I suspect it’ll be close. The Backyard Brawl always has the correct amount of stupid to it and I suspect this year won’t be any different.

-4.5 Kansas State vs. Missouri – I really like KState in this matchup.

Akron vs. -25 Kentucky - Wildcats should win big at home.

-12.5 Tulane vs. Southern Miss – Tulane looked strong against Ole Miss in a defeat. I like the Wave here.