College football rankings 2023: Projected Week 4 AP Top 25 after Tennessee upset, Alabama, Texas, Georgia struggle

Projected AP Top 25 college football rankings after Week 3: No. 10-9

10. Utah Utes

Given how mediocre the results in the past two weeks have been for Utah – a 20-13 win over Baylor and a 31-7 win over Weber State aren’t needle-movers – it’s weird to have the Utes in the Top 10. When you then consider the situation, however, it starts to seem like this could possibly be the favorite to win the Pac-12 yet again this season. 

Utah has started the season at 3-0 with wins over two Power-Five opponents, one of which just upset Tennessee in Week 3. They’ve also been able to do this with Cam Rising still having not taken a snap as he makes his way back from a torn ACL suffered at the end of last season. 

It does appear that Rising is good to go soon, but Kyle Whittingham didn’t want to risk it against Weber State. That makes perfect sense but, if the Utes hit another gear once the QB returns, the rest of college football should look out. 

9. Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Even though Central Michigan did not have Bert Emanuel Jr. for this matchup against the Fighting Irish, Notre Dame avoided any worries in a lookahead spot as they used several big plays from Sam Hartman to pull out in front and then just kept the Chippewas at bay for the rest of the contest. 

With the matchup against Ohio State in South Bend looming for next week, Marcus Freeman clearly didn’t want to put too much on tape and, more importantly, wanted to get out of this game healthy with a win. Mission accomplished, and it doesn’t hurt that the Irish accomplished that goal with a 24-point victory that felt even more comfortable than that. 

It’s still TBD on just how high Notre Dame can climb this season. But a win against Ohio State next week would go a long way in terms of raising the ceiling for the Irish.