It is fun to be seeing week-by-week how this season is going to play out. In the third week of Gulf South Conference action, the storylines of 2016 will start to develop after two weeks of meeting the characters.

Will the champions of last year have what it takes to continue their reign? Will the budding programs of yesteryear make a splash and change the storyline? Will traditional powers with returning or different components return to glory? Will recent newcomers remain in the cellar or take strides up the ladder? Will an upstart keep riding the honeymoon of emotions and turn 2016 into a Cinderella tale?

There are still several unknowns going into this week and I’m anxious to see how the outcomes will potentially set the tone for conference title hopes, playoff bids, and another possible run toward the national title for our conference.

On to Chapter 3…

Delta State (1-1) at #2 West Georgia (2-0) @ 2 PM EST

This is one of the biggest GSC games of the weekend, to say the least. The Statesmen will travel to Carrollton and face the Wolves, a team that has had their number for the past few years now. UWG has won the last four games in the series over the past three seasons.

Last year, Sullivan was injured and didn’t get to play in the game. It will be interesting to see how the loss last week and Sullivan’s desire to do well against the Wolves drives the Statesmen’s up-tempo offense against the stellar UWF defense. Those series are going to be awesome to watch. Of course, it will be equally as interesting to see UWG’s offense, which has frankly been a little out-of-sink in the past few weeks, work against the DSU defense that hasn’t been as tight as Statesmen Nation has wanted. In my mind, this game could come down to special teams play and capitalizing on turnovers.

Will West Georgia use this as a quality win toward making a run at a national title or will Delta State make a statement of their own and advance toward a return to their own playoff and title hopes? My mind is telling me that it will be five-in-a-row for UWG.

My pick: Wolves by 10

West Florida (2-0) at Chowan (1-1) @ 6 PM EST

The atmosphere was electric last weekend in Pensacola as the years of anticipation for UWF football was met with high energy by the sell-out crowd for the program’s first home game. And while everything wasn’t quite perfect, the Argos put on a great show for their audience.

Quarterback Kaleb Nobles was named GSC Offensive Player of the Week after passing for 503 yards and 6 touchdowns in a lop-sided victory over their first D2 opponent. This weekend’s matchup has more elements of the unknown as they face Chowan, a team that has only faced one other GSC team in their history – a loss to Shorter in 2012. The (Chowan) Hawks somehow defeated Fayetteville State in the first week of the season even after being outgained on offense (322 yards to 102 yards).

Even with the long bus ride to North Carolina, I’m predicting the honeymoon will continue for West Florida and Argo fans can keep wearing those “Still Undefeated” shirts they’ve had as a joke for years to actually being a reality for at least one more week.

My pick: Argonauts by 10

West Alabama (0-2) at Mississippi College (1-1) @ 7 PM CST

This may look like a battle between a winless squad and a .500 squad, but the story development for these teams doesn’t have much in common.

West Alabama has been competitive, even with some adversity, with two good teams. They were in the game last week with FCS Stephen F. Austin having a chance to win the contest during a last-minute drive. Both losses have been close ones. Mississippi College was hoping for improvements this year after fully transitioning back into the conference, but their first two games haven’t provided much hope that things will be different this year. The Choctaws have a close win over a NAIA opponent and were then throttled by FIT last week.

This matchup is a chance for both programs to change their storyline for 2016. From what I’ve seen in the last two weeks, I’m predicting that UWA will get their first win of the season.

My pick: Tigers by 14

#18 Valdosta State (1-0) at #9 North Alabama (0-1) @ 6 PM CST on American Sports Network

Week (or Chapter) 3 is very important for these two storied programs, as Week (Chapter) 2 didn’t have much, publicly, to add to the character development of this season’s gridiron novel. The first week of action played out much as we expected in the ultimate outcomes of the contests but the games were a bit odd for these two squads as far as season openers were concerned.

UNA was out-matched by highly-ranked FCS rival Jacksonville State and it was hard to tell how the Lions will stack up against D2 opponents. Valdosta State, under the helm of a new head coach, was not looking like recent Blazer teams in a pretty close game with Albany State.

How will these clubs present themselves this weekend after both had the week off to improve for this important conference game? I’m going with UNA, simply because they have more returning components from last season and played a much tougher opponent in the opener to help them prepare for VSU more than the game with ASU helped the Blazers simulate a battle with the Lions.

My pick: Lions by 14

#25 Florida Tech (2-0) at Shorter (0-2) @ 7 PM EST on ESPN3

On paper, this is an easy game to predict as FIT has looked good in their first two games and Shorter hasn’t had a win so far at this early stage of the season. I don’t think we’ll see a shocker upset this week, but it could be a little more interesting than we expect.

The Panthers are enjoying being ranked in both polls for the first time in school history and have played well in the past two weeks, especially on offense, but the defense did allow almost 450 passing yards the first week out. The Hawks went from almost no offense in their opener against an FCS opponent to an overtime loss against a non-conference D2 foe last week, which surprisingly had the team passing for more yards than they rushed. Shorter freshman quarterback Tyler Pullum was 23-for-38 tallying 216 yards and 2 touchdowns.

While I’m excited to see the improvements for Shorter possibly continue, I think it will be difficult to pull out this upset against the veteran FIT team.

My pick: Panthers by 21