Week four: games to watch

Last weekend's lackluster slate of games was just the calm before the storm; we're fortunate enough to have unreal top-25 matchups in each time slot on Saturday. There will obviously be other games to switch over to, but these three games should be your top priorities, no questions asked.

Early Game: No. 11 Michigan at No. 13 Wisconsin

This cross-divisional BIG 10 battle between the No. 11 Michigan Wolverines and the No. 13 Wisconsin Badgers will be taking place at Camp Randall in Madison, WI. The hometown Badgers are favored by 3.5. The all-time series between these two programs really isn't even remotely close, with Michigan's 51 wins towering over Sconnie's 15. They did finish in a tie all the way back in 1921. With the teams' current coaches, Jim Harbaugh is 2-1 when facing a Paul Chryst led Badger team: in 2016 Michigan won 14-7, and 38-13 last year. In 2017, Wisconsin came out on top 24-10. So with Harbaugh vs Chryst, the home team has won all three times. Good news for the Badgers. 

Wisconsin undoubtedly underperformed last season, but it seems like they're back to performing at a high level. They haven't had the stiffest competition, but not allowing a single point (and only 215 total yards) through two games is still wildly impressive no matter who you play. The Badgers beat up on USF 49-0 before rag-dolling Central Michigan 61-0. That's also an average of 55 points scored per game, which is currently tied with LSU for third most in the country. Only Oklahoma and Baylor have higher average points per game. The last time this Wisconsin defense has allowed a touchdown was in a loss to Minnesota to conclude the 2018 regular season (they only allowed Miami a field goal in their bowl game).

The Badgers boast a top-two talent at running back in all of college football, and this will be a big game for Jonathan Taylor's junior campaign. So far, he's averaging 6.8 yards per carry and has five touchdowns with 237 yards. He's also tallied three touchdown receptions with five catches. 

Leading up to the season, there were debates of who would be QB1 for the Badgers between junior Jack Coan and freshman Graham Mertz. I assumed Mertz was going to get the nod, as he's the most coveted quarterback recruit to ever play in Madison. Mertz got a few reps in the Central Michigan blowout, but Coan has played really well throughout these first couple of weeks. He's completed 76.3% of his passes (pretty lame compared to his 100% completion rate in 2017, connecting on all five of his throws) with 564 yards, five touchdowns, and most importantly, no interceptions. Coan's completion percentage is currently the seventh highest in the nation.

Much like the Badgers, Michigan has started 2019 with a 2-0 record, yet it's certainly a less impressive rendition of a 2-0 record. The Wolverines did hang 40 on Middle Tennessee State in week one, but they also allowed 21 points to Middle Tennessee State. That's fine, it's early in the season and sometimes good teams need to ease their way into the schedule. That brings us to week two, where Michigan narrowly avoided a home loss to Army. It took a last-second missed field goal, and then overtime, for Michigan to claim a victory. And then they stormed the field. After beating Army. In overtime. Beating Army in OT doesn't make you a bad team; Kyler Murray and Oklahoma did the same thing in 2018. But it's not crazy to be concerned with Michigan's quality of play through two weeks. 

Throughout the preseason, all I kept hearing about was how the is the year Harbaugh beats Ohio State, and this is the year Michigan has a high-powered offense. These guys need to get through Wisconsin (and Iowa, Penn State, Notre Dame) before looking ahead to Ohio State, and they'll certainly need this supposedly good offense to show up sometime between now and Saturday at 11 am. Shea Patterson has yet to impress me, and the clock is ticking for the senior. Isn't that why he plays football? To impress me? Sure, he threw for three touchdowns against Middle Tennessee State, but he didn't notch a single touchdown against Army. He's barely cracked the 200-yard mark in both games: 203 vs MTSU and 207 vs Army. He hasn't thrown a pick yet, which is a plus. The kid better hope his linemen step up against the Badger defense, because he's been sacked six times so far, and they haven't faced a defense this good. Patterson should expect to be swarmed on Saturday; Wisconsin's defense has recorded five sacks and four turnovers (three of them INTs).

Statistically, Michigan's pass defense is elite, only allowing 138.5 yards per game through the air. But let's remember they played Army last week, who's quarterback only threw the ball four times (two completions, one pick). They haven't been all that impressive, and have yet to compete against an opponent of the Badgers' caliber. So, will this be the week Michigan pulls it all together? Or will this just be another big game that Harbaugh can't win?

Afternoon Game: No. 8 Auburn at No. 17 Texas A&M

Saturday afternoon in College Station, TX should be a great SEC clash between the No. 8 Auburn Tigers and the No. 17 Texas A&M Aggies. A&M, the home team, is favored by 3.5. Since the Aggies joined the SEC before the 2012 season, Auburn has led the series 4-3 (However, A&M leads the all-time series 5-4, with wins over Auburn in 1911 and 1986). Auburn has come out on top in the last two meetings, edging out a 28-24 win last year. 

It's been a few weeks since Auburn has faced a challenge like this one, but it's tough to forget their exhilarating 27-21 win over Oregon on Labor Day Weekend. Since then, they topped Tulane 24-6, before throttling a weak Kent State team 55-16. Auburn has put up an average of 35.3 points per game, and has allowed an average of 14.3 points per game (22nd fewest nationwide).

This trip to Kyle Field will be an absolutely massive test for Auburn's freshman QB Bo Nix. He was initiated into the college football world on the big stage, playing a primetime game at Jerry World against a ranked Oregon team. Although a nationally televised, natural site game is tough for a young buck, I think traveling to College Station for a top-25, in-conference game is far more psychologically challenging. Nix ended up being the man at the end of the Oregon game, but let's not forget he looked shaky throughout everything before that. He threw two picks and completed less than half of his throws. On the year, the freshman has totaled 545 yards and four touchdowns through the air, while rushing for 79 yards and a touchdown. 

Auburn's run game has been the real deal in 2019, as they've averaged 281.7 rushing yards per game (11th best), and their team total of 845 rushing yards is the eighth most in the country. The Tigers' leading rusher, JaTarvious Whitlow, has carried the ball 64 times for 341 yards and three touchdowns. Whitlow came up four yards short of eclipsing triple-digit rushing yards in all three games this year: he rushed for 110 against Oregon, 96 against Tulane, and 135 against Kent State.

The Tigers' defensive unit has impressed me so far, holding Justin Herbert and the Ducks to 21 points, and only allowing one touchdown in the two games since. They've also totaled eight sacks on the year, an interception, and a fumble recovery (which came up just short of a scoop-and-score). This Auburn defense has only allowed 3.2 yards per carry through three games. 

Jimbo Fisher and his Aggies are 2-1 so far on the year, with two victories over lackluster competition: they beat Texas State 41-7 to open up the season, and then expectedly pummeled Lamar University 62-3 last week. Wedged in between those two blowout wins is a loss, but it's the least concerning loss a team can have, as the Aggies fell short of an upset on the road at Clemson. A&M was never really in control of that game, but they eventually kept it within two scores. They have averaged 37.7 points per game (34th most) and have allowed an average of only 11.3 points per game (13th fewest). 

The Aggie defense will look to stuff Auburn's run game on Saturday; they've only allowed 251 total rushing yards through three games (average of 83.7 per game) and two touchdowns. Hell, they held Clemson's Travis Etienne to only 3.3 yards per carry (a total of 53 yards and no touchdowns). They have allowed 554 total passing yards, but 268 of those are from Trevor Lawrence, and they even picked him off in that one. The defensive unit has totaled five sacks so far.

Junior QB Kellen Mond will definitely have to be careful with the football against Auburn, as he's thrown a pick in each game so far. Mond's 747 passing yards fall just outside of the top 30 nationwide. He's averaging 7.7 yards per completion and has connected on 64.9% of his passes. Mond has tossed five touchdown passes on the year. His main target, Jhamon Ausbon, has reeled in 17 catches for 253 yards (14.9 average) and two touchdowns.

Freshman running back Isaiah Spiller has put up some good numbers this season, as he's averaged 8.8 yards per carry, tallying 246 yards and two touchdowns. Spiller certainly was shutdown by a menacing Clemson defense in week two, but in the other two games he's been an absolute stud; against Texas St he averaged 15.1 yards per carry, rushing for 106 yards on just seven carries. Last week against Lamar, he averaged 8.3 yards per rush, totaling 116 yards and two touchdowns.

These teams both seem pretty evenly matched in all facets of the game, with A&M obviously having a rowdy home field advantage. Auburn's one big win is far enough in the past now, that who knows if the momentum from it is still in effect. A&M's one big loss was fortunately out of conference and to the reigning National Champs, so I don't think that will influence their psyche all that much heading into this one. It should be an absolute bloodbath (for like third or fourth place in the SEC West).

Night Game: No. 7 Notre Dame at No. 3 Georgia

The No. 7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish head down to Athens, Georgia to take on Kirby Smart's No. 3 Bulldogs on Saturday evening. This will only be the third time these teams have ever met, and the last matchup (2017) in South Bend was a thrilling brawl in which Georgia claimed a 20-19 victory. The first time the Irish and the Dawgs went at it was on New Year's Day of 1981 at the Sugar Bowl, where Georgia won 17-10. Although these two teams have never been separated by more than a single possession, Vegas is highly confident in Georgia remaining undefeated against Notre Dame, as they're favored by 14.5 on Saturday.

The last time Notre Dame lost to a team other than Clemson was a 38-20 loss in the final regular season game of the 2017 season at Stanford. They went on to beat LSU in the Citrus Bowl that year. And then last year, as we all know, the Irish went through their opponents without suffering a loss. That is, of course, until they had to go up against the eventual National Champs in the final four. Notre Dame got absolutely mopped 30-3 by the Tigers, but that outcome didn't look as pathetic after watching Alabama get rocked 44-16 in the championship.

Notre Dame is 2-0 so far this year, beating Louisville 35-17 on Labor Day, and then lighting up the scoreboard in a 66-14 victory over New Mexico. The Irish have averaged the seventh most points per game with 50.5, and have allowed an average of 15.5 points per game (tied with Northwestern for 29th). Through their two games, the defense has recorded three interceptions and two forced fumbles.

Ian Book (61.7 completion percentage, 553 yards, six touchdowns, zero picks) and the Notre Dame offense have been productive so far this season, but they'll be going up against a far more athletic group than either of the teams they've faced. The Georgia defense is far more tenacious and will pose a great challenge to ND's ability to move up the field. The Irish really need their playmakers to step up against an extremely athletic group. I do have confidence that the offensive line will do a solid job preventing Book from feeling too much pressure throughout the game.

Georgia has come out to an absolutely steamrolling 3-0 start this year, beating Vanderbilt 30-6 in Nashville, a 63-17 stomping of Murray State (no Ja Morant on the gridiron I guess), topped off by a 55-0 shutout against Arkansas State. The Bulldogs' 49.3 points per game has them tied with Oklahoma State for ninth most in the country. Only two teams have allowed fewer points per game than Georgia's 7.7: Arizona State with 7, and Wisconsin with 0.

Jake Fromm's completion percentage of 75 is the ninth best of any quarterback, and the rest of his numbers are very comparable to Ian Book's: Fromm has thrown for 601 yards, five touchdowns, and no interceptions.

Definitely expect Georgia's junior running back D'Andre Swift to make some big plays on Saturday night. On 31 carries, Swift has averaged 9.4 yards per carry, totaling 291 yards and two touchdowns. He also had a reception touchdown (two catches for 64 yards) against Arkansas State last week. Notre Dame's rush defense has been more flimsy than their pass defense: the Irish have allowed an average of 230.5 rushing yards per game against running backs that are nothing close to D'Andre Swift.

The point-spread might cause many to feel that this is a major mismatch Between the Hedges, and I must admit that Georgia's athleticism should seriously frighten anyone pulling for Notre Dame in this one. That's honestly the biggest disadvantage for the Irish in general; there's a clear talent gap that has prevented them from truly entering the upper echelon of college ball. But don't completely count them out, especially in terms of covering. The year that Georgia pissed away the National Championship against Alabama, the Irish only lost to them by a single point early in the season. Last year, the main reason Georgia didn't get into the playoff (other than pissing away the SEC Championship against Alabama) was because undefeated Notre Dame deserved the spot over them. So these programs really have been relatively neck-and-neck in recent years, and ND must feel disrespected heading into this one. But then again, the Irish do have to head into a hostile Sanford Stadium against a team that has been on the cusp of the Alabama-Clemson tier, the 1%. The place will be rocking under the lights, and this one could end up having some heavy playoff implications. 

Week three: some games to watch this Saturday

We enter week three of the college football season with no games between top-25 teams, which is always slightly disappointing. But come on people, we can't sit here and disparage the writer's poll rankings while writing off a week without their little guesses of numbers next to 25 different teams' names. We've still got some quality stuff coming our way on Saturday for various reasons. Instead of breaking down one headliner this weekend, here are a few games for each time slot that could entertain or intrigue.

Early Games

The No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs have a cupcake matchup against Arkansas State, and I haven't been able to watch much of Georgia so far this season. This seems like an opportune time to get more acquainted with Kirby Smart's Dawgs, especially as the top of the SEC race looks to be a doozie; the SEC boasts three of the top four teams and five of the top ten. It'll also be good to familiarize thyself with Georgia and their guys before headlining next weekend in Athens, as they host Notre Dame. The Dawgs are 33 point favorites heading into this one, and they've outscored their opponents 93-23 through the first two weeks. Don't expect this to be competitive; think of it as doing your homework for massive games featuring Georgia throughout the rest of this young season.

We've also got some in-state, cross-conference action in the Keystone State, between No. 13 Penn State and Pittsburgh. Pitt lost week one to their ACC Coastal foe UVA, but turned things around last week by topping Ohio 20-10. As you probably remember, Pitt lost last year's ACC Championship game to Clemson. On the other side, the Nittany Lions have done some damage so far this season: they stomped Idaho 79-7 before barreling over Buffalo in a 45-13 win. This will be Penn State's third consecutive home game before they head to College Park, MD to take on the No. 21 Terps. It's been a few seasons since the Nittany Lions haven't had Trace McSorely under center, but sophomore Sean Clifford hasn't given any Penn State fans reason to worry; so far in 2019 he's thrown for 559 yards and six touchdowns, without any interceptions. When these two teams played last year in Pittsburgh, Penn State throttled the home team 51-6.

I had mentioned the No. 21 Maryland Terrapins earlier, who will be facing off against the Temple Owls this Saturday in Philly, before hosting Penn State. The Terps are new guys to the top-25, after they dismantled Syracuse last weekend in a 63-20 embarrassment. At the time, Syracuse was in the 21 spot of the rankings, which, let's be honest, was a complete joke to begin with. Just a complete shot in the dark by the voters. Temple has had a very solid football program recently, and this will be their first season under head coach Rod Carey after Geoff Collins left for the Georgia Tech job. The Owls worked Maryland pretty good when the two met last year, coming out with a 35-14 win. Temple enters this one as 7.5 point home dogs.

Afternoon Games

Sure, we don't have any games between ranked teams this weekend, but this is the closest you can get without having both in the top-25. We've got No. 19 Iowa taking on Iowa State, who was tied with Nebraska for the 25th spot in last week's poll. Although Iowa State won last week, it was a narrow three-point victory over Northern Iowa. The Cyclones dropped in the rankings, but are still sitting just outside; they received the most votes of any non-ranked team for the week three poll. The Hawkeyes will be the road team, yet are still favored by 2.5. The last time Kirk Ferentz and Iowa lost was on November 10th of last year to Northwestern, and they're currently riding a five game winning streak. They are also looking to extend their winning streak in this rivalry to five, as the last time Iowa State won was 2014. The College GameDay crew will be on campus in Ames, which always adds an extra tablespoon of rowdiness to the recipe.

Out west, No. 24 USC heads to Provo to take on BYU. This game doesn't have the heaviest of implications but it'll definitely help indicate what direction USC's season is about to head in. Things were already looking questionable, and then their starting QB JT Daniels tore his ACL. However in his debut start, a 45-20 win over Stanford, freshman QB Kedon Slovis looked impressive: he completed 84.8% of his throws, going 28/33 with 377 yards, three touchdowns, and no picks. So things aren't looking as grim as they seemed for the Trojans. BYU comes into this one with a 1-1 record, as they lost to a really good Utah team in week one, and beat a really bad Tennessee team in OT last week. They finished last year at 7-6 with an irrelevant bowl win over Western Michigan. These two programs have only gone up against each other twice (2003 and 2004), with USC winning both of those. After USC, BYU still has Washington and Boise State on their schedule, so this will be a good test to see where they stand amongst some of their future competition. The Trojans are favored by 4.5.

No. 19 UCF doesn't seem to be fading away anytime soon, and I should probably further familiarize myself with their game before I continue to completely disregard their boastful cheers of G5 domination, and hostile pleas to get a shot at the playoff. Stanford isn't quite as much of a threat as they've been in years past, and UCF has played better P5 competition, but the Cardinal should still give the Knights a good test in Orlando on Saturday afternoon. UCF is a 7.5 point favorite. Stanford QB KJ Costello returns from injury, and his absence was certainly felt in their 45-20 loss to USC last week. For UCF, it looked as if their starter was going to be former Notre Dame QB Brandon Wimbush, but he didn't play last week against FAU. Even if Wimbush is good to go this weekend, don't be surprised if you see freshman Dillon Gabriel get the nod instead. So far this year, the Hawaii native has thrown for 372 yards, five touchdowns, and no interceptions on sixteen completions. He also notched a rushing touchdown in the FAU game.

Night Games

No. 9 Florida heads to Lexington, Kentucky to open up SEC East play. This one would be even more intriguing if Kentucky didn't receive news that their quarterback, Terry Wilson, has torn something in his knee that will prevent him from playing another snap this season. The Gators will be looking for vengeance as they fell short at home last year to Kentucky, 27-16. The last time the Wildcats beat Florida before last year was in the 1986 season. And the last time Kentucky was victorious over Florida in consecutive meetings was 1976-77. The Gators are favored by eight on Saturday night.

Before the regular season had started, No. 1 Clemson heading to the Carrier Dome to take on Syracuse seemed like it'd be much more hyped up than the current scenario. As I had mentioned before, Syracuse starting the season ranked No. 22 (and jumping a spot after beating Liberty) was just erroneous. And we saw them get exposed when Maryland wiped the floor with them in week two. But of course we can't forget, in Clemson's recent dominance, 'Cuse has pestered them the past two years. In 2017, the last time Clemson travelled up to Syracuse, they lost 27-24 (Cuse lost their remaining five games after that). Then in 2018, the Orange gave the Tigers a scare after Trevor Lawrence went down with an injury, and Kelly Bryant had already transferred. They came up short, and Dabo's boys squeaked out a 27-23 win. If Syracuse believes they'll give the Tigers a run for their money this time around, they might be the only ones. Clemson is currently favored by 27.5.

UCLA has some of my favorite uniforms in college football. Their coach, Chip Kelly, was absolutely awesome when he was the coach of a different team. Those are about the only good things that I can say about anything UCLA football related for now, and they're certainly not the reason I'll be tuning in on Saturday night. I'll be checking in on the UCLA game not in need of a competitive game, but in need of an explosive offense completely taking advantage of a subpar team. Jalen Hurts and this Sooners offense are something to behold, and I highly recommend soaking it in and observing. Soak it in until, ya know, the next time Oklahoma has a stellar quarterback accompanied by numerous offensive playmakers.

Previewing No. 9 Texas vs No. 6 LSU

Last Saturday night we got to witness an absolute thriller of a top-fifteen matchup between Auburn and Oregon, and this week we have both a top-fifteen matchup (No. 12 Texas A&M @ No. 1 Clemson) and a top-ten game between No. 9 Texas and No. 6 LSU. We'll do the full preview of the top-ten matchup, but briefly on A&M vs Clemson: obviously the game taking place in Death Valley is a huge advantage. The fact of the matter is that the Aggies were the Tigers' closest match last season (yes, Syracuse was a very close game too, but that was with no Trevor Lawrence or Kelly Bryant), as Clemson edged out Jimbo Fisher's boys by two points in College Station. But let's be honest, it'd be a shock to see Clemson go down on Saturday. That's not to say A&M won't challenge the Tigers; they're capable of it. But the reigning champions simply will not lose on Saturday at home. Now onto the main event, the other Tigers of the other Death Valley heading to Austin on Saturday night at 6:30 Central.

The last time LSU and Texas faced off, it was New Year's Day of 2003 at the Cotton Bowl. This presented quite the legendary coaching matchup, with Mack Brown on the sidelines for Texas going against Nick Saban, the greatest college football coach of all time. The two had faced off for a National Championship years later, Saban's first of many with Alabama. (For what it's worth, both coaches are off to 1-0 starts with their 2019 teams, UNC and Bama). The Longhorns won that game 35-20, with Roy Williams and Cedric Benson (RIP) featured on the roster. Texas leads the all-time series with nine wins to LSU's seven. But that record honestly means nothing nowadays; the last time they played before that Cotton Bowl was in 1963. While we're at it with the past games that don't matter, one time the Longhorns and Tigers concluded in a 6-6 tie during the tail end of the great depression. Talk about a total bummer. You're gonna end a football game without a winner or loser? In this economy??

The 2018 Texas Longhorns finished the season with a 10-4 record, with inexplicable losses to Maryland and Oklahoma State. More understandably (at least compared to those two), they lost an absolute thriller at home to West Virginia, and to Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship Game. As we remember, the Longhorns did take down the Sooners in last season's annual rivalry game, but it's pretty obvious which one of those games you'd prefer to win, considering it's immediate and longterm impact on the program. Sure, they didn't step up for round two against Kyler Murray and Oklahoma, but they certainly did step up in the Sugar Bowl against Georgia. The Longhorns pulled off a 28-21 victory, despite Kirby Smart's Bulldogs being favored by two possessions. Texas finished last season scoring an average pf 31.1 points per game, while allowing an average of 26.2 points per game.

This will be Tom Herman's third season as the head coach down in Austin, and he's currently hanging a record of 18-10. This season was the first time that Herman has a 1-0 record at Texas, as the two previous seasons they fell to Maryland in their opener. Herman absolutely thrives as an underdog; he is 13-2-1 against the spread as an underdog (8-2-1 ATS with Texas) and has straight up won ten of those games. Herman will look to continue his undefeated streak against SEC teams during his time with the Longhorns (2017 Texas Bowl over Missouri and last year's Sugar Bowl over Georgia).

In week one, Texas expectedly beat up on Louisiana Tech 45-14 before taking on their in-state big brother LSU. Also expectedly, Longhorn quarterback Sam Ehlinger had himself a game against a measly squad, completing 28 of his 38 passes for 276 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran for 34 yards on eight attempts. Ehlinger has speed and size, and the dude loves to barrel into defenders. He's certainly effective using his feet, but he does have a history with injuries, as if keeping your QB healthy isn't a big enough concern. The hometown kid tends to try and make things happen on the ground during big games; last season he had 17 rushes against USC, 19 attempts on the ground against Oklahoma the first time, eleven against West Virginia, 15 in the Big 12 Championship, and 21 in the Sugar Bowl.

It seems likely that Ehlinger will be using his legs on Saturday night, as Texas is having some serious injury issues in the backfield. As of now, the running back depth chart consists of sophomore Keaontay Ingram (78 yards and a TD on 11 carries last week) and freshman Roschon Johnson, who came in as a quarterback but has since converted due to all of the current injuries. Behind Johnson is another position convert, as freshman linebacker David Gbenda is in the mix to make up for a lack of healthy bodies. Forget experience on the running back depth chart; the Longhorns simply lack running backs on the running back depth chart.

With the ground game's reliability looking pretty sketchy, Ehlinger's top targets will really, really need to play their role on Saturday. His top targets from week one were: Collin Johnson (four catches, 59 yards, touchdown), Brennan Eagles (three receptions, 59 yards, three touchdowns) and Devin Duvernay (nine catches, 55 yards, touchdown).

The Texas defense looked good in week one against Louisiana Tech, but LSU will obviously be much more of a challenge. Against LTU, both Joseph Ossai (sophomore linebacker) and DeMarvion Overshown (sophomore defensive back) each recorded an interception. Also, senior defensive back Brandon Jones recovered a fumble. Three turnovers and an overall satisfactory defensive showing was encouraging for this defensive unit, as they only returned three of last year's starters. The defense is inexperienced, and LSU will do their best to exploit that.

Ed Oregon's LSU Tigers had a nice 10-3 season last year, which was capped off by a 40-32 Fiesta Bowl victory over the faux reigning champs UCF. LSU's most noteworthy regular season included a 33-17 victory over Miami in week one, 22-21 over SEC foe Auburn, a 36-16 shellacking of Georgia, and a 19-3 win over Mississippi State. All three of their losses were in-conference, and all to good teams: a 27-19 loss to Florida that really shifted gears for the Gators' reputation (they had lost to Kentucky in week two), an embarrassing 29-0 dud at home against Alabama, and an absolutely insane seven-OT game against Texas A&M that ended with a score of 74-72, on top of a fight between Kevin Faulk and Jimbo Fisher's nephew. Quite the ride throughout last season for LSU.

In 2018, LSU averaged 32.4 points per game, while allowing an average of 20.9 points per game. That average was the 22nd fewest in the nation, yet it was the 7th fewest in the SEC. That is wild. Seven of the 22 fewest points allowed per game were by SEC defenses. The infamous SEC bias can get stale and bothersome, but never forget that at the very least a chunk of it is warranted.

In week one, the Tigers routed Georgia Southern (not to be confused with Georgia State who, may I remind you, beat Tennessee last week) in a 55-3 beatdown. LSU's quarterback Joe Burrow (formerly of Ohio State) went 23 for 27 with 278 yards and five touchdowns through the air. Those five touchdowns tied the LSU record for passing touchdowns in a single game. Yes, Burrow threw more touchdowns than incompletions in that game, and did so with zero interceptions. More impressively, he accomplished all of this while only playing one possession of the second half.

Clearly, the Tigers offense aims to look much different this year as their focusing on a hurry up, spread offense with a heavy dosage of passing. Burrow definitely utilized a variety of targets in the season opener, completing throws to nine different teammates. A few of Burrow's current targets are worth keeping an eye on after successful 2018 seasons: Justin Jefferson led last year's team with 875 receiving yards on 54 catches with six touchdowns; Derrick Dillon had 22 receptions for 307 yards and two touchdowns. Terrace Marshall Jr. reeled in twelve catches for 192 yards, and although he didn't get into the end zone last year, he tallied three touchdowns last week. And maybe he isn't statistically the most important target, but LSU does have Randy Moss' son Thaddeus at tight end. He caught two passes for 61 yards against Georgia Southern.

Based off of their new offensive approach, it shouldn't surprise you that LSU didn't run the ball all that much last week. Their leading rusher, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, had only nine rushes for 45 yards and a touchdown.

LSU is feeling pretty confident in their new offensive system, but let's not forget that this defensive unit is what really highlights the Tigers' squad. In Grant Delpit, they have one of the (if not the) most electrifying defensive playmakers in the country. The talent obviously doesn't stop at Delpit, but you need to all do me a favor and appreciate watching this kid. There's something mesmerizing about a defensive player that has game-changing capabilities. Last week against Georgia Southern, the Tiger defense allowed a grand total of 98 yards, with only 24 of those coming through the air. They also forced two turnovers last week, both being fumbles. The tackle leader was junior linebacker Jacob Phillips who had ten. Defensive end Neil Farrell Jr. tallied eight tackles, including a sack.

Between the Longhorns' lack of depth at running back and LSU's newfound enthusiasm for having a quarterback who can throw the football, expect a lot of passing in this one from both teams. That means this game could certainly come down to the defensive backs and the pass rush. Both programs have rich histories of Sunday-caliber defensive backs. LSU, at this point, seems to be more talented overall. But even if they win, the line keeps moving toward them, as the public seems to love the Tigers covering. The line started at 3 or 3.5 points in favor of the Tigers, and has since (as of Wednesday night) shifted to LSU -6.5. With that line moving and Tom Herman being a home dog in this one, you might want to see if it continues to do so before kickoff on Saturday evening. Did I give a decisive answer on what the smart bet is? No. If you read this for advice on how to spend your money, are you not very bright? Yes. I'm here educating the masses, make your own decisions.

I hope everyone had an absolutely magnificent Labor Day Weekend with a very fun slate of games. Let's do it all again, over and over, until the winter.