It's not very often that the top three teams in college football all hit the road to face ranked opponents on the same day, especially in September. In fact, it had never happened before last Saturday.
Alabama, Florida State and Ohio State all faced that challenge Saturday. Two of them passed with flying colors, one did not. Meanwhile, some new contenders emerged as well.
So here are my five winners and losers in college football for this week.
WINNERS
1. LOUISVILLE
The pizza oven otherwise known as Papa John's Stadium had been preheating for awhile ahead of Saturday's showdown with no. 2 Florida State. The Cardinals had been impressive in their first two wins and boasted a Heisman Trophy candidate in quarterback Lamar Jackson. This was supposed to be the game we found out how good Louisville is. And boy did we. On the day the school honored Louisville legend Muhammad Ali, another star was born as Jackson continued his torrid early season pace, torching the usually sound Noles defense for 362 total yards and five more touchdowns in a 63-20 smackdown. For the season, Jackson has now accounted for 18 touchdowns which is more than the 114 FBS teams. If they awarded the Heisman in September Jackson would be a unanimous winner, but after Saturday's landmark win the now third-ranked Cards have their eyes on an even bigger prize.
2. BIG TEN EAST
It seems blasphemous to even type this, but the best division in college football right now isn't the SEC West. With three teams in the top 10, the Big Ten East can lay claim to that title now. Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State all sit unbeaten and all have looked good in getting there.
The Buckeyes absolutely ran Oklahoma off Owen Field in a 45-24 win Saturday night in Norman. It was stunning to see a team as talented as the Sooners just completely outclassed when it comes to speed and athleticism. Urban Meyer's young Buckeyes have reloaded around MVP J.T. Barrett and it looks like they have regained the chip on their shoulder that was missing last year after winning the national title in 2014.
Michigan got a bit of a test from Colorado, falling down 14-0 before running off 45 of the next 59 points to win. The Wolverines are stout in the trenches and boast perhaps the best athlete in the country in Jabrill Peppers. The All-American leads the country in an almost inexplicable double of tackles for loss and punt returns. He's that much of a freak.
Coming into the season we didn't know much about Michigan State considering all the pieces they had lost from last year's Big Ten champs. We should've known better than to doubt the program Mark Dantonio's built. The Spartans didn't just beat Notre Dame in South Bend Saturday. For much of that game they pounded the will out of the Irish. Sparty remains a well-coached, physical football team that you don't want to count out.
3. ALABAMA
The Crimson Tide went to Ole Miss as the no. 1 team in the country and the favorites in the SEC West. They left the Grove Saturday evening with a better idea of who they are. With a freshman quarterback at the helm, Alabama fell behind 24-3 in front of a delirious crowd. But the other phases of the game stepped up in an impressive comeback. Just before half, Eddie Jackson returned a punt 85 yards for a touchdown to pull within 24-17. Da'Ron Payned grabbed Chad Kelly's fumble at the goalline to give Alabama the lead in the third quarter and Jonathan Allen's 75-yard interception return in the fourth quarter all but put the game away. As for Hurts, he threw for just 151 yards, but also led the Tide in rushing with 146 yards and gained valuable experience for his next SEC road test.
4. NORTH DAKOTA STATE
When will FBS schools stop scheduling the Bison? Saturday's win at Iowa was NDSU's sixth straight victory over FBS opponents dating back to 2010. And while Cam Pederson's 37-yard field goal as time expired to beat the no. 13 Hawkeyes in Iowa City may go down as the biggest win in school history for the five-time defending FCS champions, I wouldn't call it an upset. The Bison outgained the Hawkeyes by 132 yards, outrushing them 239-34. This was no fluke. If I had an AP Poll vote this week, I'd have NDSU ranked. FBS or FCS, the Bison are that good.
5. MIAMI
Two weeks after Tennessee needed overtime to get past Appalachian State, Miami went to Boone, NC and beat the doors off of the Mountaineers. Mark Richt's Hurricanes tuned out a record crowd of black and gold in a 45-10 romp that wasn't that close. Quarterback Brad Kaaya threw for 368 yards and three touchdowns and Mark Walton ran for 130 and two more scores as Miami proved better than its no. 25 ranking.
LOSERS
1. PRESEASON POLLS
Florida State, Oklahoma, and LSU all began the season ranked in the top five of the Associated Press rankings. Through three weeks their combined record is 5-4. No one has had a bigger fall than the Sooners who got beat by Houston in week one and then manhandled by Ohio State Saturday in a 21-point primetime defeat. No one has had more success over the past 17 seasons than Bob Stoops, but the shine is off the OU program after yet another big game embarrassment. The Sooners have the talent to rebound and win another Big 12 title, but without a playoff berth to play for will they be motivated or just tank?
Florida State got taken to the woodshed Saturday at Louisville giving up 63 points, trailing by 53 and losing by 43. It was one of the worst losses in program history and one of the worst losses ever by a team ranked no. 2 in the country. There's still a lot of football in front of the Noles, but they didn't look like the contender they were thought to be against the Cards.
LSU managed to squeak by a Mississippi State squad that may be the worst team in the SEC West Saturday night to improve to 2-1. Leonard Fournette shook off an ankle injury to rush for 147 yards and two scores, and the Bayou Bengals may have found a quarterback in Danny Etling, but no longer look like a real threat to Alabama in the division.
2. BIG TEN WEST
As good as the Big Ten East looked, the West division was just as bad. Besides Iowa's loss to North Dakota State, the division fell to 0-2 against Western Michigan with Illinois' 34-10 defeat in which the Illini were outgained on the ground 287-3 two weeks after the Broncos stunned Northwestern. Even Wisconsin, still riding high off its win over LSU at Lambeau Field and ranked ninth in the country, needed to hold off Georgia State for a 23-17 win.
3. OREGON
The one bright spot for the Big Ten West was Nebraska, which remained unbeaten with a 35-32 win over no. 22 Oregon. Tommy Armstrong's 34-yard quarterback draw with 3:30 gave Huskers coach Mike Riley his first win over Oregon in his last eight tries and proved these aren't the same Ducks that have dominated the PAC-12. They may be wearing the same flashy uniforms, but lack the dynamic playmakers like Marcus Mariota, LaMichael James and others that made the Quack Attack so special. Most alarming, was that Oregon's lightning-paced offense seemed so pedestrian in racking up just 32 points. Nebraska actually ran 12 more plays (82-70) and possessed the ball for 10:10 longer than the Ducks.
4. VANDERBILT DEFENSE
We knew the Vandy offense wasn't very good, but the defense was supposed to be one of the best units in the SEC. So what happened to Derek Mason's crew in Saturday's 38-7 loss at Georgia Tech? The Commodores gave up an 81-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the game and never could get a handle on the Yellow Jackets' triple-option attack. For the game, the Dores gave up 289 yards rushing, and an even more disappointing 222 yards passing. And life won't get any easier this week as Vanderbilt travels to Western Kenrucky to face Jeff Brohm's explosive passing attack.
5. NORTH TEXAS OFFENSE
North Texas gained 53 yards against Florida. TOTAL. What would be a decent drive for most teams became an entire afternoon's work the the Mean Green. Florida's defense is nasty up front, skilled in the secondary and should be a huge test for Tennessee this weekend in the SEC opener for both teams. But, come on. UNT ran for -13 yards on 28 carries, passed for just 66 yards and went 2-13 on third downs in the 32-0 loss.
