Gameday Central: Cason Beatty and the Shutout Edition

Cason Beatty punted the Boston College Eagles into submission. The defense earned a shutout. It was ugly, it was physical, it was a victory on the road against a very good defensive team. Oh, it was on short rest too. That means you get to spend your Saturday watching other teams win and lose football games. So, grab your beverages, light up the smoker (or grill, fine), and settle in. It's gonna be a long day.

First, Florida State is still in it to win it. That means you need to know which teams need to face plant to help FSU's shot at the playoff. After that, take a look at the games you might consider betting on. It IS called gambling, after all. You can find all of today's spreads here. This is a useful tool. When pundits say, "OH MY, WHAT AN UPSET" and the spread was 5 or less, you can scream at your TV and justifiably call them silly faces.

Early Games:

Early games are not great. So if you are still recovering from the FSU/BC punt-a-thon, feel free to take your time waking up. South Florida vs Maryland is worth keeping an eye on. Maybe South Florida's defense can keep the Bulls in the game. The Terps are favored by 7.5 but a win by the Bulls? Would look good for the 'Noles.

Northwestern at Duke at 12:30 makes for an interesting game. The Blue Devils are favored by 4 to beat 23rd ranked NW. NW earned that ranking by beating Stanford in an ugly week 1 game. Have a third TV? Throw on Illinois at UNC, just because.

Afternoon Games:

We'll call this slot: MERRY FOOTBALL CHRISTMAS. First, Auburn at LSU. This game is between two ranked teams. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean it will be great football. Auburn looked a mess last week and almost lost to Jacksonville State. LSU took it to Mississippi State early and almost fell apart. But, both teams are ranked and in the top 20 and we'll all watch.

Georgia Tech travels to South Bend to take on Notre Dame. Notre Dame has already had an enormous amount of bad luck. The Irish have lost their starting QB, RB, and TE in the first two weeks of the season. That didn't stop the back up QB from stomping on Virginia's collective hearts with this throw last week. We'll see how the Irish handle Paul Johnson and the triple option. The line started with ND favored by 2, but the Yellow Jackets are currently favored by 2.5 to 3 points. GO RAMBLIN' WRECK!

Finally, in the early slot, Nebraska at Miami. Miami hasn't played a good team yet. However, they did struggle a bit against FAU (o-line troubles all over the place in the ACC). Nebraska gave up a ridiculous Hail Mary to BYU in week one. Brutal way to lose, Huskers. Miami is around a 3 point favorite at home. If you choose to cheer against Miami, you will not be judged.

Night Games:

We all wish that Stanford at USC would be an instant classic. But Stanford might just be headed in the wrong direction. As previously mentioned, the Cardinal lost ugly to Northwestern. They rebounded the week after against UCF (granted, a UCF team that lost to FIU). Still, 8 points doesn't seem insurmountable in the Coliseum.  For USC, they are ranked 6th in the country and have played Arkansas State and Idaho. Time to see if they are a contender.

Back to ranked football. Ol' Miss travels to Alabama. Former FSU QB Jacob Coker has gotten the nod to be the Tide's signal caller. He's done really nicely handing the ball off to Derrick Henry. But seriously, Coker has done an admirable job so far. In week 1, Alabama leaned on Wisconsin until they finally caved, in classic Tide fashion. Ol' Miss has Chad Kelly behind center. Yes, the Chad Kelly that had too much swag for even the great Dabo Swinney to handle. Kelly has looked good against two outmatched opponents. Alabama is a 7 point favorite at home. With an O/U of 53, should be a fun game.

Up all night to see BYU get lucky. Sure, BYU hit a ridiculous play to beat Nebraska. They won't do that again anytime....THEY DID IT TWO WEEKS IN A ROW. Two outrages, end/near end of game plays have BYU ranked. They deserve it. We'll see if there's any magic left in the tank for the Cougs. They'll need every ounce of it as 14.5 dogs on the road to UCLA.

ENJOY THE FOOTBALL.

Week 3 Games, Times, and Networks: