Week three in college football was a doozy with so many upsets, or games that were almost upsets. South Carolina upset Georgia, Georgia Southern almost upset Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt almost fell to UMass, Virginia stunned Louisville, and Boston College bested USC.
Let’s take a look at those contests, as well as few others, and see how we can categorize them to put the third week of college football contests in perspective.
Best of the Best
#24 South Carolina over #6 Georgia 38-35
The Gamecocks upset victory over the Bulldogs is my week three “Best of the Best” contest. Nobody really expected South Carolina to win, but of course, one should never count out the Head Ball Coach and his magical tricks he can pull off. Dylan Thompson had a fantastic day on the South Carolina side of the ball.
Who saw that coming?
East Carolina over #17 Virginia Tech 28-21
#24 South Carolina over #6 Georgia 38-35
Virginia over #21 Louisville 23-21
Boston College over #9 USC 37-31
Seriously though. Who saw any of these upsets coming? And, the best part of it all – they were all so close! The Pirates bested the Hokies by seven, the Gamecocks won by three, the Cavaliers won by two and the Eagles won by six.
Sure, it is fun when there are so many upsets in a week, but please, for my heart rate (as well as the heart rate of America) can we please wait a few weeks to do this again? Thanks.
Toss Up
#25 BYU over Houston 33-25
Georgia Tech over Georgia Southern 42-38
West Virginia over Maryland 40-37
Vanderbilt over UMass 34-31
Florida over Kentucky 36-30 (3OT)
Penn State over Rutgers 13-10
These games really are “toss ups”. I mean, BYU should have beaten Houston by a few more, but then again, maybe Houston is a sleeper this year? Georgia Southern sure isn’t one too mess with. In their last three major contests, they have upset Florida, almost upset NC State and now almost took down Georgia Tech.
The West Virginia-Maryland and Florida-Kentucky contests were tough to watch. Sure, Clint Trickett (WVU) had a spectacular game and led his team to victory, but the Mountaineers blew a 22-point lead!
Florida just didn’t have all the pieces together against Kentucky, and although that normally is not a problem, this Kentucky team is not one to screw around with. If Will Muschamp pulls this a couple more times this season, he’ll be out of a job, and if not – you can sure bet the boosters will put athletic director Jeremy Foley on the hot seat.
Vanderbilt pulled a Vanderbilt this week and, although Derek Mason gets his first win as a ‘Dore, he just barely squeaked a win over UMass – nothing to be too happy about. He beat a team that decided to try FBS ball, only to decide they should have stayed at the FCS level, by three.
Speaking of Vanderbilt coaches, I expected more out of James Franklin and the Nittany Lions than a three point victory over Rutgers – especially after the performance they gave overseas to open the season.
George Harvey is a contributor to FBSchedules.com.