Welcome to The Funvee Tailgate! Wow. Last week was great. Like Week 1, Week 3 proved that 2016 will be a topsy-turvy season of chaos. The first three weeks have set the standard for the rest of the season: no one is safe. This week features battles to take the inside track of various conferences as well as elimination games in those same conferences. Let’s fire up the tailgate…

Thursday Night Recap:

#5 Clemson shelled Georgia Tech in Atlanta last night 26-7. Deshaun Watson tossed two touchdowns and over 300 yards as the Tigers went 23-0 by the half. The Tigers now move to 4-0 as they’ll face off with Louisville next week at home. The Thursday game gives Clemson a nice break leading into what might be the most important ACC regular season game. If Clemson wins, it will make their showdown with Florida State at the end of October extremely important. But we’ll talk about that next week.

Big Games This Week:

Friday Night:

#24 Utah hosts USC tonight at 9pm on FS1. The Utes have been solid to start the season while USC once again didn’t live up to the preseason hype. This game can turn into a ground and pound game and I’m not sure USC will be able to catch up to that. Utah wins.

The Chaos Continues on Saturday:

Alabama and Louisville are both favored by over 20 points in their respective games while Ohio State is off this week so the Top 3 shouldn’t change. Houston is favorited by over 30 against TMU from Friday Night Lights Texas State so they’ll move on. Michigan is an 18-point favorite over Penn State. PSU fans are hoping to pull the upset but it’ll be tough at the Big House. Here are the big games:

• #12 Georgia at #23 Ole Miss at noon on ESPN — Georgia can put themselves into the driver’s seat (or at least the front seat) of the SEC East while Ole Miss has been knocked off but can play spoiler at home. The Rebels are an touchdown-plus favorite but I like Georgia to win.
• #13 FSU at South Florida at noon on ABC — FSU only favored by five points probably due to Jimbo Fisher being shaky off a loss. I still like FSU though. Noles win.
• #11 Wisconsin at #8 Michigan State at noon on Big Ten Network — an effective play-in game for the Big Ten’s best. Michigan State is solid at home but I like the Badgers to win. I think they stop MSU’s LJ Scott.
• #19 Flordia at #14 Tennessee at 3:30pm at CBS — A show-me game for both schools and a play-in game to be in the front seat for the SEC East. Tennessee has been shaky to start the season but I still believe! Vols win.
• #18 LSU at Auburn at 6pm on ESPN — Auburn could spoil their long-time other SEC rival’s playoff chances have LSU already having a loss. The LSU Tigers are a 3.5 point road favorite and this should be close but it’s tough to doubt Leonard Fournette. LSU wins.
• Oklahoma State at #16 Baylor at 7:30pm on FOX — should be a matchup of Top 25 foes (thanks, CMU) but Baylor is -8.5 here. Big XII matchups always turn into shootouts quick and I like really like OKSt’s connection between QB Mason Rudolph and WR James Washington. Oklahoma State wins.
• #7 Stanford at UCLA at 8pm on ABC — Instant Classic potential here. Christian McCaffrey makes the difference. Stanford wins. Sidenote: UCLA hasn’t recorded a sack against Stanford in 4 years, crazy stat!
• #17 Arkansas at #10 Texas A&M at 9pm on ESPN — Another play-in game, this time for SEC West. Both teams play Alabama next month and each should contest Bama hard. In this one, Arkansas had ridden the back of RB Rawleigh Williams while Trevor Knight has been fantastic for A&M. The Aggies to me are more well rounded and have the better coach in Kevin Sumlin. Aggies win.

Lehigh finally won their first game against Penn last week and now turn their attention to another Ivy League opponent in Princeton. The Tigers won a close game last week at home against Lafayette. It looks like the offense got it going for our Mountain Hawks but was an easier win on this schedule.

Disagree with my picks? Did I miss a matchup you wanted me to talk about? Let me know in the comments!

(cover photo via)