College Football 2012: The Top Recruiting Winners and Losers of Week 3

Week 3 of the college football season has concluded and this was another fantastic week. As fluid as recruiting is, it really becomes a week to week judgement during the season when it comes to uncommitted recruits.

Teenagers waver about a lot of things and so do teenage football players. Surveying the happenings of the weekend, performances of programs in games and the outcome, I'm going to give you the top winners and losers of the weekend from a recruiting perspective.

So come on and get into this read to see who helped themselves on the recruiting trail this weekend and who hurt themselves.

Winner: Stanford

Of course you have to have The Cardinal on this list after they brilliantly pulled off a gigantic upset over then-No. 2 ranked USC. 

The Cardinal should really see a spark in their recruiting and should use this momentum to make a run from here to signing day. Some of their top remaining targets include WR Jordan Cunningham, OG Tyrone Crowder and CB Johnny Johnson.

Loser: Kansas

Charlie Weis is trying to change the culture around the Jayhawks program and also acquire some sort of momentum on the recruiting trail. Kansas was awful recruiting-wise under Turner Gill and Weis was brought in to work his magic.

A loss to TCU won't help that at all and Kansas is still stuck in neutral on the recruiting side of things.

Winner: UCLA

UCLA is in the polls and came into the weekend to prove it could keep its hot start going. Blasting Houston 37-6 did the trick.

What a difference a year makes, as right now the Bruins are the hottest team in Los Angeles while USC is licking its wounds from Stanford's punch in the mouth. Suddenly that Crosstown Showdown looks like it's going to have Pac-12 South Division implications.

Loser: Colorado

Jon Embree can't lose 9-14 to a lowly Fresno State team if he wants to turn things around in Boulder. Embree has a plan, but there needs to be improvement and better results from his football team. 

I have to mark Colorado down as a loser this weekend for getting waxed because if you want to reverse the fortunes of a program and lure in good talent via recruiting, you can't lose 69-14 to Fresno State.

Winner: Ole Miss

I know, I know. How can I put a team that lost 66-31 at home as a winner? Well, Hugh Freeze knew that the Rebels were not ready to compete on the field with Texas, but the atmosphere in Oxford as amazing.

Credit the fans of Ole Miss for being fired up all week and realizing that their program is on the upswing. This was a win for Ole Miss because you could feel the electricity of the stadium through the TV, and that is going to help with recruiting.

Loser: Maryland

Another loss for Randy Edsall's program. This time the Terps fell to UConn, 24-21. Maryland has a lot of young players so you probably can chalk its struggles up to that. The Terps have to get going so they can save their season and continue their quest of keeping local talent local.

Surely the Huskies were plenty motivated to come out of this game with a win for obvious reasons.

Winner: Pittsburgh

The Panthers had a great performance this past Saturday, beating a good Virginia Tech team 35-17. Paul Chryst is the new lead Panther. but the past two weeks were not good outings to start his initial season.

None of that matters now, as Chryst rallied Pitt to beat the Hokies. With top-level uncommitted recruits to impress, such as WR Robert Foster and OT Dorian Johnson, this was a much-needed victory for Chryst and his program.

Loser: Arkansas

Arkansas is basically the New Orleans Saints of the college football world. Both teams not only suddenly lost their leaders in their head coaches, but also their offensive play-callers.

Bobby Petrino is one of the best offensive minds in college football and he is missed on the Hogs' sidelines. Recruiting has been a bit quirky for Arkansas, but a 52-0 blowout loss to Alabama on the heels of losing to Louisiana-Monroe is not going to help the Razorbacks attract talented prospects to Fayetteville at all.

John L. Smith has to straighten this ship out quickly, because if not then TE Hunter Henry and other commitments may begin to have serious reservations. 

Edwin Weathersby has worked in scouting/player personnel departments for three professional football teams, including the New York Giants, Cleveland Browns and the Las Vegas Gladiators of the Arena League. He spent a year evaluating prep prospects & writing specific recruiting and scouting content articles for Student Sports Football (now ESPN Rise-HS). A syndicated scout and writer, he's also contributed to WeAreSC.com, GatorBait.net and Diamonds in the Rough Inc., a College Football and NFL Draft magazine.