Let’s be honest: It isn’t the most tantalizing, blockbuster slate of games this weekend, with only two ranked matchups. But there are some rivalries and pairings that should help to define (or expose?) a number of teams that have been tough to pin down through the first couple of games. And as we see just about every week in college football, there’s always something unexpected on the menu.

Here are the top 10 games of Week 3, starting with a few honorable mentions and counting down.

Honorable Mention: UNLV at Kansas (Fri.), No. 18 Notre Dame at Purdue, No. 1 Georgia at Kentucky, Colorado at Colorado State, UCF at TCU

(All point spreads come from BetMGM; click here for live odds. All kickoff times are Eastern and on Saturday unless otherwise noted.)

10. Washington State (2-0) at Washington (2-0), 3:30 p.m., Peacock

So …. the Pac-12 is back? Sort of? Still, this game is a too-soon reminder of those realignment scars. The Apple Cup is supposed to be played after Thanksgiving, with some Pac-12 implications on the line. Saturday won’t be that, though at least we’re still getting the rivalry. Quarterback Will Rogers and running back Jonah Coleman have looked solid under new Washington coach Jedd Fisch, but beware of a meaningful upset for Wazzu. Quarterback John Mateer has been a dual-threat dynamo (467 passing yards, 252 rushing yards, 8 total TDs) and should give the Cougars a chance on the road.

Line: Washington -4.5

9. Tulane (1-1) at No. 15 Oklahoma (2-0), 3:30 p.m., ESPN

The Green Wave almost took down Kansas State last weekend in New Orleans, derailed by a controversial offensive pass interference that wiped out a late touchdown. The Sooners labored to a 16-12 win over a Houston squad that lost 27-7 at home to UNLV in Week 1. Oklahoma was outgained on offense and needed a late safety to stave off the Coogs, with quarterback Jackson Arnold completing 19 of 32 passes for just 174 yards. The Sooners enter the weekend a top 15 team, but start a stacked SEC schedule next weekend when they host Tennessee and can’t afford a nonconference letdown. Tulane isn’t out of the race for that Group of 5 Playoff spot just yet, but probably needs to run the table.

Line: Oklahoma -13.5

8. No. 16 LSU (1-1) at South Carolina (2-0), noon, ABC

Everyone focused on the misleading Alabama–South Florida final score, but it also took LSU until midway through the fourth quarter to put away Nicholls. Quarterback Garrett Nussmeier put up strong numbers (302 yards, 6 TDs), but the offense struggled to establish the run with John Emery Jr. hurt, and the defense gave up back-to-back 13-play touchdown drives and a 67-yard touchdown run. The Tigers need to find a rhythm against a similarly confounding South Carolina. The Gamecocks scraped past Old Dominion in Week 1 then dominated Kentucky on the road last Saturday, allowing under 200 yards. So … good luck predicting this one.

Line: LSU -7

7. Texas A&M (1-1) at Florida (1-1), 3:30 p.m., ABC

Billy Napier’s hot seat got some time off in a 45-7 win over Samford, a game that presented Napier’s best shot at salvaging things in Gainesville. True freshman quarterback DJ Lagway set a school record with 456 passing yards and three touchdowns, starting in place of the injured Graham Mertz. The five-star prospect and top-three recruit in the 2024 class has injected a ray of hope into a season and program that felt derailed by the opening loss to Miami. Napier said this week that both quarterbacks will play (a Florida tradition!), so watch how the snaps get distributed against A&M. Because any chance of Napier having a future in The Swamp likely depends on Lagway being the real deal, right away.

Line: Texas A&M -4.5

6. West Virginia (1-1) at Pitt (2-0), 3:30 p.m., ESPN2

Neither team is ranked. Neither is among the top contenders in their respective conference. But we love a spicy rivalry, and the Backyard Brawl certainly qualifies. The teams split this matchup the past two years, and WVU needs a road win to avoid a disappointing 1-2 start. West Virginia ran all over FCS Albany last week in a 49-14 victory, but the Mountaineers did allow 306 passing yards after struggling to contain Drew Allar and Penn State. Pitt threw for 302 yards in a wild 21-point second-half comeback victory at Cincinnati.

Line: West Virginia -2

5. No. 24 Boston College (2-0) at No. 6 Missouri (2-0), 12:45 p.m., SEC Network

An unexpected ranked showdown, at the SEC Network’s quirky kickoff time. Credit to new BC head coach Bill O’Brien, who followed the upset of Florida State with a 56-0 shutout of Duquesne and has breathed new life into the Eagles. It’s a coach-program pairing that makes all sorts of sense. But the headliner is a Mizzou squad that has climbed to No. 6 after outscoring its opponents 89-0 across two games. The Tigers’ schedule is manageable by SEC standards — no Georgia, Ole Miss, Tennessee or LSU — but they now have a surprise chance at a Top-25 win before entering league play. It’s also a chance to get wide receiver Luther Burden III going after seven catches for 64 yards through two blowout wins.

Line: Missouri -17

4. No. 9 Oregon (2-0) at Oregon State (2-0), 3:30 p.m., Fox

A more interesting rivalry matchup than we anticipated a couple of weeks ago. The Beavers and new head coach Trent Bray are coming off a 21-0 win over San Diego State, and Idaho transfer QB Gevani McCoy has shown promise. The Ducks, after slogging through a 10-point win over Idaho, McCoy’s former team, needed a fourth-quarter comeback and last-second field goal to beat Boise State and Ashton Jeanty at home. Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel has been very efficient — he’s completed 84.3 percent of his passes through two games — but allowing 221 rushing yards to Jeanty and the Broncos may have exposed some defensive issues that could hinder the Ducks once Big Ten play ratchets up.

Line: Oregon -16.5

3. Memphis (2-0) at Florida State (0-2), noon, ESPN

This was supposed to be a tilt between one of the top Group of 5 teams and an ACC contender. Memphis has held up its end of the bargain, but FSU desperately needs a win to hold the sky in place. Unfortunately for the Tigers, a win or close loss no longer burnishes that G5 Playoff resume in any significant way. The Seminoles are coming off an idle week and still have plenty of time to turn the vibes around, but very little about the performances against Georgia Tech and BC suggest they will have their way with Memphis and QB Seth Henigan. The Tigers can either make a statement with a resounding win or bruise those Playoff hopes with a loss.

Line: Florida State -6.5

2. No. 4 Alabama (2-0) at Wisconsin (2-0), noon, Fox

Bama, a 30.5-point favorite over USF last week, did end up winning by 26. But the 42-16 final score was a deceptive margin of victory for what was a 14-13 game entering the fourth quarter. The Tide have some things to clean up, but so does Wisconsin, which hasn’t exactly inspired in wins over Western Michigan and South Dakota. The Badgers are still finding their way in year two under Luke Fickell, and how they fare on Saturday, win or lose, could reveal a lot about the vibes in Madison. Quarterback Tyler Van Dyke (60.3 percent completion, 6.4 yards per attempt, 1 passing TD) and the Wisconsin offense need to be far more explosive for what our Wisconsin writer Jesse Temple writes could be “the most significant nonconference home clash in program history.” Jesse has you covered on the 1928 matchup, too.

Line: Alabama -16.5

1. No. 20 Arizona (2-0) at No. 14 Kansas State (2-0), Friday, 8 p.m., Fox

We’ve got Wildcats against Wildcats under the Friday night lights. And even though this is the first leg of a nonconference series that was scheduled prior to realignment, it should help set the tone for Big 12 play. After hanging 61 points on New Mexico while Tetairoa McMillan hauled in 304 receiving yards, Zona then had some trouble in a 22-10 win over Northern Arizona, including just two catches for 11 yards for TMac. Regardless, the special connection between him and quarterback Noah Fifita should keep Arizona in the Big 12 title race. Kansas State is in that mix too, though the close call against Tulane highlighted a group that hasn’t totally found its groove. Dual-threat quarterback Avery Johnson looked more comfortable throwing the ball last Saturday, but the main concern is a defense that gave up 342 passing yards to the Green Wave and now has to defend one of the best receivers in college football.

Line: Kansas St. -7.5

 (Photo of Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson: Peter Aiken / Getty Images)

In the hours since Tua Tagovailoa suffered his third diagnosed concussion in two years, many people — including the Las Vegas Raiders’ coach and a number of former players — suggested that the Miami Dolphins quarterback would be best off calling it a career at age 26.

Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel wishes they would stop talking about Tagovailoa’s future, even though he understands that such comments are made with the best of intentions.

“I totally understand it, and it’s not misplaced. I totally get how that’s where people want to go to,” McDaniel told reporters Friday, the day after Tagovailoa suffered a concussion after running into Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin during the third quarter of the Dolphins’ 31-10 loss on “Thursday Night Football.”

“I just wish that people would for a second hear what I’m saying, that bringing up his future is not in the best interest of him. So, I’m gonna plead with everybody that does genuinely care that, that should be the last thing on your mind.”

McDaniel said he tried calling Tagovailoa around 9 a.m., but the player still was asleep. The third-year coach said he hasn’t even begun to think about how long Tagovailoa will be out or what that means for his team.

“All the science behind concussions tells you … how delicate the time is right after an injury and how important it is that you don’t institute extra sources of anxiety,” McDaniel said. “So from my vantage point, I feel it’s supremely important that … I’m not giving off any sort of vibes, I’m not trying to even look at, OK, well how serious is this relative to his past ones?

“I know the facts are that it’s important that he gets healthy day by day. And in that, the best thing I can do is not try to assess what this even means from a football standpoint.”

McDaniel was then asked how realistic he thinks it would be for Tagovailoa to consider retirement.

“It would be so wrong of me to even sniff that subject,” McDaniel said, “and it’s more in line of actually caring about the human being. You’re talking about his career, right? His career is his, you know?”

He added: “If I were to answer that question, I’d be, ‘All right, these are my thoughts on his career,’ and he read it — if he agreed with it or he disagreed with it, either way I just made him worse. I don’t think it’s appropriate. … When you’re talking about somebody’s career, it probably is only fair that their career should be decided by them.”

Raiders coach Antonio Pierce told reporters “I’ll be honest, I’d tell him to retire. It’s not worth it,” and other former players offered similarly strong opinions.

Retired quarterback Robert Griffin III agreed with McDaniels’ thoughts. He posted a portion of the Miami coach’s comments on social media and wrote: “Mike McDaniel GETS IT. His response on whether Tua Tagovailoa should retire is worth 2 min of your time.”

Manti Te’o, a former NFL linebacker and friend of Tagovailoa’s, said Friday during an emotional discussion on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football”: “I just hope that he makes the right decision…. I’m not going to make the decision for you. I’m not saying to step away from the game. As a brother, I just want the best for you and whatever that looks like for Tua and the Tagovailoa family, that’s what I want for him.”

On Saturday against Brentford, Erling Haaland will attempt to do something nobody has managed since 1946.

The Manchester City striker has scored hat-tricks in his previous two Premier League games and if he can get another at the Etihad Stadium against Thomas Frank’s side this weekend, he will join a very exclusive list of players.

One player getting three goals in three consecutive English top-flight matches has only happened four times — and three of them were before 1930.

Here, The Athletic tells the stories of those four occasions, and the men the 24-year-old Norway international is hoping to emulate.

Opponents: Liverpool, Leicester City, West Ham United

Osborne, Tottenham’s centre-forward, played 26 times for them in all competitions in the 1924-25 season… and didn’t score a single goal.

That summer, the offside law was changed — the number of opposition players needed to be in front of the attacker to make them onside was reduced from three to two. Unsurprisingly, this led to higher-scoring matches and more opportunities for Osborne and his fellow forwards (the goals-per-game rate for the 1925-26 English top flight was 3.69, up from 2.58 a season earlier).

The England international (three caps and zero goals at that point) scored twice away against Sheffield United in his first game of that 1925-26 season. Three more goals came in his next 10 matches, ahead of Liverpool’s visit to White Hart Lane on October 24, where the 29-year-old claimed a hat-trick as Tottenham ran out 3-1 winners.

A week later, in their next match, Osborne — who had been born near Cape Town in what is now South Africa — scored another three goals away against Leicester. Tottenham lost that one 5-3, making it the only instance on this list of a player’s hat-trick coming in a defeat.

The following Saturday, November 7, Osborne became the first player in English top-flight history to score a hat-trick in three consecutive games as Tottenham won 4-2 at home against West Ham.

Osborne is the only of these four players who didn’t score four goals in at least one of the matches in question and is also the only one who didn’t get a hat-trick against Arsenal as part of their treble of trebles.

He failed to find the net in Tottenham’s next league game against Newcastle United and scored just one more top-flight hat-trick in his career: against Newcastle in January 1928 (four goals).

However, Osborne’s form in 1925-26 — he finished the season with 25 goals in 39 league appearances — did earn him an international recall and he got a hat-trick against Belgium in the May. It was the first time an England player had scored three times in a game since the First World War.

Tom Jennings, for Leeds United in 1926

Opponents: Arsenal, Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers 

Scotsman Jennings scored three hat-tricks in a row to take Leeds from 16th place up to seventh across the early autumn of the 1926-27 season.

The forward joined the Yorkshire club from Scottish side Raith Rovers in 1925 and in his first full season (1925-26), he played every league game, scoring 26 goals.

The then 24-year-old started the 1926-27 season with three goals in seven league matches and then, on September 25, found the net three times against visitors Arsenal as Leeds ran out 4-1 winners. Led by manager Arthur Fairclough, they then travelled to Anfield on October 2 and Jennings put four past Liverpool goalkeeper Arthur Riley, two goals in each half, to help his side win 4-2.

GO DEEPER

The 1934 book that shows most ‘modern’ football complaints have been around for a century

A week later, Jennings got another four-goal haul as Leeds beat Blackburn Rovers 4-1 at Elland Road.

In Leeds’ next league game, away against Leicester, Jennings scored twice but couldn’t quite manage to make it four in a row, as they were beaten 3-2. This remains the closest anyone has come to scoring four consecutive hat-tricks in the English top flight.

Jennings finished that season with 37 goals in all competitions (35 coming in the league). This total has only been bettered twice in Leeds’ history — both times by John Charles (43 in 1953-54 and 39 in 1956-57), though for the first of those seasons, Leeds were in the Second Division.

The club’s good run quickly ended after Jennings’ three hat-tricks though, with Fairclough’s side only winning six of their final 32 league games and getting relegated.

Dixie Dean, for Everton in 1928

Opponents: Burnley, Arsenal, Bolton Wanderers

Arguably the greatest goalscorer in English footballing history, Dean scored 60 times in the 1927-28 First Division for Everton. No other player — before or since — has even found the net 50 times in an English top-flight campaign.

Dixie Dean leading Everton out – and setting a target for Haaland (Barker/Getty Images)

Dean, who only turned 21 in the January of that season, played in 39 of Everton’s league games and scored in 29 of them. He hit seven hat-tricks and his goals helped the club win the title for the first time in 13 years.

He made it to the 60-goal mark by scoring seven times in the final two games of the season — four at Burnley on April 28 in a 5-3 win and then three at home to Arsenal a week later in a 3-3 draw. This meant he finished the campaign with successive hat-tricks.

Then, on the opening day of the 1928-29 season, Everton won 3-2 away against Bolton Wanderers, with Dean scoring all three to make it a hat-trick of hat-tricks. The England international then failed to score against The Wednesday (now Sheffield Wednesday, who would go on to win the title) in Everton’s next match.

This is the only one of the four instances of three consecutive hat-tricks that was spread across two seasons.

Overall, Dean scored a record 30 hat-tricks in the top division of English football. Haaland has eight, so needs another 23 to surpass this mark. Dean averaged a hat-trick every 12.1 games during his top-flight career in England (30 in 362 appearances) and the Norwegian is averaging one every 8.6 matches (eight in 69 games).

Jack Balmer, for Liverpool in 1946

Opponents: Portsmouth, Derby County, Arsenal

The 1946-47 season was the first to be completed in the English League since the outbreak of the Second World War, and its top flight consisted of the same 22 clubs who had been competing in the 1939-40 version when it was abandoned after each team had played three games.

Liverpool went on to win the title for the first time in 24 years, powered by strikers Balmer and Albert Stubbins, who both scored 24 goals in the league. Ten of Balmer’s 24 (42 per cent) came in three consecutive games in the November.

The then 30-year-old — Balmer is the oldest player on this list — scored all three at Anfield in a 3-0 win against Portsmouth on November 9, before hitting four in 17 minutes away to Derby a week later as George Kay’s side triumphed 4-1. Then, on November 23 in a 4-2 home victory against Arsenal, Balmer completed a feat that hasn’t been emulated in the almost 78 years since by scoring a third consecutive hat-trick.

He scored once in the next game away at Blackpool and hit another four goals before Christmas, but after that his form dropped off and from December 25 to the end of the season he scored just four times in 19 league games (after registering 20 in 20 before that date).

These were the only three hat-tricks that Balmer, who played for Liverpool for his entire career from 1935 to 1952, making over 300 appearances, ever scored.

Haaland contributing to his hat-trick against Ipswich (Michael Regan/Getty Images)

Haaland has been in this position before.

Near the start of the 2022-23 Premier League season, his first with City, he scored back-to-back hat-tricks at home against Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest, but could only find the net once in their next game, away against Aston Villa.

Yet with a rampant City playing Brentford at home on a Saturday at 3pm (Haaland has 17 goals from his 13 league appearances at the Etihad at that kick-off time) there is a genuine possibility he will join Osborne, Jennings, Dean and Balmer.

It would be a remarkable achievement, and one we would be highly unlikely to see again for a very long time.

Over to you, Erling.

GO DEEPER

Erling Haaland is getting even better

(Top photo: Haaland after his hat-trick against West Ham; Catherine Ivill/AMA via Getty Images)