(Editor's Note: The rankings in this article are from the AP Top 25 Poll of sportswriters and sportscasters, and the ratings are from Jeff Sagarin. Ed Bagley's Top 25 Poll is just as subjective as the AP Poll or the Coaches' Poll, but my poll is just so much more fun to read.)
The great difference why watching college football games is so much more enjoyable than watching pro football is not because it is exciting-heck, pro football can be exciting too-it's because college football is much more unpredictable. College football's third week of action is an excellent example.
The fortunes of four teams-Southern California, Brigham Young, Utah and Georgia Tech-changed dramatically after losing this week.
Third-ranked USC, which beat San Jose State 56-3 at home and Ohio State 18-15 away in its first two games, flew north to Seattle and lost 16-13 to a Washington Husky team that was 0-12 last season. The Trojans lost because Steve Sarkisian, Washington's energetic new head coach, and Nick Holt, Washington's excitable new defensive coordinator, played key roles for USC last season; Sarkisian was offensive coordinator for the Trojans and Holt was the defensive coordinator.
Washington started its season by playing hard and losing to 9th-ranked Louisiana State, 31-24, before knocking off Idaho 42-23 to record its first win in 16 games. The Huskies now believe they can win and, believe you me, USC now knows they can get embarrassed by a team that believes they can win.
Washington's Huskies were rewarded for their effort by jumping into the AP Top 25 Poll at No. 24. USC dropped from 3rd to 12th in the same AP Poll. Washington's Sagarin rating also jumped 39 places in 7 days-from 63 to 24.
Seventh-ranked Brigham Young started its season by upsetting Oklahoma 14-13, and then trashed Tulane, 54-3. Unfortunately, unranked Florida State, which managed to get beaten by Miami (FL) 38-34 in its opener at home, and then slip by lowly Jacksonville State 19-9 at home, traveled to BYU and stung the Cougars, 54-28. BYU dropped to 19th the AP Poll.
Eighteenth-ranked Utah, which was the only undefeated major college football team last year at 13-0, slipped by Utah State 35-17 and San Jose State 24-14 before traveling to unranked Oregon and getting upset, 31-24.
Fourteenth-ranked Georgia Tech opened its season by looking unimpressive with a win over lowly Jacksonville State 37-17, and barely getting past Clemson 30-27, but found the going much tougher against No. 20 Miami (FL), losing 33-17. The Yellow Jackets dropped right out of the AP Poll, and Miami rocketed up from 20th to 9th.
Unpredictable? You bet. The chances of USC, BYU, Utah or Georgia Tech playing in the National Championship Game this year are probably nil; all of them were undefeated last week.
Here are 11 ranked teams that won and are now 3-0 and moving on:
No. 1 Florida at home over SEC opponent Tennessee 23-13. No. 2 Texas at home over Texas Tech 34-24; Texas Tech was the only team to beat Texas last year. No. 4 Alabama at home over lowly, 124th-ranked North Texas, 53-7. No. 5 Penn State at home over lowly, 125th-ranked Temple, 31-6. No. 8 California on-the-road over Minnesota, 35-21. No. 9 LSU at home over in-state rival LA-Lafayette, 31-3. No. 10 Boise State on-the-road over Fresno State, 51-34.
No. 17 Cincinnati on-the-road over Oregon State, 28-18. No. 22 Kansas at home over Duke, 44-16. No. 24 North Carolina at home over in-state rival East Carolina, 31-17. No. 25 Michigan at home over in-state rival Eastern Michigan, 45-17.
Six other ranked teams won. No. 5 Mississippi (now 2-0 and tied with Penn State at No. 5) at home beat lowly, 167th-ranked, 1-AA Southeastern Louisiana, 52-6; and TCU (now 2-0) at home beat lowly, 137th-ranked, 1-AA Texas State San Marcos, 56-21. No. 11 Ohio State on-the-road over No. 105-ranked Toledo, 38-0.
No. 12 Oklahoma, after being upset by BYU 14-13 in its opener, is trying to win back votes with shutouts over #178th-ranked Idaho State 64-0, and now Tulsa, 45-0. No. 16 Oklahoma State (now 2-1) at home over winless, 155th-ranked Rice, 41-24. No. 23 Georgia (now 2-1) on-the-road over Arkansas in a really ugly win, 52-41.
The Georgia-Arkansas game was almost as bad as Notre Dame's home victory over Michigan State, 33-30. All four of these teams are not that good, and you can tell that by the scores-none of them have a defense worth talking about at the moment. They could all get better in future weeks, but right now none of them are nearly as good as advertised.
Nine other unranked teams quietly went to 3-0 this week, any or all of them could keep winning and move into the AP Top 25 Poll soon. They include:
Southern Mississippi at home barely over Virginia, 37-34. Colorado State at home over Nevada, 35-20. Pittsburgh at home over Navy, 27-14. Iowa at home over Arizona, 27-17. Auburn at home over West Virginia, 41-30. UCLA at home over Kansas State, 23-9. Wisconsin at home over 102nd-ranked, 1-AA Wofford, 44-14. Missouri at home over 120th-ranked, 1-AA Furman, 52-12. South Florida at home over lowly, 162nd-ranked, 1-AA Charleston Southern, 59-0.
Seven teams should not have been on the same field with their opponent this week because absolutely none of them had any real chance of winning. They included North Texas, Temple, Eastern Michigan, Southeastern Louisiana, Texas State San Marcos, Rice, and Charleston Southern.
The biggest winner of the week? It's the Washington Huskies, hands down. Their 16-13 victory over USA ranks as the greatest upset by Washington's football program in school history. Washington just may become the biggest surprise of the season.
Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley
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