College Football Playoff Rankings: Biggest Takeaways from Week 3
On paper, Week 3 looked like the best of the young college football season.
On the field, it was even better.
From a close Thursday night game between Clemson and Louisville to a close Saturday night/Sunday morning game between BYU and UCLA, the third week of 2015 entertained with close finishes, breakout performances and meaningful College Football Playoff takeaways.
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Here are some of the biggest things we learned.
Notre Dame Is Still a Contender
After losing starting quarterback Malik Zaire to a season-ending ankle injury, Notre Dame could have folded and called it a year.
Georgia Tech arrived in South Bend and was actually favored to win against a team that, in addition to Zaire, has also lost running backs Tarean Folston and Greg Bryant, tight end Durham Smythe and defensive linemen Jarron Jones and Ishaq Williams to season-ending injuries or dismissals.
But the Irish made a statement against the Yellow Jackets, suffocating Tech's triple-option and rolling to a 30-22 win. That final margin makes the game seem closer than it actually was: The Irish led 30-7 in the early fourth quarter.
Backup quarterback DeShone Kizer played well in his first career start, but converted slot receiver C.J. Prosise, who rushed for 198 yards and three touchdowns, was the true breakout star. Between those two, left tackle Ronnie Stanley, wide receiver Will Fuller, defensive tackle Sheldon Day, inside linebacker Jaylon Smith and cornerback KeiVarae Russell, this team still has enough star power and then some to run the table and make the Playoff.
The only national champion in Playoff history lost its quarterback in fall practice. It's not like losing Zaire was a death sentence.
The Alabama Streak Is in Jeopardy
The final five BCS National Championship Games involved either Alabama or Auburn. Then Alabama made the first College Football Playoff. In each of the past six seasons, either the Crimson Tide or Tigers have emerged from the SEC with a chance to win it all.
This year should mark the end of that streak.
Auburn had its world rocked at LSU, and Alabama had its world rocked at home& against Ole Miss, and together those results shook the bedrock of the CFP race. It's a brave new world where LSU (not so weird), Texas A&M (pretty weird) and Ole Miss (very weird) are favorites to win the SEC West and play for a national title.
The Iron Bowl this season won't be "just another game," but it also won't be the spectacle we've grown accustomed to watching.
Instead, it will fall somewhere in between.
LSU Is Legit
LSU took a bye because of lightning in Week 1 and squeaked past Mississippi State in Week 2. We knew the Tigers were good, but we didn't know for sure if they were Playoff good.
We can now report they are Playoff good.
Les Miles' team made mincemeat of Auburn, rushing for 411 yards en route to a 45-21 win. The defense held Gus Malzahn to the sixth-lowest yardage total of his career, per Brandon Marcello of AL.com, and the offense rode Leonard Fournette like a thoroughbred.
Speaking of Fournette…what can you even say? This guy is of a different phylum. His 29-yard touchdown in the third quarter looked more like a glitch in a video game than something that happened on a real, three-dimensional plane:
"[Fournette] did some things today where I said ‘wow,'" Miles told reporters in the weekend's biggest understatement. "He took one of their tackles and threw him into another tackle and still came out in the other end."
Fournette took the first snap of the game 71 yards, which opened things up for quarterback Brandon Harris and the passing game. Opponents who watch this tape will overcompensate to account for Fournette, which will also open things up for Harris and the passing game. This offense can go as far as Fournette carries it.
So basically, this team has no ceiling.
Ohio State Ain't Rolling Through Anything
After beating Virginia Tech in Week 1, Ohio State was supposed to moonwalk through the next nine games on its schedule, win circled matchups over Michigan State and Michigan, obliterate whichever turkey emerges from the Big Ten West and then float through the Playoff on a cloud and win the championship game by roughly 200 points.
Turns out that's not how football works.
The Buckeyes looked disjointed in a 20-13 win over Northern Illinois, committing five turnovers and failing to settle on a quarterback against a MAC team that was lucky to beat UNLV two weeks ago.
"Might be some truth to that," head coach Urban Meyer said when asked if he needs to pick one QB and stick with him, per Ben Axelrod of Bleacher Report. "Not that I'm going to call on some armchair people to see what they think."
Pride, they say, comes before the fall.
Brian Leigh covers college football for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @BLeigh35
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