College Football: Week 3 Results

There were several upsets this week. Even the one game that pitted ranked teams (#6 Georgia vs #24 South Carolina) resulted in an upset of sorts. As a result there’s likely to be a good deal of shuffling going on with next week’s polls. The time of non-conference games is coming to a close so those conferences that have had a number of teams in the rankings are bound to see things change in the weeks ahead.

(Ranks on the left are those of the AP/Coaches Top 25/CBSSPORTS.COM 128 Polls as reported by CBSSports.com. NR = Not Ranked)

1/1/1 Florida State (2-0) The Seminoles had this weekend off.

2/4/2 Oregon (3-0) The Ducks broke the Wyoming Cowboys (2-1) 48-14. The Cowboys jumped out to a 7-0 lead which they held at the end of the first quarter. Then the Ducks came alive scoring 42 unanswered points; 27 of them in the second quarter. Marcus Mariota tossed two TD passes and ran for two others.

3/2/3 Alabama (3-0) The Tide rolled over the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles (1-2) 52-12. Blake Sims passed for two TDs and ran for a third as he led the Tide over the Golden Eagles. Kenyan Drake ran for three TDs on just 9 carries for 59 yards for Alabama.

4/3/7 Oklahoma (3-0) The Sooners downed the Tennessee Vols (2-1) 34-10. Trevor Knight completed 20 of 33 passes for 308 yards and one TD. He also rushed for a score. Julian Wilson returned an interception 100 yards for another Sooner score.

5/5/5 Auburn (2-0) The Tigers were idle this week.

6/6/4 Georgia (1-1) The Bulldogs headed to South Carolina to face the #24 Gamecocks (2-1) and, while having better success than they have had at any time in the recent past. It just wasn’t enough as South Carolina won 38-35. Todd Gurley did run for 131 yards for Georgia but scored only once and was defensed well the end. Dylan Thompson completed 21 of 30 for 271 yards and 3 touchdowns for the Gamecocks.

7/8/9 Texas A&M (3-0) The Aggies trounced the Rice Owls (0-2) 38-10. Kenny Hill tossed four touchdown passes as he completed 20 of 31 attempts for 300 yards.

8/7/8 Baylor (3-0) The Bears routed the Buffalo Bulls (1-2) 63-21 on Friday night behind the play of Bryce Petty who returned after cracking some vertebrae in week one. Petty completed 23 of 34 passes for 416 yards and four touchdowns before taking a seat and having Seth Russell take over. All Russell did was complete 2 of 3 passes for 64 yards and a TD while also rushing three times for 18 yards and another TD. On a negative side, Baylor needs a place kicker and they yielded their first touchdowns of the season as Buffalo scored three times in the second half.

9/10/14 Southern California (2-1) The Trojans were upset by the Boston College Eagles (2-1) 37-31. The Trojans led 17-6 in the second quarter when the Eagles reeled off 24 unanswered points to give them a 30-17 lead. Jon Hillman scored on two short runs for the Eagles in that stretch sandwiched around a 54-yard TD run by Sherman Alston. Tyler Murphy ran 13 times for 191 yards including a 66-yard TD to make it 37-24. Cody Kessler completed 31 of 41 passes for 317 yards and four touchdowns for the Trojans. BC had 452 yards rushing on 54 carries; the Trojans just 20 yards on 29 carries.

10/9/13 LSU (3-0) The Tigers shut out the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks (2-1) 31-0. LSU held the Warhawks to just 93 net yards while netting 372 of their own—219 yards on the ground.

11/11/17 Notre Dame (3-0) The Fighting Irish beat the Purdue Boilermakers (1-2) 30-14. This was a close one…for a half. Purdue trailed just 17-14 at the break but couldn’t muster anything on offense in the second half.  Everett Golson completed 25 of 40 attempts for 259 yards and two TDs. He was matched by Danny Eting (27 of 40 for 234 yards and two TDs) of the Boilermakers. But Golson also ran for a TD and Kyle Brinda hit on field goals of 19, 48 and 39 yards.

12/12/12 UCLA (3-0) The Bruins came from behind to edge the Texas Longhorns (1-2) 20-17. Bruins’ Brett Hundley went 4-for-4 before he got hurt hand was replaced by Jerry Neuheisel. Neuheisel went 23 of 30 for 178 yards and two TDs. The last came with the Bruins trailing 17-13. That was a 33-yard pass to Jordan Payton with three minutes remaining. Tyron Swoopes went 24 of 34 for 196 yards and two TDs for the Longhorns.

13/13/6 Michigan State (1-1) The Spartans were home this weekend licking their wounds.

14/15/18 Ole Miss (3-0) The Rebels of Ole Miss routed the Ragin’ Cajuns of UL-Lafayette (1-2) 56-25. Bo Wallace completed 23 of 28 attempts (starting 14-14) for 316 yards and four TDs.

15/16/10 Stanford (2-1) The Cardinal shut out the Black Knights of Army (1-1) 35-0. Kevin Hogan went 20 of 28 for 216 yards and four touchdowns while Barry Sanders added 9 rushes for 92 yards.

16/14/19 Arizona State (3-0) The Sun Devils managed to beat the Colorado Buffaloes (1-3) 38-24, but may have lost their QB. Taylor Kelly injured his right foot late in the third quarter and it’s not sure when he may return.  Kelly had completed 13 of 21 for 195 yards and three TDs. He also had a 50-yard TD run. Sefo Liufau completed 31 of 46 attempts for 278 yards and three TDs for the Buffaloes.

17/19/NR Virginia Tech (2-1) The Hokies fell to the East Carolina Pirates (2-1) 28-21. After last week’s upset of Ohio State, Tech got surprised in the first quarter, fought back to tie the game and then lost with seconds left. Shane Carden (23 of 47 for 427 yards) tossed three TDs in the first quarter for the Pirates before the Hokies’ defense stiffened. Then it was Michael Brewer’s turn to toss three TDs to tie the game. Carden then succeeded in leading the Pirates down the field and then scored on a 1 yard run off left tackle with 16 ticks left on the clock.

18/17/20 Wisconsin (2-0) The Badgers were relaxing at home this weekend.

19/20/16 Kansas State (2-0) The Wildcats were off this week.

20/22/NR Missouri (3-0) The Tigers bested the Knights of UCF (0-2) 38-10. Maty Mauk tossed four TD passes for the Tigers and Duron Singleton returned a fumble 60 yards for a Tiger TD.

21/NR/NR Louisville (2-1) The Cardinals were upset by the Virginia Cavaliers (2-1) 23-21. Louisville scored first but then fell behind. A lot. Virginia led 20-7 in the fourth quarter. Then penalties helped Louisville on two long drives that ended in touchdowns giving the Cardinals a 21-20 lead with 6:59 to play. Then a muffed punt recovered by the Cavaliers resulted in a 42-yard field goal which proved to be the winning score.

22/18/11 Ohio State (2-1) The Buckeyes shutout the Kent State Golden Flashes (0-3) 66-0. The Buckeyes rebounded nicely from their surprise loss to VaTech last week. J.T. Barrett tossed six TD passes while completing 23 of 30 attempts for 312 yards.

23/24/23 Clemson (1-1) The Tigers had this weekend off.

24/23/24 South Carolina (2-1) The Gamecocks upset the #6 Georgia Bulldogs (1-1) 38-35. See above for more.

25/NR/NR Brigham Young (3-0) The Cougars bested the Houston Cougars (1-2) 33-25 on Thursday night. BYU pulled out to an early 23-0 lead then held off a stubborn Houston team. Taysom Hill ran for 160 yards and threw for another 200 getting one TD on the ground and a second through the air. Teammate Jamaal Williams rushed for 139 yards and two TDs.  John O’Korn completed 30 of 52 pass attempts for 307 yards and three TDs for Houston.

NR/21/15 Nebraska (2-0) The Cornhuskers head west to play the Fresno State Bulldogs (0-2). If they hadn’t gotten a big scare in their close win last week, I’d caution the Huskers not to take this game lightly. BUT, they had the bejeesus scared out of them last week so this week should be a rout –in the Huskers’ favor.

NR/25/NR North Carolina (2-0) The Tar Heels had this weekend off.

NR/NR/21 Iowa (2-1) The Hawkeyes fell to the Iowa State Cyclones (1-2) 20-17. The Hawkeyes jumped out to 14-3 halftime lead only to have the Cyclones claw their way back to take a 17-14 lead with 7:33 left in the fourth quarter. Iowa tied it at 17 all with 4:08 remaining only to have Cole Netton nail the winning 42-yard field goal with 2 seconds left. Netton appeared to miss the winning kick as it sailed just outside the left upright—but Iowa had called a timeout in an attempt to “ice” the kicker. Netton’s second kick was right down the middle.

NR/NR/22 Marshall (3-0) The Thundering Herd trampled the Ohio Bobcats (1-2) 44-14. Rakeem Cato tossed four TDs—including a 77-yard bomb to Angelo Jean-Louis—as he completed 17 of 29 for 425 yards.

NR/NR/25 Florida (2-0) The Gators edged the Kentucky Wildcats (2-1) 36-30 in 3 overtimes. Patrick Towles completed 24 of 45 attempts for 369 yards and three TDs but also tossed three INTs. Jeff Driskel completed 25 of 43 for 295 yards and three TDs—with one INT—for the Gators. Mistakes—some by the refs—and penalties hurt the Wildcats during the OT periods. (The clock may have run out on Florida in the first OT period—a play on which the Gators scored.)

The Scarlet Knights of Rutgers (2-1) fell to the Penn State Nittany Lions (3-0) 13-10 in their inaugural Big Ten contest. I said last week; “Should be a good, close game that may be decided by which team forces the most mistakes.” RU’s Gary Nova made too many of them. Nova went 15 of 30 for 192 yards and scored RU’s only TD with a nifty 14-yard run up the middle. But he also tossed 5 (!) interceptions. Not all were his fault and only one lead to any points. Rutgers special teams blocked on field goal and one punt. The defense swarmed all over the field in the first half knocking down passes and sacking Christian Hackenberg often and RU wet into the locker with a 10-0 lead. But the offense could muster nothing in the second half.  Hackenberg’s line made some corrections in the second half and allowed Hackenberg to lead the Lions down the field 80 yards for the winning score—a Bill Belton 5-yard run with 1:13 remaining. Hackenberg finished the day 25 of 44 for 309 yards and one INT.