College football rolls on into Week 3, and the first wave of heavyweight conference matchups is upon us. For teams in the Big 12 and ACC, especially, a trip to the conference championship is a lifeline. Win the game and -- short of a bizarre 8-5 Duke championship season last year -- you make the field.
It supercharges every single week of competition, even for those outside of playoff favorites Texas Tech and Miami. In the Group of Six, proving your mettle against fellow playoff contenders and other ranked opponents means everything. It doesn't even necessarily take an outright victory.
And of course, there's an SEC headliner ready to take center stage as LSU coach Lane Kiffin prepares to lead his Tigers into The Grove to take on Ole Miss. With that said, here are six games in Week 3 with major implications for the College Football Playoff and beyond. What more needs to be said about this game?
It's a serious top-10 matchup in the Grove, one of the biggest home games in Ole Miss history. It features perhaps the nation's best quarterback, Ole Miss' Trinidad Chambliss, against LSU's elite defense. The winner of this game has a very manageable path to reach the SEC Championship Game and beyond.
The loser could quickly find themselves out of contention. And oh, by the way, LSU coach Lane Kiffin used to coach at Ole Miss. The first big test for these two programs comes on a Friday night in Lubbock.
The Red Raiders are off to a slow start, but remain favored to win the Big 12. The Cougars represent potentially their biggest test of the entire season, and it comes to start Big 12 play during a short week. Houston has earned a spot as the consensus No. 3 in the Big 12 coming into the year following a 10-win season and 2-0 start.
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