Week 3 Football: What to Watch

We’re into the third full week of the 2025 college football season, and things are starting to get good. Thursday night features just one college game, and that is NC State at Wake Forest on the main stage.

The Demon Deacons barely snuck by Kennesaw State in their opener before dismantling Western Carolina last week. NC State, meanwhile, has a pair of tight wins thanks to late defensive stands deep in their own territory in both games. Living on the edge probably isn’t the smart move for NC State, but

the good news is that the Wolfpack have been playing better than the final score indicates. The bad news is that Demond Claiborne awaits the Pack a week after State struggled to contain Virginia’s run game. This one looks like another nailbiter for the red clad fans.

Moving to Friday’s games, there are a couple should-be-good matchups, starting with Colorado at Houston. The Buffs certainly aren’t as good this year as they were last year – even thought Shaddeur Sanders dropped in the draft, it’s still a big drop off in production going from him to former Liberty QB Kaidon Salter and his weird fitting helmets. Houston is in Year 2 under former Tulane coach Willie Fritz and should be turning the corner this year. Former Texas A&M QB Conner Weigman will help with that, as will the transfer help brought in with him, including former Rice RB Dean Connors and former Ball State TE Tanner Koziol.

The other good Friday game is Wildcat showdown between Kansas State and Arizona. All three of K-State’s games have been decided by three points, with two of those going against them. Arizona, on the other hand, has cakewalked through their first two games against inferior competition. I’d put my money on Chris Klieman and the purple Wildcats in this one, but it should be a good game.

I have good news is you’re one of those people whose kids fall sports activities get scheduled for early Saturday afternoons: you won’t be missing much this weekend. Wisconsin-Alabama is getting all the attention in that noon slot, but I will be shocked if that game isn’t over before the 4th quarter. Clemson at Georgia Tech has some intrigue, especially with Yellow Jackets QB Haynes King on pace to return after missing GT’s last game, but with only one decent noon game, you can keep track on your phone while you root on you little one from your camping chair.

The same is kinda true for the 3:30pm games, with really just one must-watch. That slate kicks off with Georgia at Tennessee which figures to be an amazing game. I don’t really buy either QB (Gunner Stockton for Georgia and former App State QB Joey Aguilar for Tennessee), but that kinda adds to the intrigue here. In a game like this, I’m going with the better defense, and that’s the Bulldogs, but maybe the road venue is the equalizer here.

In a delayed start for the midday slot, we have USF at Miami. The Bulls are off to a hot start having crushed Boise State in their opener and then stunned Florida last week. Miami is better than the Broncos and Gators, but maybe the USF magic continues?

Oh, the primetime Saturday slate! Now we’re cooking!

Arkansas looks the part thanks to their tomato can kicking opening schedule, but they head to Oxford to take on Ole Miss who is coming off a big win at Kentucky. I’m betting on the Rebels, and also that Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman doesn’t make it through the year. Eight of the Hogs’ ten remaining opponents are currently ranked, and one of the two games that isn’t against ranked teams is a road trip to a pretty dang good Memphis squad. For a dude with an 20-20 mark since the start of the 2022 season, that doesn’t bode well.

Speaking of coaches who may well not be in their same job come January, Brent Pry’s Virginia Tech squad hosts Old Dominion. The Hokies should win the game, but that series has some funk to it.

And speaking of yet more coaches who may find themselves looking for new gigs, Florida and Billy Napier line up much like Arkansas with eight ranked opponents left on the schedule. The Gators are going to look good all year in the advanced metrics thanks to the strength of schedule, but losing last week at home to South Florida hurt and likely wore thin whatever patience Gators fans had left with Napier. LSU should beat them this week to add to the woes.

Texas A&M at Notre Dame is the primetime game I’m most intrigued in. A&M has a typical Mike Elko style offense, which means the QB is the entire offense. The defense hasn’t been lights out, but is still solid. Notre Dame, meanwhile, hasn’t played since their 3-point season opening loss at Miami. I’d expect the Irish to come out with a good game plan to stop Marcel Reed and for this to be a relatively low-scoring game.

Vanderbilt has the makings of a really exciting team, which is just such a weird thing to say about their football program. Hey, Diego Pavia is just a baller. South Carolina hasn’t been very impressive so far, although they are 2-0 and this game is in Columbia. Maybe LaNorris Sellers snaps back into the player he was over the second half of last season? Either way, this could be a good one.

Duke at Tulane is just dripping with storylines, especially with the game being in New Orleans and Duke QB Darian Mensah coming to the Blue Devils via a massive NIL deal following his incredibly freshman year with the Green Wave a season ago. Duke got destroyed by Illinois last week on their home turf and Tulane under Jon Sumrall is one of the top G5 teams in the country. Keep an eye on this one.

Go Spiders! Go State!

Rankings for SP+ Ratings and Sagarin Ratings listed, respectively, ahead of each team’s name.