The Week 3 college football contest is live in the EatWatchPlay app. 10 picks, 75 PLAYs up for grabs, let’s jump into our analysis of some of the biggest matchups included in this week’s contest.
Notre Dame at Purdue
The Fighting Irish suffered one of the more shocking upsets in college football history last week, and travel to Ross-Ade Stadium for a must-win matchup with the Purdue Boilermakers.
Purdue opened its season with a 49-0 win over Indiana State in week 1, giving them 2 weeks to prepare for this game. The Boilermakers finished 2023 with a 4-8 record, but expect to be much-improved in HC Ryan Walters and QB Hudson Card’s second season together.
We’d like Purdue’s chances of pulling off the upset much more if the Irish hadn’t lost last week. This will be a competitive game, but we just don’t see this talented Notre Dame roster falling to 1-2.
Prediction: Notre Dame wins 27-20
Alabama at Wisconsin
After cruising to a 63-0 win over Western Kentucky in week 1, Alabama needed a 4th quarter comeback to beat USF last week. The offense really struggled in a matchup with a USF team that finished last season 7-6 in the AAC.
Speaking of offensive struggles, the Wisconsin Badgers are attempting to move to more of a spread passing attack this season, but are off to a slow start despite favorable matchups against Western Michigan and South Dakota. Tyler Van Dyke has managed just 403 passing yards through the first two weeks.
These are two programs in transition this season, however, the Crimson Tide has NFL players everywhere and are lead by a head coach whose team made it to the CFB championship game last season. Not even the +5 point incentive can convince us to take the Badgers here.
Prediction: Alabama wins 27-13
LSU at South Carolina
The LSU Tigers were able to overcome a slow start against Nicholls to move to 1-1 on the season. Garrett Nussmeier has been awesome this season with 610 yards and 8 touchdowns through two weeks.
South Carolina’s defense put on a show in their week 2 matchup with Kentucky. The Gamecocks held the Wildcats to just 183 yards of total offense, including just 44 yards passing. The Gamecocks finished with 5 sacks, 11 tackles for loss, 2 interceptions, and 4 forced fumbles.
As good as South Carolina’s defense has been, LSU will score and this matchup will come down to how well the Gamecocks offense can keep pace. We can’t get there with Lanorris Sellers and think LSU pulls out a tough victory in Williams-Brice Stadium.
Prediction: LSU wins 27-17
Boston College at Missouri
They are begging us to to take the 2-0 Eagles with that +5 points advantage. However, they are facing the #9 team in the country, led by a nasty defense who has yet to allow a single point this season.
The key to this game is the BC run game. If the Eagles can put together long drives, run the clock, and keep the score close, they have a shot. Easier said than done against a Mizzou defense that has only allowed 172 rushing yards on 67 carries.
Boston College will be a lot of fun to watch and will win a lot of games in the ACC, but this matchup is asking too much. Missouri runs away with this one and moves to 3-0
Prediction: Mizzou wins 31-9
Bonus Pick: Mizzou scores more points than Alabama and Oregon. All three teams face teams capable of running the ball and slowing the game down. However, we think Mizzou is built to play this style football, will methodically wear down Boston College, and get into the 30’s by the end of the game.
