ESPN dubbed this past weekend Road Test Weekend, because 12 of the top 25 teams were taking to the road in week 3, and of those 12, four failed their road tests, and several others came a little too close for comfort, while a couple came out looking as good as advertised. Here are my newly updated raking after the wild weekend, with current ranking followed by previous ranking, team name, record, and AP rank.
TW - LW - Team - Record - AP
1. (1) Stanford (3-0) (5)
2. (2) LSU (3-0) (2)
3. (4) Oklahoma (2-0) (1)
4. (8) Texas A&M (2-0) (8)
5. (18) Wisconsin (3-0) (6)
6. (5) Oregon (2-1) (10)
7. (14) Oklahoma State (3-0) (7)
8. (3) Boise State (2-0) (4)
9. (7) Alabama (3-0) (3)
10. (9) South Florida (3-0) (19)
11. (15) Ohio (3-0) (NR)
12. (11) Florida State (2-1) (11)
13. (NR) Georgia Tech (3-0) (25)
14. (NR) Washington State (2-1) (NR)
15. (21) Clemson (3-0) (21)
16. (20) Utah State (1-1) (NR)
17. (12) Mississippi State (1-2) (44)
18. (6) Arkansas (3-0) (14)
19. (NR) Bowling Green (2-1) (NR)
20. (10) South Carolina (3-0) (12)
21. (NR) Auburn (2-1) (27)
22. (NR) San Diego State (3-0) (47)
23. (24) Navy (2-1) (52)
24. (19) TCU (2-1) (20)
25. (NR) UCF (2-1) (NR)
Dropped From Rankings
(13) Florida (3-0) (15)
(16) Arizona State (2-1) (46)
(17) Virginia Tech (3-0) (13)
(22) Northwestern (2-1) (NR)
(23) Nebraska (3-0) (9)
(25) Michigan State (2-1) (26)
Ranked Teams by Conference
SEC - 6
Pac 12 - 3
Big 12 - 3
MWC - 3
ACC - 3
MAC - 2
Big 10 - 1
Big East - 1
WAC - 1
Ind - 1
CUSA - 1
Passed With Flying Colors
Stanford went down to Tucson to face what was supposed to be a high-powered offense, but they held the Wildcats to 10 points, all in the second quarter, and ran away with the game in the second half, once again proving that they deserve the #1 spot in my weekly rankings, which they have owned since the preseason.
It wasn't quite as pretty, but LSU also passed their road test on Thursday, going up against a ranked team, the Mississippi State Bulldogs, and holding them to a pair of field goals over the entire game. Their offense wasn't great, but they did just enough to make sure there would be no last-gasp comeback.
Oklahoma played in the most-hyped game of the week, going to Tallahassee to face the #5 Seminoles, but Florida State never even held a lead in the game, as the Sooners answered every time they scored, with a couple more tacked on for good measure.
I expected Wisconsin to struggle this week, since they were leaving the state for the first time all season to face a team that was very underrated last year, but this year's Huskies are not of the same caliber as the ones from last season. Wisconsin won by at least 34 points for the third straight game to start the season, and the Big 10 is looking like it already belongs to the Badgers.
Failed Miserably
Ohio State went down south to Miami after struggling to beat Toledo a week ago, and their play down there showed that the previous week was not a fluke. Miami is a pretty good team, but the truth is that the Buckeyes are the worst they have been in years, thanks to the recent scandals that have come out, and have left the national rankings for the first time in 7 years.
Arizona State entered the national rankings last week for the first time in years after upsetting Missouri in overtime, but the same problems that nearly cost them the game against the Tigers killed them against Illinois, without the benefit of their home crowd cheering them on to victory, and their stay in the top 25 lasted only one week.
Auburn had made a habit out of pulling out close games right at the end, but after they raced to a big early lead against Clemson, the other Tigers went to work and held Auburn to just 3 points in the final 3 quarters, making it impossible for last year's champions to pull out another last-second miracle and ending their winning streak at 17.
Michigan State was looking strong after two games, but they went down to South Bend to face a Notre Dame team that was embarrassed after two close losses to open the season, and the result was an Irish butt-whipping, with the Spartans looking like they never knew what hit them right from the beginning of the game.
Prediction Results - 15-17 Sep
College Football: 19-6 (.760) 62-14 overall (.816)
Upsets: 3-4 (.429) 7-9 overall (.438)
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