College football games, Week 3: Notre Dame looks to bounce back, Florida battles QB conundrum vs. Texas A&M

As Week 3 of the 2024 college football season arrives, we were reminded that realignment still doesn’t sleep. On Thursday, the Pac-12 announced that the conference would be adding four schools from the Mountain West in time for the 2026 season — Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State. There used to be a time when this stuff played out in the offseason.

Thank goodness, however, that we can turn our attention to actual games this weekend to distract us from realignment roulette. Plenty of storylines are abound in Week 3, including Notre Dame looking to get itself back on track.  

On the preseason bingo card, absolutely no one had “Notre Dame needing Northern Illinois‘ schedule strength for its College Football Playoff hopes.” But as it turns out, that may be the Fighting Irish’s only path to a CFP berth. As bad as the loss was, if NIU wins the MAC, suddenly that’s somewhat of a “good” loss — at least more tolerable — if the Irish win out, which may actually be required. The remaining schedule contains exactly two currently ranked teams — Louisville and USC. 

But the unwritten rules still apply. It’s Notre Dame in the minds of the selection committee, so it will be given every consideration to get in the field. The committee won’t say it, but they know it. 

That’s ignoring the obvious: What the hell is wrong with Notre Dame? Marcus Freeman was only the second Irish coach to win at least nine games in his first two seasons. Now he has lost three years in a row to (at least) 14-point underdogs at home. Once is bad enough, but three times is a distressing trend. 

Somehow, Freeman hasn’t communicated an age-old cliché properly: Notre Dame gets everybody’s best shot. Even an inferior opponent is going to take a physical toll, and that adds up over a full season. “You cannot exhale at Notre Dame,” said a former Notre Dame assistant calling what happened after the big Texas A&M win “rat poison.” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian even used the Fighting Irish’s woes as motivation this week as the Longhorns get set to face UTSA. There are career .500 coaches in schools’ halls of fame because they beat everyone they were supposed to beat. 

Freeman might want to start this week as Notre Dame goes on the road to battle Purdue — 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS, CBSSports.com, CBS Sports App (Free) and Paramount+ with Showtime (Try It Free) — where the Boilermakers’ Hudson Card in the nation’s No. 2 rated passer (granted, after only one game.) Meanwhile, Irish QB Riley Leonard has gone four straight starts without throwing a touchdown pass. That ties for the longest active streak. 

More Week 3 storylines

Both these things can be true in Florida vs. Texas A&M: Graham Mertz doesn’t give the Gators the best chance to win. He also deserves to start in a key game in place of freshman DJ Lagway. 

Sounds weird, but weird is a good way to describe how Florida coach Billy Napier is trying to thread a needle in what is developing into a quarterback controversy. The season is not lost and Napier still has a chance. Mertz has respectable career numbers and is coming off a career year. But Lagway is the future, but it’s a future that Napier may not see unless he tries to “win” the start of this game against an aggressive defense. A&M does not perform well in these situations. The Aggies have lost a program-record 10 in a row on the road. Yes, both quarterbacks will play. If the game is on the line late, which one will be given a chance to win it? That will define Napier’s pregame decision more than anything. 

Something has to give in Mad Town. Alabama has won 53 straight games against unranked nonconference foes. Wisconsin is 51-2 in its last 53 nonconference home games. But there is only one Jalen Milroe. He is becoming a different kind of player under Kalen DeBoer, but the production is still there. No other player has equaled these numbers since Milroe entered college in 2021: Four career games of at least two passing and rushing touchdowns. 

What is wrong with Oregon as it heads into the Civil War rivalry game? Two teams (Idaho, Boise State) hung around the Ducks that shouldn’t. Oregon has allowed two more sacks (seven) than it did all last season (five). Basically, the offensive line has been a mess; the lineup was changed 11 times against Boise State and the unit committed five penalties for the second straight week. That still doesn’t explain why the defense gave up 221 yards rushing to the Broncos. That’s the most since giving up 268 to this week’s opponent, Oregon State, in 2022. 

Boise State’s 5-foot-9 star Ashton Jeanty leads the FBS with nine touchdowns — all rushing — after nearly helping upset Oregon. All of it coming a season after he posted 19 touchdowns in 2023. That kind of production will get the attention of NFL scouts no matter his size. Since the beginning of last season, Jeanty has averaged 12 points per game — by himself. The last player to average more than 12 points per game was FAU‘s Devin Singletary in 2017 (14.1).

Memo to Sherrone Moore and Hugh Freeze: Quarterback evaluation is everything. Notre Dame, Michigan and Auburn find themselves with quarterback issues that all could have been avoided, especially at Auburn where Freeze stubbornly stayed with Payton Thorne. The former Michigan State QB is sporting a career-worst 56.3% completion percentage after two games. Thorne spoke tragically about being threatened online after he was blamed for degenerate gamblers losing their bets following the Cal loss. 

Moore can be forgiven — but only slightly. Jim Harbaugh’s shenanigans might have kept Michigan from getting a top quarterback in the transfer portal. Even worse, Alex Orji didn’t take over the job when Michigan couldn’t/didn’t get a transfer quarterback. But Michigan, which generally doesn’t get into NIL bidding wars, wasn’t going to land Cam Ward. That former walk-on Davis Warren won the job says more about Orji than Warren, who was largely ineffective last week against Texas. 

Kirby Smart, perhaps more than anyone active today, knows how to avoid the upset bug. Don’t be surprised if we hear down the road that Smart recently started practice over to get his players’ attention. Something certainly happened at halftime of the opener against Clemson. The Bulldogs were up only 6-0 at the break. Since then, Georgia has outscored the opposition 76-6. Smart knows the Dawgs need to jump on Kentucky early on Saturday in their SEC opener. Maybe more importantly, Smart’s players realize that as well. Remember, this is a program that is three points away from possibly riding a three peat. 

What shape will Shedeur Sanders be in by the end of the season, never mind in time for the draft? Sanders already has been sacked six times this season — five of which came against Nebraska last week. CU’s quarterback left the game in the second half of a 28-10 blowout. 

Deion Sanders addressed the horrendous protection problem last season — 56 sacks, the most allowed by a Power Five team since 2020) by bringing in five new starters — a group that included prized five-star freshman Jordan Seaton. It hasn’t helped, which is cause for concern heading into this weekend’s game vs. Colorado State. The Buffaloes will be facing consecutive revenge games on the road. 

To this point, Colorado has rushed for 75 yards total in two games. That’s last in the country. The nation’s leading rusher, Jeanty, has 149 yards in the first quarter this season. 

Since the beginning of the 2023 season, only Old Dominion (71) has given up more sacks than Colorado (63). That total is eight more than third-place Wake Forest (55).

“I can say the same thing you’re thinking, but if I said [it] you would say I’m throwing my guys under the bus,” Sanders said after the Nebraska game. “I’m not doing that whatsoever. Protections were a problem.”

Missouri is one of two teams that have not allowed a point this season — Purdue being the other. A trend is emerging despite the loss of defensive coordinator Blake Baker to LSU. New Mizzou DC Corey Batoon is guiding a unit that has allowed only two touchdowns in the last 16 quarters going back to last season. The last touchdowns allowed came in the fourth quarter against Arkansas on Nov. 24. Boston College, Missouri’s first Power Four opponent of the season, will test that goose egg on Saturday in Columbia. 

OK, so one quick realignment take: Whatever the Pac-12 becomes with the addition of Colorado State, San Diego State, Fresno State and Boise State, don’t look for Stanford and Cal to fill out the dance card. The schools won’t risk the wrath of the ACC before playing a full season. The new conference most likely will look for two more schools to from the AAC. No matter who joins Oregon State and Washington State, they won’t get Power Five status. That designation comes from how much conferences earn (what rights holders are willing to pay). The Power Four per-school payouts range from $40 million to $75 million per school. It’s quite a drop down from $40 million to the $5 million per school average in the Mountain West. That’s what makes a Power Four school. The new league will likely get a little more as well as increased access to the CFP as the best Group of Five conference.  

Take a good look at D’Anton Lynn. Take a real good look because his stay at USC — the Trojans are off this week — may be short. USC’s defensive coordinator has turned around the defense of LA’s two major college programs in the space of less than year. Before being stolen from UCLA by Lincoln Riley, Lynn had been the brains behind improving Chip Kelly’s Bruins from 87th in total defense to 10th. USC  recorded its first shutout in 13 years Saturday against Utah State in Week 2. Those accomplishments will likely allow the 34-year old Lynn to have his pick of jobs during the coaching carousel — that’s if the NFL doesn’t come calling first for his services. 

Quick kicks

• Wouldn’t it be great if the Pac-12 had stayed together? So far, yes. The 12 former brethren are a combined 21-2 this season. Arizona, USC, Oregon and Utah are ranked.
• Early Big 12 showdown: Arizona brings the nation’s longest active winning streak (nine) to Kansas State on Friday night. 
• Clemson basically passed study hall in beating Appalachian State. We still know little about the Tigers heading into a make-or-break game against NC State in the ACC opener.