No such thing as a weak slate of college football games! Week 3 saw new stars emerge, contenders roll and more Sunshine State misery. Let’s dive in!
Top 10 Headlines
● Remember Week 1 when I said #1 Georgia was the best team in the country until proven otherwise? Well, I might’ve just been proven otherwise. The Dawgs looked downright mortal all night in Lexington, allowing a Kentucky team that wasn’t doing anything particularly impressive to hold a lead into the 4th quarter. Preseason Heisman favorite Carson Beck was ineffective for UGA and the offense only mustered one touchdown on the day. They pulled away to win 13-12, but don’t be surprised when the AP voters on Sunday morning pick the team in the writeup below this one as the #1 team in the country. (UPDATE: The AP Poll voters indeed did drop Georgia to #2 in Sunday's poll.)
● #2 Texas lost their Heisman candidate QB Quinn Ewers early in their 56-7 win over UTSA with what was described as an abdominal injury. That allowed heralded backup Arch Manning to step in and put on a show. Just peep this 67-yard rushing touchdown and this passing touchdown on the first snap after he subbed in. It remains to be seen if Ewers will miss time or not, but so far it doesn’t look like it’ll matter for the now #1 ranked Horns.
● #4 Alabama rolled into Madison for the first time since 1928 and rolled all over Wisconsin. The Badgers lost starting QB Tyler Van Dyke very early in this game (he returned to the sideline on crutches), but I doubt his presence would’ve really helped. Kalen DeBoer has this Crimson Tide offense rolling, best evidenced by their final drive of the first half. After a Wisconsin missed field goal left the Tide with 24 seconds before halftime, all it took was 2 plays and 17 seconds to go 73 yards and score a dagger touchdown. 17-year old phenom Ryan Williams amazed yet again, and it might be time to put Alabama back in the conversation for the best team in the country.
● We all knew going into the season that the only ranked matchup this Saturday would be #6 Mizzou hosting #24 Boston College, right? The Tigers won in come from behind fashion, picking up a nice ranked win before beginning SEC play next week.
● #9 Oregon made some tweaks to their offensive line and it paid dividends. They crushed rival and former conference mate Oregon State 49-14, finally looking like the preseason top 3 team we thought they’d be. QB Dillon Gabriel was surgical and didn’t take a sack for the first time this season. They get an open week before beginning Big Ten play against… UCLA. Still getting used to writing things like that.
● Other Top 10 notes: #7 Tennessee did unspeakable things to Kent State, #5 Ole Miss beat up on Wake Forest on the road & Cam Ward and #10 Miami bowled over Ball State. #3 Ohio State and #8 Penn State were idle.
Best of the Weekend
● Your game of the week went down at Williams-Brice Stadium as #16 LSU overcame a feisty South Carolina squad. SCAR was up 17-0 early and led most of this game thanks to QB LaNorris Sellers and RB Raheim Sanders balling out, but after Sellers left the game with an injury, LSU clawed right back into things. The final ten minutes of this game featured multiple turnovers (including a Gamecocks 100 yard pick-six negated by penalty), several lengthy reviews, a go-ahead LSU touchdown with 1:12 to play and a SCAR missed field goal to end things. Brian Kelly’s squad escaped but man, LSU fans surely lost several years of life watching this one.
● The Backyard Brawl delivered once again. This year’s WVU-Pitt matchup featured seven lead changes, the final one coming with 32 seconds left to give the Panthers the lead for good. They overcame a 10 point deficit with less than 5 minutes left to win 38-34 for their second come-from-behind victory in two weeks. If you ask Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi, they overcame the referees too.
● Maybe UNLV should’ve gotten a Big 12 invite, because they’ve gotten pretty good at beating Big 12 teams on the road. They knocked off Kansas on Friday night with a late touchdown drive, marking their 2nd win this season over a Big 12 team after dominating Houston in Week 1. Boise State has gotten most of the national love in the Mountain West but the Rebels deserve to be in the conversation too.
● This week saw the Pac-12 begin its rebuild, officially adding Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State starting in 2026. Things got even better for current Pac-12 member Washington State on Saturday as they knocked off rival Washington to win the Apple Cup. Wazzu QB John Mateer was a magician in the first half, and the Cougs defense stood the Huskies up on the 1-yard line with less than a minute to play to seal the win. At 3-0 with a win over a team that left them behind, Wazzu refuses to be forgotten.
● Other nice wins from Week 3: #18 Notre Dame and #17 Michigan got back on track with wins against Purdue and Arkansas State, respectively. #13 Oklahoma State blew out Tulsa, #12 Utah came from behind without QB Cam Rising to beat Utah State, and #23 Nebraska and QB Dylan Raiola crushed FCS Northern Iowa.
Worst of the Weekend
● Pick your sunshine-drenched poison: Florida State became the third preseason Top 10 team since 1988 to lose their first three games. This week’s embarrassment came at the hands of FSU coach Mike Norvell’s previous team in Memphis, who picked up a key road win in their bid to be the Group of 5’s CFP participant. A few hours down south, Florida looked just as hopeless, losing at home by double digits to Texas A&M, who by the way was starting a backup quarterback. The stadium was half-empty in the third quarter and head coach Billy Napier was booed leaving the field by the few fans who stayed. Hard to pick which one of these situations is the uglier one.
● A double dose of SEC suckage: Mississippi State got mollywhopped 41-17 at home by Toledo in a game where the Bulldogs were favored by 10.5 points! Then, Vanderbilt went and blew it in the final moments to G5 Georgia State in Atlanta. All the good will from their season opening upset of Virginia Tech has vanished.
● TCU’s 21-point third quarter lead slowly but surely evaporated, and a UCF touchdown with 20 seconds left sealed an impressive road win for the Knights. This TCU fan thought the final field goal attempt was good, even though it wasn’t, and things got worse for the Horned Frogs when UCF posted their own version of TCU’s well known victory .mp4s.
● UCLA’s first taste of the Big Ten didn’t go so well. Indiana came into the Rose Bowl and acted like they owned the place in a 42-13 victory. Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti is already a folk hero to their fans, and it’s probably gonna be a long season in Los Angeles.
Fun Corner
● Catch of the week candidates: TCU’s Savion Williams had this sweet, sweet TD grab between two UCF defenders and West Virginia’s Justin Robinson had a killer one handed TD catch in their loss to Pitt.
● Who says Pac-12 After Dark is dead? Things got weird during Cal/San Diego State when Golden Bears head coach Justin Wilcox had to get on the referee's microphone to tell fans to stop throwing cards onto the field because they'd already gotten two 15-yard penalties for it.
● Texas Tech tied a school record for points in a first half with 52 in their 66-21 romp over North Texas. The Red Raiders scored 21 points in less than a minute in the second quarter
● South Alabama obliterated FCS Northwestern State 87-10 on Thursday night, setting a Sun Belt scoring record and scoring the most points by an FBS team since 1991!
● Probably the most unexpected headline of the day was that the game between Portland State and South Dakota was canceled due to an outbreak of whooping cough in the PSU locker room. Plenty of Oregon Trail jokes ensued.
● Michigan State recorded the best pick-6 of the week, Tulane had the worst extra point attempt of the week, and USF had the best big man interception of the week.
● Washington State got a big win over a rival, so they celebrated it in Big Ten fashion. Also, Wazzu head coach Jake Dickert needed help from the media to light his victory cigar.
● Interesting scheduling tidbit: #14 Kansas State’s win over #20 Arizona won’t count towards Big 12 standings due to this game being scheduled as an out of conference game before UA joined the Big 12. Same went for last week’s Utah win over Baylor.
Week 3 Heisman Standings
1. Cam Ward, Miami QB: Ward didn’t need to play much into the second half of Miami’s drubbing of Ball State. He’s passed for over 300 yards in all three games so far this year with 12 total touchdowns.
2. Travis Hunter, Colorado WR/CB: Another week, another ridiculous performance from the Colorado superstar. Just look at this statline from the Buffs’ 28-9 win over Colorado State.
3. Ashton Jeanty, Boise State RB: Jeanty and his Broncos were on bye this week, so just go watch highlights from his first two weeks to see why he ranks so high here.
4. Dillon Gabriel, Oregon QB: The Ducks look like the contender we thought they’d be, and the Oklahoma transfer was a key reason for it this Saturday. He’s 79 of 94 on the season for 920 yards and 6 TDs.
5. Jalen Milroe, Alabama QB: Milroe led his team in rushing and dropped dime after dime in a hostile environment. His consistency has improved immensely so far this season.