Autumn officially begins this week which means lower temperatures, Halloween decorations and the best regular season in all of sports heating up. College football conference play is beginning across the nation, and the playoff picture will begin to take shape in the coming weeks.
As the season is changing, so is my number one team in the nation after last Saturday. Georgia takes over as my top team after a 48-7 drubbing of South Carolina on the road. The reigning champs have undoubtedly been the best team in the nation over the first three weeks, outscoring opponents 130-10.
It shouldn’t be possible for a team to lose 15 players to the NFL Draft, then proceed to be just as dominant the following season. Georgia has done just that, and it has done so by adapting and changing its identity.
The Dawgs won a title last season with the defense carrying the way and playing complementary football offensively. After losing most of their infamous defense from a season ago, Kirby Smart and Todd Monken knew that they would need more from the other side of the ball to repeat. So far that hasn’t been an issue as the offense has been as efficient as any in the country, and that begins and ends with Stetson Bennett.
Bennett, a former walk-on, has elevated from a game manager to a legitimate Heisman candidate. While some still don’t give him his due because he didn’t have five stars next to his name as a high schooler, Bennett and the Dawgs’ offense look as good as any in college football.
Week 3 consisted of several highly anticipated out of conference games, one of which took place in College Station. No one would have ever guessed that Texas A&M would already slip up before the Miami game, meaning Saturday night’s affair was a must win for the Aggies.
Just a week removed from being pushed around by Appalachian State, Jimbo Fisher and the Aggies rebounded with an ugly win over an upstart Miami squad. Texas A&M has little room for error if it wants to live up to lofty offseason expectations, and its schedule doesn’t get any easier going forward.
These next three weeks will define 2022 for the Aggies as they travel to Dallas to take on Arkansas, before heading down to Tuscaloosa where the Crimson Tide will welcome Jimbo Fisher who had some choice words for Nick Saban back in May.
I almost forgot to mention that the Aggies have a trip to Starkville in between those games against a Mississippi State team that bested them a year ago. The Miami win was a nice start to getting back on track, however these next few weeks will be very telling for Texas A&M.
Another marquee out of conference game from this past weekend was the rematch between Penn State and Auburn. This was expected to be a back and forth nail-bitter like its matchup in Happy Valley last season, however that was far from the case.
Penn State didn’t even need a late goal line stand to secure the win, as it was near perfect on Saturday en route to a 41-12 victory. A dominant rushing attack paired with four turnovers led to the lopsided final score. Penn State appears to be a serious threat in the Big Ten, and the Lions should be undefeated when they travel to Ann Arbor on October 15th.
The loss for Auburn on Saturday may very well mean the end of the Bryan Harsin era on the plains. Harsin was already on the hot seat after just one season (Welcome to the SEC), and the Tigers’ slow start doesn’t help matters.
We have already seen Scott Frost at Nebraska and Herm Edwards at Arizona State get the boot. If Auburn drops its conference opener against Mizzou, a change could be made sooner rather than later.
College Football Top 25 Rankings:
1.Georgia Bulldogs(3-0) W vs South Carolina 48-7, last week-3
2.Alabama Crimson Tide(3-0) W vs UL Monroe 63-7, last week-1
3.Ohio State Buckeyes(3-0) W vs Toledo 77-21, last week-2
4.Michigan Wolverines(3-0) W vs UConn 59-0, last week-4
5.Clemson Tigers(3-0) W vs Louisiana Tech 48-20, last week-5
6.USC Trojans(3-0) W vs Fresno State 45-17, last week-9
7.Oklahoma Sooners(3-0) W vs Nebraska 49-14, last week-10
8.Arkansas Razorbacks(3-0) W vs Missouri State 38-27, last week-6
9.Utah Utes(2-1) W vs San Diego State 35-7, last week-8
10.Kentucky Wildcats(3-0) W vs Youngstown State 31-0, last week-12
11.Tennessee Volunteers(3-0) W vs Akron 63-6, last week-13
12.Penn State Nittany Lions(3-0) W vs Auburn 41-12, last week-18
13.NC State Wolfpack(3-0) W vs Texas Tech 27-14, last week-14
14.Oklahoma State Cowboys(3-0) W vs Arkansas-Pine Bluff 63-7, last week-15
15.Baylor Bears(2-1) W vs Texas State 42-7, last week-16
16.Oregon Ducks(2-1) W vs BYU 41-20, last week-unranked
17.Texas Longhorns(2-1) W vs UTSA 41-20, last week-20
18.Ole Miss Rebels(3-0) W vs Georgia Tech 42-0, last week-23
19.Washington Huskies(3-0) W vs Michigan State 39-28, last week-unranked
20.BYU Cougars(2-1) L vs Oregon 41-20, last week-11
21.Michigan State Spartans(2-1) L vs Washington 39-28, last week-7
22.Texas A&M Aggies(2-1) W vs Miami 17-9, last week-25
23.Wake Forest Demon Deacons(3-0) W vs Liberty 37-36, last week-19
24.Florida Gators(2-1) W vs USF 31-28, last week-21
25.Pittsburgh Panthers(2-1) W vs Western Michigan 34-13, last week-unranked
Dropped out of rankings- Miami, Mississippi State, Kansas State