ACC & Big 12 Week 3 Preview: Oklahoma seeks redemption in Ames, plus a 2006 championship rematch

In the third week of the college football season, members of the Florida Citrus Sports Team Selection Committee are making visits throughout ACC and Big 12 country, meeting with fans across both conferences in advance of the Camping World Bowl on December 28.

Here are a few of the games our representatives will be taking in this week:

Florida State (1-1, 0-1 ACC) at Syracuse (2-0, 0-0 ACC) – 12 p.m. on ESPN

Syracuse will host Florida State at the Carrier Dome in what will be the conference opener for the Orange and the 12th overall meeting between programs. The Seminoles are 10-1 in the previous 11, and Syracuse’s only win in the series came in the first meeting between the teams, in 1966. In that game, Syracuse legend Floyd Little ran for 193 yards and three touchdowns in a 37-21 win.

This game will be Florida State’s first road game of the season after it rallied to defeat Samford 36-26 last weekend. Quarterback Deondre Francois has put up 533 passing yards and three touchdowns in the Seminole’s first two games after suffering a season-ending injury in their 2017 opener against Alabama. The Florida State offense also features running backs Cam Akers (158 yards) and Jacques Patrick (84 yards), who have split nearly all of the team’s carries this season. Defensive back Hamsah Nasrildeen leads the team with 23 total tackles on the season so far, tied at No. 18 in the nation.

Syracuse enters the contest 2-0 and has averaged 58.5 points in wins over Western Michigan (55-42) and Wagner (62-10), good for sixth among FBS teams. Quarterback Eric Dungey was the ACC Quarterback of the Week after the Week 1 win, and last week Dungey tied the school’s record with five touchdown passes, with each going to a different receiver.

On the other side of the ball, ‘Cuse defensive back Andre Cisco is tied with California’s Jaylinn Hawkins for the national lead in interceptions with three after picking off two passes against Wagner.

No. 5 Oklahoma (2-0, 0-0 Big 12) at Iowa State (0-1, 0-0 Big 12) – 12 p.m. on ABC

The Sooners travel to Ames this weekend to take on Iowa State for the 83rd installment between the teams. Oklahoma leads the all-time series 74-6-2, but the Cyclones broke an 18-game losing streak last season with a 38-31 win over the No. 3 Sooners in Norman.

Iowa State’s 2017 win also ended a 20-game losing streak to ranked opponents and halted Oklahoma’s 14-game winning streak, the longest in the NCAA at the time.

No. 5 Oklahoma is on the road for the first time this season and enters the game with the No. 15 total offense in the country, averaging 567.5 yards per game. The Sooners also boast the No. 9 scoring offense, at 56 points per game. In their 49-21 home win over UCLA last week, quarterback Kyler Murray threw for a career-high 306 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for a team-high 69 yards and two more scores.

Wide receiver Ceedee Lamb had seven receptions for 146 yards and a touchdown, while the defense produced six sacks and 12 tackles for loss.

Iowa State enters the contest looking to rebound from a 13-3 loss to Iowa last week. Kyle Kempt, the Cyclones’ starting quarterback, set a school record with a 66.3 completion percentage last year, but his status for Saturday is uncertain after injuring his knee in the loss to Iowa. Kempt, a former walk-on, made his first career start against Oklahoma last season as a replacement for regular starter Jacob Park. Kempt led the Cyclones to the 38-31 upset after passing for 343 yards and three touchdowns.

Vanderbilt (2-0, 0-0 SEC) at No. 8 Notre Dame (2-0) – 2:30 p.m. on NBC

In a matchup of undefeated teams, Vanderbilt travels to South Bend to face the eighth-ranked Fighting Irish. Saturday’s game marks the third meeting all-time between the Commodores and the Irish, and Notre Dame is 2-0 in the previous two.

Vanderbilt enters the game having won 10 of its last 12 games against non-SEC teams. The streak includes seven straight victories against non-conference opponents. The Commodores opened the 2018 season with home victories over Middle Tennessee (35-7) and Nevada (41-10), and senior quarterback, Kyle Shurmur has been solid leading a Commodores offense that is averaging 38 points more than 400 yards per game.

Shurmur currently sits second all-time in program history with 44 career touchdown passes; he trails only Jay Cutler, who threw 59 touchdown passes for the ‘Dores between 2002-05.

Notre Dame comes into Saturday’s game a winner of two close matchups, as the Irish topped Michigan 24-17 in Week 1 and beat Ball State 24-16 last week. Wide Receiver Miles Boykin, the MVP of the 2018 Citrus Bowl, hauled in a career-high six receptions for 119 yards that led all players in the victory over Ball State. On the season, Boykin ranks 39th nationally in yards per reception at 21.00.

Additionally, the Irish are one of only four teams in the Top 10 of both national polls to have faced and defeated a top-25 foe so far this season (along with Auburn, Stanford, and Georgia).

Duke (2-0, 0-0 ACC) at Baylor (2-0, 0-0 Big 12) – 3:30 p.m. on FS1

Duke and Baylor will both look to stay perfect this weekend as the Blue Devils head to McLane Stadium for the first time in program history. The teams have met just twice previously, with both games in Durham; Duke claimed victories in both — 12-7 in 1958 and 34-20 last season.

The Blue Devils have allowed a total of 21 points in its first two games — road tilts against Army and Northwestern — marking the lowest combined total to open a campaign against FBS competition since 1971 (18 points). Backup quarterback Quentin Harris will take over for starter Daniel Jones, who was injured during the Northwestern game.

Harris has seen action in 13 career games as a reserve, completing nine of out 15 passes for 85 yards and a touchdown, while rushing 39 times for 104 yards and two scores.

Baylor enters the game averaging 550 yards per game and is ranked 15th among FBS programs with 357 passing yards per game. Quarterback Charlie Brewer has already connected with wide receiver Jalen Hurd 12 times this season for 194 yards and two touchdowns.

No. 4 Ohio State (2-0, 1-0 Big Ten) at No. 15 TCU (2-0, 0-0 Big 12) – 8 p.m. on ABC

A pair of top-15 teams will clash in Arlington as Ohio State and TCU square off inside AT&T Stadium. Both the Horned Frogs and the Buckeyes will be facing their stiffest competition of the season, as TCU has beaten Southern and SMU 55-7 and 42-12, respectively, while Ohio State topped Oregon State 77-31 in Week 1, then beat Rutgers 52-3.

The Buckeyes have looked impressive on both sides of the ball this season. The offensive unit, led by quarterback Dwayne Haskins, ranks second nationally at 650.0 yards per game and 64.5 points per game. On the other side of the ball, Nick Bosa and the OSU defense held Rutgers to 134 total yards last week and ranks 17th in the nation in total defense this season.

TCU has also been potent on offense, averaging 48.5 points per game, however, the Horned Frogs’ defense has been the standout unit and ranks fourth among FBS programs in passing efficiency defense (70.36), sixth in total defense (213.5 yards per game) and eighth in passing yards allowed per game (106.0). Through two games, the Horned Frogs have only allowed their opponents to reach the red zone once.

The Horned Frogs are 2-2 at AT&T Stadium all-time and are looking to start the season 3-0 for the 10th time in 18 years under coach Gary Patterson. Ohio State is 2-0 at AT&T Stadium with a win over USC in the 2017 Cotton Bowl and a win over Oregon in the 2015 CFP championship game. TCU and Ohio State are meeting for the seventh time in their history and first time since 1973.The Buckeyes hold the series edge 4-1-1 with all six previous matchups taking place in Columbus.

No. 22 USC (1-1, 0-1 Pac-12) at Texas (1-1, 0-0 Big 12) – 8 p.m. on FOX

Saturday’s game will mark the seventh all-time meeting between these two storied programs and the first in Austin since 1966. USC leads the record 5-1 with games dating all the way back to 1955.

The Longhorns’ single win came in the 2006 Rose Bowl, when they defeated No. 1 USC 41-38 to win the BCS National Championship. The programs’ most recent contest was a double overtime USC victory in the Coliseum last season.

The Trojans began this season with a win at home over UNLV but fell 17-3 at Stanford last Saturday — the program’s fewest points in a game since 1997. The USC offense is led by true freshman quarterback JT Daniels, and the Trojan defense features 2017 All-Pac-12 first team safety Marvell Tell III and inside linebacker Cameron Smith, who leads the defense in tackles with 16 so far this season.

Placekicker Chase McGrath — who kicked the game-winning field goal in last year’s win over Texas — had made six of seven field goal attempts through two games and is 6-of-6 inside 50 yards with a long of 47 yards.

Texas is looking for it 900th program win this weekend which would join them with Michigan and Ohio State as the only three programs to win 900 all-time games. UT’s 800th win in program history came in the 2006 Rose Bowl win over USC.

The Longhorns opened their season with a 34-29 loss to Maryland on the road but bounced back to beat Tulsa 28-21 at home last weekend. Sophomore quarterback Sam Ehlinger has 581 yards of total offense in the last two games and boasts a 63.6 percent completion rate. Last week, wide receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey — the Longhorns’ leader in all-purpose yards (261) — had seven receptions for 109 yards and a touchdown.

Other ACC and Big 12 games being played this week:

Boston College (2-0, 0-0 ACC) at Wake Forest (2-0, 0-0 ACC) – 5:30 p.m. (Thursday) on ESPN
No. 21 Miami (1-1, 0-0 ACC) at Toledo (1-0, 0-0 MAC) – 12 p.m. on ESPN2
Georgia Tech (1-1, 0-0 ACC) at Pittsburgh (1-1, 0-0 ACC) – 12:30 p.m. on ACC Network
Georgia Southern (2-0, 0-0 SunBelt) at No. 2 Clemson (2-0, 0-0 ACC) – 3:30 p.m. on ESPN2
Ohio (1-0, 0-0 MAC) at Virginia (1-1, 0-0 ACC) – 4:30 p.m. on ACC Network
Western Kentucky (0-2, 0-0 C-USA) at Louisville (1-1, 0-0 ACC) – 7:30 p.m. on ACC Network
Rutgers (1-1, 0-1 Big Ten) at Kansas (1-1, 0-0 Big 12) – 12 p.m. on TBD
No. 17 Boise State (2-0, 0-0 MW) at No. 24 Oklahoma State (2-0, 0-0 Big 12) – 3:30 p.m. on ESPN
UTSA (0-2, 0-0 C-USA) at Kansas State (1-1, 0-0 Big 12) – 4 p.m. on TBD
Houston (2-0, 0-0 AAC) at Texas Tech (0-1, 0-0 Big 12) – 4:15 p.m. on FOX