College Football Rankings 2014: Last-Minute Look at Week 3 Polls
Coming off a weak schedule of games last weekend, college football has a lot of work to do providing fans with the kind of quality and entertainment that they are accustomed to seeing. Despite that poor slate of matchups, there was plenty of shifting in the polls due to upsets and underachieving teams.
Before we get to the start of Week 3 games, which don't look a lot better on paper than last weekend, we want to look at where everything stands in the polls and which games are going to provide the most drama on Saturday.
September is traditionally a slow time in college football, with teams purposely scheduling cupcakes to get their bearings straight, but we have seen the biggest upsets happen when the games didn't seem to count for much.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
| AP Top 25 (1st Place Votes) | Rank | USA Today Top 25 (1st Place Votes) |
| Florida State (38) | 1 | Florida State (51) |
| Oregon (16) | 2 | Alabama (1) |
| Alabama (1) | 3 | Oklahoma (3) |
| Oklahoma (2) | 4 | Oregon (6) |
| Auburn | 5 | Auburn |
| Georgia (1) | 6 | Georgia (1) |
| Texas A&M (2) | 7 | Baylor |
| Baylor | 8 | Texas A&M |
| USC | 9 | LSU |
| LSU | 10 | USC |
| Notre Dame | 11 | Notre Dame |
| UCLA | 12 | UCLA |
| Michigan State | 13 | Michigan State |
| Mississippi | 14 | Arizona State |
| Stanford | 15 | Mississippi |
| Arizona State | 16 | Stanford |
| Virginia Tech | 17 | Wisconsin |
| Wisconsin | 18 | Ohio State |
| Kansas State | 19 | Virginia Tech |
| Missouri | 20 | Kansas State |
| Louisville | 21 | Nebraska |
| Ohio State | 22 | Missouri |
| Clemson | 23 | South Carolina |
| South Carolina | 24 | Clemson |
| BYU | 25 | North Carolina |
Week 3 Games To Watch
No. 6 Georgia at No. 24 South Carolina
This SEC battle is the easiest game to highlight because it's the only one of the weekend to feature two ranked teams. It also benefits from featuring Georgia's Heisman contender, running back Todd Gurley, and trying to figure out what South Carolina is.
The Gamecocks started the season ranked in the Top 10 of both polls, proceeded to allow 52 points to a Texas A&M team that didn't have Johnny Manziel, Mike Evans or Jake Matthews in the season opener and looked sluggish defeating East Carolina last week.
In Pete Iacobelli's preview for The Associated Press (via CBS Sports), Steve Spurrier is quoted as saying that last week's win spoke volumes about his team's mental toughness.
''It worked out for us," said Spurrier. ''Not quite as talented as some of our teams in the past, that's obvious. But the kids hung in there.''
Spurrier is at least honest in his assessment by saying that this year's Gamecocks team isn't as talented as what he had before. However, you can't help but wonder how long they can survive in the SEC based on how uninspired their first two games have been.
One thing that figures to change for Georgia, in a positive way, is the effectiveness of Gurley in this game. As ESPN's College GameDay Twitter account noted, the star running back hasn't fared well against South Carolina in previous meetings:
The Bulldogs are coming off a bye following an impressive 45-21 win over Clemson in which they outscored the Tigers 24-0 in the second half. Gurley needed the rest after racking up 293 all-purpose yards in the victory.
This should be an offensive slugfest with the Gamecocks averaging 30.5 points per game and allowing 37.5; Georgia's defense was on point in the second half against Clemson, but the Tigers were able to move the ball in the first half with 306 total yards.
Until South Carolina figures out a way to stop a quality opponent, it's hard to see a scenario where Spurrier's team comes out on top against a Georgia team that's rapidly rising in the polls and national title conversation.
Southern Mississippi at No. 3 Alabama
This is one of those games that's fascinating for one team, even though the outcome isn't going to be in doubt. Alabama is the superior team in every way. Nick Saban should have no problems getting the Crimson Tide to 3-0 before starting SEC play next week.
However, the questions about Alabama's quarterback position haven't come into focus through two games. Blake Sims has solid numbers across the board with a completion percentage of 76.6, 478 yards and two touchdowns.
Digging deeper into the numbers, via ESPN's College Football Twitter feed, Sims struggled throwing the ball down the field against West Virginia:
Jake Coker, who seemed like the favorite to be the starter before the season, looked pedestrian (at best) against Florida Atlantic. He completed 15 of 24 attempts for 202 yards and one touchdown, but Alex Scarborough of ESPN.com noted that his inability to "manage the offense, minimize mistakes" was problematic.
Sims hasn't done anything special to separate himself from Coker, which is why Saban said in the postgame press conference last week that he would go with the player who gave the team the best chance to win without naming names.
This is another soft week for the Crimson Tide. Southern Mississippi got shut out 49-0 against Mississippi State in Week 1, so any notion of an upset in Tuscaloosa is someone looking for attention rather than applying logic to the situation.
Until we have a clear answer for Alabama at quarterback, this team will be one of the most difficult to assess in the country. It may be ranked third right now, but what will happen when good teams are on the other side of the field?
No. 12 UCLA vs. Texas (Game at AT&T Stadium)
How good is UCLA? The Bruins started the season with as much hype as they've ever had, ranked No. 7 in the preseason AP Poll and boasting a Heisman hopeful at quarterback in Brett Hundley. Then came the ugly win against Virginia in which the defense scored three touchdowns in a 28-20 victory.
OK, you can chalk that one up to working out the kinks from the offseason. You expect more from a Top 10 team, but at least the Bruins secured a victory. Last week, however, proved that there are real problems with this team.
Memphis put up 35 points and 469 total yards against UCLA's defense at the Rose Bowl. Hundley held up his end of the bargain with 396 passing yards and three touchdowns, but the running game averaged 3.5 yards per carry and the defense got lit up.
Hundley used very choice words after that game, via The Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com), about why UCLA was struggling.
"I think everything went pretty well today," Hundley said. "You can see when we put together a solid and complete game, we can be a special team. We hamper ourselves with mental lapses, but we can be a great team."
Mental lapses are everything in football. How many times have we talked about how great the Detroit Lions could be if they could just get out of their own way?
Nothing about UCLA's performance thus far warrants it being ranked in the Top 15. At least things aren't as bad in Southern California as they are in Texas. Charlie Strong's first year as head coach is going about as well as Mack Brown's final season.
The Longhorns got a give-me win in Week 1 against North Texas before getting a healthy dose of humble pie, allowing 248 rushing yards in a 41-7 loss against BYU.
It's going to be a process for Strong to get the kind of players to Texas who can run his system, but patience is not a virtue afforded to Longhorns fans. He's been put at a disadvantage with quarterback David Ash out indefinitely, but that doesn't excuse the pathetic defensive effort last week.
With neither team looking impressive thus far, something has to give. You would expect UCLA to capitalize on a weak Texas team, but we've seen too much bad from the Bruins to guarantee that in a game that's being played in Texas.
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.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
