Weekend Walk-through: Week 3, 2022

Here’s a quick walk-through of things we are watching this weekend in games we did not preview individually. Items will appear in the order they will appear on your televisions this weekend.

Post-Frost Nebraska Against Oklahoma

Scott Frost’s coaching tenure didn’t survive September. Before the season many thought he would be coaching for his job against the Sooners, it turns out Nebraska will start a new this weekend.

If reports out of Lincoln this week are to be believed, Frost should have been fired some time ago and a dedicated coach who is fully invested could bring some life to the football team. While, Nebraska will have a coaching search, Mickey Joseph could prove to be just what this team needs. He has quickly made changes to the team’s day to day operations and will look to bring a winning attitude to the locker room. Joseph’s personality, work ethic and drive could set the example the team needs to finish games that they have a chance to win.

Nebraska has looked good at times this year, but that hasn’t been sustained over the course of the game. As a result, the Huskers were in close games they probably should not have been in and anyone who has watched the Scott Frost era knows how those turned out. Losers find ways to lose games and winners find ways to win them. Mickey Joseph will be out to prove that he has that winning character and can infuse it into his team the remainder of this year. The Huskers have some talent on the roster, with better leadership they could give Oklahoma a run for their money.

Nebraska Cornhuskers Gear

How Good are Syracuse and Purdue?

When Syracuse beat Louisville to open the season, the narrative was that Louisville was not as good as we thought. When Purdue pushed Penn State to the brink in the season opener, the conversation was about Penn State’s struggles. Both Syracuse and Purdue came out of week two with convincing wins over Connecticut and Indiana State respectively. Louisville beat UCF and Penn State handled Ohio with ease. Going into week three the real question might be how good are Syracuse and Purdue in 2022?

Saturday will help answer that question when the Boilermakers visit Syracuse. Syracuse has leaned on Garrett Schrader and Sean Tucker to carry the offense. The backfield duo has been sharp to start the season and will look to make a statement against a Purdue team that gave Penn State all they could handle. For Purdue, they came up short against Penn State and will look to finish the job this weekend. Wide receiver, Charlie Jones, has been a revelation for the Boilermakers with back to back 100 yard games and 4 TDs this year. He will be the toughest test Syracuse’s secondary has faced this season.

This game will be a good test for both teams, if one of them passes it with flying colors it could lead to a great season.

Georgia Kicks Off SEC Schedule

Georgia hammered Oregon to open the season, then quietly handled their business against Samford last week. Saturday the Bulldogs will go on the road and open their SEC schedule with a match-up against South Carolina. Georgia is a solid favorite and they should be, the Bulldogs have looked like the best team in America and South Carolina may be improved from last year but was still beaten soundly by Arkansas a week ago. Nonetheless, conference games are tricky and Georgia doesn’t have to look back far to see how difficult South Carolina can be. The Gamecocks beat Georgia 20 – 17 on the road in 2019, though a repeat of that game is unlikely Saturday, the Bulldogs will on their toes this weekend.

Georgia Bulldogs Gear

Cal Could Extend Notre Dame’s Misery

Notre Dame’s season opening loss to Ohio State wasn’t considered a big deal, the Irish were competitive against one of the better teams in the country. After a week two loss to Marshall, the narrative has quickly changed. The Irish have struggled to run the ball and lost their starting quarterback for the season. Meanwhile, Cal is quietly 2 – 0, playing sound defense and breaking in young talented play-makers on offense. Cal’s defense has been solid throughout Justin Wilcox’s time as head coach and with some explosive plays on offense they could be in position to extend Notre Dame’s nightmare start to the season.

Cal Bears Gear

Oregon Needs a Win This Week Against BYU

Oregon‘s season began in the worst possible way. They played a “neutral site” game against Georgia and ran into the best version of the Bulldogs. The Ducks suffered a 49 – 3 loss, but returned home and took out some of their frustrations on an over-matched Eastern Washington team. Oregon will be home again this week and will host a good BYU team that is coming off an impressive overtime win over Baylor. Oregon is slightly favored in the game and will need to hold serve at home this week to begin to rebuild their resume. A bad loss against the reigning national champions in a tough environment can be explained away, but if the Ducks start losing multiple games in a row to ranked opponents that becomes a troubling trend. Oregon needs a big win to stop that narrative from forming.

Oregon Ducks Gear

Who Are Penn State and Auburn in 2022?

Penn State and Auburn could be the best match-up of the weekend. It features two teams from good conferences, with plenty of history, 2 – 0 records and some highly touted running backs. At the same time those four wins haven’t been pretty and haven’t come against any of the top teams in the rankings. All said this might be a great game between two good teams, or it could be what it was last year, a match-up of evenly matched mediocre teams.

Penn State was finally able to get their running game going against Ohio, as Nicholas Singleton exploded for a big game. That’s a good start, but they will have to prove they can run the ball consistently against good defenses to be a good team this year. Auburn’s run defense has been stout so far, allowing just 2.1 yards per carry. If Penn State’s able to establish the running game against the Tigers that would put them in position to get a big win and build towards a good season.

Auburn struggled running the ball a year ago, but they have focused on running it early and often this year. Robby Ashford, Tank Bigsby and Jarquez Hunter give the Tigers three excellent options in the backfield. So far the run game has been effective, but the competition has not been very stiff. Penn State has the talent and depth upfront to challenge that running game and force Auburn to utilize its passing attack more. It remains to be seen if Auburn can do that against a good defense.

Penn State and Auburn are still somewhat of an unknown in 2022, this game will tell us more about these two teams and if they are ready to compete with the top teams this year.

NC State Looks for a Good Win

With a plethora of returning starters, NC State was expected to be a contender in the ACC this year. Though the Wolfpack are 2 – 0, a tough opener against East Carolina has raised questions about how good this team is. Texas Tech is the next test on the schedule, and the Red Raiders provide an intriguing match-up. Texas Tech is 2 – 0 and has a 33 – 30 overtime win against Houston on the resume. The Red Raiders appear to be a solid team who is off to a good start. A win this weekend for NC State wouldn’t dominate the Sunday headlines in college football, but it would be a positive for a team that didn’t look its best in it’s first FBS game of the season.

NC State Wolfpack Gear

SMU and Maryland Shootout

This may not be the most hyped game of the weekend, but it could be one of the most entertaining. SMU and Maryland both feature high powered offenses that have made a habit of lighting up scoreboards. There is no reason to think they won’t continue that this weekend as they attempt to outscore one another.

SMU lost Sony Dykes to TCU, but brought back former offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee from Miami to run their program. Lashlee has teamed with returning quarterback Tanner Mordecai and it’s as if the Pony Express hasn’t missed a beat. The Mustangs are averaging 46.5 points per game and 7.8 yards per play. The fast paced, high powered offense has worn out opposing defenses and will look to do the same against Maryland.

Maryland also returns their starting quarterback from a year ago, with Taulia Tagovailoa behind center. The Terrapins offense had some big games a year ago, but struggled against the better defenses on the schedule. This year they have added more firepower and look to take on that challenge. With four dynamic receivers to spread the defense out and an opportunistic running game, the Terps have been putting up big numbers as well. Maryland averages 43.5 points per game and 6.3 yards per play through two games this year. They thrive by putting the defense in conflict and exploiting the weaknesses the defense’s choices create.

With two high powered offense humming along coming into this game, it will be a fun watch on Saturday evening.

Big Individual Match-up in Michigan State/Washington Game

Michigan State and Washington face off in a battle of unbeaten teams Saturday night. The game will be the first true test for both teams. The Spartans and Huskies have beaten up on inferior opponents and will gauge themselves against one another. The game will also feature a one on one match-up between two early season stars.

Jacoby Windmon has been a menace off the edge for the Michigan State defense. With 12 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, 1 pass break-up and 4 fumbles forced he has been destroying opposing game-plans. On Saturday, he will face Roger Rosengarten who has been a stone wall at right tackle for the Huskies this year. He has limited pressures and kept his quarterback clean. Rosengarten is the best offensive lineman that Windmon has faced, but the opposite is also true. This is an excellent match-up of star players to see how they perform against excellent competition.

USC Continues Climb Against Fresno State

Lincoln Riley is off to a fast start at USC. The Trojans beat up on Rice in week one, then jumped out to a big lead against Stanford and held on for the win in week two. Both wins were good steps to start the season, but USC will again take another step up in competition this week against Fresno State.

While the Fresno State defense has not been great this year, the Bulldogs offense is potent. The Trojans defense has been opportunistic, but they have also giving up plenty of big plays and yards this year. Fresno State’s Jake Haener is an experienced quarterback who has proven he has big play ability, but can also avoid big mistakes. He will guide the offense efficiently and could put up some points on the USC defense.

The Trojan’s offense is capable of winning a shoot-out, but they have not needed to yet this season. The pressure of matching scores will be a new experience for the USC offense and could provide a new type of challenge. USC should pull away and win this game, but it is the toughest test to date this season.

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