It was an exciting weekend of college football as ranked action kicked off on Saturday afternoon with some upsets and some down-to-the-wire action.
It’s hard to believe that we’re already entering Week 4.
Well, actually ranked action began on Thursday with Miami hosting Bethune-Cookman and the Hurricanes finished with a blowout win in their first game as an AP Top 25.
Fast forward to Saturday, and there were some fun games with ranked teams going on the road such as LSU heading to Mississippi State, Kansas State going to Missouri, Penn State playing at Illinois, and Florida State going to Boston College. The only blowouts were LSU over Mississippi State and Penn State over Illinois. Kansas State dropped its first game of the season and Florida State escaped a massive upset, 31-29.
The afternoon slate didn’t disappoint either as South Carolina gave No. 1 Georgia everything it could handle in Athens as the game went down to the wire (surprisingly). Washington also went to Michigan State and manhandled the Spartans.
Tennessee at Florida was the game everyone was waiting for at night along with Colorado hosting Colorado State.
What could the AP Top 25 look like heading into Week 4?
While this game is still going on at the time of this post, I do believe that Florida is going to hold on to beat No. 11 Tennessee in Gainesville. I predicted this win before the game and I’m not surprised to see the Gators giving Tennessee all it could handle and bouncing back from that season-opening loss at Utah. The Gators will likely just sneak into the rankings.
It seems like Chip Kelly’s decision to make freshman and former five-star quarterback Dante Moore the starter was the right one as the Bruins continue to impress. And Moore had another solid game with 182 yards and two touchdowns against NC Central. The Bruins are looking sneaky again.
Are you a Cameron Ward believer yet? You should be. He had another sparkling performance in a win over Northern Colorado on Saturday night, passing for 327 yards and four touchdowns with no picks. If Washington State keeps winning, he could be a legit Heisman threat.
Miami played the first ranked game of the week, beating Bethune-Cookman on Thursday night. The Hurricanes won 48-7 and didn’t really give us anything to take away from the win but Mario Cristobal does seem to have a better offense at his disposal this year.
Duke got an opportunity to play one of the worst teams in the Power Five on Saturday to pick up an easy win before really getting into the bulk of ACC play. The Blue Devils had no problem with Northwestern. Now can Mike Elko stave off some Michigan State coaching rumors?
Will Kansas State drop out of the AP Top 25? I doubt it. The Wildcats lost a one-score game with no time left on the road against an SEC foe. Missouri was able to drill a 61-yard field goal to beat Kansas State and knock the Wildcats from the ranks of the unbeaten. Tough loss, but this team will bounce back.
Did Drake Maye’s Heisman hopes take a hit? Potentially as he threw two interceptions on Saturday, but he still had over 400 yards and two touchdowns in a big win over a Big Ten West contender. Mack Brown has himself a team that could contend in what looks to be a wide-open ACC.
Colorado’s game against Colorado State kicks off at 10 p.m. ET and while they haven’t even started by the time this is being posted, there’s a 90 percent chance they win. The Buffaloes are just too good right now and they should cruise to a home win over the Rams. This should keep them put at No. 18.
I believe Oklahoma is going to jump a couple of spots thanks to Kansas State losing and Colorado facing a cupcake opponent. The Sooners are just scoring at will this season and after an ugly win over SMU last week had people questioning the direction of this team, they responded by winning 66-17 over Tulsa on Saturday.
Tennessee is going to take a healthy dip after it looks like the Volunteers are going to lose on the road against rival Florida. The Gators had their way with the Vols from the get-go and built a healthy lead before halftime. While this isn’t the end of Tennessee’s playoff hopes, it does a number on its chances.
Ole Miss hosted Georgia Tech on Saturday night and held a double-digit lead at halftime. While the game isn’t over by the time this is being posted, I fully expect the Rebels to hold on. Lane Kiffin has himself a sneaky contender in the SEC, folks.
It was the first poor game of DJ Uiagalelei’s Oregon State career as he had two interceptions to one touchdown pass, but the Beavers still finished Week 3 with a 26-9 win over San Diego State. Damien Martinez had a good game on the ground and Uiagalelei still passed for 284 yards, but he has to clean up those mistakes.
Oregon faces Hawaii late on Saturday night at home and I fully expect the Ducks to win that one with ease. I can also see Bo Nix adding to his Heisman resume and a lot of points being scored — at least from one side. Dan Lanning’s Ducks are just trying to prove that they’re not just the third or fourth-best team in the Pac-12.
Believe it or not, LSU was actually picked by some as an upset special in Week 3, but the Tigers laughed that off and raced to a 41-14 blowout win over Mississippi State in Starkville. Winning like that against an SEC foe is impressive, especially on the road. That just doesn’t happen much. Jayden Daniels boosted his stock with 361 yards and two scores. Oh, and Malik Nabers is a freak (239 receiving yards and two scores).
Utah had a sleepy win over Weber State on Saturday evening, 31-7. There’s nothing you can really take from this win, but the Utes are 3-0 and have played so well without their best player, senior quarterback Cameron Rising. They continue to win games and hopefully he’s back soon to contend for a Pac-12 title.
I’m really not sure what to make of this Alabama team. A week after losing to Texas at home, the Crimson Tide had a rare game away from Tuscaloosa against a Group of Five team.
On top of that, Nick Saban decided to bench his starting quarterback.
The Crimson Tide responded by, well, playing a close game against South Florida which has been one of college football’s worst teams for years.
The game was tied 3-3 at the half and neither Tyler Buchner nor Ty Simpson looked very good. This could be a very long season for the Crimson Tide if they can’t figure that quarterback situation out. There’s a decent chance the Crimson Tide could be knocked out of the top 10 after this win, but Tennessee losing may have really helped prevent that.
We’ll see how down AP voters are on Alabama, but I can see it still at No. 10.
Notre Dame’s defense gave up more points than probably anyone expected in a Week 3 win over Central Michigan, but the game was put out of reach in the second half after the Chippewas only trailed by 10 at halftime.
The Irish relied heavily on Sam Hartman and Audric Estime who really led the way offensively, combining for over 500 total yards.
Hartman continues to piece together a nice Heisman campaign with 16-of-26 completions with 330 yards and three touchdowns. He now has 13 touchdowns with no interceptions through four games and he has to be considered one of the nation’s top quarterbacks. He is just what Notre Dame has been missing.
As for Estime, he had 176 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries. He actually improved his yards per carry average on the season which was already at 8.0 heading into this game. There’s a reason he’s the nation’s leading rusher — he’s really good.
The Irish are looking like legit playoff contenders.
Penn State was one of the teams that I believed would be on upset alert this week as the Nittany Lions went on the road to take on an Illinois team that began the season as a potential Big Ten West contender. But the Nittany Lions escaped a potential upset by pulling away in the second half.
It wasn’t what you’d call a pretty win, by any means, but it was a very Big Ten football type of game.
Drew Allar didn’t have his best game of his young career, completing less than 50 percent of his passes for 208 yards as the only touchdown pass of the game for Penn State came from senior running back Trey Potts.
The defense was fairly dominant, holding Illinois to about 350 total yards but under 300 passing yards and four interceptions on 25-of-44 completions.
James Franklin’s team got a bit of a wake-up call in this one because they’re better than what they showed and they still won by 17 points on the road.
If you’re like me and you expected a good game between Washington and Michigan State, you were let down in a massive way.
Washington was up 14-0 in the blink of an eye and went up 35-0 before halftime as Michigan State was clearly just deflated after a horrible week. It looked like the players were shellshocked from the get-go as Washington was able to run up the score on the Spartans.
Michael Penix Jr. continues to show why he should be considered a Heisman front-runner, passing for almost 500 yards and four touchdowns, dismantling Michigan State for what feels like the 35th time in his lengthy career dating back to his Indiana days.
These Washington receivers had their way with the Michigan State secondary and the Spartans couldn’t muster anything offensively.
Can we really take anything from this win for Washington? Sure, the Huskies are very good and that offense is elite. And the defense may be better than we expected.
USC had a rare early bye week because the Trojans were one of two ranked teams to play in Week 0.
Through three games, the Trojans look like one of the best teams in the country, but I think because Ohio State looked so good in its game against Western Kentucky, dropping 63 points, the Buckeyes will jump back into the top five after getting replaced by USC last week.
Caleb Williams is still the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy this season after a red-hot start to the season but he might just be getting pushed by fellow Pac-12 gunslinger Michael Penix Jr. after a huge week against Michigan State.
The Trojans will travel to Arizona State after the bye week before taking on a red-hot Colorado team to end September.
They’ll have plenty of chances to prove they’re top-five worthy.
Remember when Ohio State fans were panicking about Kyle McCord and wanted Devin Brown to be the starter when the season began? Well, I think the veteran quarterback is slowly making believers out of Buckeye fans. They’re coming around.
How would they not be? He had another big game, passing for 318 yards and three touchdowns with no picks. He also continued to develop that relationship with Marvin Harrison Jr. as he caught five passes for 126 yards and a touchdown in the win.
Brown, on the other hand, came into the game and threw an interception along with a touchdown.
The Buckeye run game was solid with about 200 yards and a few touchdowns as the offense looked balanced and dominant.
Of course, it was just Western Kentucky, but it was good to see some kinks ironed out in this one and it feels like Ohio State is becoming a well-oiled machine before our very eyes again.
We may see them slide back up into the top five this week.
There’s a legitimate chance that AP voters drop Florida State a spot or two after one of the shakiest performances of any top-10 team this week.
The Seminoles built a 31-10 lead quickly in the second half after Jordan Travis warmed up and returned after taking a big hit and landing awkwardly at the end of the first half. He showed that the injury wasn’t an issue as he came in and immediately had a 42-yard completion. But the two quick touchdowns in the second half to build a three-touchdown lead were all the Seminoles would get offensively.
Boston College responded by scoring 19 straight points and it was a two-point conversion away from sending this game into overtime. The Eagles also had a school-record 18 penalties and the one that iced the game was a facemask on a third-down stop which would have given Boston College the ball back with a minute left.
The Seminoles need to wake up because this was ugly.
Texas hosts Wyoming on Saturday night and I fully expect the Longhorns to take care of business and remain in the top five when the new AP Top 25 comes out on Sunday afternoon.
Quinn Ewers and the Longhorns may experience a bit of a hangover early in this game as they just picked up their biggest win in years in Week 2, beating Alabama and Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa. That kind of win could have a program celebrating for weeks. But Texas needs to refocus.
But it does feel like Texas is “back” to start the year.
If Ewers and this Texas team can continue to play at a high level, I fully expect the Longhorns to run away with the Big 12.
For now, they’ll be fighting to stay in the top five.
It’s truly hard to draw anything from the first three Michigan wins of the season because, well, not a single team on the schedule to this point had a pulse. Michigan is still a very good team and they’ve arguably looked better than some other giants in college football, but we won’t know anything for sure until Big Ten play starts.
JJ McCarthy looks like one of the best quarterbacks in the country, the run game is legit again, and the defense is stingy.
But hey, Bowling Green isn’t going to beat many Power Five teams, let alone give them a good fight. They still hung with the Wolverines for a half.
Michigan improves to 3-0 with another blowout win and the Wolverines will get Jim Harbaugh back next week after a self-imposed three-game suspension.
Trailing 14-3 at halftime against Spencer Rattler and South Carolina was about as shocking as any development of the weekend, but it didn’t take long into the second half for the Bulldogs to wake up and assert their dominance on the Gamecocks.
While this is just another game in which Georgia played down to an opponent for far too long, the Bulldogs are just too good when they realize it. They need to play the way they did in the second half for 60 minutes and no one would be able to come close.
Carson Beck has caught a lot of flack from fans but he woke up in the second half and got the Bulldogs in a good position to score on seemingly every drive. No major mistakes and just a solid overall game.
Georgia scored 21 straight points in the second half and really put things away in the fourth.
The Bulldogs will stay at No. 1 thanks to a huge second half.