The JD Poll: Top 25 after Week 3 in College Football

Ahh, yes, what a great weekend of college football, but isn’t every weekend a great weekend?

So here we go, the JD Poll is back for the second time ever, with the post week three rankings.

Note: Teams moving up and down in the rankings are relative to where they were ranked in last week’s JD poll (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/55492-the-jd-poll-top-25-of-college-football-through-week-two). Also this poll was finished BEFORE the AP Poll came out.

1. USC Trojans

Well, as expected, the USC Trojans rolled on and kicked the crap out of the Ohio State Suckeyes 35-3.

USC is well on their way to the national title game. The run game is unstoppable, and while everyone wants to talk about Joe Mcknight and Stefon Johnson, I think the best of the bunch is CJ Gable.

Oh and Mark Sanchez looked pretty good too…

I would be shocked if USC did not make the title game, but they sure know how to find a way to choke (24-23 loss at home to Stanford).

▲2. Oklahoma Sooners (No. 3)

The Sooners looked especially impressive vs. Washington. They took a 34-0 lead at halftime led by threeTD by Sam Bradford and never looked back in the 55-14 win.

Bradford finished 18 of 21 for 304 yards and five TD’s. The run game was well at work too, as Chris Brown and Demarco Murray both rushed for 100 yards.

▼3. Georgia Bulldogs (No. 2)

They survived! A tough game at South Carolina, they were a fumble at the goal line away from it being a 14-14 game midway through the fourth quarter.

Then, South Carolina failed on a fourth and two with three minutes 30 seconds to go 30 yards away from the end zone. And finally, UGA needed a pick in the red zone with 12 seconds left to secure the victory.

But the most important thing that happened today was not that UGA hung on and won, it was that Matthew Stafford looked beat up. He was hit hard multiple times during the game and UGA’s o-line has been considered the weakest part of this team, and this showed on Saturday.

This merits them going down one in the poll.

4. Florida Gators

No Game

5. Missouri Tigers

Easy win vs. Nevada this weekend. Just another day for Chase & Chase (Daniel and Coffman) and Jeremy Maclin to rack up the yards and touchdowns as Mizzou scored 69 points.

Daniel was 23 of 28 for 405 yards and four touchdowns—can you say Heisman? Maclin caught three of the touchdowns for 172 yards, while Derrick Washington carried the ball just eight times for 75 yards and two touchdowns.

6. LSU Tigers

Despite having hurricane problems for the third straight week, the Bayou Bengals demolished their lesser opponent North Texas, 41-3.

LSU relied on the run game to win this game, as Andrew Hatch was less then impressive yet again. As I said last week, he is the only thing holding this team back from greatness.

They won’t be able to run all over teams in the SEC like they have so far. And next week they go to Jordan-Hare Stadium to play the other Tigers in the SEC.

▲7. Texas Longhorns (No. 9)

Game vs. Arkansas rescheduled due to Hurricane Ike

▲8. Alabama Crimson Tide (No. 10)

Alabama played a lot better than last week’s 20-6 win over Tulane.

The reason for this was because both Andre Davis and Marlon Davis played, two of Alabama’s key offensive lineman.

Alabama beat the Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky 41-7, led by a strong rushing game that carried the ball 49 times for 281 yards and three touchdowns.

▼9. Auburn Tigers (No. 8)

Auburn won 3-2 at Mississippi State.

What? 3-2? Was it a baseball game?

No, it was just a sloppy, hard-fought, SEC battle. Mississippi State had many opportunities to upset the Tigers, but they could not capitalize on any of them. The only thing the Bulldogs did capitalize on is a punt that pinned Auburn inside the two.

HAHA, 3-2 is really cracking me up.

The inabilities of Auburn’s offense, and the three turnovers, force me to move Auburn  below the Crimson Tide and Texas.

▲10. Wisconsin Badgers (No. 12)

Talk about getting lucky, the Badgers could not have been luckier in Fresno this weekend.

Fresno State’s kicker missed three of four field goals in a 13-10 loss.

Wisconsin did not look that impressive, but hey, a win is a win. Winning on the road versus a top 25 team is impressive nonetheless.

Wisconsin could be the best team in the Big-10, but they didn’t have to play USC.

▼11. Ohio State Buckeyes (No. 7)

Losing to the No. 1 team does not make me think less of the Buckeyes, it’s the way they lost.

They were annihilated and they had nothing.

I predicted USC to win 38-17, but it was worse than that.

I also predicted Pryor would have little or no impact, all three USC running backs (Gable, Mcknight, and Johnson) would rush for more yards then Beanie Wells, one or two Buckeyes would cry, and USC would win by 20 plus.

They all came true! It looks like the Buckeyes won’t get to embarrass themselves in the national title game this year.

▲12. South Florida Bulls (No. 14)

They almost blew the game on Friday Kansas Jayhawks. They were up 34-20 in the fourth quarter, but blew their 14 point lead and had to hit a field goal as time expired to win, 37-34.

Matt Grothe looked very impressive as always as he threw for 338 yards and two TD. He also had a 28-yard touchdown run before halftime, which was much needed as USF was down 20-3.

South Florida is for real, and I don’t think they will lose four of their last six games like last year.

13. Texas Tech Red Raiders

Graham Harrell threw for 418 yards and five touchdowns as the Red Raiders crushed the Southern Methodist Mustangs 43-7.

I was disappointed in the Red Raiders performance though because they did not cover their spread of 36.5 points.

Also, Michael Crabtree had eight catches for 164 yards and three touchdowns.

Just another easy win for this untested team.

▲14. Oregon Ducks (No. 15)

Oregon was lucky as they beat Purdue in double overtime 33-26. Purdue missed a field goal as time expired that would have handed Oregon their first loss, and it would have been one of eight losses in the Pac-10 today.

With Arizona losing at home to UNLV, 23-20, and Cal losing to a poor Maryland team, Oregon and USC remain the only two teams from the Pac-10 in my top 25.

▲15. Penn State Nittany Lions (No. 19)

Another win for Joe Pa. Penn State blew out Syracuse as expected, and they move up in the poll. They haven’t played anyone of significance yet so we don’t know how good this team really is.

▲16. BYU Cougars (NR)

59-0. Wow.

BYU made UCLA look like a Championship Subdivision team versus USC. Max Hall had six touchdown passes in the first half, and went on to set the all-time mark for touchdowns at BYU with seven.

I had little faith in BYU after they barely beat Washington last week. But they did win, and they remain undefeated.

I can’t wait for BYU-Utah game later this year, as the winner might be undefeated and BCS bound.

17. Wake Forest Demon Deacons

No Game

▲18. East Carolina Pirates (No. 20)

Tulane gave them a run for their money, 28-24, as I expected. East Carolina won their first game this year as the favorite, and while ranked.

Like BYU and Utah, they could go undefeated this year. I don’t believe this will happen, but anything can happen; just ask Virginia Tech and West Virginia.

▲19. Utah Utes (NR)

Ok, I guess I’m biased towards teams not from the major conferences (I had neither BYU or Utah ranked last week, and a pretty modest ranking of ECU compared to other polls).

After this weekend I’m convinced, and I’m buying into both BYU and Utah. I think it is possible if not likely that both will be undefeated until they play each other in their final game of the season.

▼20. Kansas Jayhawks (No. 16)

Losing to South Florida in Tampa by 3 points is not bad at all. Todd Reesing looked good as always, and they are still well deserving of this top 20 spot.

▲21. Clemson Tigers (NR)

I think we all reacted a little overboard in demoting the Tigers out of the top 25 as they lost to a very solid Alabama team. They have bounced back nicely with two wins.

They can roll in a weak ACC, but will have difficult games at Wake and at Florida State later in the year.

▼22. Illinois Fighting Illini (No. 21)

20-17 win at home versus UL Lafayette? That’s embarrassing.

How can you score so many points versus Mizzou and only manage to score 20 versus a no name team from Louisiana?

23. West Virginia Mountaineers

No Game

24. Tennessee Volunteers

The Vols took care of business in their first home game at home, coming off a tough loss at UCLA—a game they had absolutely no business losing.

I kept them at No. 24 even after the loss, and I’ll keep them there until I see how they play versus the Florida Gators next weekend.

▲25. Florida State (NR)

The Seminoles have blown out two Championship Subdivision teams. They have looked more impressive than Kentucky has, so I figured I would switch them out with each other for now.

We’ll see how each team plays versus real teams.

Others Receiving Votes (by me):

▼ Kentucky Wildcats (last week 26), ▼Fresno State (last week 18), ▼Arizona State (last week 11), ▲Oklahoma State, ▲Virginia Tech, Vanderbilt, Boise State, ▼Cal (last week 22), ▲UNC, Ole Miss

Hope you enjoyed!