Welcome back to the Funvee Tailgate BLOG, The THUNDERBLOG’s Weekly College Football Series. If you noticed the emphasis on “BLOG,” that is because we also have the Funvee Tailgate Podcast that ties into the blog series. Here’s the iTunes link to go subscribe. For those newer readers, the blog version of the Funvee Tailgate looks at the full slate of Top 25 FBS teams along with a few other selections. Week 3 has some intriguing matchups, some massive line, and some cancelations because of Hurricane Florence. Whether you’re hiding out from the storm or able to tailgate as the weather starts to feel like fall, you’ll have plenty of football to keep you entertained Saturday. LET’S FIIIIRRRREEEE IT UP!

Big Games This Week:

While neither game features a Top 25 team, I wanted to highlight Thursday’s BC/Wake Forest game as well as Friday’s Georgia State/Memphis game. Boston College and Wake traded blows throughout the game and potential Heisman dark horse AJ Dillon, BC’s running back, ran for 185 yards and a touchdown. BC will have its work cut out for them to make a run at Clemson for the Atlantic crowd but if they keep this momentum up until they host Clemson on November 10th, GameDay will have to make an appearance. Memphis dropped a close game to Navy last week, effectively ending their chance to be 2018’s UCF, but the Tigers explosive offense is back with a vengeance at time of writing tonight.

Saturday Slate:

Another weekend of tune-up games. Not the sexiest schedule of 2018, but there are some great games to keep you entertained. Three games featuring ranked opponents were canceled because of the storm: ECU @ #13 Virginia Tech, #14 West Virginia @ NC State, and #18 UCF @ UNC. #1 Alabama, #2 Clemson, #3 Georgia, #6 Wisconsin, #9 Stanford, #11 Penn State, #16 Mississippi State, #19 Michigan are all MASSIVE favorites and should win. Let’s take a look at the rest of the slate:

• #5 Oklahoma (-18.5) at Iowa State at noon on ABC–DO NOT SLEEP ON THIS GAME. Oklahoma has looked like they may barrel through every team on their schedule but Iowa State is no slouch. Who was OU’s sole regular season loss? Iowa State. Kyler Murray isn’t going to let the loss happen again, but ISU won’t let this be a blowout. Oklahoma wins but doesn’t cover.
• #21 Miami (-12) at Toledo at noon on ESPN2–A weird matchup here. Both teams have explosive offenses making the over/under 57.5 an intriguing play. The final score will be heavily dependent on which Canes defense we see. I’ll take the return of the turnover chain. Canes win and cover.
• Vanderbilt (+13.5) at #8 Notre Dame at 2:30 on NBC–Vandy has a strong rushing attack and pretty solid defense from what we’ve seen. Granted, Vandy has played Middle Tennessee and Nevada but allowing 17 points in two games is solid enough. Brandon Wimbush will need to step up and play like he did against Michigan. Two touchdowns may be just out of reach. Irish win but don’t cover.
• #12 LSU (+10.5) at #7 Auburn at 3:30 on CBS–LSU has had a strong running game and a brick wall of a defense to begin 2018. Auburn made some mistakes against Washington but still escaped with a win in Week 1 before a tune-up win last week. Double-digits is a bit a misleader because this game will go down to the wire. Auburn wins but doesn’t cover.
• #4 Ohio State (-13) at #15 TCU at 8:00 on ABC–Ohio State has been an absolute force through two weeks and doesn’t look to slow down any time soon. TCU has looked strong enough but their defensive numbers are incredibly misleading. The Horned Frog will need to come out hard and fast to even have a chance. OSU wins and covers.
• #22 USC (+3.5) at Texas at 8:00 on FOX–The “third-part” of the 2005 Rose Bowl trilogy sees a Trojan squad that looked completely dummied last week at Stanford travel to a Lornhorn team that struggles to be “back” week after week. This actually will a very fun game to watch through the end, but it might be an ugly road. Texas wins and covers.
• #10 Washington (-5) at Utah at 10 on ESPN–Utah has proven to be a place where teams with high hopes struggle since moving to the Pac 12. The Huskies will need to hold off Utah RB Zack Moss while getting the air attack off and running against a very solid Ute defense. It’ll be close, but a touchdown will do it. Washington wins and covers.
• #23 Arizona State (-5.5) at San Diego State 10 on CBSSN–ASU is coming off the big win over Sparty last week and looks to continue the momentum. Per usual, SDSU relies on a rushing attack and that’s really about it as they don’t light up the scoreboard. It won’t be nearly as hard for Herm and crew this Saturday as it was last week. ASU wins and covers.

My Lehigh Mountain Hawks travel down to Navy this weekend for a rare matchup with an FBS opponent. Lehigh suffered their first loss last week to Villanova and sadly, I’m not too hopeful for this matchup. Navy has been developing a solid program and riding a high after defeating Memphis last week. The Mountain Hawks will have their work cut out for themselves all afternoon so here’s hoping they can make it exciting.

Make sure to check out the podcast for our full in-depth analysis. Let me know what picks you disagree with in the comments.

(cover photo via)