2013 College Football Pool – Week 3 Results

So that Alabama-Texas A&M game was just another boring SEC slugfest, huh? Sixty-two first downs (31 by each team), 1,196 combined offensive yards (798 of it through the air), and 91 points later, one could hardly say that the sixty minutes they had seen represented SEC football of recent years, or Alabama football in particular. In a game Alabama somehow won, they gave up more points in one game since 2003 (a 5-overtime thriller against Tennessee), and more yards than they had ever yielded in a game since records were kept (628). The only thing new about the game to the Aggies was being “held” under 50 points – they had rolled up 52 and 65 in their previous two games.

And yet, these lofty figures still pale in comparison to some of the numbers other teams are putting up. Georgia Tech has played two games and scored 108 points, 70 in one game. We all know about Oregon – the Ducks are again on a tear, averaging 355 yards rushing, 672 total yards, and 61.3 points per game. And then there’s Baylor. Two games into the Bears’ season, they are 8th in the country in rushing yards per game, 3rd in the country in passing yards per game, are averaging 736.5 yards per game (easily 1^st in the nation), and 69.5 points per game. Of course, many of these numbers are still against lesser-quality opponents. As always, judgment is reserved until the proverbial meat of the schedule.

Sometimes it pays to play the big boys, and sometimes it doesn’t. I have a special fondness in my heart for the service academy teams. And Army had Stanford within seven points at the half. But the Cardinal won 34-20, which extended an amazing statistic – Army has not beaten a ranked opponent since 1972. They’ve had 42 chances to do so in that time. On the other side of the coin, don’t play LSU early in the season. The Tigers have won 31 straight games played before October 1, which is the longest active streak in I-A. Admittedly, not every team that they’ve played in that span is a cupcake (see TCU this year), but just know that if you’re playing for a big check early in the year against the Bayou Bengals, you’re not getting a W along with it.

If you’re a fan of the ESPN show College Gameday, you’re probably familiar with the show’s tradition of broadcasting from college campuses, usually at the site of one of the biggest games of the week. So it might surprise you to know where they are headed this week – Fargo, North Dakota. Why? That’s the home of the North Dakota State Bison, the two-time reigning I-AA champions. The Bison also hold a 24-21 win over Kansas State this year, so it would appear that they’re just as good a team this year. Incidentally, this might be the program with the most tradition that no one knows about. The Bison claim twenty-nine conference championships and ten national titles (three in the small-college poll era, five in Division II, and the last two in I-AA). Nothing against their opponent this Saturday (Delaware State), but I suspect that Lee Corso will add Thundar the Bison to the list of mascot heads he’s worn through the years.

Congratulations go out to AUBrian, who won a tie-breaker over BEVO to capture the week 3 title. Both finished with 170 points, only missing their one-point game. Next up was bamaken, with 169 points, and maestro was one point farther back with 168.

Top ten after three weeks (dropping two lowest weeks):

Are you ready for conference play? Well…you’re still going to have to wait one more week for it to fully kick into gear. But there are still some tricky games to consider, so make your picks wisely! The first game this week is Clemson at N.C. State, Thursday, September 19 @ 7:30 PM ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!