SPORTING ALERT – A pair of all-SEC battles are set to highlight the Week 3 weekend in NCAA college football on Saturday, Septemeber 19. Follow livescore on ESPN.com.
No. 18 Auburn will face off with No. 13 LSU at 2:30 PM CT in the Tiger Stadium at Baton Rouge, before No. 2 Alabama take on No. 15 Ole Miss at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa at 8:15 PM.
Auburn, although still undefeated after two games, is coming off a somewhat disappointing performance from last week where the then No. 6 ranked Tigers needed overtime to see off Jacksonville State, 27-20 and avoided one of the biggest upsets in program history.
Head coach Gus Malzahn was left frustrated with the way his team played, especially with the slow start, but outlined that it could have been worse.
Auburn could have lost the game.
“We won and we didn’t play well. It’s easy to see that,” Malzahn said after the game last weekend.
“We didn’t play up to our standard and we have to figure out a way to do that.
“I will say this, we are 2-0 so our team morale is fine. We just need to play better.”
And that indeed will be true for this coming weekend against an LSU side that held off Mississippi State for a solid 21-19 victory to start their campaign last week.
The LSU Tigers are expected to frustrate their rivals’ offense on Saturday and oddsmakers are backing Les Miles team as 6.5 points favourites to take the victory with the total setting at 48.5.
With the kick-off time set for 2:30 pm, Miles is expecting some very warm weather and has been preparing for it.
“We are preparing for Auburn and the heat,” he said after Wednesday’s practice. “The heat is normal around here this time of year.
“You get hot just walking to your car, let alone at practice. We’ll be ready for the heat. The key piece is hydrating your body all week and at the cellular level.
“You can’t just hydrate moments before. It takes time to get in the body and have an impact.
“We will be talking about hydration certainly by the end of the week here, heavily on Friday and certainly on Saturday.”
Things should be much cooler, at least in temperature, at the Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, when the second ranked Alabama and 15th ranked Ole Miss meet.
Both teams head into this battle with 2-0 records for the season.
The Crimson Tide then-no. 20 Wisconsin, 35-17 to start the season before taking care of Middle Tennessee, 37-10 in Week 2.
Ole Miss, in the meantime, is coming off back-to-back 70-plus points scoring and 600-plus total yards games.
The Rebels hammered Tennessee Martin, 76-3 in Week 1 and then eased by Fresno State, 73-21 last weekend.
Ole Miss has also tallied 1269 total yards combined for the first two games and is averaging 74.5 points per game.
Both their opening games have been “OVER” on the bookies list, but fans can expect a much tighter contest against a strong LSU defense.
Ole Miss beat the Crimson Tide 23-17 last year, but they are not the same team and the Oddsmakers are making Alabama the 7-point favourites this time, with the game’s total at 53.
Little high?
Seems so, seeing that the last five matchups are averaging a 40.8 total, while the total has gone UNDER in 13 of Mississippi’s last 18 contests.
In other games on Saturday No. 1 Ohio State play hosts to Northern Illinois, No. 3 TCU entertain SMU, Air Force travel to No. 4 Michigan State, while No. 8 Notre Dame take on No. 14 Georgia Tech at Notre Dame Stadium and No. 10 UCLA battles with No. 19 BYU.
Saturday, September 19
Live College Football: WEEK 3
Top 25 and ESPN3 Streaming Games
Savannah State v Akron 11:00 AM ESPN3 InfoCision Stadium, Akron,
Air Force v #4 Michigan State 11:00 AM ABC, WatchESPN Spartan Stadium
Nevada v #17 Texas A&M 11:00 AM SECN, WatchESPN Kyle Field
Connecticut #22 Missouri 11:00 AM ESPN, WatchESPN Memorial Stadium/Faurot Field
Tulsa v #16 Oklahoma 11:00 AM FOXS1 Memorial Stadium
Central Michigan v Syracuse 11:30 AM ESPN3 Carrier Dome
#23 Northwestern v Duke 11:30 AM ESPN3 Wallace Wade Stadium
Georgia State v #12 Oregon 1:00 PM PAC12 Autzen Stadium
Southeastern Louisiana v Ohio 1:00 PM ESPN3 Peden Stadium
Temple v Massachusetts 2:00 PM ESPN3 Gillette Stadium
Ball State v Eastern Michigan 2:00 PM ESPN3 Rynearson Stadium
Memphis v Bowling Green 2:00 PM ESPN3 Doyt Perry Stadium
Troy #24 v Wisconsin 2:30 PM BTN Camp Randall Stadium
Northern Illinois v #1 Ohio State 2:30 PM ABC, ESPN2, WatchESPN Ohio Stadium
Texas San Antonio v #25 Oklahoma State 2:30 PM FOXS1 Boone Pickens Stadium
#14 Georgia Tech v #8 Notre Dame 2:30 PM NBC Notre Dame Stadium
#18 Auburn v #13 LSU 2:30 PM CBS Tiger Stadium
Wofford v Idaho 4:00 PM ESPN3 Kibbie Dome
South Carolina v #7 Georgia 5:00 PM ESPN, WatchESPN Sanford Stadium
The Citadel v Georgia Southern 5:00 PM ESPN3 Allen E. Paulson Stadium
Furman v UCF 5:00 PM ESPN3 Bright House Networks Stadium
Southern Mississippi v Texas State 6:00 PM ESPN3 Bobcat Stadium
Missouri State v Arkansas State 6:00 PM ESPN3 Liberty Bank Stadium
Stanford v #6 USC 7:00 PM ABC, WatchESPN Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
SMU v #3 TCU 7:00 PM FSN Amon G. Carter Stadium
#15 Ole Miss v #2 Alabama 8:15 PM ESPN, WatchESPN Bryant-Denny Stadium
#19 BYU v #10 UCLA 9:30 PM FOXS1 Rose Bowl
#21 Utah v Fresno State 9:30 PM CBSSN Bulldog Stadium
Northern Arizona v #20 Arizona 10:00 PM PAC12 Arizona Stadium
