NCAA Football Rankings 2014: Hits and Misses from Week 3
Well, that was interesting.
Week 3 is in the books, and now the college football landscape appears even more confusing than ever. It's certainly tough to put together a top 25 after Saturday's action.
South Carolina showed it wasn't, in fact, dead (a la Monty Python and the Holy Grail) and busted the SEC East race wide open with a 38-35 win over Georgia.
Meanwhile, USC was unable to overcome a trip to Boston College in a stunning 37-31 upset. Virginia Tech couldn't capitalize on its win over Ohio State in Week 2, falling at home to East Carolina 28-21.
Now The Associated Press, USA Today and Bleacher Report have the unenviable task of ranking the top 25 teams. The top 10 seems pretty set, but beyond that, it's a bunch of guesswork.
How did the polls look? Which teams are the hits and misses? The answers are in the following slides.
Miss: South Carolina
1 of 7
Ranking Last Week: Coaches, No. 23; AP, No. 24
Current Coaches Poll: No. 16
Current AP Poll: No. 14
Current B/R Poll: No. 15
Overall Record: 2-1
Let's get the beef out of the way: South Carolina is ranked No. 16 in the coaches poll, No. 15 in B/R's poll and No. 14 in the AP poll...all of which are behind Georgia...which it beat on Saturday. As long as this continues to happen in the early part of the season, it deserves to be pointed out.
But there is an interesting question at play: What do we do with South Carolina? For the first two weeks of the season, the narrative has been that the Gamecocks were terrible. It wasn't necessarily an inaccurate line of thought. Steve Spurrier's team was blown out at home by Texas A&M and had one of the worst defenses in the country heading into Saturday's game against Georgia.
But, as Dan Wolken of USA Today points out, has anyone had a tougher first three games than South Carolina? Now, the Gamecocks are 2-1 with a great win over Georgia but a blowout loss to A&M.
At the very least, this team proved that no team is ever really dead. What you have to go off is the record and the competition. And the Gamecocks have two wins against three quality opponents.
"We were meant to win this game, and Georgia was not," said head coach Steve Spurrier after the game (h/t Barrett Sallee).
That counts for something. How much? We'll find out as the season progresses.
Hit: USC
2 of 7
Ranking Last Week: Coaches, No. 10; AP, No. 9
Current Coaches Poll: No. 21
Current AP Poll: No. 17
Current B/R Poll: No. 18
Overall Record: 2-1
From one USC to another, the question remains the same: What do we make of the Trojans?
Few teams got off to a better start than USC, which was 2-0 with a win over Stanford heading into a road game against Boston College. But then things changed. The Eagles pulled off a stunning 37-31 upset, and now USC has a good win and a perplexing loss all within a narrow scope of games.
Blame the trip East or not having enough fuel in the proverbial tank, but how exactly do you weigh a good win with a tough loss this early in the year? Was it a fluke? A sign of things to come? How is USC evaluated now? Being outrushed 452-20 is a damning stat.
Ultimately, USC deserves to drop down the polls. The bigger question will be how the Trojans rebound. This should still be a top-25 team.
Miss: East Carolina
3 of 7
Ranking Last Week: Coaches, NR; AP, NR
Current Coaches Poll: NR
Current AP Poll: NR
Current B/R Poll: NR
Overall Record: 2-1
A Week 1 cupcake aside, here's what we know about East Carolina: The Pirates are 2-1 with a close and respectable loss to South Carolina, which has perhaps the toughest three games of any power-five team, and an upset win on the road against Virginia Tech, which came off a win against Ohio State.
Here's an opinion: East Carolina may very well be the best team in the American Athletic Conference and thus the best team outside the so-called power-five conferences. Unless the Pirates have an unexplained hiccup or a season-changing injury, they'll be favored to win most if not all their games. Probably by a lot too.
Therefore, the most we may be able to gather about East Carolina could come right now in nonconference play. If that's the measuring stick, it should be in the 20-25 range. It's not clear what teams like UCLA have done to deserve a top-25 spot over the Pirates.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Hit: BYU
4 of 7
Ranking Last Week: Coaches, NR; AP, No. 25
Current Coaches Poll: No. 23
Current AP Poll: No. 21
Current B/R Poll: No. 21
Overall Record: 3-0
I stumped for BYU to be included in top 25 polls after the Cougars' Week 2 win over Texas. Voters in the coaches poll finally got on board after, of all games, BYU's strange win over Houston Thursday night.
The Cougars' schedule isn't overly daunting, but it is tricky. Virginia, BYU's next game, is proving to be no pushover. Neither is Utah State, Central Florida, Nevada and Boise State, all of which make up the next five games for BYU.
If the Cougars are undefeated heading into November, they become a fascinating team. As Stewart Mandel of Fox Sports notes, there are already eight top-25 teams in the coaches poll with a loss, the most since 2009.
BYU may lose a couple of games, and this whole conversation will be trash, but it's something to keep an eye on.
Miss: UCLA
5 of 7
Ranking Last Week: Coaches, No. 12; AP, No. 12
Current Coaches Poll: No. 10
Current AP Poll: No. 12
Current B/R Poll: No. 12
Overall Record: 3-0
First of all, a tip of the cap goes to UCLA backup quarterback Jerry Neuheisel. Coming off the bench for the injured Brett Hundley, Neuheisel led the Bruins to a gutsy 20-17 victory over Texas. The image of his teammates hoisting him up after the game was unforgettable.
All that being said, is there anyone who really believes UCLA is a top-15 team right now? (The answer, by the way, is obviously a resounding "yes," which is astonishing.)
Not all 3-0 teams are created equal, and for three weeks in a row, UCLA has escaped with a win. How long Hundley is out with an elbow injury remains to be seen, though Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports reports that he should be good to go by the end of this week.
Surviving and advancing still counts as a win, but you have to wonder how much longer this team can keep going the way it is.
Hit: Oklahoma State
6 of 7
Ranking Last Week: Coaches, NR; AP, NR
Current Coaches Poll: NR
Current AP Poll: No. 25
Current B/R Poll: No. 24
Overall Record: 2-1
The long national nightmare is over—from this vantage point anyway. Oklahoma State is finally a top-25 team. It's been a few weeks coming, but the Pokes are finally cracking the polls.
Don't let the loss to Florida State in Week 1 affect the ranking either; this team should probably be higher.
UT-San Antonio is actually a solid win as far as nonconference games go, and to beat the Roadrunners by 30 is respectable. That gives the Pokes one decent nonconference win and a close loss to Florida State.
And now, because of all the stumping, Oklahoma State is guaranteed to lose next week. Apologies in advance, Cowboys.
Miss: Virginia Tech
7 of 7
Ranking Last Week: Coaches, No. 19; AP, No. 17
Current Coaches Poll: NR
Current AP Poll: NR
Current B/R Poll: NR
Overall Record: 2-1
This feels like an overreaction. Virginia Tech was riding the momentum of a road game at Ohio State when it dropped a tough loss at home to East Carolina on Saturday.
One loss is all it took. Virginia Tech is now out of both major polls plus the Bleacher Report Top 25. A few things are odd about this:
- It diminishes the idea that ECU might—just might—be a good football team.
- Ohio State is still ranked ahead of the Hokies.
- Virginia Tech still received 12 more receiving votes than the Pirates in the coaches poll.
Anyone who watched the 28-21 loss to East Carolina should know that Virginia Tech's defense actually played well the entire game. The initial sprint by the Pirates was a matter of wide receivers making incredible individual plays. The Hokies defense won more of those battles as the game went on.
Virginia Tech's offense is still a work in progress, which would be the only reason why someone could legitimately question whether this is a top-25 team. But to lose by seven to what appears to be another top-25 program, regardless of whether it's in the so-called power five, is nothing to overreact to.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
