NCAA Football Rankings 2015: Analyzing Week 3 Polls and Top 25 College Standings

The college football season's first Top 10 matchup highlighted the Week 2 drama and led to some movement in the latest Top 25 polls.

Michigan State defeated Oregon in a close battle at home, while both Oklahoma and LSU earned road wins against fellow ranked opponents. The rest of the weekend featured a few upsets and more than a couple of scares to keep fans entertained throughout. We are starting to learn more about teams, and the polls continue to adjust accordingly.

Here is a look at the latest rankings from the Associated Press, Amway and Bleacher Report. 

Rank	Coaches	AP	Bleacher Report
1	Ohio State	Ohio State	Ohio State
2	Alabama	Alabama	Alabama
3	TCU	TCU	Michigan State
4	Michigan State	Michigan State	TCU
5	Baylor	Baylor	Baylor
6	Florida State	USC	USC
7	USC	Georgia	Clemson
8	Georgia	Notre Dame	Notre Dame
9	Clemson	Florida State	UCLA
10	Notre Dame	UCLA	Georgia
11	Ole Miss	Clemson	Ole Miss
12	UCLA	Oregon	Oregon
13	Oregon	LSU	Florida State
14	LSU	Georgia Tech	Texas A&M
15	Auburn	Ole Miss	Georgia Tech
16	Georgia Tech	Oklahoma	LSU
17	Oklahoma	Texas A&M	Oklahoma
18	Texas A&M	Auburn	Auburn
19	Arizona	BYU	Arizona
20	Missouri	Arizona	Utah
21	Utah	Utah	Wisconsin
22	BYU	Missouri	BYU
23	Wisconsin	Northwestern	Missouri
24	Northwestern	Wisconsin	West Virginia
25	Oklahoma State	Oklahoma State	Northwestern

Ohio State, Alabama and TCU all had easier matchups this week after tough challenges in Week 1. The result was a trio of blowouts, ensuring the Top Three in the two major polls remained the same.

The first change came from Michigan State, which passed Baylor and even TCU in Bleacher Report's poll after an impressive victory over Oregon. The Spartans built up a double-digit lead at home and this time did not let it get away from them. 

Quarterback Connor Cook expressed his need to avenge the team's loss to the Ducks from a year ago, per Mike Griffith of MLive.com:

"

The loss last year sucked. Being able to have the half that we had last year, we went on an 18-0 run I think, and just laying an egg in the second half and that stuck with me during the whole year.

It stuck with me during the season. It stuck with me watching them playing in the national championship, and it was with me all through spring ball, through camp. It's one of the main reasons why we wanted to come back is to play Oregon again and beat them.

"

Thanks to two Cook touchdown passes and two more scores from LJ Scott, Michigan State was able to accomplish this feat.

Oregon dropped a bit in the polls, although probably unfairly. The team fought hard under new quarterback Vernon Adams, losing by only three on the road against a good opponent. This hopefully doesn't become a hindrance later in the year as the Ducks attempt to play for a spot in the College Football Playoff.

This loss certainly is more meaningful than a 50-point win over an extremely overmatched opponent.

Another squad that dropped significantly in every poll is Auburn, which didn't even lose its game. The Tigers barely survived a scare against FCS program Jacksonville State, winning 27-20 in overtime. Quarterback Jeremy Johnson struggled for the second week in a row, throwing two interceptions to bring his season total to five.

Pete Thamel of Sports Illustrated believes the rough showing reflects poorly on the entire conference, even with a win:

The overtime victory caused Auburn to drop significantly in all three polls from its spot in the Top 10, although Paul Finebaum of SEC Network was surprised the fall wasn't worse:

They say all that matters is winning, but it's clear you need to do more than that when facing a weak opponent like this one.

Of course, there were some teams that had enjoyable weeks. BYU is certainly celebrating a nice rise in the polls after a surprising win over Boise State, which featured a dramatic late passing touchdown for the second week in a row:

That throw from Tanner Mangum to Mitchell Juergens didn't end the game like the play to beat Nebraska the week before, but this one did come on a fourth down with 45 seconds left and the Cougars trailing by four. This gave BYU the lead, which was then extended on an interception returned for a touchdown on the next drive.

We don't know how long this stretch of fortunate plays will continue for BYU, but as long as the team wins, it will keep moving up in the polls.

One program to keep an eye on despite not moving much from last week is Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish also had somewhat of a miracle victory thanks to a 39-yard touchdown with 12 seconds left, but the question is how well the team will respond to injuries going forward.

Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports broke down the losses the team has already suffered this season:

"

Brutal start to the season injury wise for #NotreDame, losing standout DT (Jarron Jones); starting RB (Folston) and now QB Malik Zaire.

— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) September 12, 2015"

It's hard for any team to survive these types of injuries so early in the year, which could make it difficult for Notre Dame to keep up its undefeated season for too long. Still, anything can happen, as we continue to see throughout the country.

With next week featuring games like Notre Dame-Georgia Tech, Alabama-Ole Miss and BYU-UCLA, the major changes across the polls are just beginning.

Follow Rob Goldberg on Twitter for more year-round sports analysis.