It was a dark week for Notre Dame who opens the season 0-2 and quickly tumbles out of the 18 Stripes Top 20. Spoiler alert! The great thing about college football is watching the misery of other teams as well, though. There’s always plenty of that to go around. Heck, we already have two power conference jobs opened up as UCLA and Virginia Tech decided to pull the plug on their head coaching positions.
Here’s the latest poll from 18S:
18 Stripes Top 20 Poll
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | NEXT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ohio State | 3-0 | BYE |
| 2 | Miami (+1) | 3-0 | vs. Florida |
| 3 | Florida State (+1) | 2-0 | vs. Kent State |
| 4 | LSU (-2) | 3-0 | vs. SE Louisiana |
| 5 | Georgia (+1) | 3-0 | BYE |
| 6 | Penn State (-1) | 3-0 | BYE |
| 7 | Texas | 2-1 | vs. Sam Houston |
| 8 | Oregon (+1) | 3-0 | vs. Oregon State |
| 9 | Oklahoma (+4) | 3-0 | vs. Auburn |
| 10 | Texas A&M (+6) | 3-0 | BYE |
| 11 | Alabama (+3) | 2-1 | BYE |
| 12 | Illinois (+4) | 3-0 | at Indiana |
| 13 | Tennessee (-1) | 2-1 | vs. UAB |
| 14 | Vanderbilt (NR) | 3-0 | vs. Georgia State |
| 15 | Georgia Tech (NR) | 3-0 | vs. Temple |
| 16 | Ole Miss (NR) | 3-0 | vs. Tulane |
| 17 | Louisville (+1) | 2-0 | vs. Bowling Green |
| 18 | Auburn (NR) | 3-0 | at Oklahoma |
| 19 | Missouri (NR) | 3-0 | vs. South Carolina |
| 20 | Iowa State | 4-0 | BYE |
Dropped Out:
#8 Notre Dame
#10 Clemson
#11 South Carolina
#15 Pittsburgh
#19 USF
Six teams from our rankings last week ended up losing and only Tennessee survived to remain ranked heading into Week 4 of the college football season. In addition to our Irish, Clemson lost on a last-second field goal to Georgia Tech for their 2nd defeat of the season, South Carolina were blown out at home 31-7 at the hands of Vanderbilt, Pittsburgh lost their rivalry game to West Virginia in overtime, and USF returned down to earth losing handily to Miami.
Top Games Recap:
DJ Lagway threw 5(!) interceptions in Death Valley but LSU only ended up beating Florida 20-10. It was a pretty weird game where the Tigers were outgained and Florida ended up with 13 more first downs. Just don’t ask Brian Kelly about things, please.
Tennessee’s woes against Georgia continued as the Dawgs won a thriller in overtime. The Vols missed a very makeable field goal to win it at the end of regulation and would eventually lose 44-41. We think Tennessee showed plenty to hang around in our rankings and not drop too much.
Arch Manning threw for 114 yards against UTEP as Texas doesn’t impress with a 27-10 win. The throwing motion/injury rumors just won’t go away.
Alabama was able to cruise past Wisconsin 38-14. Over his last 2 games, quarterback Ty Simpson is 41 of 46 for 608 yards, 7 touchdowns, and no interceptions.
Interesting Games to Note:
Oregon 34-14 Northwestern: The Ducks allowed two late scores and didn’t cover the spread on Northwestern’s practice field stadium.
Iowa State 24-16 Arkansas State: This was a road game for the Cyclones.
Utah 31-6 Wyoming: After a rough 2024, Utah is 3-0 and ranked in the AP Poll now.
Texas Tech 45-14 Oregon State: Things are not going well for the Beavers, they’re 0-3 so far and -59 in point differential.
NC State 34-24 Wake Forest: The Wolfpack came storming back in the second half to remain unbeaten.
Houston 36-20 Colorado: The Buffs suffer their 2nd loss of the season.
Arizona 23-17 Kansas State: The purple Wildcats are 1-3 after starting the year ranked.
New Mexico 35-10 UCLA: The game that finally made the Bruins to fire DeShaun Foster.
Bowling Green 23-13 Liberty: The Flames were one of the top teams expected to grab the G4 playoff spot, but they are 1-2 already.
Old Dominion 45-26 Virginia Tech: Brent Pry is fired after a 0-3 start with the Hokies.
Tulane 34-27 Duke: Quarterback Darian Mensah loses to the team he just transferred from, ouch!
California 27-14 Minnesota: The Bears are on maybe sneaky good watch following this 3-0 start.
Opponent Recap:
Miami (3-0): The Canes sure look like a very good team after beating USF 49-12.
Texas A&M (3-0): The Aggies host Auburn next weekend and might start 6-0.
Purdue (2-1): The Boilers threw the ball well but tossed 3 interceptions and could barely run the ball in a 33-17 loss to visiting USC.
Arkansas (2-1): An Arkansas fumble near the Ole Miss red zone on their final would-be game-winning drive allowed the Rebels to win 41-35.
Boise State (1-1): They were off this week and travel to Air Force for a tilt in Colorado.
NC State (3-0): As mentioned during the off-season, the Wolfpack may be 6-0 before playing Notre Dame. They have Duke, Virginia Tech, and Campbell up next.
USC (3-0): It feels like Lincoln Riley has a lot of 3-0 starts in his career.
Boston College (1-2): A lot of people felt like Bill O’Brien would do some good things at BC, but losing by 10 points at Stanford is a red flag.
Navy (3-0): The Middies won by 19 points on the road at Tulsa.
Pittsburgh (2-1): Vegas had the Backyard Brawl as a close spread for a reason!
Syracuse (2-1): The Orange blew out Colgate 66-24 and Steve Angeli currently leads the nation in passing yards per game.
Stanford (1-2): A real, actual victory over a power conference opponent!
Anyone else a little concerned that the Navy game is going to be more difficult this year? In a good year, ND has the defense humming with a good DC and they do some Navy triple-option prep at different times of the year. This year, the defense is currently a dumpster fire, so I’m sure that Navy prep is the last thing on their mind.
Quite concerned at the moment!
Coming into the season, it would have been so so low on my list of concerning games. 4 extremely athletic LBs should be the dream counter to that offense. Now I’m wondering if Chris Ash even has the mental capacity to process the triple offense.
Reluctantly concur with all concerns. Also, not sure how our D tackles can hold up.
You are right Noise. You have to stop the fullback.
Always, and a strong NG is indispensable!
I actually think that Navy might be the one game that Donovan Hinish is really well equipped for. He’s quick, and with Navy not being oversized, he might be able to get penetration and take away the fullback dive. Hopefully.
Good points! We have had a recent history of fitting personnel to those triple option games. If Ash is still around, hope he can figure all those matchups out.
“If Ash is still around”…. Oh boy, now I’m worried.