College Football Rankings 2013: Teams That Must Make Major Statements in Week 3

Now we're starting to get down to business in college football.

Gone are the cupcakes and warmup games for the top teams in the country. Coaches have gotten their players fully prepared for the arduous road ahead.

Some Top 25 teams are beginning their conference play already while others have marquee nonconference games ahead. Fans should make sure their entire Saturday is open because there's little rest between the premier matchups.

This week is a great opportunity for teams to set the tone for the rest of the season. Here are four Top 25 teams that have tough tests in Week 3 and need to lay a marker down with big wins.

No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide

Ever since Nov. 10, 2012, Nick Saban has had a chip on his shoulder. That was the night Johnny Football became Johnny Heisman and knocked off the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide, 29-24.

Johnny Manziel illustrated how a mobile quarterback and up-tempo offense could exploit the holes in the Crimson Tide defense. Nobody was able to repeat that success, and it's up to that same player to see if he can do it again.

Saban and defensive coordinator Kirby Smart have had a long offseason to stew on that loss and figure out a way to get the better of Texas A&M this time around. They have also had a bye week to put the finishing touches on their strategy.

Alabama also looked far from dominant in the 35-10 victory over Virginia Tech. The team was outgained by the Hokies and struggled to get the passing game going.

A win over the Aggies would be a good reminder that the Crimson Tide are still the team to beat.

No. 2 Oregon Ducks

Seemingly every year starts the same for the Oregon Ducks. In their first few games, they put up 257 points against inferior opposition and look like the best team in the country. Then everybody starts to jump on the Oregon bandwagon, only for the wheels to fall off against Stanford or USC later in the year.

The 66-3 win over Nicholls State in Week 1 is a meaningless result. Nobody would have expected anything less. The 59-10 win over Virginia in Charlottesville was much better, and the ease with which the Ducks won was scary.

Next Saturday, Oregon will be welcoming in Tennessee for what should be a much tougher test. If the Ducks want to keep a hold on the No. 2 spot, or possibly jump to No. 1 in the event of an Alabama loss, they need to remain just as dominant against the Volunteers. If Oregon struggles, it could end up getting overtaken by Clemson or Ohio State.

No. 16 UCLA Bruins

One game that is flying under the radar a bit is No. 16 UCLA traveling to Lincoln to take on No. 23 Nebraska. It's the kind of nonconference game that will look great to the voters for whomever the winner is.

Beating the Cornhuskers last season was Jim Mora's way of saying the Bruins are back. They finished 9-5 in 2012, which was a far cry from the Rick Neuheisel era. Going on the road and getting another victory would go a long way to solidifying UCLA as a possible top-10 team this year.

This could be UCLA's best chance to get that signature win. Its Pac-12 schedule is brutal. The Bruins have to go on the road against Stanford, Oregon and USC.

No. 25 Ole Miss Rebels

Ole Miss just snuck into the Top 25 after an easy win over Southeast Missouri State. It was essentially the opening week win over Vanderbilt that got the Rebels where they are now.

It's a bit of a coincidence that one of the teams that paved the way for Ole Miss' path to the Top 25 is its opponent in Week 3.

Mack Brown's seat will be scorching after Texas lost to BYU 40-21 over the weekend. The Longhorns went from ranked 15th to the outside looking in on the Top 25.

Although Texas is no longer ranked, this would be a great win for Ole Miss and would go a long way to establishing the Rebels as a possible dark—albeit extremely dark—horse in the loaded SEC West.