College Football Pick 'Em Pool Picks (Week 3) - Targets, Avoids, Predictions for ESPN Pickem Contests

Our Mike Marteny lays out the confidence points in ESPN College Pick Em for Week 3 of the 2023 NCAA college football season. Which upsets have the best chance of happening?

My attempt to "steal points" by going against the public in Week 2 backfired. I still ended up with a solid 46 points, but we had eight people in the group score 50 or more points, including a perfect week (55 points) from 50Centi. Congratulations!

The perfect week jumped 50Centi into second place with 91 points, two points behind grove town. kingrah23 is two points behind 50Centi. BKNoleGirl sits in fourth with 87 points. Momirka13 is one point back in fifth. dherman8, iksnivek, mr_richard, Addison, keepingthelittlehumansalive, and Madcity Guru round out the top 10. Only 10 points separate first place from 12th, so things can change in a hurry!

We have some interesting games this week, highlighted by Colorado/Colorado State. There is a lot of animosity even though that rivalry is one-sided. I'm more interested in the Backyard Brawl and the former Big 12 tilt of Missouri and K-State. Syracuse/Purdue and Virginia Tech/Rutgers look tough as well.

College Football Pick Em Overview

This article will be for the confidence game mode. You can also read my against-the-spread picks here every week for every game so you know how I'm leaning toward that version of the game. Each week, I will recap who's dominating the group before I get into the picks. If you're going to beat everyone, all of the readers will know about it!

Let's get to the countdown! I will count them up from least confident (1) to most (10). You know, for dramatic effect. If I do change my pick or points sometime during the week, I will try to update the article or post it on Twitter. Otherwise, you know all of my picks each week. Good luck out there. The first weeks are usually a bit easier, but that hasn't been the case over the first two weeks. There are some tough ones out there.

(1) Houston over TCU

TCU's run game could be a problem, but Houston did a good job against UTSA's run game in the opener and against Rice last week. Houston struggled in pass defense thanks in part to JT Daniels being on target most of the game. They don't have to worry about that with Chandler Morris. Houston is sitting at 8% right now. Stealing points didn't work last week, but I'm going to try it again here.

(2) Virginia Tech over Rutgers

Temple hung around into the fourth quarter when a parade of turnovers buried the Owls. This just feels like a game where the defense of the Hokies steps up. They did against Old Dominion and the Purdue game was just...weird. I'm going to side with the 16% on the Hokies. Northwestern and Temple aren't much of a barometer for Rutgers.

(3) Purdue over Syracuse

Funniest thing about the Virginia Tech-Purdue longest weather delay record game yesterday was my youngest walking into the room at 7:00pm, exclaiming, “OH MY GOSH, They are STILL PLAYING THE GAME?!? THEY MUST BE EXHAUSTED!!!” ?.

The last time she saw me watching the same…

— Eddie's Mind (@EddiesMind) September 10, 2023

Beating Virginia Tech in Blacksburg after a six-hour weather delay is more impressive to me than Syracuse getting cardio work done against Colgate and Western Michigan. Purdue has played two solid teams to open the season. That can only help them here.

(4) West Virginia over Pittsburgh

For those unfamiliar with the Backyard Brawl, let me set the record straight: this is a rivalry that's been simmering for over a century. This isn't some fabricated feud; the animosity between Pitt and WVU runs deep. They despise us, and we despise them. This isn't just a… pic.twitter.com/sGY0UeCEn3

— C.W. Lambert (@InsideTheBig12) September 12, 2023

It's the first Backyard Brawl in the state of West Virginia in a dozen years. They're ready. West Virginia lost the Brawl last year on an interception return for a touchdown by M.J. Devonshire late in the fourth quarter, making sure the fan base would never warm up to JT Daniels (who just beat Houston, by the way). I expect the Mountaineers to get revenge in Morgantown, but I'm not putting a lot of points on a rivalry if I can help it.

(5) LSU over Mississippi State

This is in StarkVegas, so I'm a little nervous about this. That said, it was everything the Bulldogs could do to escape an Arizona team that they were well on their way to blowing out. LSU, despite how poorly they played at times against Florida State, is much better than Arizona. The new-look Bulldogs are a bastardized version of the air raid right now. I'm not sure how well it will work against the LSU defense that is going to put at least half of them in the NFL within two years.

(6) Kansas State over Missouri

Kansas State & Missouri will meet for the 99th time this Saturday.

Kansas State hasn't won in Columbia since 2004.

Who wins - Wildcats or Tigers? pic.twitter.com/kIHb3aKcRb

— CFB • Matchup Info (@MatchupTracker) September 13, 2023

You see it there. The Wildcats haven't won in Columbia since 2004. Missouri has won 60 of the 98 meetings so far, but K-State had a 13-game winning streak that ended in 2005. Missouri enjoyed a five-game win streak after that before the Wildcats won the last two, including a 28-point thrashing of the Tigers in the Little Apple last year.

Missouri just struggled with a Middle Tennessee State team that Alabama took apart in Week 1. I see the Wildcats extending the win streak to three games.

(7) Tennessee over Florida

Tennessee just scored the least points in Neyland Stadium in a win under Josh Heupel (30) last week. The Gators throttled McNeese State after losing to a Utah team missing its starting quarterback and next NFL tight end. I do have questions about the Tennessee offense, but I have far more questions about the Florida offense.

(8) Fresno State over Arizona State

If the Sun Devils could ever get out of their own way, they would be a dangerous team. The sheer number of turnovers committed by both Arizona teams last weekend makes me sick for everyone who is a fan of those two schools. Fresno's win in West Lafayette is still pretty impressive. The Sun Devils can dream up new and exciting ways to lose this if it manages to stay close.

(9) North Carolina over Minnesota

Lord help me, but I think I might actually believe in this North Carolina defense. True freshman Darius Taylor has already commandeered the Minnesota backfield. I like Minnesota's defense, but they have played two terrible offenses in Nebraska and Eastern Michigan. The Tarheels aren't going to beat themselves. This one feels easy.

(10) Colorado over Colorado State

.@CollegeGameDay and @BNKonFOX both going to Colorado for… Colorado/Colorado State? Ok, this Colorado obsession is getting annoying now

— Adam Clem (@adam_clem88) September 12, 2023

The most exciting thing about this game is that ESPN College GameDay will be there instead of at the Backyard Brawl. They dropped the ball on this one. I doubt this is a game after halftime.

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