Amway College Football Poll 2016: Week 4 Rankings Unveiled for Top 25 Teams
Rankings across college football didn't drastically change between Week 2 and Week 3. After Saturday's full slate of excellent matchups and shocking results, however, the Amway coaches poll sure looked a whole lot different heading into Week 4 than it did a day ago.
Below, we'll break down the coaches and Bleacher Report polls and take a look back at a wild Saturday in college football.
Analysis
The coaches poll was always likely to undergo a serious face-lift after Saturday.
Louisville routed Florida State behind superstar quarterback Lamar Jackson. Ohio State dominated Oklahoma. Alabama and Michigan State had impressive wins over Ole Miss and Notre Dame, respectively. Iowa shockingly lost to North Dakota State, while California upset Texas and Oregon lost to Nebraska. Wisconsin and Georgia narrowly escaped Georgia State and Missouri, respectively.
It was, in a word, madness. And while college basketball has traditionally held the trademark on that word—March Madness has a much better ring to it than September Madness, don't you think?—college football's version was incredibly compelling Saturday.
Jackson was the headliner, as he continued his ascension to stardom with a 362-yard, five-touchdown performance against Florida State. The Seminoles never had an answer for the dazzling quarterback, and it will be fascinating to see if Clemson can provide one in two weeks.
That will be a tall task. Ryen Russillo of ESPN thinks Jackson is capable of willing Louisville to victory all by himself, akin to a certain NFL MVP during his college days:
The more popular comparison on the day was Michael Vick. Either way, Jackson continues to draw praise, and deservedly so. He's been nothing short of spectacular.
Alabama wasn't exactly spectacular on Saturday, but it was good enough to survive Ole Miss. Two defensive touchdowns and a special teams score certainly helped, as the Crimson Tide recovered from a 21-point deficit in the first half and withstood a huge Ole Miss rally late in the game to survive the Rebels.
Ohio State looked sharp against Oklahoma, meanwhile, knocking off the Sooners in Norman and handing Oklahoma its second loss of the season. While a lot can happen between now and January, those two losses seem likely to keep Oklahoma out of the College Football Playoff.
A conference title is still in the cards, however. But that won't be easy, either.
"We've got a lot of work to do if we're going to win the Big 12," Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops told the Associated Press (via ESPN.com). "We'll keep a positive attitude. We'll keep working to improve and do our best to have a better showing when we get back on the field in a couple of weeks."
In a day chock-full of headlining matchups, Michigan State and Ohio State didn't quite receive the buzz of the other games. But take nothing away from the Spartans, who dominated Notre Dame for most of the contest in South Bend before three late touchdowns made it close.
Michigan State, as it always seems to do, remained composed and closed out the win, setting up a fascinating battle against Wisconsin next week.
"I thought our guys played very confidently," head coach Mark Dantonio told the Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com). "I'm not sure at the end if their coach was confident, totally. But we found a way and our guys kept playing."
The team will need that confidence against Wisconsin, who probably could use some assurances itself after barely surviving a Georgia State team that came into Saturday without a win.
Not every Big Ten contender survived Saturday, however, as FCS powerhouse North Dakota State shocked Iowa. A year after the Hawkeyes' playoff hopes died in the final minute of the Big Ten title game, any hopes this year were almost assuredly extinguished in the third week of September with that loss.
They'll look to right the ship against Rutgers next week. Among the headlining matchups are Georgia vs. Ole Miss, Penn State vs. Michigan, Florida vs. Tennessee, Arkansas vs. Texas A&M and Oklahoma State vs. Baylor.
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