Week 3 of the 2025 college football season is upon us, and we’re here to talk about what we’re excited to see, despite the horror and uneasiness of the day. Listen, if you must! Has something we said, or failed to say, made you FEEL something? You can tell us all about it by joining the conversation on our Substack or you can send us an email here. Enjoy!
Open — The problem with constantly raising the stakes
10:15 — Sports-Adjacent Question of the Week
32:42 — The Best Game in Every Time Slot
56:06 — CIB Pick ‘em Contest
1:05:31 — Jimmy Carter’s Presidential Lock of the Week
1:12:50 — Wrap-up!
The Best Game in Every Time Slot
Bonus Friday Night Game — 9:00
Kansas State (-1.5) @ Arizona (O/U 54.5) FOX
Noon
(12) Clemson (-3.5) @ Georgia Tek (O/U 54.5) ESPN
Noon — Second TV
Wisconsin (-21.5) @ (19) Alabama (O/U 46.5) ABC
3:30
(6) Georgia (-4.5) @ (15) Tennessee (O/U 49.5) ABC
Georgia has won 8 in a row, 13 of 15 against Tennessee. This is a chance to equal the longest winning streak in the series, a record currently held by Tennessee.
3:30 — Second TV DOUBLEBOX
Pitt (-6.5) @ West Virginia (O/U 58.5) ESPN
(18) South Florida (+17.5) @ (5) Miami (O/U 56.5) The CW (4:30 pm)
7:30
(16) Texas A&M (+6.5) @ (8) Notre Dame (O/U 49.5) NBC/Peacock
7:30 — Second TV DOUBLEBOX
Florida (+7.5) @ (3) LSU (O/U 48.5) ABC
Vanderbilt (+5.5) @ (11) South Carolina (O/U 48.5) SEC Network (7:45 pm)
Jimmy Carter’s Presidential Lock of the Week
Hello once again to my dear friends at Cast Iron Balls, and also to Abe, a man so full of spite he once held his breath for so long that he passed dead out under a tree in the park, all because he was mad at the air for being so casually and pleasantly abundant.
Preparations are well underway up here in heaven to remember 9/11 tomorrow, and I have to say, it’s a much more festive atmosphere than I would have guessed. I’ll be honest with you, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say we were in for more of a celebration than a solemn remembrance. I don’t recall any 9/11 ceremonies while I was alive that featured big sheet cakes with the burning twin towers drawn in icing, or pin-the-jet-on-the-Pentagon games, or dunk tanks where you have to throw your shoe at a target with George W Bush’s face on it, at which point Uncle Sam slides off that little retractable bench seat into a pit of burning lava. But I guess they just do things a little differently up here. You know, in heaven.
Anywhichway, I surely have been getting absolutely wrecked lately. I suspect that in the era of near total freedom of movement for players, the book’s advantage is even more pronounced, since it’s just so darned hard to know what sort of team you’re going to have from year to year. But I never was one to whine too much about things—because as Rosalynn was fond of saying, “Will you please shut the fuck up and quit your bitching, Dearest?
As for this week’s pick, I guess I’ll go with the Irish? I don’t know. I’m feeling awful discouraged. Yeah, I’ll take Notre Dame at home against the Aggies, and lay the six and a half points.
As always, enjoy the games with good food and drink, and most importantly, good company. And be kind to one another, for gosh sakes. Almost nothing matters, besides that. May god bless this great nation, and this great podcast. Until next time, this is Jimmy from Plains for Cast Iron Balls.
The opening and closing themes of Cast Iron Balls were composed by Marc Gillig. For more from Marc, go to tetramermusic.com.
The background music for Jimmy Carter’s Presidential Lock of the Week is "Bama Country" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
