Weekend Watch Guide: An Oklahoma State Fan’s Guide to Week 3 of the College Football Season

There are four FBS games across Thursday and Friday — three feature at least one Big 12 team.

Week 3 of the college football season is a pseudo-rivalry week. Here is an Oklahoma State fan’s guide to Week 3 of the college football season.

Big 12 Schedule

Arizona State at Texas State — 6:30 p.m. Thursday on ESPN
UNLV at Kansas — 6 p.m. Friday on ESPN
No. 20 Arizona at No. 14 Kansas State — 7 p.m. Friday on FOX
No. 13 Oklahoma State at Tulsa — 11 a.m. Saturday on ESPN2
Cincinnati at Miami (OH) — 11 a.m. Saturday on ESPNU
North Texas at Texas Tech — 11 a.m. Saturday on FS1
West Virginia at Pittsburgh — 2:30 p.m. Saturday on ESPN2
No. 12 Utah at Utah State — 3:30 p.m. Saturday on CBSSN
Air Force at Baylor — 6:30 p.m. Saturday on FS1
Colorado at Colorado State — 6:30 p.m. Saturday on CBS
UCF at TCU — 6:30 p.m. Saturday on FOX
Rice at Houston — 7 p.m. Saturday on ESPN+
BYU at Wyoming — 8 p.m. Saturday on CBSSN

A common theme in the Big 12 this weekend includes Big 12 teams going on the road but staying in state. Oklahoma State, Cincinnati, Utah and Colorado are all doing that. There are also two games featuring a Big 12 team vs. another Big 12 team, but only one of those games will play into the Big 12 standings.

The action kicks off Thursday night when Arizona State’s impressive start to the 2024 season gets a solid test against Texas State. The Bobcats were picked second in the Sun Belt and started the season 2-0. Arizona State is also 2-0 after impressive wins against Wyoming and Mississippi State.

There are then two games in the conference on Friday. UNLV will head to Lawrence as the Jayhawks look to bounce back from a disappointing loss to Illinois.

Arizona and Kansas will play in a battle of ranked Big 12 teams, but the game won’t count toward conference standings, as it was scheduled before Arizona joined the conference. It might not count toward the road to Arlington, but this game ought to give everyone a decent idea about where these teams stand heading into conference play.

West Virginia has another nonconference rivalry game, this time it’s the Backyard Brawl against Pitt. The Panthers are looking to make it two wins against Big 12 teams in two weeks after beating Cincinnati.

Colorado and Colorado State will be a fun one. The Buffaloes held on against the Rams in double overtime last season in Boulder. This time, the Rams will host. The trash talk has already started from the Mountain West (future Pac-12) squad.

UCF and TCU will kick actual Big 12 play off in Fort Worth. The Knights are sneaking up into some dark horse talk after starting the season 2-0 with wins against New Hampshire and Sam Houston by a combined 102-17. TCU is also 2-0.

Houston will host in-city rival Rice. The Owls won this game in double overtime last season. Houston is 0-2 to start its 2024 campaign, but the Cougars nearly upset OU in Norman last week.

Saturday Selections

No. 4 Alabama at Wisconsin — 11 a.m. Saturday on FOX
No. 16 LSU at South Carolina — 11 a.m. Saturday on ABC
No. 24 Boston College at No. 6 Missouri — 11:45 a.m. on SEC Network
No. 9 Oregon at Oregon State — 2:30 p.m. on FOX
Tulane at No. 15 Oklahoma — 2:30 p.m. Saturday on ESPN
Texas A&M at Florida — 2:30 p.m. on ABC
Washington State at Washington — 2:30 p.m. on Peacock

When a top-five SEC team went into Big Ten country last week, it ended in SEC domination, as Texas rolled through Michigan. Alabama will have a chance to do something similar against a Wisconsin squad that is 2-0.

South Carolina started SEC play last week with a 31-6 win against Kentucky in Lexington. LSU will go to Columbia in what will be a rowdy environment.

Boston College beat Florida State in Tallahassee before throttling Duquesne 56-0. The Eagles hit the road to play No. 6 Missouri in a game that could shoot Boston College to the stratosphere if the Eagles fly back to Boston 3-0.

Oregon is 2-0, but the Ducks’ wins against Idaho and Boise State (both in Eugene) weren’t as clean as many would’ve expected. Now Oregon goes to Corvallis. The left-in-the-dust Beavers are 2-0 and will look for their fourth win in the Civil War since 2016.

Tulane nearly had Kansas State last weekend. The Green Wave are among the favorites of Group of Five schools to make the College Football Playoff. Tulane plays in Norman a week after the Sooners struggled against Houston, winning just 16-12.

Someone has to lose between Florida and Texas A&M, and whichever team does, the noise around that program will be loud. The loser will fall to 1-2.

The other Pacific Northwest Big Ten school will also play its in-state, stuck-in-the-Pac-12 counterpart. Don’t count out the Cougars in this one, as Wazzu is 2-0 this season after hanging 70 on Portland State and besting Texas Tech 37-16 last weekend.