Week 3 Winners and Losers

I have to start this article with my congratulations to both Clay and his better looking, smarter, and more entertaining wife on the impending birth of the 3rd member of next generation family Travis. Unfortunately Clay wasn’t keen on a Zack Morris style baby pool so we opted for something more creative and in typical OKTC fashion developed our own set of baby props (you’ll have to scroll down to read them, afterall we are a college football site first and foremost) Bovada won’t be taking action on any of these numbers unfortunately so they’re for entertainment purposes only.  

Now onto the matter at hand, the winners and losers from college football Week 3. Despite most Aggie fans on twitter launching personal attacks on my calling them the most overrated team in the country, I have not declared myself a Week 3 loser yet, sorry to disappoint.  I commend those of you who asked questions prompting serious discussions over the contingent that suggested my unfavorable ranking of the Aggies was a result of the team running a train on my mom.  I won’t let a handful of idiot loyalists ruin it for the rest of you so here we go.

Winners

Gunner Kiel: Hate him or love him for recruiting drama but the talented QB made one hell of a debut tossing 6 touchdowns against Toledo.  I’d have to imagine LSU would love a starting QB with his cannon for an arm.

Bowling Green’s Offense: I wasn’t as impressed with the 45 points they scored against a porous Hoosiers defense as I was with the fact the Falcons ran 113 plays.  I’m all about speed and tempo but those are damn video game figures even in the modern era of college football.

Vanderbilt’s QB Play: Not because it was any good…rather they finally had a guy throw a TD pass this season so we’re going glass half full on this one.

Kentucky’s football program: No, they didn’t go into the Swamp and come out with a victory but they sure did perform admirably.  Coach Stoops has really upgraded the talent in Lexington, which means circling UK on your conference schedule as a win won’t be akin to the free space in bingo like previous years.

Jerry Neuheisel: Rick’s son (yes, the same man who used to run NCAA tournament pools making him near and dear to me) stepped in for an injured Brett Hundley, eventually leading the underwhelming Bruins to a hard fought road win.  UCLA continues to dance between the raindrops but in this day and age just winning ugly might be enough if they can sort out the issues on their offensive line.

Tennessee’s Defense: No, the Vols didn’t win in Norman or even cover against Oklahoma but they showed well in a hostile environment.  I still remain skeptical of Tennessee’s quarterback situation. However conference opponents better get them early because this team is poised to improve with each passing week.

FAU’s Offense: I know it’s early in the season. I know they played Nebraska and Alabama to open their season. I know they’re not a college football powerhouse.  All that being said the Owls rallied in their first home game to post a resounding non-conference win capable of building confidence headed into league play.

Losers

Virginia Tech: Sure it was an obvious flat spot coming off the loss to Ohio St. The Pirates took a ton of professional money in the betting markets, but you simply can’t spot a talented opponent 21 points at home and hope to win football games.

USF’s Offense: Willie Taggart knew it would take time to resurrect the program in Tampa…year 2 hasn’t started any better than year 1 given Saturday’s performance.  Starting QB Mike White was 4-16 passing and the team gained a grand total of 8 first downs against defensive juggernaut NC St.  I’m not sure what was worse: this effort or the 6 turnovers the week before against Maryland.

Texas Tech’s run defense: He might be the most handsome head coach in the game and have a fat contract to boot but it’s time to focus on recruiting defensive talent in West Texas.  Over their last 9 games Tech has surrendered an average of 294 yards per game on the ground.  There’s bad run defense…then there’s the Raiders flag football team.

Georgia & USC: These teams should probably get attention separately. There’s really no need though given both sides looked unprepared for winnable road games.  Georgia (off a bye nonetheless) looked like they couldn’t be bothered playing tough in the trenches on defense.  South Carolina was desperate but that doesn’t excuse UGA’s inability to make plays at key junctures like an elite team would.  USC? Don’t even get me started when you come up short despite your opponent only completing 5 passes (none in the second half) and allowing the Eagles to run for 400+ yards on pretty much the same play.  Hey Guys? This isn’t Madden…make adjustments.

Wake Forest’s Ground Game: It averages 22.7 yards per game…even Mike Leach thinks that’s a sorry excuse for running the football.

Vegas Top 10

For clarification (as if it matters to haters) these rankings are how I go about setting point spreads from my personal power ratings.  Home field advantage is not included nor does one team simply being rated higher than another imply that they’d win a head to head matchup.  Teams are always on the move, it’s not as simple as wins moving you up or losses moving you into irrelevance.  As you can see Stanford and Michigan St slipped into the top 10 based on other results around the country.  For those SEC enthusiasts Florida, LSU, Texas A&M, and Ole Miss all fall into the 11-20 range.  Florida has the most to gain this weekend given their road date with Alabama while LSU vs Mississippi St becomes a sneaky game in determining the early pecking order for the SEC West.

Also PSA…last week we pegged South Carolina as our upset special. I know people were confused but that was predicated more on the matchup than power numbers pegging Georgia as the 2nd best team in the land.  This week we put another team in our top 10 on upset alert for a tricky road game.

	Last Week	This Week
1	FSU	FSU
2	Georgia	Oregon
3	Auburn	Auburn
4	Oregon	Alabama
5	USC	Baylor
6	Alabama	Oklahoma
7	Baylor	Stanford
8	Oklahoma	Michigan St
9	Notre Dame	UGA
10	UCLA	USC

Upset Alert: Oklahoma -7.5 @ West Virginia

The Sooners have 3 wins to start the season but for the first time this year their defense will face a stiff test.  Clint Trickett appears to be the perfect pivot operating Dana Holgorsen’s quick strike offense. Traveling to Morgantown, one of our favorite fan bases here at OKTC, is never easy for most Big XII sides given the lengthy travel.  OU will be without the services of leading rusher Keith Ford (194 yards, 5 TD’s) but WVU will be a bit shorthanded sans the team’s best cover corner Daryl Worley (17 tackles, 2 INT’s) who is suspended.  Prepare for a war Saturday and don’t be surprised if another top team comes out saddled with their first loss in 2014.

Now the part you’ve been waiting patiently for, the Clay Travis baby props…Special thanks to OKTC staff writer Mattie Lou Chandler for her creativity on these.

Will baby name come from the Twitter suggestions Clay received after asking for them? 

Yes -110 / No -110

Clay crowd sourced twitter yesterday for suggestions regarding baby name: updated odds:

Finn 13-10

Smith 2-1

Nash 9-2

Other -110

Over/Under how many minutes after the birth will Clay send his first tweet:

0-5 (+170)

6-10 (+120)

11-20 (-130

21-30 (+300)

30+ (+600)

Will the 85% be able to pronounce and/or spell the newest member of the Travis household’s name correctly?

Yes +180

No -220

Will the 85% try and claim the baby resembles an Alabama player/coach/figurehead?

Yes +120

No -140

Will Fox & Lincoln (older sons) be disappointed the baby is not named after a Star Wars Character?

Yes -600

No +400

Which fan base makes the first twitter wisecrack about the baby?

Alabama -140

Kentucky +140

West Virginia +190

Other +250

Will the baby be draped in a houndstooth baby blanket upon leaving the hospital?

Yes +1200

No -2000

Will Richard Dietsch congratulate Clay on the birth of his son via social media?

Yes -170

No +150

Enjoy your football weekend everyone.