None of the top 19 teams lost, but Week 3 of the college football season still produced a significant change: Texas is No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll, supplanting Georgia after the Bulldogs edged Kentucky by one point.
Here’s how I voted and some context for Texas’ ascent, Florida State’s fall, Nebraska’s increasing spotlight and more.
1. I voted for Texas at No. 1 this week, making me one of 35 people who had the Longhorns atop their ballot. It’s an increase of 31 from last week, and although it may seem a tad odd to elevate Texas after a win against UTSA — a game in which its Heisman candidate quarterback got injured — I didn’t hesitate to make the move.
No, it’s not the same Roadrunners team we’ve seen the past few years under coach Jeff Traylor, but credit to Texas for three weeks of dominance, including on the road against Michigan and with a big dose of Arch Manning in relief of Quinn Ewers on Saturday. Combine the quality of the Longhorns’ best win in Ann Arbor with the consistency of their performances and the high-end talent on their roster, and they’re the best choice for No. 1 this week, even if a compelling argument can still be made for Georgia (not to mention Ohio State’s upside). Maybe it’s a slight overreaction to the drama in Lexington, but I’m a firm believer in being flexible with one’s ballot, especially this early in the season.
|
Team
|
AP rank
|
My rank
|
Record
|
|---|---|---|---|
 Texas |
1
|
1
|
3-0
|
 Georgia |
2
|
2
|
3-0
|
 Ohio State |
3
|
3
|
2-0
|
 Alabama |
4
|
5
|
3-0
|
 Ole Miss |
5
|
8
|
3-0
|
 Tennessee |
6
|
4
|
3-0
|
 Missouri |
7
|
11
|
3-0
|
 Miami |
8
|
6
|
3-0
|
 Oregon |
9
|
7
|
3-0
|
 Penn State |
10
|
10
|
2-0
|
 USC |
11
|
9
|
2-0
|
 Utah |
12
|
13
|
3-0
|
 Kansas State |
13
|
12
|
3-0
|
 Oklahoma State |
14
|
16
|
3-0
|
 Oklahoma |
15
|
15
|
3-0
|
 LSU |
16
|
19
|
2-1
|
 Notre Dame |
17
|
NR
|
2-1
|
 Michigan |
18
|
20
|
2-1
|
 Louisville |
19
|
18
|
2-0
|
 Iowa State |
20
|
14
|
2-0
|
 Clemson |
21
|
21
|
1-1
|
 Nebraska |
22
|
25
|
3-0
|
 Northern Illinois |
23
|
22
|
2-0
|
 Illinois |
24
|
NR
|
3-0
|
 Texas A&M |
25
|
NR
|
2-1
|
 Memphis |
NR
|
17
|
3-0
|
 Toledo |
NR
|
23
|
3-0
|
 Washington State |
NR
|
24
|
3-0
|
2. A 13-12 win at Kentucky is a red flag for Georgia but also not the end of the world. Road wins in the SEC should never be taken for granted, and it’s not like Georgia hasn’t had close calls in recent years, including a 27-20 win at Auburn and a comeback from down 14-3 at South Carolina last September. That doesn’t mean Saturday didn’t magnify concerns, as the Georgia offense lacked playmakers against a Kentucky squad that was blown out by South Carolina a week earlier.
The top tier of Georgia, Texas and Ohio State felt bunched up last week, and thus it shouldn’t be surprising that momentum shifted toward a Texas move to No. 1. According to College Poll Archive, it’s the 21st time since 2000 that an AP No. 1 team has won but fallen from the top spot — in fact, it happened to Georgia after it escaped with a close 26-22 win at Missouri in 2022.
If Georgia beats Alabama on Sept. 28 and Texas beats Oklahoma on Oct. 12, the Bulldogs’ Oct. 19 trip to Austin has a chance to be a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup.
3. Upsets of No. 1 teams continue to be elusive. Georgia scored the fewest points by a No. 1 team against an unranked opponent since Alabama’s 12-10 win against Tennessee in 2009, but it wasn’t enough for the Bulldogs to actually lose. AP No. 1 teams are 132-1 against unranked opponents since USC lost to Oregon State on Sept. 25, 2008. That Oregon State-USC game was the third such upset in a five-game span from 2007 to 2008.
The only upset of No. 1 by an unranked team in the past 16 years was Texas A&M toppling Alabama in 2021.
4. Alabama solidified its top-four standing by thumping Wisconsin 42-10 at Camp Randall Stadium, though I have the Crimson Tide fifth (after sliding them to eighth following last week’s rough outing against USF). I again gave my No. 4 vote to Tennessee, which beat Kent State 71-0 and appears to be in a race with Ole Miss to see which SEC team can most ruthlessly crush overmatched opponents. The Vols are outscoring teams 63.7 to 4.3, including their 41-point blowout of NC State last week.
Their ascending defense has a chance to make a statement next Saturday night at Oklahoma in a top-15 battle. It’s the fifth time the Vols and Sooners have met, though Tennessee’s last win in the series came in the 1939 Orange Bowl. Oklahoma has had mixed results thus far despite its 3-0 record, but I’ll throw Tennessee in the mix for No. 1 consideration if it notches another decisive win.
5. No. 6 Tennessee at No. 15 Oklahoma is joined on the Week 4 card by three other ranked matchups: No. 24 Illinois at No. 22 Nebraska, No. 12 Utah at No. 14 Oklahoma State and No. 11 USC at No. 18 Michigan. It adds up to create an interesting weekend despite the fact that three of the top five teams play ULM (Texas), Marshall (Ohio State) and Georgia Southern (Ole Miss) and the other two (Georgia and Alabama) are off before meeting in one of the biggest games of the season on Sept. 28.
Oklahoma State and Utah have met only once before, amid the Cowboys’ undefeated season in 1945. USC and Michigan have become familiar foes over the years, however, as the new Big Ten rivals were longtime Rose Bowl rivals. They’ve met 10 times, eight of those in the Rose Bowl. USC last won 32-18 to cap the 2006 season.
6. The unexpected Top 25 matchup is Illinois at Nebraska, after the Fighting Illini sneaked into the poll following wins against Eastern Illinois, Kansas (which subsequently lost to UNLV) and Central Michigan. The Illini’s Top 25 spot doesn’t feel especially earned, but then again, neither does the Cornhuskers’ — and I did vote for Nebraska this week. Nevertheless, it’s a big opportunity for both on a national stage Friday.
Illinois spent a chunk of the 2022 season ranked, but it hasn’t actually played in a matchup of two AP-ranked teams at the time of the game since a 2008 loss at Penn State. It last won a ranked vs. ranked matchup in 2001 at Ohio State. Nebraska, once an AP poll mainstay with 348 consecutive poll appearances from 1981 to 2002, hasn’t played in a matchup of two ranked teams since a 62-3 loss to Ohio State on Nov. 5, 2016. In fact, Nebraska has lost 10 consecutive AP ranked vs. ranked matchups, last winning one on Nov. 12, 2011, at Penn State.
Nebraska and Illinois have played each other just once while both ranked, a 52-25 Huskers win in 1985.
7. It’s not as if there are slam-dunk choices at the bottom of the rankings. I opted for Toledo, which crushed Mississippi State 41-17 in the second-largest win by a MAC team over an SEC team, and Washington State, which won the Apple Cup against Washington, to fill out my ballot, along with Nebraska at No. 25. Like the poll, I dropped Boston College and Arizona out, and I also nudged out idle Boise State, which could easily return soon. I do favor one Group of 5 team in particular over the poll, as I continue to rank Memphis (which beat Florida State), now at No. 18.
I also considered UNLV (which is ranked in the coaches poll but has never appeared in the AP poll), Indiana and Cal, and I reconsidered but opted against Notre Dame, which I still don’t trust enough because of the NIU loss, despite the emphatic 66-7 recovery at Purdue. The Irish are 17th in the poll, but I’m one of three voters who didn’t include them. Assuming Notre Dame beats this week’s MAC opponent, Miami (Ohio), it will have a chance to regain respect on Sept. 28 against Louisville.
8. Florida State is off to one of the worst starts in college football history, at least in the context of preseason expectations. Some other preseason top-10 teams have started 0-3, but the Seminoles are the first to do so against three unranked teams at the time of the game, having lost to Georgia Tech, Boston College and Memphis.
An average of 1.7 preseason top-10 teams per season have finished unranked in the Top 25 era (since 1989), including at least one in 30 of 35 seasons. It makes for a fun preseason guessing game every year, and it hasn’t taken long for Florida State to make it clear who one of those teams will be in 2024.
9. Is Florida State the most overrated team of all time? Well, no — probably not even close, given that it was merely No. 10 in the preseason and was not getting nearly as much attention as, for example, the 2017 Florida State team that opened at No. 3 but started 3-6 en route to a 7-6 finish (and Jimbo Fisher’s late-season departure for Texas A&M).
The preseason poll started in 1950. Since then, 42 preseason top-10 teams have finished with losing records. The worst was 1954 Illinois, which went from preseason No. 5 to 1-8. This century, 2000 Alabama went from No. 3 to 3-8, and 2012 Arkansas, 2013 Florida and 2016 Notre Dame all went from No. 10 to 4-8.
At this rate, FSU may be lucky to join those fellow preseason No. 10s at four wins.
10. Again, my ballot is not quite as SEC-heavy as the poll, which has the conference in six of the top seven spots. Mine merely has six of the top 11, as I continue to wait to anoint Ole Miss and Missouri, even if both have made significant moves in my Top 25.
If the College Football Playoff were based on my current ballot, three of the four first-round games would be played at SEC stadiums, including Memphis at Georgia, Penn State at Tennessee and USC at Alabama. Ole Miss would have to go to Oregon. But there will inevitably be plenty of SEC movement to come, with Oklahoma-Tennessee kicking off a long stretch of consequential games.
(Top photo of Isaiah Bond: Tim Warner / Getty Images)
