College Football Rankings Week 3: Alabama, Michigan State Steal First Place Votes
College football rankings for Week 3 reveal Ohio State is no longer the unanimous No. 1. The new AP Top 25 has two first place votes going to Michigan State, while the Week 3 Coaches Poll has a first place vote going to Alabama. The updated rankings might show that other teams are in the mix, but the Ohio State Buckeyes are still the top team by quite a large margin. The defending national champions have certainly proven they belong at the top as well.
The Michigan State Spartans gained a lot of momentum by beating the Oregon Ducks this past weekend. It bumped MSU past the Baylor Bears in the latest polls, showing the voters were more impressed with a win over Oregon than by Baylor beating Lama 66-31. Oregon took a stumble, getting dropped to No. 12 by the writers and to No. 13 by the coaches. Some ground could get made up by finding success when the Pac-12 schedule gets started.
Some other big movers in the Week 3 college football rankings were the UCLA Bruins moving up three spots in the AP Top 25 to No. 10, the Oklahoma Sooners moving up three spots to No. 16, and the Brigham Young appearing in the top 25 for the first time this season. Auburn got dropped 12 spots by the Associated Press down to No. 18, while the coaches placed the Tigers at No. 15.
The Oklahoma State Cowboys have entered both major polls at No. 25 now, With Northwestern at No. 23 in the AP Top 25 and No. 24 in the Coaches Poll. As for the schools at the top, both major polls agree with the top five schools. Following Ohio State at No. 1, they have Alabama at No. 2, TCU at No. 3, Michigan State at No. 4, and Baylor at No. 5. Other 2-0 schools that are moving up the polls include USC, Georgia, Florida State, Notre Dame, UCLA, and Clemson.
On the Week 3 schedule, there are a few noteworthy games that should affect the Week rankings. They include No. 18 Auburn vs. No. 13 LSU, No. 14 Georgia Tech vs. No. 8 Notre Dame, No. 15 Ole Miss vs. No. 2 Alabama, and No. 19 BYU vs. No. 10 UCLA. There are a lot of “cupcake” games on the schedule, but these four games have the chance to really shake things up. There is a good chance for some of these schools to make a big splash in the Week 4 college football rankings based on the outcomes.
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