BYU, Utah to play much earlier than ever before
No. 18 West Virginia at Maryland (Saturday at noon on ESPNU)
The two schools are in separate conferences (for now), but that does little to dampen the intense rivalry between West Virginia and Maryland.
"I can remember when I was in here being announced as the head coach, I had people telling me that I had to beat West Virginia," Maryland coach Randy Edsall told reporters. "I understand the importance with them being a neighboring state, the rivalry that builds. We had a continuous rivalry for about 50 years that we played them. It's something that is very important. Even though they aren't in the ACC, it is a bordering state that has developed a great rivalry."
Kansas at Georgia Tech (Saturday at 12:30 p.m. on Raycom)
At 2-0, Paul Johnson's Yellow Jackets will look to go to 3-0 against a Kansas team that shocked them last fall in Lawrence, Kan.
"All in all, it was a good win to go on the road and get to 2-0 and the competition level will ratchet up this week," Johnson told reporters. "We have 2-0 Kansas coming in [that] beat us last year in Lawrence, and I think they're a better team now than they were then. We've still got a lot of work to do and hopefully we can continue on the progression of getting better. It's kind of what our goal is; to try to get better each week."
Washington at No. 11 Nebraska (Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on ABC)
This will be the third meeting in less than a calendar year between the Cornhuskers and Huskies. Nebraska won big in Seattle last fall before Washington got its revenge in a rare regular season rematch in the Holiday Bowl. Now the two programs will meet in Lincoln. Nebraska coach Bo Pelini said UW's attitude changed between the first two games, and he hopes the same will happen for his team now.
"It's changed a little bit. They played better," he told reporters. "I don't know. You'll have to ask them what their attitude was. I'm sure their pride was hurt the first game — same way ours was the second game."
No. 15 Michigan State at Notre Dame (Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on NBC)
At 0-2, what Notre Dame hoped would be a BCS season is fast slipping away. But coach Brian Kelly thinks his Fighting Irish are close as they prepare to host the 2-0 Spartans.
"But I tell them this: I said, I really believe that you haven't won a game yet, but you haven't been beaten," Kelly told reporters. "Last year we were beaten. We got beat by Michigan last year. As much as I don't like to say it, they beat us last year. We've really had a hand at beating ourselves, and that's the big difference. If we do not beat ourselves, we've got a chance to be the kind of football team that we all believe that we can be. I can see it. I've coached almost 250 football games. I can feel and see a football team coming together. They've got to take care of the football. They've got to execute better, and they will. I know it's just a matter of time for them."
No. 17 Ohio State at Miami (Fla.) (Saturday at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN)
Despite the recent scandals at both schools related to NCAA violations, Miami coach Al Golden doesn't think this meeting of traditional national powers has lost its luster.
"I mean, clearly we've both had some missteps here that we're trying to overcome. But that's not going to erase the tradition; that's not going to erase all the great players that have played here; that's not going to erase what the institutions mean," he told reporters. "And certainly, it's not going to diminish what it means to our fans and our alumni and football fans in the city of Miami and South Florida. Our job is to go out there and play hard, play with passion and play with energy, and get ourselves ready and prepared for this challenge, and that's really all we can focus on."
No. 1 Oklahoma at No. 5 Florida State (Saturday at 8 p.m. on ABC)
The Seminoles were waxed 47-17 by the Sooners in Norman, Okla., last season. FSU coach Jimbo Fisher said he now knows his team better, and hopes it can play better the second time around in this rare meeting of top-5 teams.
"Last year, being the second game we played, it was still — and interesting thing — going on the road, big game on road. I think we know our players better and they know us better," he told reporters. "They know our scheme better, and we know what they can do in our scheme better. We'll be able to coach them better. Hopefully we got better as a football team and throughout that time, which I think we did as the year went on. Hopefully, we'll be better this year. Great opportunity."
Utah at Brigham Young (Saturday at 9:15 p.m. on ESPN2)
With Utah's move to the Pac-12 and BYU's decision to become a football independent, the storied end-of-season rivalry game between the two schools has been moved to Week 3. As a result, both sides have a much smaller sample size of game film from which to plan for their opponent. BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said his team has watched the UCLA game tape to prepare for the "Holy War," as new Utah offensive coordinator Norm Chow was in Pasadena working for the Bruins last year.
"Knowing this is the third game where there will be some things that are a little different," Mendenhall told reporters. "We'll do our best to prepare and adjust. I'm not sure if there will be a play or two or a grouping of plays that we have to adjust on. You just do your best to predict it."