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Amway College Football Poll 2021: Complete Week 3 Rankings Revealed
September 12, 2021
An upset-filled weekend led to a shakeup of the Amway Coaches Poll heading into Week 3 of the college football season.
Alabama and Georgia cruised to victories over much weaker opponents, but Ohio State suffered a rare regular-season loss to Oregon on Saturday, while Iowa topped Iowa State in a top-10 rivalry matchup.
Coaches Poll
1. Alabama
2. Georgia
3. Oklahoma
4. Oregon
5. Texas A&M
6. Clemson
7. Iowa
8. Cincinnati
9. Florida
10. Notre Dame
11. Ohio State
12. Penn State
13. UCLA
14. Iowa State
15. Virginia Tech
16. Mississippi
17. Wisconsin
18. Coastal Carolina
19. North Carolina
20. Auburn
21. Arizona State
22. Oklahoma State
23. BYU
24. Arkansas
25. Michigan
No game played a bigger factor in the rankings than Ohio State against Oregon.
The Buckeyes have been cruising through to the postseason in recent years, with the last regular-season loss coming in 2018, when Urban Meyer was still the head coach. Oregon changed that with a 35-28 road upset in Columbus.
Running back CJ Verdell was the biggest star of the game with a three-touchdown effort for the Ducks:
CJ Stroud totaled 484 passing yards for Ohio State, but a late interception helped seal the loss as the Buckeyes dropped from No. 3 to No. 11 in the latest ranking.
Oregon moved up seven spots to No. 4.
Iowa was also a big riser to No. 7 after a 27-17 win over Iowa State. The Hawkeyes had only 173 yards of total offense but won the turnover battle 4-0.
"First and foremost, I'll give credit to Iowa, especially defensively," Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell said after the game. "Made some great plays on the ball, which you saw even last week from them. And those were debilitating to us in terms of really what we wanted to do and tried to do in the football game."
Notre Dame dropped to 10th in the poll after a second straight narrow victory. The Fighting Irish escaped an upset bid from Toledo, winning 32-29 as Jack Coan threw a game-winning touchdown with just 1:09 left on the clock.
With two games decided by just three points apiece, Notre Dame is fortunate to be 2-0 to start the season.
USC and Texas weren't able to avoid upsets Saturday as both lost by double digits.
Arkansas earned a 40-21 win over Texas, trolling the future SEC member afterward:
Stanford knocked off USC with a 42-28 victory behind a three-touchdown effort (two passing, one rushing) from quarterback Tanner McKee.
BYU also impressed with a 26-17 win over Utah, knocking the Utes out of the Top 25 in the process.