My top 25 for week 3 and my power 5 conference check ins:
- Texas Longhorns 2-0: vs Wyoming
- Michigan Wolverines 2-0: vs Bowling Green
- Georgia Bulldogs 2-0: vs South Carolina
- Alabama Crimson Tide 1-1: at USF
- Washington Huskies 2-0: at Michigan State
- Florida State Seminoles 2-0: at Boston College
- Penn State Nittany Lions 2-0: at Illinois
- USC Trojans 3-0: BYE
- Ohio State Buckeyes 2-0: vs WKU
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish 3-0: vs Central Michigan
- Utah Utes 2-0: vs Weber State
- Oregon Ducks 2-0: vs Hawaii
- Ole Miss Rebels 2-0: vs Georgia Tech
- LSU Tigers 1-1: at MSST
- Oregon State Beavers 2-0: vs SDSU
- Tennessee Volunteers 2-0: at Florida
- Arkansas Razorbacks 2-0: vs BYU
- North Carolina Tar Heels 2-0: vs Minnesota
- Kanas Jayhawks 2-0: vs Nevada
- Colorado Buffaloes 2-0: vs CSU
- Duke Blue Devils 2-0: vs Northwestern
- Clemson Tigers 1-1: vs FAU
- Kansas State Wildcats 2-0: at Mizzou
- Miami Hurricanes 2-0: vs Bethune
- Washington State Cougars 2-0: vs Northern Colorado
Dropped Out
#21 Maryland Terrapins
#24 Illinois Fighting Illini
#25 Wisconsin Badgers
Just Missed
- UCLA Bruins
- Maryland Terrapins
- Oklahoma Sooners
- Mississippi State Bulldogs
- Louisville Cardinals
Conference Comparison
Pac 12: 7 (5, 8, 11, 12, 15, 20, 25)
SEC: 6 (3, 4, 13, 14, 16, 17)
ACC: 5 (6, 18, 21, 22, 24)
Big Ten: 3 (2, 7, 9)
Big 12: 3 (1, 19, 23)
Independent: 1 (10)
Conference Check In
SEC
The SEC has been kind of underwhelming so far. Alabama, Mizzou, Florida, LSU, Kentucky, Vandy, Auburn, TAMU, and South Carolina have all looked pretty sluggish against non-conference opponents. We’ll see if they can improve, but I still think they can get in two teams into the playoffs. Georgia is still looking good, Alabama could run the table, and Ole Miss is looking really good going into week 3.
Big Ten
The Big Ten has not looked good. Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State are good like I thought, but Maryland, Illinois, and Wisconsin have disappointed so far. Should be interesting week 4 to see on of their top three teams in OSU play against Notre Dame.
Pac 12
The Pac 12 has been amazing. Washington, USC, Utah, and Oregon are all looking like playoff contenders. Oregon State, Colorado, Washington State, and UCLA are all teams that could be significant challenges for those first 4 I mentioned. Arizona, Cal, and ASU all looked decent in the first 2 weeks as well. The more and more I think about it, the more I think that it is going to be very difficult for a Pac 12 team to make the playoffs. Can any of those teams get through this gauntlet of a schedule with less than 2 losses? I doubt it.
ACC
Florida State has thrown their hat into playoff contention and has looked like a top 6 team. Clemson has taken theirs out while UNC, Miami, and Duke are trying to contend for an ACC championship. Don’t sleep on Louisville either. Should be interesting this season to see how the ACC unfolds.
Big 12
The Big 12 has looked weak outside of Texas so far. The Longhorns may be the best team in college football right now. Kansas, Kansas State, and Oklahoma have looked pretty good, but I’d like to see more from the rest of the conference.
Group of 5
All of the best teams from the group of 5 have already lost. Tulane, South Alabama, Troy, UTSA, and Boise State have all lost. Air Force and Marshall are the only top teams that haven’t lost yet. Whichever team ends up going to the NY6 bowl doesn’t seem like they are likely to be competitive.
Upset Alert
#14 LSU at Mississippi State – MSST has looked good so far, and LSU has not. We’ll see if LSU can bounce back from their FSU loss a couple weeks ago right here on a tough SEC road trip.
#17 Arkansas vs BYU – Arkansas has looked good, but BYU has a history of orchestrating upsets, so we’ll see if history repeats itself this week.
#23 Kansas State at Missouri – KSU did a good job last week of avoiding the upset against Troy, so let’s see if they can do it again in SEC country against Mizzou.
JacobErwin.com 