Taylor McHargue: Three keys to Week 3 in college football

Who is Behind Center in College Station?

I don’t need to beat a dead horse on A&M’s loss at home to Appalachian State, so we’ll look ahead to this week’s matchup against No. 13 Miami. Jimbo Fisher stated multiple times this week that he and his staff with “evaluate everything” with regards to QB play, offensive play calling, and how to create more explosive plays. Focus for the Aggies will naturally gravitate towards the QB position as we have still not seen Max Johnson in extended action, and this may be the week it happens. If Miami jumps to an early lead and A&M remains stagnant on offense, do not be surprised if you see the LSU transfer enter the game in an effort to jump start this offense and get the season back on the tracks.

Texas Tech’s First Road Test For McGuire

The 2022 campaign couldn’t have started better for first time head coach Joey McGuire and Texas Tech after throttling Murray State in the opener and beating Houston in overtime last week. The Red Raiders now get their first road test and taste of a hostile environment against a ranked opponent in #18 NC State. The good news for the Red Raiders is the Wolfpack offense looked pedestrian in week 1 against an ECU team that they very nearly lost to. The bad news is NC State’s defense is allowing less than 275 yards per game of total offense. QB Donovan Smith played well in the second half and in overtime against Houston, but he will need to clean up the 3 interceptions if the Red Raiders have hopes of winning in Raleigh.

How Does Houston Bounce Back?

Houston opened with one of the more difficult non-conference schedules in the country through two games and will finally have their home opener this weekend against 2-0 Kansas. Now before UH fans jump all over me for this, I think Houston wins this game and I think they should do it by two scores. However…this is not the Kansas teams of years past that you could roll your helmet out and beat by 5 scores. The Jayhawks are coming off a road win in Morgantown (typically a very difficult place to get a Big 12 win) and are full of confidence. Dana will have his team ready to play, I’m virtually certain of that. But if the Cougars were to come out flat with a hangover from last weeks OT loss at Texas Tech they may very well find themselves in a hole against the Jayhawks. We’ll learn a lot about the maturity of this UH team after this week.