LIBERTY REPORT: Week 3 picks

Last week's record: 18-5
Season record: 38-8

BIG SOUTH

Saturday's games

Coastal Carolina at Monmouth: With only six days to recover from the heartbreaking loss to Colgate at home, how do the Chanticleers respond on the road? Monmouth is also coming off two tough losses, losing to Rhode Island and Maine by a combined seven points. Coastal's run defense is suspect, and Monmouth's David Sinisi is averaging 6.4 yards per carry. Monmouth 24, Coastal Carolina 20

Charleston Southern at Miami of Ohio: CSU looked better than I thought they would against Wofford, but the Bucs have zero chance in this one. Miami's in a back-against-the-wall sort of situation after losing its first two games. Miami 34, Charleston Southern 7

No. 21 Liberty at Western Carolina: The pressure is on Liberty a bit here. A loss in this game would be a disaster and wreck any hopes the Flames have of making it to the FCS playoffs. Western will put up a good fight, but Liberty's offense will be too much for the Catamounts to handle. Liberty 35, Western Carolina 20

Presbyterian at No. 15 Elon: I just get the feeling that Presbyterian will play in a lot of these 42-35 type of games this season. The Blue Hose are that potent on offense and that suspect on defense. Elon looked solid in taking down up-and-coming Stony Brook last week. Elon 48, Presbyterian 30

Stony Brook at Maine: Maine needed to rally to beat Monmouth last week, and Stony Brook's execution was flawed in its loss to Elon. The Seawolves have never beaten a full-scholarship FCS team on the road. Maine 22, Stony Brook 17

Gardner-Webb at Austin Peay: The Bulldogs haven't impressed me one bit. They lost ugly at Tennessee Tech and started slow against Tusculum. The Mario Brown injury is a killer for a team already dealing with a slew of nicks and bruises. Austin Peay led heading into the fourth quarter last week at Georgia Southern. Austin Peay 31, Gardner-Webb 17

VMI at William & Mary: William & Mary has won the last 22 meetings. Since 1992, VMI managed only twice to stay within 20 points of the Tribe. William & Mary 48, VMI 14

FCS TOP 25

No 1. North Dakota State at Wyoming: Not a lot of history to go on here, as Wyoming has only played two FCS teams in Joe Glenn's tenure, beating Montana State in 2003 and Appalachian State in 2004. Glenn used to be the coach at Montana, so he respects FCS teams and won't let NDSU to sneak up on the Cowboys. Wyoming looked awful on offense in a 23-3 loss to Air Force last week, and North Dakota State has rolled its last two opponents. I'm waffling here, I know. This is a tough one to pick, especially with NDSU history of beating FBS opponents (Central Michigan and Minnesota last year). Oh, what the Hades? NDSU 27, Wyoming 24

No. 3 Massachusetts at No. 8 James Madison: JMU is 15-3 in CAA home games since 2004, the first year of the Dukes' resurgence under Mickey Matthews. Richmond has two of the wins, William & Mary the other. This is a second straight difficult roadie for the Minutemen, and JMU handled New Hampshire in an early-season home test last year. But with top Dukes tailback Eugene Holloman doubtful for this one, the edge goes to the Minutemen. UMass 34, JMU 28

Southern Utah at No. 4 Montana: It still makes no sense to me that SUU isn't in the Big Sky. Montana, riding high after the Cal Poly win, cruises at Washington-Grizzly. Montana 42, Southern Utah 13

Towson at No. 5 Richmond: Spiders couldn't finish against UVa, but this defense is fierce. Richmond 38, Towson 10

West Chester at No. 6 Delaware: Yearly, regional matchup against DII West Chester a nice break for Hens, who played Maryland to the wire two weeks ago. Delaware 44, West Chester 13

No. 10 Cal Poly at No. 11 McNeese State: Hurricane Ike forced the cancellation of what would have been one of the best games of the week. Cal Poly, now down to 10 games on its schedule, is searching for an opponent for either Sept. 27 or Oct. 11.

No. 12 New Hampshire at Rhode Island: Rhody tripped up UMass last year in Kingston, but that game was played in a torrential downpour and URI needed to score three safeties to force overtime. UNH 29, Rhode Island 13

No. 14 Southern Illinois at Northwestern: The Wildcats are riding high at 2-0 and enough people remember the loss to New Hampshire a few years back. They won't sleep on the Salukis. Northwestern 31, Southern Illinois 14

No. 19 Western Illinois at No. 16 South Dakota State: Battle of a couple of potent ground games in Brookings. Will SDSU be too high after running Youngstown State off the field last week? SDSU 28, Western Illinois 27

Lehigh at No. 18 Villanova: Lehigh held Drake to 125 total yards, but the Wildcats are a much higher level opponent. Villanova wisely scheduled a week off after losing at West Virginia, so it should be fresh for this Pennsylvania matchup. Villanova 27, Lehigh 17

Indiana State at No. 20 Eastern Illinois: Indiana State coach Lou West is 1-33 since taking over in 2005. The Sycamores allowed 637 yards last week to Eastern Michigan. Eastern Illinois is coming off two straight losses in money games and is eager to pound someone. Eastern Illinois 48, Indiana State 0

No. 22 Central Arkansas at Arkansas-Pine Bluff: Uh, Pine Bluff has already lost to two Division II teams this year. Scrimmage time for the Bears. Central Arkansas 54, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 14

Bethune-Cookman vs. No. 24 South Carolina State in Charleston, S.C.: This neutral-site game will tell us a lot about the Bulldogs and whether or not they're a legit Top 25 team. SCSU 17, Bethune-Cookman 14

Northeastern at No. 25 Georgia Southern: Game 2 of a brutal road stretch for the Huskies, who opened at Ball State and head to Syracuse next. Look for another underwhelming Eagles victory.Georgia Southern 24, Northeastern 7