Week 3 College Football Playoff impact games: LSU vs. Ole Miss, huge early-season battles in ACC, Big 12 — SkimNews
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- No. 7 LSU visits No. 8 Ole Miss at The Grove in a top-10 matchup pitting Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss against LSU's elite defense, with coach Lane Kiffin returning to his former program; the winner gains a manageable SEC Championship path while the loser could quickly fall out of contention.
- No. 13 Texas Tech hosts No. 22 Houston on a Friday night in Lubbock to open Big 12 play, with Houston entering as the consensus No. 3 in the conference after a 10-win season and 2-0 start and positioned to wrest Big 12 title control from the Red Raiders.
- No. 16 SMU travels to No. 23 Louisville in what the source calls a potential CFP play-in game, with the ACC hunting a second Playoff team alongside Miami; Louisville is coming off a 41-38 Week 1 loss to Ole Miss, and SMU faces pressure to keep its CFP flexibility open.
- No. 10 Alabama hosts Florida State seeking to exorcise demons from last year's season-opening loss to the Seminoles, with first-year QB Keelon Russell described as shaky but talented one week after surviving early punches from Kentucky.
- No. 11 BYU travels to Colorado State as a 17-point favorite coming off a win over Arizona with a bye week ahead — a potential letdown spot the 2-0 Rams under first-year coach Jim Mora Jr. hope to exploit behind emerging QB Hauss Hejny.
- No. 24 Oklahoma faces New Mexico as a 21.5-point favorite after struggling on both sides of the ball against Michigan, with New Mexico coach Jason Eck's physicality-minded Lobos positioned as the team best equipped to pounce on any lapse.
Why it matters: Week 3's six ranked matchups carry direct Playoff stakes: the LSU-Ole Miss winner gains a manageable SEC Championship path while the loser falls out of contention, Houston stands to take Big 12 title control from Texas Tech, and SMU-Louisville decides the ACC's second Playoff team alongside Miami.
Ask SkimNews
