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By: Chad Wilson – Editor – GridironStuds Blog<\/strong> We are through the third week of the college football season already.\u00a0 Week three usually provides us with the clearest picture early on as to who will be the teams to watch in terms of the college football playoff.\u00a0 Sometimes we get some surprises down the road as teams start to gel later on,\u00a0 particularly those teams with new coaches or new starters at quarterback.\u00a0 In this week’s 5 Big Things,\u00a0 I’ll take a look at some things that have become clear and some others that have become rather cloudy.<\/p>\n There was a lot of Auburn hype coming into their annual battle with the LSU Tigers and it’s understandable.\u00a0 Auburn was coming off of a pretty good season and has returned with some stability at their quarterback position.\u00a0 With that said,\u00a0 I was concerned coming into this matchup that there was a little too much hype around Auburn signal caller Jarrett Stidham.\u00a0 In this matchup with LSU,\u00a0 Joe Burrow was the best quarterback on the field.\u00a0 Burrow’s LSU offensive line was vastly underrated and not enough credit was given for their performance versus Miami in their opener.\u00a0 For the most part in this game,\u00a0 Burrow was Irish Spring clean in the pocket and delivered the ball where it needed to be.\u00a0 LSU did not pile up the stats offensively in this game but what they showed me vs. Auburn,\u00a0 as they did vs. Miami,\u00a0 is that they can get the big plays when they need them.\u00a0 Derrick Dillion’s 71 yard TD reception changed the script for this game the way a Scooby Doo mystery does when The Gang rips the bad guy’s mask off at the end.<\/p>\n Auburn’s weaknesses lie in the trenches.\u00a0 While they are not getting poor play up front,\u00a0 it is not spectacular and that is what good Gus Malzhan Auburn teams have thrived on.\u00a0 Stidham often found himself in a pocket reminiscent of train car during rush our in Tokyo.\u00a0 While he was only sacked once,\u00a0 he often was hurried and\u00a0 Stidham struggled with accuracy particularly on deep balls.\u00a0 Auburn had zero explosive plays in their passing game and the rushing game is not good enough yet to overcome that in big games. On the other side of the line,\u00a0 there was no pass rush for Auburn.\u00a0 Auburn only recored one sack and this was similar to their other big game vs. Washington in which they only sacked Jake Browning twice.\u00a0 It’s something to pay attention to for these Tigers going forward.<\/p>\n I am not even clear what Florida State fans expected coming into this 2018 season but what is clear is that this isn’t it.\u00a0 Right now the 2018 season is a male dancer knocking on the hotel door for bachelor party.\u00a0 One struggle game could be an anomaly,\u00a0 two struggle games is a slow start,\u00a0 three games is a trend.\u00a0 Look around college football and you will see slow starts for several new coaches.\u00a0 However,\u00a0 there is something more sinister about Florida State’s.\u00a0 With each passing game,\u00a0 it’s getting worse.\u00a0 I am sure a win vs. Syracuse was expected.\u00a0 This game wasn’t even close.\u00a0 Willie Taggert’s “lethal simplicity” offense has been arsenic for the Seminole hopeful.\u00a0 Syracuse held Florida St. to 240 total yards and nine first downs.\u00a0 Nine!\u00a0 If Florida St.’s third down conversions were currency rates on an overseas trip,\u00a0 I’d be calling the American Embassy.\u00a0 This week the Tribe went 1-12 on this most crucial down.\u00a0 The story is the same each week for FSU,\u00a0 short on fundamentals and long on lack of discipline.\u00a0 This week Florida St. was penalized 11 times,\u00a0 a number that has increased each week.<\/p>\n All eyes are on Florida St.’s matchup vs. Northern Illinois this week.\u00a0 Should they fail to get a much needed W or struggle mightily to get it,\u00a0 I am not sure that there is another scalp on the schedule for these indians. A this point, all four wheels will assuredly be off the bus at this program.<\/p>\n While I wasn’t sure what to expect from Florida State last week,\u00a0 I was one who expected a win for USC in their matchup vs. Texas.\u00a0 Color me disappointed.\u00a0 I looked past USC’s two clunkers to open the season and figured they were well educated for a solid performance vs. Tom Herman’s Longhorns.\u00a0 Late Friday Night,\u00a0 both the Trojans and I were in the corner wearing a dunce cap.\u00a0 I am not sure why I looked beyond the particular struggles USC had in their first two games because they came bursting to life vs. Texas.\u00a0 I can’t not remember the last time a USC Trojans football team ever failed to rush for a single yard in a game.\u00a0 This Trojan team had minus five.\u00a0 I alluded to the lack of a star running back for USC in my column last week and that is more clear now than ever before.\u00a0 To compound this,\u00a0 USC seems more built for 7-on-7 than they are a real live college football season with helmets and shoulder pads.<\/p>\n Texas is not ready to set the Lone Star State ablaze but I will give them credit for seizing the moment.\u00a0 This win may give them a little false sense of security but for now,\u00a0 it’s a win for Tom Herman against a marquee name in college football.\u00a0 Texas came out of the halftime locker room a different team and put the USC season in perspective with 21 unanswered points.\u00a0 A youthful JT Daniels was forced to the air 48 times vs. Texas and unlike what’s inside of a bottle of Coke,\u00a0 that’s not a winning formula.\u00a0 Texas may be getting a dark return to reality this week versus TCU but for now,\u00a0 they can party like it’s 2000 and five.<\/p>\n When Urban Meyer’s three game suspension was announced before the college football season,\u00a0 the only game Buckeye fans thought might be a problem was last week’s showdown in Ft. Worth vs. TCU.\u00a0 After crucifying their first two opponents,\u00a0 some of the anxiety about this Horned Frog meeting may have dissipated.\u00a0 Nevertheless,\u00a0 any Buckeye fan that tells you they weren’t a little queasy right before kick-off needs to find a pew in church this Sunday.\u00a0 It’s ok though,\u00a0 Ohio St. brought the Tums to Texas.\u00a0 After a first half struggle,\u00a0 Ohio St. did what all strong teams do and that is come out of the halftime locker room with action.\u00a0 The Buckeyes used a 20-14 third quarter to set themselves up for the kill shot in the fourth and win this matchup by double digits.\u00a0 I would be negligent if I did not point out the solid coaching job that Gary Patterson did in this contest.\u00a0 Obviously mismatched in the trenches for this game,\u00a0 Patterson and his staff schemed up ways to neutralize it on both ends.\u00a0 On offense,\u00a0 the fast pace neutralized the Buckeye pass rush and run stopping penetration.\u00a0 Defensively,\u00a0 their well timed blitzes screwed up blocking assignments and limited Ohio St.’s offensive effectiveness.\u00a0 In the end,\u00a0 Ohio St. had too much talent and as I noted before,\u00a0 made some solid adjustments to secure the 40-28 win.\u00a0 Now Meyer returns and the murderous onslaught of opponents continues with Tulsa this week.<\/p>\n Early Saturday evening,\u00a0 eyebrows were raised all across the South when Mississippi opened the game up vs. Bama with a 75 yard touchdown pass.\u00a0 Ten seconds into the game and the Rebels had sent their message.\u00a0 For the next 59:50 of the game,\u00a0 Alabama was telling them we heard you loud and clear.\u00a0 Clearly passing the hearing test,\u00a0 Alabama closed out the next two series with explosive plays of their own with a 43 yard TD run by Damien Harris and a 79 yard bomb from Tua to Jerry Jeudy.\u00a0 Bama did in their game vs. Ole Miss what they’ve been doing in college football for the last decade.\u00a0 Whatever its you’re doing,\u00a0 we’re going to do it better.\u00a0 At this point Alabama is Amazon and others are fighting to at least be Groupon.\u00a0 \u00a0In his 12th year on the job,\u00a0 Nick Saban may be producing his best team yet.\u00a0 Saturday Night just gave me visions of 2001 in Miami watching the Hurricanes.\u00a0 It’s not just beating people,\u00a0 it’s who they are beating and how they are beating them.\u00a0 Other marquee programs are pedaling hard to put up the required amount of feel good points vs. FCS programs.\u00a0 Alabama is making conference foes contemplate applying for a different league.\u00a0 The Rebels were the third straight opponent to get stripped of their clothing on a busy street by the Crimson Tide.\u00a0 They were also the second power 5 conference team to be left with two hands covering their exposed junk while everyone was watching.<\/p>\n When I’ve made mention of Saban’s dominance at Alabama on Twitter,\u00a0 the common response is to infer that Saban is cheating and buys talent.\u00a0 Come on,\u00a0 don’t be so short sighted.\u00a0 If Saban is indeed cheating,\u00a0 I can guarantee you that he’s not alone and what should be clear to everyone else is that he does everything thing better than everyone else.\u00a0 How does he do this?\u00a0 He simply works harder at it.\u00a0 We always hear Saban talking about focus and he lives it.\u00a0 It seems his every waking moment is on improving his entire program and whether or not they are already the best has no consequence.\u00a0 Yeah folks,\u00a0 it is what it is.\u00a0 I know,\u00a0 it makes you want to vomit but keep in mind,\u00a0 it took Saban some 30 years to get here.\u00a0 Try to give your current coach more than three months to find some answers.<\/p>\n In their first real test of the season,\u00a0 Wisconsin went down 24-21 at home to BYU.\u00a0 We realize that Wisconsin has been a darling for media folks for a few seasons but there may have been a bit of a facade.\u00a0 No one has risen in the coaching ranks faster than Wisconsin DC Jim Leonhard.\u00a0 Three years into his college coaching career and he’s highly sought after and appearing on top coach lists.\u00a0 We should all rise that fast through the corporate structure.\u00a0 It’s year three and the talented athletes of the last staff are filtering out.\u00a0 What will both Leonhard and head coach Paul Chryst’s bunch bring to the table?\u00a0 An abrupt summer exit of three defensive players right before the first game may reveal a roach in the kitchen.\u00a0 We’ll see what kind of dishes the Badgers put on the table in coming weeks,\u00a0 maybe that roach was really a piece of burnt toast lying in the corner or maybe it’s a roach with wings.\u00a0 All eyes on deck.<\/p>\n All the talk about rough starts has centered around Willie Taggert at Florida St. but there’s something stuck on Chip Kelly’s shoe in Westwood, California and folks it’s not a piece of tape.\u00a0 Like Florida St.,\u00a0 UCLA’s performances have declined through the first three weeks.\u00a0 Saturday produced a warm pile of the good stuff when Fresno St. of a conference not on the level of the Pac-12 dismantled the Bruins 38-14 in the Rose Bowl.\u00a0 As if that wasn’t enough,\u00a0 starting quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson’s father took to Twitter to mention somethings that are better left only in one’s head.<\/p>\n Is this a house on fire?\u00a0 Who knows but at the very least it’s faulty wiring and if the right moves aren’t made soon,\u00a0 the red trucks are going to have to pull up.\u00a0 Give Florida St. credit.\u00a0 Despite how bad things have looked early on,\u00a0 there have not been any public blow ups along these lines.\u00a0 UCLA and FSU may have only one win between them but they have definitely become must watch TV this season.<\/p>\n There are currently 13 black head coaches in FBS.\u00a0 On Saturday I asked my Twitter followers who they thought has done the best out of the current group.\u00a0 The majority of the answers were either David Shaw at Stanford or James Franklin at Penn St.\u00a0 While I certainly can’t argue with those responses,\u00a0 I don’t think we should forget about Kevin Sumlin.\u00a0 Sumlin just earned his first win at Arizona on Saturday Night and since there is a recency bias,\u00a0 he did not get any votes in my Twitter question.\u00a0 However,\u00a0 let’s not forget that Sumlin came in and took the Houston Cougars to places they’d never been before.\u00a0 Sumlin’s 13-1 mark in 2011 was and still remains the best record in the school’s history.\u00a0 In 2012,\u00a0 Sumlin equaled the second best record in Texas A&M’s 116 year school history when he went 11-2.\u00a0 We also should not forget that he defeated all-mighty Alabama.\u00a0 In fact,\u00a0 Sumlin changed the way Nick Saban thought about offense (this was after Nick tried to change the rules but forget about that).\u00a0 Sumlin has done it at two different schools and has only suffered one losing season as a head coach.\u00a0 He followed that one losing season up with the best season Houston has ever had.\u00a0 Furthermore,\u00a0 Sumlin was in the mix every year in the toughest division in college football (SEC West) while fighting for recruits in a state where everyone is born to be a Longhorn.\u00a0 Shaw and Franklin deserve praise but let’s not forget ole Kev.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By: Chad Wilson – Editor – GridironStuds Blog Twitter: @GridironStuds We are through the third week of 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\nTwitter: @GridironStuds<\/strong><\/p>\n1 Only One Tiger Wears the Stripes<\/h2>\n
2 Gonna Need More Than A Wrench in Tally<\/h2>\n
3 Coach Watch in So Cal<\/h2>\n
4 No Urban,\u00a0 No Problem<\/h2>\n
5 All Hail the Evil Empire<\/h2>\n
Some Other Things Not As Big<\/h3>\n
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