Week 3 College Football Matches to Know about

The USC Trojans on offense during a road game against the California Golden Bears. The Trojans won 30-3. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Week three of college football season Gals and Pals. Will we see another upset like UL Monroe? Or will the favorite win? Here are some games to be on the lookout for.

USC (2) at Stanford (21)

The Pac 12’s biggest match up this week is heavily favored USC coming to Palo Alto to take on Stanford. The biggest question is without their superstar Andrew Luck, can the Cardinals put serious points on the board against a strong USC defense. And of course there is USC offense led by likely NFL first round pick Matt Barkley. If Stanford can pressure Barkley and stop the run from Silas Redd then the Cardinals have a chance from preventing a Trojan slaughter.

My pick USC by 10.

Notre Dame (20) at Michigan State (10)

Wow week three and Brian Kelly’s team is still nationally ranked! But don’t get too excited Irish fans, after all the Irish are facing what many believe is the best team in the Big 10 right now, Michigan St. Going on the road is never easy and facing the likely winner of the Big 10, yeah. Cierre Wood will be in the backfield for the Irish and that should help against the talented Le’Veon Bell of Spartans.

My pick Michigan State by 14.

Florida (18) at Tennessee (23)

Florida is already a proven road warrior going into College Station TX and running the Welcome to the SEC party for the Aggies. Look for Tennessee quarterback Tyler Bray to use Justin Hunter as his go to weapon against the Gators. If Tennessee can maintain composure I think the Vols just might have a shot.

My pick Tennessee by 3.

Related articles

• College Football Week 3 Predictions: USC, Ohio State on Upset Alert (bleacherreport.com)
• Week 3 College Football Predictions (chicago.cbslocal.com)

UConn basketball coach Jim Calhoun to retire after legendary college career: source – NY Daily News

Left: Jim Calhoun, head basketball coach, University of Connecticut. Right: Rudy Gay, former UConn basketball player, now with the Memphis Grizzlies Location: Archbishop Spalding High School in Severn, Maryland (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

UConn basketball coach Jim Calhoun to retire after legendary college career: source – NY Daily News.

This is huge news in the world of Men’s College Basketball.  Calhoun has a 866-369 record at UConn, including three national NCAA titles. I am sure this is related to health concerns that have been plaguing Calhoun for awhile.

I’m not sure how much the Big East can take with the announcement of Notre Dame bolting from the conference to ACC and now one of its best programs losing its coach.

Related articles

• AP: Legendary UConn Coach Jim Calhoun To Announce Retirement Thursday (newyork.cbslocal.com)
• Another Terrible Day For The Big East (1045theteam.com)

More Details Come Out About Notre Dame Joining the ACC

ACC (Photo credit: @jbtaylor)

Here are some more details about Notre Dame‘s move to the ACC.

• With this move the ACC is to academics what the SEC is to football… okay for all you who do not like reminders of SAT questions the bottom line with the addition of Notre Dame it increases the number of member institutions to 11 that are ranked among the 58 in the 2013 U.S. News & World Report.
• With the addition of Notre Dame the ACC Council of Presidents unanimously voted to increase the exit fee to over $50 million. This stops any rumors of the Big 12 or SEC looking at ACC teams to expand there.
• Notre Dame will have to play five games each football season- but still maintains its football independence. This will be a three-year rotation for each ACC member school which will end regular rivalries between Boston College, Miami, Georgia Tech, and new ACC member Pitt.
• Notre Dame plans to leave the Big East asap- but their contract requires a 27-month waiting period.
• Under this agreement the school gets to keep 100 percent of its television revenues from football and hockey, including BCS bowl games.
• Notre Dame will get to take advantage of ACC non-BCS bow games but this gets complicated- for these non-BSC bowl games the Irish get FULL PRIVELGES of being an ACC school. There is a provision that in order to have Notre Dame as part of one of these bowls the football team must be within one victory better than an ACC team. So if Virginia Tech doesn’t go to the Orange Bowl but has a 10-2 record and Notre Dame has a 9-3 record then Virginia Tech is first in line.
• The football season contests for the Irish will be 3-2 format- 3 home games against ACC members and 2 away in the first year. It is not clear is neutral sites are included in this because the Irish have a habit of moving what should be away games to neutral sites and then filling the stands with Fighting Irish.

Again some big questions- and I still have a problem with the football independence. But the deal is done. Some good things out of this deal is that it completely strengthens the ACC in terms of basketball and other sports. It also sores up the cracks, because I doubt there will be any ACC schoolswilling to pay $50 million to leave the conference. Other good news is that with the non-BCS bowls the ACC can negotiate better terms because the Irish fan base travels and travels well.

Team raising their helmets to the student section after a win (or loss) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One more point- television. With this new deal, the ACC can ask for more money for its games on ESPN and fellow networks.