Best Games of College Football Week 3: Florida State & Colorado Survive, Florida Tops Tennessee, more

September 18, 2023

Dominick dives into the best games from Week 3 of the college football season. What were the five best games from the third week of the 2023 CFB season?

In a week in which not much was expected, there were still some good games around college football on Saturday.

We still had the usual blowouts with Penn State and LSU, but there were some great early slate games in Florida State vs. Boston College and Missouri upsetting Kansas State.

Let’s look at a few of the games that gave us a decent week of college football. Man, this game is fun!

No. 3 Florida State Seminoles: 31, Boston College Eagles: 29

Florida State came into this game as a 25.5-point favorite over the dreadful Boston College Eagles who barely prevailed over Holy Cross in Week 2. But Boston College came out as the team with its hair on fire in this game.

Taking motivation from this game being the Red Bandana game which is dedicated to a Boston College hero from 9/11, the Eagles came out strong and jumped quickly out to a 10-3 lead. Unfortunately for the Eagles, they could not get out of their own way with penalties and 12 first-half flags caused them to go down 24-10 before the blink of an eye.

After Jordan Travis was hurt at the end of the first half, it was not known whether he would be ready to play the rest of the game. Fortunately, he was and he had a touchdown early in the second half to extend the lead of the Seminoles. Unfortunately, this was all FSU could muster and despite terrible coaching by Jeff Hafley, Boston College made enough plays to get back within two points with just over 2 minutes left in the contest.

All FSU had to do was run out the clock, but they were almost unable to do it. Because of the 18th and most costly Boston College flag, the Seminoles had a first down with 1:30 left and no timeouts for Boston College. After seven false start penalties and 10 other flags, this final flag cost BC what would have been their first win over a top-five team ever at home. Instead, it falls to 0-18 against top-five teams at home and the Seminoles get a wake-up call before heading to Clemson on Saturday for a game that will go a long way in deciding the ACC in 2023.

As for Boston College. It has a lot to work on when it comes to discipline. After 20 penalties in the first two games, it had an additional 18 in this game. This is not all about the players. It also has a lot to do with coaching. Something the Eagles will need to fix this offseason. However, the team should be encouraged by the play of its sophomore QB Thomas Castellanos.

Filthy, Filthy, Filthy move from Thomas Castellanos 🥶 pic.twitter.com/mTc5hVRtw5

— Brandon Carr (@bcarr_13) September 16, 2023

Not only did he limit turnovers, but he also ran for the TD which got the Eagles within two points at the end of the game. He did all he could to keep Boston College in this contest. It should bod well for the games against teams not to the level of FSU. This may not be what the Eagles fans want to hear. But it is what Boston College is currently -- a 5-7 to 7-5 team who will hope to make a bowl game.

Missouri Tigers: 30, No. 15 Kansas State Wildcats: 27

Coming into this game as a 4.5-point favorite, the Kansas State Wildcats were hoping not to become this week’s upset special. Unfortunately, Missouri had other plans.

After a 61-yard field goal to win the game at the buzzer, Kansas State became the first ranked opponent Missouri has beaten at home since 2013. While this will do nothing to hurt the Wildcats in the Big-12 race, it could affect its confidence heading into conference play -- play which starts next Saturday against newcomer UCF.

Missouri, after driving down the field on the final drive, set up for a 56-yard field goal. After taking a delay of game penalty due to not having any timeouts left, Missouri Coach Eliah Drinkwitz decided to send out his kicker anyhow. He drilled the kick and Missouri won the game.

Quarterback Brady Cook kept Missouri in this game from the start. 23 for 35 for 356 yards and two touchdowns for Cook led Missouri to stay in the game against a Wildcats defense which came into the game highly regarded. Cook diced them up and he allowed them to win despite rushing the ball 28 times for only 74 yards.

MISSOURI WINS IT ON A 61 YARD FIELD GOAL 😱 pic.twitter.com/GAnr2jeqLX

— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) September 16, 2023

Missouri will look to retain this high as it faces Memphis next week before entering the SEC competition. Memphis will be coming off extra rest after beating Navy 28-24 Thursday and this will be a big game for the Tigers against an SEC team. The Tigers of Columbia must make sure not to have a letdown or Memphis is good enough to take them down and ruin what could be.

Florida Gators: 29, No. 9 Tennessee Volunteers: 16

Tennessee can still not figure out The Swamp. It has now been 20 years since the Vols last won in Gainesville in 2003. This game, with these two teams going in differing directions, could be the most shocking of them all.

Tennessee, who entered as 6.5-point favorites came out strong Saturday. An opening drive touchdown made it 7-0 and it looked like the rout was on. But then it ended.

Florida used a stifling defense to confuse quarterback Joe Milton and the coaching staff of Tennessee. Even a late-game touchdown from Milton to Bru McCoy could not make this game competitive. On top of the defense, Florida used a career game from running back Trevor Etienne to seal the win.

23 carries for 172 yards and a 62-yard TD run, all career highs, showed the talent Florida has and the backfield. This will be crucial moving forward as Graham Mertz struggled again with just 166 passing yards in the win.

TREVOR ETIENNE TURNED ON THE JETS‼️ pic.twitter.com/WRVvl8xgoE

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 16, 2023

Both teams will leave this game and take on lesser opponents next week. Tennessee will host UTSA who has struggled to a 1-2 record while Florida will host Biff Poggi and Charlotte. While Poggi might have more money than anyone in the state of Florida, his team does not match up with the Gators. The only concern for the Gators will be not having the proverbial letdown in a spot after a big rivalry win.

No. 18 Colorado Buffaloes: 43, Colorado State Rams: 35

If ever you can come out of a win with a loss, this might be the case for Colorado.

Despite battling back from an 11-point deficit to win a 2 OT thriller, coach Prime stated in his press conference that all everything Travis Hunter will likely miss the next two games due to a flagrant late hit by Colorado State defender Henry Blackburn.

This injury marred what should have been a remarkable celebration for a Buffaloes team that took hits in this game and proved they are more than just front runners, something they have been thus far in the season.

After scoring 14 points in the first quarter, Colorado failed to score again until the fourth quarter.  But Shedeur Sanders, who himself struggled, was able to lead Colorado on a 98-yard, game-tying touchdown drive late to send the game to overtime.

After trading touchdowns in the first extra period, Colorado scored and converted a 2-point conversion to win. While Jimmy Horn Jr. and wide receiver Xavier Weaver each had a touchdown catch, this week belonged to TE Mikey Harrison who finished with two touchdowns and the game-tying 2-point conversion to send the game to overtime.

COLORADO WINS IT pic.twitter.com/nJc8klu2iS

— Bussin' With The Boys (@BussinWTB) September 17, 2023

Colorado will find difficult sledding in the next two weeks. With or without Hunter, Colorado will be underdogs against Oregon next week in Eugene and the following week back home against USC.