Ranking the College Football Week 3 upsets: Arizona State, Northwestern and Kansas State stunned

It was another wild week of upsets in Week 3 of the college football season as Arizona State, Kansas State and Northwestern were among the teams stunned. 

Sometimes, one big upset is all it takes to get fired and in college football, we’ve seen that phenomenon in consecutive weeks.

Last week, Nebraska football fired its head coach, Scott Frost, following an embarrassing home loss to Georgia Southern in Week 2. And in Week 3 of the college football season, it was Herm Edwards turn to get pink-slipped as Eastern Michigan won in Tempe, which proved to be the final straw for the embattled head coach.

Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald probably isn’t going to be on the hot seat anytime soon, but losing consecutive games as a double-digit favorite doesn’t help.

While there weren’t any jaw-dropping upsets like in Week 2, such as Notre Dame or Texas A&M losing at home to unranked opponents, one ranked opponent lost to an unranked team, while there were other big upsets across the college football landscape.

We ranked the top five here.

5. No. 11 Michigan State at Washington (-3)

The Huskies were actually favored by three points to win this game according to the odds-makers but the Spartans were ranked No. 11 in the country and fresh off a Peach Bowl last year.

So this still had the feel of an upset. Michael Penix Jr., the former Indiana quarterback, continued to play lights out for Washington and threw for 397 yards and four touchdowns. Washington ran up more than 500 yards of total offense and the win was frankly huge for the Pac-12.

The conference hasn’t looked great outside of USC and the Huskies getting a notable win over a ranked team, in a convincing fashion I might add, puts the league in a better light.

It should also make people start to take Washinton more seriously. As for the Spartans, the defense doesn’t look any better. However, trips to the West Coast are always hard and it doesn’t mean Michigan State is going to fall apart.

Still, it was surprising how much Washinton controlled the game and that’s one reason why we decided to rank it fifth among Week 3’s college football upsets.