Projected AP Top 25 College Football Rankings after Week 3
Lane Kiffin is leaving Oxford with the smile wiped off his face. The Ole Miss Rebels exacted revenged over the LSU Tigers and Kiffin on Saturday night in a frenetic Magnolia Bowl, stifling an LSU comeback in the final moments and securing the Top 10 victory. And when that was the big nightcap to a Saturday in which Texas A&M was upset by Kentucky, Oklahoma only beat New Mexico by one score, Virginia lost and with Louisville besting SMU, you better believe there will be a ton of movement in the AP Top 25 college football rankings.
Oklahoma and Virginia are dropping out of the rankings, at least for now, after these showings. But we have two SEC teams ready to jump in and take their place. Where do we go from there, though? Let's dive into the latest projections for the AP Top 25 and the college football rankings that will be released on Sunday.
Dropped Out of Rankings: 24 Oklahoma Sooners, 25 Virginia Cavaliers
No. 25-21
25. Houston Cougars
- Last Rank: 22
- Result: lost to 13 Texas Tech, 28-26
If we’re going to give a team like Louisville the benefit of the doubt like we did earlier in the season with the close loss to Ole Miss, I think we see the AP voters do the same with Houston and keeping them just inside the rankings. After all, the Cougars had a two-point conversion attempt to tie in the waning moments on the road in Lubbock. That’s a trait of a quality team to have a shot in those types of moments against a Top 15 team in college football, so I have to lean toward keeping Willie Fritz’s team ranked.
24. Mississippi State Bulldogs
- Last Rank: Unranked
- Result: def. South Carolina, 41-34
Shoutout Kamario Taylor, man. The Mississippi State quarterback is one of the most exciting young players in college football and he put the full arsenal on display in a big win over the Gamecocks. It was even more impressive that he and the Bulldogs looked like a deer in the headlights initially on the road in Columbia, but then pulled out of it to get the win on the road and remain unbeaten to start the year. Mississippi State isn't just a fun story with Taylor — they're a bonafide problem for the rest of the SEC.
23. Florida Gators
- Last Rank: Unranked
- Result: def. Auburn, 44-39
Florida just keeps checking boxes, man. Jon Sumrall has shown up (as has offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner) and the Gators are rolling. There were worries about if the offense with Aaron Philo and Jadan Baugh would travel for their first road game under this new regime. They absolutely did. And while the defense did leave some cause for concern, I think that's the difference between Florida being a CFP contender and a Top 25 team. But I'm pretty confident they're the latter at this point.
22. SMU Mustangs
- Last Rank: 16
- Result: lost to 23 Louisville, 41-31
SMU didn’t win maybe the biggest game on their schedule as it pertains to the ACC race. That undoubtedly hurts and there aren’t any consolation prizes when vying for a bid in the conference championship game at season’s end, but the Mustangs still played a spirited game in spite of some sloppy efforts from Kevin Jennings, who threw two picks and lost a fumble in the loss. They’re still clearly one of the ACC’s best this season, but the Mustangs are going to look back and wish they played more mistake-free in this one.
21. Texas A&M Aggies
- Last Rank: 9
- Result: lost to Kentucky, 31-21
Especially with the way that Alabama was able to pull away from Kentucky last week in the second half, it felt like everyone was just waiting for Texas A&M to do the same. Instead, Mike Elko’s defense got outrun by Will Stein’s offense in this game fully with great efforts from Kenny Minchey and C.J. Baxter. A&M, meanwhile, has real questions after a defensive showing like that and with Marcel Reed continuing to look far too shaky in this offense. What’s for sure is that the Aggies are dropping after an upset loss at Kyle Field.
No. 20-16
20. Oregon Ducks
- Last Rank: 21
- Result: def. Portland State, 84-0
Who didn’t see this coming from Dan Lanning and Oregon? It’s not that he poured it on egregiously as the backups for the Ducks were also dominant in this matchup with Portland State. But after the inauspicious start to the season for Oregon, it seemed like they had some frustrations to take out. Even scoring 84 points, I’m not sure there’s any grand takeaway from this type of result. However, it was definitely an influx of good vibes that was sorely needed in Eugene.
19. Missouri Tigers
- Last Rank: 20
- Result: def. Troy, 27-17
After some dominant showings early in the year from Eli Drinkwitz’s team, this was far more pedestrian on Saturday from Missouri. But Troy has been perennially one of the tougher Group of Six teams in the country and the Tigers still came out with a two-possession win in this one. It’s definitely a concern that Austin Simmons only threw for 91 yards on 10-of-19 passing in this one, especially after he started the season so well. But I’m also willing to at least somewhat write this one off with the quickly increasing level of difficulty of next week’s trip to Starkville.
18. Michigan Wolverines
- Last Rank: 19
- Result: def. UTEP 52-17
The final score of this one isn’t going to fully relay just how tight the guts were of every Michigan Man after the first half. The Miners, a team that got destroyed by Oklahoma, was going blow-for-blow with the Wolverines for longer than anyone expected. Credit is due to Michigan and Kyle Whittingham for finding their way out of that quagmire and rolling into a big win on the scoreboard, but that first half leaves an unsettling taste in your mouth given that we’re still not far removed from the Western Michigan debacle.
17. Louisville Cardinals
- Last Rank: 23
- Result: def. 16 SMU, 41-31
We knew that the AP voters still respected Louisville after their strong showing in a battle with Ole Miss in Week 1. They showed why that faith was rewarded in this game. Lincoln Kienholz might be the dream quarterback for Jeff Brohm in this offense, especially with the tandem of Keyjuan Brown and Isaac Brown complementing him in the offense. With the win over SMU on the books now, it’s hard not to see the Cardinals as the favorite to meet Miami in Charlotte for the ACC Championship Game.
16. Iowa Hawkeyes
- Last Rank: 18
- Result: def. Northern Iowa, 55-0
Through three games, what I’m confident in when it comes to Iowa is that their offense is fully capable when it comes to playing against definitively lesser competition, but is still a unit that it would be foolish to trust against Power Four teams until we see something that leads us to change our mind. Make no mistake, the Hawkeyes defense is still fearsome as they pitched another shutout in this game, but I’m still less than confident in how Kirk Ferentz’s team is going to fare when it comes to conference play.
No. 15-11
15. Utah Utes
- Last Rank: 17
- Result: def. Utah State, 33-0
Utah’s victory a week ago over Arkansas looks a bit more impressive considering how dominant the Utes were and how competitive the Razorbacks were in the follow-up against Georgia this week, albeit in Fayetteville. They followed that up by trouncing Utah State in a rivalry game that certainly didn’t feel that way. The Aggies have an unfortunate claim to being the worst team in FBS to this point in the season, and while it wasn’t eye-popping numbers offensively, Utah absolutely made their in-state foes look the part.
14. Tennessee Volunteers
- Last Rank: 15
- Result: def. Kennesaw State, 42-9
There are some things to really like about Tennessee coming out of this game, including the run game and the way that Jim Knowles' defense put the clamps on a unique and talented Owls offense. That should be said first. At the same time, since the opener against Furman, Faizon Brandon has looked far more human, especially as a passer. That's not something I feel all that confident about when it comes to the Vols, and will certainly be put to the test next week when Texas comes down the road to Knoxville.
13. Penn State Nittany Lions
- Last Rank: 14
- Result: def. Buffalo, 55-13
There’s not much to say about another Penn State performance of this ilk other than they looked exactly like what you’d want froma team that’s trying to remain a bubble-type of contender for the College Football Playoff. I’d be lying if I told you that the Nittany Lions were the most impressive team I’ve seen against lesser competition. But they keep winning and doing so handily, so I certainly can’t knock the start that Matt Campbell has this team off to.
12. USC Trojans
- Last Rank: 12
- Result: def. Rutgers, 42-35
Suffice it to say that USC and Lincoln Riley still haven’t figured out the whole cross-country road trip thing just yet. It’s a positive that Jayden Maiava and the offense still put up 42 points in this game while being on the road and with some injuries leaving the offense a tad shorthanded. Yet, the defense letting up 35 points in a game to a Rutgers group that was in the running for the worst team in the Power Four coming into the week is a bit suspect. They’ll be back at home next week, though, when a huge matchup against Oregon is on the docket.
11. Texas Tech Red Raiders
- Last Rank: 13
- Result: def. 22 Houston, 28-26
Texas Tech really didn’t show anything to make you think that they’re going to end up cracking the top 10, but I think a hard-fought win over Houston undoubtedly proves something invaluable for the Red Raiders. While there are questions at quarterback still — and Tommy Castellanos definitely didn’t look like the immediate answer — the defense can be stout and there is firepower on the offense as well. They should still be a Big 12 favorite until legitimately proven otherwise, and this game wasn’t that.
No. 10-9
10. BYU Cougars
- Last Rank: 11
- Result: def. Colorado State,
Particularly with where this game fell on the schedule, I thought BYU might be in a little bit of trouble. The Cougars were coming off a hard-fought win in Provo over a good Arizona team, and then have another conference matchup on the road in Fort Worth after next week’s bye to look ahead to. As such, against a Colorado State team that had been feisty coming into this matchup, it would’ve been not unthinkable for this to be a tight game on Saturday night in Colorado Springs.
It wasn’t, though, which is a testament to Kalani Sitake and his team. BYU completely controlled this game and we continued to see positive signs. LJ Martin and the run game are still the backbone, and the defense looks good once again. But Legend Glasker has given this offense a new dynamic in the passing game with Bear Bachmeier, and that could be something that ultimately pushed the Cougars to a cut above what this team was a season ago.
9. LSU Tigers
- Last Rank: 7
- Result: lost to 8 Ole Miss, 32-24
Welp. So much for Lane Kiffin making the right choice in leaving Oxford for Baton Rouge. Of course, there's no reason to make that kind of sweeping judgment after one regular-season game on the road, but that's what people are going to say about this. At the same time, if we take out all of the theatrics, the fact of the matter is that Sam Leavitt and the offense played a horrendous first half on the road against a Top 10 team and the Tigers still had a chance to force overtime in the final minute.
The big question becomes how far they will drop in the rankings. Maybe I'm being too logical with this one in only dropping the Tigers to No. 9, but that's what I think any voter using logic would do. This isn't a bad loss and, with so much tumult around the Top 10, I don't think LSU should be penalized too harshly based on this performance and the team's ceiling. But if voters vote with emotion against Kiffin, then maybe LSU falls further than this.
No. 8-7
8. Alabama Crimson Tide
- Last Rank: 10
- Result: def. Florida State, 50-36
It really looked like an objectively not good Florida State team was about to do it again against Alabama. The Seminoles had the Crimson Tide on the ropes. But as a buddy who’s an Alabama fan messaged me at one point in this game, they must’ve found some of “Michael’s Secret Stuff” from Space Jame during a lightning delay, because Keelon Russell and Kalen DeBoer’s team came out firing again thereafter and eventually pulled away for a two-score win.
Given how little I think of this Florida State team, I’m still willing to say that this isn’t an inspiring from Alabama. After seeing them on the road for the first half (or so) against Kentucky last week, there has been too much inconsistency. At the same time, there’s a lot to love about the highs that the Crimson Tide have shown to this point in the season. I continue to be fascinated by Bama, and things are about to get mighty testing and tricky for them over the next six games.
7. Ohio State Buckeyes
- Last Rank: 6
- Result: def. Kent State, 59-3
Kent State is perpetually one of the worst FBS teams in college football, so it figured that they weren’t going to be much of a test for Ohio State — not to mention a likely peeved group of Buckeyes after blowing the 20-point lead to Texas last week in primetime. But the vibes were reset for Ryan Day’s team against cupcake competition as they were able to not only blow out the Golden Flashes, but to do so while setting records with Jeremiah Smith.
OSU’s all-world receiver is now the all-time receiving yards leader in Columbus, which anyone will tell you is no easy feat given the caliber of player who has passed through that program year after year. He finished the day with five catches for 85 yards, which was arguably the biggest thing of note overall from this team considering that they could’ve slept walked through this game and still walked away winning with margin.
No. 6-5
6. Miami Hurricanes
- Last Rank: 5
- Result: def. Wake Forest, 33-20
Okay, so the Miami Hurricanes might not be perfect — though Darian Mensah was for quite a lot of this game, which was his first road start with Mario Cristobal’s team as they were on the road in Winston Salem. The offense continued to be lethal with Mensah, Malachi Toney and Mark Fletcher Jr., among others, consistently and efficiently moving the ball down the field. However, the defense was put to the test arguably more than it has been all year by Jake Dickert’s group.
The good news for The U is that Miami’s defense tightened up and held the Demon Deacons in the final 15 minutes of action on Friday night, which is what you want to see from this group. This was a fun window into Miami, though, as it’s the first time we haven’t seen them on the right end of a blowout. Even if it wasn’t the best competition on their schedule, it was an optimistic sign to see the fight of this team in such a contest.
5. Ole Miss Rebels
- Last Rank: 8
- Result: def. 7 LSU, 32-24
Ole Miss fans probably, at least in the moment, care more about showing Lane Kiffin up in the Magnolia Bowl than they do about what it means for the Rebels in the AP Top 25. However, the Rebels are going to move up with arguably the best resumé in the country at this point. AP voters are a fickle bunch, though, so I don't believe that the Rebels end up vaulting into the top three, though I do think there is a chance they leap ahead of Indiana in the No. 4 spot instead of ending up at No. 5.
Regardless, this was an affirming game for Ole Miss on a scale bigger than showing up their former head coach. Trinidad Chambliss proved that he's a great equalizer every single time he steps onto the field, but it was also impressive to see the Rebels defense cause so many issues, especially early on, for Sam Leavitt and the Tigers offense. And now, Ole Miss looks to be a team in the driver's seat for a College Football Playoff berth.
No. 4-3
4. Indiana Hoosiers
- Last Rank: 4
- Result: def. Western Kentucky, 38-0
Considering that Georgia put up a 70 spot on the Hilltoppers last week, I think that most people expected that Curt Cignetti and the Hoosiers were going to try and match or best that number. That wasn’t what we got in Bloomington on Saturday, though, even if was still an overall dominant effort in the shutout win for Indiana. It wasn’t a perfect game from this group, but with Big Ten play on deck after a short week, you can somewhat understand it.
This wasn’t a game in which Coach Cig called off the dogs or anything like that. The starters played most of this game and, overall, played pretty well. It’s perhaps more telling about this game than the final score to note that Indiana outgained WKU 513 to 186 in total yards on the day. It’s a showing that doesn’t really raise any questions about the Hoosiers, but certainly doesn’t make you move either way, no matter where you’ve fallen with your opinions about this team.
3. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
- Last Rank: 3
- Result: def. Michigan State, 27-10
On one hand, it’s hard to really, truly and meaningfully complain about a 17-point win against a Big Ten opponent early in the season. On the other hand, I don’t think this was exactly the type of performance that anyone who’s behind Notre Dame was imagining against a middling (and that might be putting it kindly) Michigan State team. There were silver linings, but also some concerns.
Notre Dame may have found something they sorely needed in two areas with Nolan James Jr. in the rushing attack and Micah Gilbert as a top target for CJ Carr. At the same time, however, this is still an offense that has left plenty of room for doubt, especially in a matchup such as this one when things were so stop-and-go on that side of the ball. But once again, I maintain that the Fighting Irish defense remains stout enough to keep them in every game on their regular season schedule. It’s beyond that where there are some questions.
No. 2-1
2. Georgia Bulldogs
- Last Rank: 2
- Result: def. Arkansas, 45-17
Shockingly enough, playing an SEC team on the road was a bit of a different test than Western Kentucky and Tennessee State. While Arkansas is assuredly a class above those two teams, though, they aren’t remotely close to Georgia in terms of quality and it feels like we saw that on Saturday in Fayetteville. Yes, the Dawgs only ended up winning by 28 points, but it felt even more dominant than that. Gunner Stockton only had to throw the ball 13 times while Georgia used the run game all over the place in this one to put up 45 points.
I still maintain that Stockton is a capable thrower in this offense when he’s called upon, and it’s worth noting that Georgia had the game enough in hand that Ryan Puglisi also came in and threw the ball eight times. But it still looks like there are few teams capable of stopping the Bulldogs rushing attack, especially when it’s aided by a defense that wasn’t at its best on Saturday, but did bend instead of breaking. Georgia continues to look like the goods, even with their first step up in competition for the season. We’ll see the true totality of what they are in a week when they face Oklahoma.
1. Texas Longhorns
- Last Rank: 1
- Result: def. UTSA, 30-6
You could've seen this type of game for Texas coming from a mile away after the dramatic comeback against Ohio State last week. The Longhorns left absolutely no doubt that they were the better team on the field against the Roadrunners, and you definitely have to credit the defense for showing up against a good offense, but the Texas offense in its own right looked like it was taking a bit to catch its breath after last week and with SEC play looming large.
Arch Manning was highly inefficient as a passer in this game, but it was more telling that he led the Longhorns in rushing as well. The offensive line was middling at best and the running backs were seemingly out of sorts as well. All in all, it wasn't that impressive of a showing for Texas, but it was more than enough to get the job done and keep them with the No. 1 ranking in the country.
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