College football rankings 2022: Projected Week 4 AP Top 25 after Georgia, Ohio State roll, Texas A&M downs Miami

Projected AP Top 25 college football rankings after Week 3: No. 18-17

18. Ole Miss Rebels

Beating the absolute heck out of Georgia Tech isn’t going to move the needle all too much because, let’s face it, the Yellow Jackets are absolutely horrendous. But this is a different iteration of Ole Miss and it’s hard not to be impressed with how Lane Kiffin has helped this team evolve in just a year’s time.

Last season, this was a potent offensive attack behind Matt Corral that threw it all over the yard. That is less the case with Jaxson Dart but the rushing attack behind Zach Evans is extremely dangerous. More importantly, though, the Rebels defense looks substantially improved and could keep them in way more games than they were in a season ago, making Ole Miss a legitimate dark horse to make noise in the SEC.

17. Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Wake Forest moving up two spots in the rankings after needing a stop on a Liberty two-point conversion late to get a 37-36 win might not seem sensible, but the Demon Deacons now move to 3-0 on the season and, more importantly, I’m looking a bit deeper than the end result of the game and, admittedly, projecting a bit by pushing them to No. 17.

Sam Hartman was playing just his second game since he returned from a medical issue and we saw a bit of that rust as he threw two interceptions and completed just 26 of his 44 pass attempts for the game. There are concerns about the Wake defense and the run game has to be better, but as Hartman gets back to form, this team is only going to get better and more dangerous, which is something I’m surely banking on.