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BURNING QUESTIONS

Five Week 3 Ponderings

1️⃣ Tennessee endured a tumultuous offseason. Was the Iamaleava-Aguilar “swap deal” a blessing in disguise?  

Current Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar is everything former Vols quarterback Nico Iamaleava wasn’t.

Aguilar was not a sterling, high-profile recruit. Instead, he took the scenic route to being a Power 5 quarterback, with stops at places like City College of San Francisco, Diablo Valley Community College, and Appalachian State. All before landing in Knoxville in an unprecedented “swap deal,” with Aguilar going from UCLA to Tennessee after the Bruins lured Iamaleava to LA.

From the outside, Aguilar seems thrilled to be wearing that particular shade of Tennessee orange. Meanwhile, from the outside, the only color Iamaleava and his camp seemed concerned with was money green.

I believe there were no winners in the Iamaleava situation. Tennessee lost a quarterback it had invested a lot in, monetarily and otherwise. Iamaleava himself appeared to get bad advice and was portrayed as being solely motivated by money, which doesn’t sit well even in today’s college football landscape. Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel was caught in the middle, forced to make a difficult decision that impacted his entire program. And the sheer concept of NIL was thrust into the national spotlight, not in a positive manner. 

Through two games, Aguilar looks comfortable and confident in Heupel’s system. The fanbase has rallied around him. And although untested thus far, Tennessee has more than a few reasons to believe it can make a serious repeat run back to the College Football Playoff.

Saturday will be the first true test of just how far Aguilar can carry the Vols. Georgia will roll into town like an angry storm cloud, ready to rain on Tennessee’s parade. But maybe, just maybe, Aguilar can be that silver lining the folks in Knoxville have been searching for. 

2️⃣ Can Georgia Tech overcome a talent advantage and sting star-laden Clemson? 

Late last November, Georgia Tech took seventh-ranked Georgia to the absolute brink.

The game had a little bit of everything: a fast start from Tech, a late rally from the Bulldogs, a flurry of timeouts from Kirby Smart, and a whopping eight overtime periods, culminating in an especially cruel finish, in a contest where it felt like there should be no loser. 

History remembers wins and losses, but that game was validation for Georgia Tech. It proved the Yellow Jackets belonged. That what Brent Key is building isn’t some gimmick, but something sustainable. 

This week’s matchup against Clemson is a stark dichotomy, with a roster built on overlooked three-stars squaring up against a sideline littered with five-star recruits and future NFL draft picks. The funny part is: I bet if you ask Brent Key, he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Clemson enters Saturday’s game still licking its wounds after a season-opening loss at home to Top 5-ranked LSU and a sluggish showing against Troy. Highly-touted quarterback Cade Klubnik has failed to live up to the billing thus far. The offense hasn’t generated enough explosive plays. Head coach Dabo Swinney has even been outspoken by his standards, making the preposterous claim that both his team and LSU played poorly in the season opener.

All this to say, I think Clemson is ripe for the taking. 

History favors the five stars. But if Georgia Tech plays with the same fire and brimstone it did last year against Georgia, Clemson could be the latest reminder that stars don’t always tell the whole story. 

3️⃣ Nearly two decades later, can West Virginia and Rich Rodriguez exorcise the Backyard Brawl ghosts of 2007? 

Back in 2007, a dozen eggs cost $1.68, the first iPhone made its debut, and West Virginia football was on the precipice of the BCS National Championship Game, if only for a brief moment.

Ranked No. 2 in the country, the Mountaineers entered the final week of the regular season as 28.5-point favorites over rival Pitt. Armed with the hottest coach in the country (Rich Rodriguez) and one of the most dynamic quarterbacks in college football (Pat White), the game felt straightforward. Win and you’re in.

What came next was one of the most shocking upsets in college football history. The Mountaineers lost five fumbles, missed two field goals, and had their star signal-caller knocked out of the game in the second quarter, resulting in a stunning 13-9 home loss. Soon after, Rodriguez was lured to Ann Arbor by Michigan, with the WVU Dynasty ending before it got started.

Three head coaching jobs and 18 years later, Rich Rodriguez is back at West Virginia, with the Mountaineers eyeing a big test against a familiar foe in Pitt.

West Virginia enters the game fresh off a Week 2 loss at Ohio, with a whole swath of new players and a coach trying to get back to his roots. Through the first two weeks, the Mountaineers have attempted to use duct tape and elbow grease to engineer a rushing attack. Pitt, on the other hand, rolled through its first two games and is led by returning starting quarterback Eli Holstein.

Pitt is the current betting favorite to win, and it's easy to see why. The Panthers possess way more continuity, more established quarterback play, and a coach who, with plenty of flaws, builds teams to play his style of football. Everything about this game screams a Pitt victory.

And yet, the beauty of this sport, and this rivalry in particular, is that when these two teams meet, none of that seems to matter. Because in the Backyard Brawl, there’s always a slim chance one of these teams has been playing possum. 

4️⃣ Is Saturday’s game against Texas A&M a must-win for Notre Dame?

Last season’s win over Texas A&M was supposed to springboard the Fighting Irish to heights untouched since the late 1980s. It was a statement victory, one where Notre Dame won at the lines of scrimmage and squeezed the life out of the Aggie offense.

This time around, however, the game has a different feel to it.

Notre Dame finds itself sitting at 0-1, fresh off an uncharacteristic bullying at the hands of Miami in Coral Gables. Now, with a new quarterback, lots of new defenders, and a new sense of urgency, I think it’s fair to ask: Is this a must-win game for Notre Dame’s College Football Playoff hopes? 

I think the answer is yes. 

Outside of A&M, the Fighting Irish have zero remaining games against ranked teams. Rankings will change. There’s a chance a team like USC, Boise State, or even Pitt could find itself in the Top 25 by the time they square off against Notre Dame. But that’s far from a given. 

Plus, with no conference championship game possibility to fall back on, it leaves even less room for error the rest of the way. Simply put, I’m not sure a two-loss Notre Dame team with no notable victories is a slam dunk for the College Football Playoff field.

Rarely do non-conference games in September have a now-or-never feel to them, but this one sure does.  

5️⃣ Is Cal quietly sitting on the best freshman quarterback in college football?

I’ll forgive you for skipping Cal’s late-night season debut. 

The Week 1 slate was loaded to the gills. For most people, this game fell off the radar. And to be quite honest, why shouldn’t it have? Cal had a disastrous offseason, notably losing damn-near its entire running back room to the transfer portal and enduring a coach-GM power struggle. All signs pointed toward a down year in Berkeley.

If the offseason was a warning sign, against Oregon State, a star was born. Former five-star freshman quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele dazzled in his debut, throwing for 234 yards and three touchdowns on 20 completions. His Week 1 highlight reel includes some jaw-dropping back-shoulder throws, where he effortlessly dropped balls in the bucket. He was so good against Oregon State that he earned a 95.5 PFF rating, the highest rating of any college quarterback in Week 1.

I’m not going to pretend to be a quarterback whisperer, incessant tape grinder, or draft evaluator. But I am a guy who watches a lot of college football. And through two weeks where so many young and inexperienced quarterbacks struggled in big spots, it felt notable that JKS has looked like the next big thing.

THE PODCAST

Your Week 3 Predictions Special is live!

Week 3 is loaded with chances to erase early disappointments. In this episode, Ty and Dan debate which teams have the most to prove in Week 3 before taking another look at the biggest games of the week.

They also dive into the marquee matchups, including Georgia-Tennessee in Knoxville, Florida-LSU in Tiger Stadium, and Texas A&M at Notre Dame, and take a spin around the rest of a loaded slate of games, featuring Clemson’s trip to Georgia Tech, the latest installment of the Backyard Brawl, USF’s quest for a third straight upset, and a tasty affair between Vandy and South Carolina.

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