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College Football

Week 3 Injury Update

VegasInsider Staff
VegasInsider Staff Sports Betting Expert
6 minute read
Week 2 Rewind | VI Top 25 Rankings

Before getting into the weather conditions that’ll impact Week 3 games on the East Coast and especially the Carolinas, let’s get you caught up on the most important injuries effecting a bunch of teams moving forward…

-- Oklahoma star RB Rodney Anderson is out for the season with a knee injury sustained in his team’s home win over UCLA this past Saturday. Anderson was a second-team All-Big-12 selection last year when he ran for 1,161 yards and 13 touchdowns with a 6.2 yards-per-carry average. He also had 17 catches for 281 yards and five TDs as a freshman. Anderson had 119 rushing yards and three TDs on just 11 attempts (10.8 YPC) so far this year. The Sooners are in revenge mode Saturday at Iowa St., which won 38-31 in Norman last year as a 31-point underdog. Also, junior starting DT Marquise Overton (appendix) is ‘out’ for OU. Overton had 43 tackles, three tackles for loss and one QB hurry in 2017.

-- OU isn’t the only team that lost its star RB in Week 2. Minnesota’s Rodney Smith also went down with a season-ending knee injury. Smith, a fifth-year senior, will apply for a sixth year of eligibility and P.J. Fleck told the media on Monday that he fully expects the NCAA to grant him another season. Smith ran for 977 yards and three TDs in ’17, averaging 4.3 YPC.

-- There are four QBs that have already been ruled ‘out’ for Week 3. Let’s start with Iowa State’s Kyle Kempt, who orchestrated the aforementioned upset at OU last year by completing 18-of-24 throws for 343 yards and three TDs without an interception. Kempt sustained a knee injury that’ll keep him on the sidelines for at least one game in his team’s 13-3 loss at Iowa this past Saturday. Kempt led the Cyclones to their first bowl bid since 2012 in ’17 when he threw for 1,787 yards (66.3% completions) with a 15/3 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Sophomore Zeb Noland is expected to get his second career start. Noland completed just 4-of-10 passes for 43 yards in relief of Kempt at Iowa.

-- Duke captured a bittersweet 21-7 win at Northwestern as a short underdog this past Saturday. Junior QB Daniel Jones injured his left clavicle and underwent surgery Sunday. He is out indefinitely. Jones has started 27 games in a row since the day he stepped on campus as a freshman. He had completed 29-of-39 passes (74.4%) for 389 yards and four TDs without an interception through two games. Jones has 5,916 career passing yards and a 34/20 TD-INT ratio. He also has 1,044 career rushing yards and 15 TDs. Unfortunately for David Cutcliffe, this wasn’t the only key injury for the Blue Devils. Junior CB Mark Gilbert had season-ending hip surgery on Sunday. He was a first-team All-ACC selection in ’17 when he had 35 tackles, 15 passes broken up, six interceptions and three TFL’s. Gilbert was a fourth-team All-American pick in Phil Steele’s preseason magazine, while Steele had senior safety Jeremy McDuffie as a preseason third-team All-ACC selection. McDuffie, who was a third-team All-ACC choice last year when he tallied 57 tackles, nine PBU, three interceptions, on pick-six, one QB hurry and 0.5 TFL’s, is listed as ‘questionable’ Saturday at Baylor due to an undisclosed injury. And finally, WR Aaron Young is also a question mark with an undisclosed issue. Young had 16 catches for 219 yards and one TD in ’17.

-- San Diego State senior QB Christian Chapman (13/4 TD-INT in ’17) is ‘out’ for the next 3-6 weeks with a sprained MCL sustained in his team’s 28-14 home win. The Aztecs will play host to unbeaten Arizona St. on Saturday.

-- New Mexico QB Tevaka Tuioti is ‘out’ Saturday at New Mexico St. due to a concussion. Also, back-up QB Coltin Gerhart is a ‘questionable’ with a foot injury.

-- There also a bunch of QBs listed as ‘questionable’ in Week 3, including Illinois signal caller A.J. Bush, Nebraska’s Adrian Martinez (knee), Rutgers’s Artur Sitkowski (arm), Texas Tech’s McLane Carter (ankle) and Southern Cal’s J.T. Daniels (hand).

-- Ole Miss WR DaMarkus Lodge missed this past week’s 76-41 home win over Southern Illinois due to concussion symptoms. He is still in concussion protocol and day to day. Lodge had 41 receptions for 698 yards and seven TDs last season. He had six catches for 96 yards in a 47-27 win over Texas Tech in the Rebels’ opener.

-- Florida was without its two best defensive players, LB David Reese and DE CeCe Jefferson, in Saturday’s 27-16 home loss vs. Kentucky. Reese, a fourth-team preseason All-American in Steele’s mag, has missed the first two games with a high-ankle sprain sustained in late August. Jefferson has been suspended for the first two UF games. Dan Mullen said he expects both players to be ready for Saturday’s home game vs. Colorado St. However, starting sophomore CB Marco Wilson was lost to a season-ending ACL tear in the first quarter vs. UK. Wilson started all 11 games as a true freshman last year.

-- Washington All-American OT Trey Adams had surgery on his injured back last week. He is out indefinitely and will more than likely miss the entire season.

-- Fresno State sophomore OT Netane Muti, who started 13 of 14 games in '17 and was a preseason third-team All-MWC pick in Steele's mag, tore his Achilles in Saturday's loss at Minnesota and will miss the rest of the year.

-- Georgia Tech RB KirVonte Benson is 'questionable' at Pittsburgh after leaving Saturday's loss at USF with a leg injury. Benson rushed for 1,053 yards and six TDs with a 5.2 YPC average in '17. QB TaQuon Marshall also left the USF game injured, but he's 'probable' against the Panthers.

-- South Carolina's best defensive lineman, D.J. Wonnum, is expected to miss about four weeks with a ligament tear in his ankle. Wonnum didn't play vs. UGA. He had 56 tackles, seven TFL's, six sacks, five PBU and two QB hurries last year. DB Nick Harvey, a grad transfer from Texas A&M, was suspended for the loss to UGA and is 'questionable' vs. Marshall.

As for the weather, Hurricane Florence was upgraded to a Category 4 on Monday with the governors of South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia ordering mandatory evacuations for those along the coast starting Tuesday. Coastal Carolina has already moved its game vs. Campbell to Wednesday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. Eastern.

South Carolina is scheduled to host Marshall on Saturday, but classes at the school have already been cancelled indefinitely starting tomorrow. Clemson is slated to play Georgia Southern at home, while North Carolina is preparing for UCF in Chapel Hill. As for Duke, it is on the road at Baylor.

East Carolina is at Virginia Tech in Week 3, so that’s another game that could be impacted. Virginia is set to host Ohio. Whether these games get moved to a different day or postponed remains to be seen and if they’re played, weather could be an important factor.

Follow Brian Edwards' sports gambling opinions on Twitter at @vegasbedwards.

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