Welcome to The Funvee Tailgate! Last week flipped things upside down. Tennessee and A&M proved they’re for real after many had their doubts. Les Miles got fired. Wisconsin throttled Michigan State and Stanford rallied to stay undefeated setting up two more Top 10 matchups to go along with the Top 10 matchup in the ACC. Let’s fire up the tailgate…

Thursday Night Recap:

#6 Houston avenged their lone loss from last season with a 42-14 shellacking of UConn. Houston QB Greg Ward Jr. had a monster night tossing for 389 yards and 3 touchdowns while rushing for 65 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Cougars now sit and wait for the madness of this weekend to unfold. Ideally, they’d like to see Louisville take down Clemson so that their matchup with the Cardinals in November all so much more important.

Big Games This Week:

Friday Night:

#7 Stanford travels to #10 Washington tonight (9pm on ESPN). Washington is a 3.5-point home favorite in this one as the matchup will boil down to Christian McCaffrey against a Huskie defense that allowed Arizona to rush for over 300 yards last week. Stanford is missing both of their cornerbacks so the Washington duo of QB Jake Browning and WR Chico McClatcher could have a big night. It’ll be close but Washington wins. McCaffrey needs a big game for his Heisman case.

Even More Saturday Chaos:

Alabama and Ohio State are massive favorites in their games, so the number 1 and 2 rankings shouldn’t change. #9 Texas A&M and #19 San Diego State are big road favorites, the biggest thing to watch for is how many yards does SDSU RB Donnel Pumphrey put up on South Alabama. He’s right behind McCaffrey for all-purpose yards in the country. Boise State returns to the Top 25 and should remain there after this week as they are favored by 21 points at home. Baylor is a 13-point road favorite on Iowa State but should rout them as should Arkansas against FCS Alcorn State. Nebraska is a 20-point favorite over Illinois, Lovie Smith could make it closer than that but the Huskers pull out the W. There’s one double-digit favorite I’m wary of but I’ll cover that with the rest of the slate:

• #23 Florida at Vanderbilt at noon on SEC Network–Florida should win this game but hitting the road after a loss is always shaky. If was betting on this, I wouldn’t trust Flordia to cover the 10 point spread. Florida wins outright though.
• #22 Texas at Oklahoma State at noon on ABC–Both teams could have been undefeated here and Texas should have been. Oklahoma State lost to Baylor last week on the road, they’re looking to avenge that. OK State wins.
• Notre Dame at Syracuse at noon on ESPN–This one is being played at MetLife Stadium which was a fun game to watch a few years ago. ND has had a rough start to 2016 falling to 1-3 after the shocking loss to Duke at home a week ago. The Irish bounce back tomorrow. Notre Dame wins.
• #14 Miami at Georgia Tech at noon on ESPN2–The U is over a touchdown favorite and has a dual threat in the air and on the ground with QB Brad Kaaya and RB Mark Walton. GT still has the triple option threat but Miami wins.
• North Carolina at #12 Florida State at 3:30 on ESPN–Another game where the double-digit favorite should win, but it could get interesting. UNC is coming off a 1-point win over Pitt last week and hasn’t been all too impressive, yet. It’ll have to wait another week, FSU wins.
• #8 Wisconsin at #4 Michigan at 3:30 on ABC–Wisconsin has a fantastic run defense so they could plug up De’Veon Smith quickly. The X-Factor will be which version of Wilton Speight shows up. The Badgers secondary could get run over by the Wolverine wideouts. The forecast is calling for rain tomorrow so I don’t like them to cover the spread, but Michigan wins.
• #11 Tennessee at #25 Georgia at 3:30 on CBS–Georgia is looking for revenge after getting shelled by Ole Miss last week while Tennessee looks to stay unbeaten. UT is continuing a stretch of matchups with ranked opponents and it only gets harder from here as they travel to A&M next week and host Bama the week after that. The Vols will get through here though, especially now that UGA RB Nick Chubb is out. Tennessee wins.
• Oklahoma at #21 TCU at 5:00pm on FOX–TCU might be the ranked team, but Oklahoma is the better team. Sooners win.
• #18 Utah at Cal at 6:00pm on Pac12 Network–Utah stays unbeaten on the road. Utah wins.
• Memphis at #16 Ole Miss at 7:00pm on ESPN2–This was the game I was worried about. Ole Miss lost this matchup last year to a better Memphis team than they’ll face tomorrow. But a two-touchdown favorite after an emotional win last week has me worried. I don’t think they cover but Ole Miss wins.
• #3 Louisville at #5 Clemson at 8:00pm on ABC–The Saturday Night Special. Lamar Jackson vs. Deshaun Watson. This game can become a shootout fast but I think the Tigers hold off Jackson just enough. Clemson wins.
• #17 Michigan State at Indiana at 8:00pm on Big Ten Network–Similar to FSU last week, MSU hits the road after a bad loss and is favored by less than a touchdown. I think MSU covers but struggles on the ground with IU’s RB Devine Redding. MSU wins.

Lehigh has won two-straight games against Ivy League opponents and they will one more before Patriot League play begins. The Mountain Hawks face a Yale who got shelled by Colgate 55-13 in their home opener and lost 27-13 at Cornell last week. It seems the offense is starting to really get it going as Nick Shafnisky tossed for 461 yards and four touchdowns last week as Lehigh gained over 600 yards total against Princeton. The defense did allow Princeton to gain nearly 450 yards total forced three Tiger turnovers. This game at the Yale Bowl is a great opportunity for Lehigh to improve to 3-2 in non-conference play!

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

(cover photo via)