College Football Blitz, Week 3: Lamar Jackson, Louisville Cardinals dominate
By John Buhler
Week 3 of the college football season made for an incredible weekend. Here are the weekly superlatives as a part of College Football Blitz, Week 3.
The third week of the 2016 college football season featured seven ranked teams that ended up losing, including four that were upset by either lesser ranked or unranked teams. While teams like the Louisville Cardinals and the Ohio State Buckeyes beat a tough Week 3 opponent to move to 3-0, teams like the Oklahoma Sooners and the Ole Miss Rebels already feel that their seasons are over at 1-2.
Outside of the woeful Big 12, at least a handful of teams in each Power 5 conference had impressive Week 3 victories. The AP Top 25 Poll heading into Week 4 has the Alabama Crimson Tide at No. 1, Ohio State at No. 2, Louisville at No. 3, the Michigan Wolverines at No. 4, with the Clemson Tigers rounding out the top five.
The ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12, and the SEC each have at least two teams in the top 10. It’s early, but it feels very much like the Big 12 isn’t going to have a team in the third annual College Football Playoff.
Offensive Player of the Week: Ohio State WR Noah Brown
Though other players in Division accumulated more yards through the air in Week 3, no receiver had a better weekend than Ohio State Buckeyes wideout Noah Brown. Brown had five catches for 72 yards and four touchdowns, as his No. 3 Buckeyes clobbered the No. 14 Oklahoma Sooners, 45-24.
Brown had as many points (24) as did the entire Oklahoma team on Saturday night. He was Buckeyes star quarterback J.T. Barrett’s favorite target in Week 3, catching five of Barrett’s 14 completions and all four of his signal caller’s touchdown passes.
Before his breakout performance against Oklahoma, Brown only had four catches for 62 yards and a touchdown in Ohio State’s first two victories over the Bowling Green Falcons and the Tulsa Golden Hurricane.
Ohio State needed a premier red zone target in this high-profile non-conference road game and Brown came up huge for the Buckeyes. It’s still incredibly early, but Brown has to be on the Fred Biletnikoff Award watch list strictly after his primetime showing against the Sooners in Norman.