week three rankings

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Have patience!

At this point in the season teams will jump or fall as many as 5-10 or even more spots from week to week. These are not like my preseason power rankings at all. Teams will be rated first by who they have beat/lost to and how impressive/disappointing they've been in doing so, and as a last resort, if I think their accomplishments are comparable, who I think is a better team going forward. At no point do I take into consideration conference affiliation or future schedule.

Obviously as the season moves along things will balance out. A good example is how I rank LSU and East Carolina. Obviously, LSU plays in the SEC and will face a much better schedule within a matter of weeks, but East Carolina will be much higher because they've beaten 3 teams that are all better than LSU's best opponent thus far. The Tigers will easily jump ECU with a win this week as beating Auburn on the road is a major accomplishment.

And yes, I realize mid-majors are aplenty and they're ranked fairly high. This is natural as those teams always face the toughest parts of their schedule early in the season, and especially this year, we've had a lot of good wins for these teams.

I haven't done rankings the first couple weeks because there's simply no reason to do so when (a) few top programs have played teams with comparable talent and (b) after week three I've been able to see most teams in action and I don't feel comfortable doing rankings unless I've seen most teams extensively.

Personally I feel this is the best way to do rankings at this point in the season.

Here you go!

WEEK THREE RANKINGS

1. Southern California Trojans

That wasn't hard. In my mind the Trojans had one lingering question going into the year and the duo of Damian Williams and Ronald Johnson have answered very nicely at wide receiver. They've combined for 13 catches for 218 yards and 3 touchdowns. Mark Sanchez has looked solid as expected and the defense is playing pretty nasty right now. Forget Cushing and Maualuga, has anyone been watching Clay Matthews? He's been all over the place and adds to what probably already was the best linebacking group in the country. If there's anything to pick on, the special teams units have looked average at best, but with the athletes the Trojans march onto the field they should make progress in their poor kick return numbers.

2. Oklahoma Sooners

Just another Saturday where the Sooners but up 50+ points and make it look easy. Sam Bradford had the best road game of his career throwing for 5 touchdowns on 18-20 passing for 304 yards. That's significant because last year he really struggled against teams like Iowa State and Colorado on the road. The offensive line is massive, experience, and has tons of elite players running around and through it. Freshman Ryan Broyles has been a nice addition to a generally experienced receiving corps and leads with 226 yards and 3 touchdowns but Gresham, Iglesias, and Johnson all have at least 170 yards catching through 3 games. The defense has yet to be tested by an elite group but Cincy and Washington posed different kinds of threats that should aid the Sooners in the long run.

3. Missouri Tigers

No one is stopping these guys. Chase Daniel and Jeremy Maclin look like sure-fire All-Americans and it doesn't look like Tony Temple and Martin Rucker ever departed. Like Oklahoma, they have a balanced receiving corps with 4 receivers having at least 200 yards and 2 touchdowns or more already and the run game looks even better than last year. Not much more can be said about a group that leads the country in both scoring and total offense without breaking a sweat. Pass defense seems to be the achilles heel but they played pretty well against Nevada yesterday, but there's no excuse for allowing Juice Williams to throw for 451 yards on you. They could easily drop a game in Big XII play with the video game offensive numbers the conference puts up, but the offense looks even better than last year and it's going to take a whale of an offensive attack to take them down.

4. Florida Gators

If I could put them in a tie with Missouri I would. Just rank Missouri's win over Illinois on a neutral site much more impressive than Florida's home tussle with Miami. The offense hasn't hit its stride with Cornelius Ingram out for the year and Percy Harvin just stepping into the lineup, but it will improve by leaps and bounds over the next few weeks. What really has been impressive is the defense. I know, Miami and Hawaii aren't exactly the most potent attacks around, but realize that the only team that scored less than 10 on the Florida defense last year was Western Kentucky and the Gators have held the Canes and Warriors to a combined 13 points. Miami amassed 140 total offensive yards which is 64 yards lower than the Gators allowed to any opponent last year and if you combined the yards allowed in the first two games (381) realize 7 of Florida's opponents last year gained that much in one game against the Gators last year! The 'D' has also forced 4 interceptions already, a total that is only 7 short of last year's porous pass defense's mark. Watch out for how they perform against the Vols and Rebels in their next 2 contests.

5. Penn State Nittany Lions

Not many teams have looked more impressive pounding the underlings on their schedule. The Oregon State win, while the Beavers look to be down, was one of the most dominant performances I've seen all year. Finally the running game is taking off and Penn State has as many as 4 backs who can get the job done. Royster is steady and Stephon Green is the kind of dynamic player they've been waiting for back there. Daryll Clark has yet to throw a pick and Jordan Norwood is having a monster year catching the ball with 303 yards already. The defense has responded well after losing Sean Lee and they're top ten nationally in sacks and tackles for loss. The Big Ten looks rather punchless on the offensive side yet again, and this team is a real national title contender if they keep running the 'Spread HD' they have the first three contests, but that's a big 'if' as offensive coaches Galen Hall and Jay Paterno tend to be a big more conservative against certain Big Ten opponents. Tough games @ Wisconsin and Ohio State loom large.

6. Georgia Bulldogs

So South Carolina's defense is awfully good, but 10 less points and only 30 more yards than Vanderbilt could put up on the Gamecocks? Thought Moreno was the best halfback and Stafford the premier quarterback in the game? A.J. Green has been a solid addition to the receivers, but Massaquoi leads with only 151 yards through 3 contests. Also notable is Stafford has been sacked 5 times already. The defense has yet to face a competent opponent and we'll find out a lot more about this team against Arizona State on the road next week. Until then, they hold this spot, but my thoughts about them before the season haven't changed much.

7. Wisconsin Badgers

The best performing Big Ten team out of conference for years did it again last night, taking out a very good Fresno team across the country in mostly dominating fashion. The Badgers only scored 13 points, but they've never been a team to dabble in the statistics race and seemed in control from the first opening drive. Travis Beckum looked solid in his return and he pairs with tight end Garrett Graham to form the best middle-of-the-field tandem in the country. The defense looks more like the group that allowed only 12.1 points in 2006 than 29.5 last year, and tons of those players are still around from the '06 campaign. Dave Doeren has done a solid job with that group so far. Allen Evridge has shown big game potential leading Wisconsin to 51 unanswered points against Marshall, throwing for 308 yards in that game. As usual, the Badgers don't do anything flashy, but they're going to be a very tough out this year in every game. If they go 3-0 in their next three games (@ Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State) there's a very real possibility they could run the table.

8. South Florida Bulls

No team showed more resolve this weekend, as South Florida came back from a 20-3 deficit to gain a 34-20 edge only to give it up and need a game winning field goal with time expiring to beat a good Kansas team. The Bulls absolutely took Kansas' best shot, as Todd Reesing had one of the best quarterback performances I've seen in the past few years (even with the last interception). Their defense has always been a strong point but what really impressed me was their offensive line which gave Grothe all day to throw. If you watched the Bulls last year, at times Grothe had to endlessly scramble around and it resulted in a lot of bad mistakes. He didn't make them Friday night, and his skill position players have taken a drastic step up this year and this is an offense you don't want to have to deal with, especially if the running game continues to improve. This team is much better than last year's group, which is saying a lot.

9. East Carolina Pirates

Are they one of the best ten teams in the country? No. But this isn't a power poll and East Carolina has done more than any team in the country to earn this ranking. I wasn't sold after the first week because Virginia Tech isn't a good team this year (and shouldn't be counted as a 'ranked' win) but the West Virginia performance was dominating. Yes, they just beat Tulane by 4 points, but it was a road game against a team that unquestionably outplayed Alabama on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball last week (318-172 yard edge), has a solid coach in Bob Toledo, and it was your classic 'letdown' scenario. Unfortunately for the Pirates their appearance in my top ten will be very short lived because of the schedule.

10. Alabama Crimson Tide

The Tulane win was uninspiring but the offense rebounded in week three. The way Auburn is looking right now and knowing nothing about LSU, Alabama should be here because they have the only notable win of the SEC West trio and it was a very nice victory indeed. Defensively they're starting to look like the units Saban had at LSU and John Parker Wilson has only thrown one pick so far. The offense should only get better if Parker plays consistently with Mark Ingram and Julio Jones, both true freshman, playing huge roles in the offense. One thing I like about the offense is they have 3 backs that look solid and 15 different players have caught balls already. First SEC contest coming up next Saturday, a roadie against Arkansas.

11. Brigham Young Cougars

I was waiting for it! Finally, the Cougars take down a middling BCS team in convincing fashion by dismantling a rebuilding UCLA team 59-0. I didn't rank the Cougars in the preseason because of that fact, and unfortunately I don't get to see the Cougars much on TV. Max Hall has exceeded my expectations of him and already has over 1000 yards and 12 touchdowns on the year. Questions on the defense are still there for me as Washington and UNI didn't have a lot of trouble moving the ball and UCLA's offense is not very good at this point, but a shutout is always nice. The Washington win shouldn't be clouded by that penalty and the Cougars had plenty of chances to blow that one open. With this UCLA win, I feel they've turned the corner. They could be a BCS buster but the Mountain West looks awfully good this far as they've won 5 games against Pac-10 opponents, including 4 yesterday.

12. Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Survived a very close one at home against a good Ole Miss team and stomped Baylor on the road. I don't think there's a more disciplined team on both side of the ball from what I've seen so far this year. They don't do anything exceptionally well, but never make mistakes and take advantage of other teams' follies as they've 4th nationally in turnover margin thus far. Riley Skinner has been amazing thus far all season and he's the most accurate thrower in the country. I'm a little worried the running game hasn't taken off but Josh Adams and Brandon Pendergrass are both good backs and they've faced BCS level competition so I expect their numbers to improve. They got a bye week before going to Florida State next Saturday, who they beat 30-0 the last time they visited Doak and took them down again last year. It's a game with major implications in the SEC.

13. Oregon Ducks

It took awhile, and they made it more difficult than it should have been, but the Ducks picked up a hard-to-come-by road out of conference win against a perennial bowl team in Purdue. Once again the Ducks racked up 500 yards of total offense and without Dixon and Stewart are 4th in the country in rushing offense. But perhaps the most encouraging thing for Oregon is how well the defense played in this game. Purdue scored on each of their first four drives, but after the Ducks got comfortable, the Boilermakers scored 6 points the rest of the way and had a strech where the Ducks held them scoreless on 11 consectuive drives and forced them to punt on 8 of those. The highly praised secondary held Painter to only 205 passing yards on 50 attempts and the only player in that group not on the Thorpe Award watch list, T.J. Ward had a crucial interception. The Ducks will have to shore up the run defense but outside of one 80 yard run they were pretty solid. Unfortunate news, as Oregon loses their starting QB, Roper, to injury and he'll be out 2-4 weeks but backups Jeremiah Masoli and Chris Harper have seen plenty of action in the first 3 games.

14. Kansas Jayhawks

It's hard to rank them this low after how they performed against South Florida, but someone has to lose. As I mentioned above, Todd Reesing played an amazing game but unfortunately made a costly mistake which gave South Florida the field position they needed to make the game winning field goal. Much like their Big XII North counterparts, Missouri, Kansas has lost a few good offensive players but has picked up right where they left off last year. The one concern I have coming out of this game is Kansas wasn't able to get any pass rush at all against South Florida in the second half and USF went in 5 wide sets and picked them apart. In the pass happy Big XII, that is not a good sign at all. The Jayhawks don't have any strong wins yet, but if you watched them Friday I don't see how you couldn't see them as a solid group.

15. Utah Utes

The Michigan win was closer than it should have been and the Utes are Runnin' through the rest of their schedule so far. In my opinion of all the mid-majors Utah has the best talent. They're always solid on the offensive and defensive lines and have above average skill players. It doesn't hurt to have an experienced quarterback (Brain Johnson) and the Utes have endless options for him to get the ball to. They rank 8th in total defense through 3 games, may have the best kicker in the country (Louie Sakoda), and that is a great formula for beating teams you're supposed to and staying competetive in every game. I normally don't like to look ahead too far and like I mentioned the Mountain West has looked very good so far, but what an epic clash with unprecedented implications could their matchup with BYU have at the end of the year? If that doesn't somehow get picked up as a national broadcast it's a shame.

16. North Carolina Tarheels

All aboard the 'Brandon Tate for Heisman' train! The Heels have two 1st team All-ACC caliber receivers, a quarterback with great potential, and an exciting running back that will only get better as he learns the position better. The 'Heels looked like the real deal Thursday in the ACC race against a Rutgers team that had admittedly been very disappointing. If they're able to keep up the solid offensive numbers a lot of the swing games they had last year could go the other way this fall. Was also very impressed by their linebackers, who ran like running backs after interceptions. Butch Davis has immediately came in here and upgraded the talent base. This team could really make some noise.

17. Fresno State Bulldogs

See: Kansas. The Bulldogs blew plenty of opportunities in this game (3 missed field goals, punt turnover) but made plenty of breaks themselves with solid special teams play. Their road game against Toledo is a huge trap game. Still, I feel the Bulldogs will take the WAC (finally) and what I was looking for in the early seasoin was an improved defense and they did their part against Wisconsin and tackled phenominally. Was a little disappointed by the play of Brandstater in the game, but he has the tools to rebound. They don't have a team on the remaining schedule the calibur of Wisconsin. They're here based on the merits of a blowout of Rutgers on the road and a strong performance last night.

18. Mississippi Rebels

Amazing what having a competent coach can do for your program. Jevan Snead has one of the best arms I've seen in college football this year and played very well in the road loss to Wake. Shay Hodge, Dexter McCluster and Mike Wallace is the most underrated receiving corps in the country and by the end of the year this offense will be a very dangerous one - not only because they will improve with repeated live reps with Snead but Houston Nutt never fails to have a solid running attack. Credit to Coach Orgeron for recruiting some really talented players, but Nutt stepped into a perfect situation and while I don't think this ranking will last, I see them in a bowl this year.

19. Auburn Tigers
20. Louisiana State Tigers

Aubie is ranked in front of LSU only because they had a road win, no matter how ugly. This isn't an indictment against the SEC or these two teams, they just haven't played anyone yet. This is the cut-off for teams that have quality wins or good performances in losses. We simply don't know a lot about either of these teams right now. The winner of this game will more than likely jump into the top ten unless we have another 3-2 stinker. Not likely, but it should be a low scoring game. Most impressive player so far for either team is easily Charles Scott, who in limited action has 262 yards and 4 touchdowns through 2 games.

21. Texas Longhorns

Looks like more of the same from the Texas defense as the pass defense is ranked 98th in the country after facing Florida Atlantic (1-2) and UTEP (got routed by Buffalo). It doesn't look like the Longhorns have found their running back yet as QB Colt McCoy is the only player to have eclipsed 100 yards. This team will go far as McCoy (who has looked great) takes them. The skill players don't look up to snuff and unless the defense improves significantly in the next couple of weeks they're going to get throw all over. The silver lining is they haven't allowed more than 13 points, but again, they weren't exactly facing BCS calibur competition in those games. I give them credit here for going to UTEP, but at this point it looks like Mack Brown's poorest team in a few years.

22. Texas Tech Red Raiders

Same old story. Harrell and Crabtree will put up monster numbers and the defense will continue to look average to bad against inferior competition. Nevada nearly rung up 500 offensive yards and Eastern Washington threw for 341 yards and scored 24 points. I've yet to see them with my own eyes outside of some highlights, but I'd imagine Raiders fans aren't as optimistic as they were before the season. I think they'll take 3-0 though.

23. Oklahoma State Cowboys

Offensive putting up their typical numbers against out of conference competition but we really know nothing about their defense. Houston scored 37 points and nearly had 500 offensive yards but they'd put up those kinds of numbers on a lot of teams. They held both Washington State and Missouri State to 196 yards, but history says they'll struggle mightily to stop anyone this year. BUT, they do have the number one punting game in the country right now and if that continues it could be a very important factor. Punt and kickoff returns have also been great. Dez Bryant didn't catch a pass yesterday and still has 326 yards and 2 tuchdowns. If you get a chance, watch him. Great kick returner, too. With the skill they have on offense (Kendall Hunter is another to watch) they'd smoke a lot of inferior teams. Revenge game coming up in two weeks with Troy coming to Stillwater.

24. Iowa Hawkeyes

They may actually be able to move the ball this year. Shonn Greene is among the nation's leaders in rushing and has gained at least 100 yards if each of their first three games. It's a very experienced defense led by Mitch King and Matt Kroul up the middle. They've allowed a total of 8 points in their first three games. It looks like Ricky Stanzi may take over for Jake Christensen at quarterback. We'll see how that goes. Road game against Pitt next week is very important in terms of bowl implications. Starting 4-0 is great and they'd get Northwestern at home the following week.

25. Kentucky Wildcats

I was able to catch the Louisville game and that defense looks awfully talented. The offense is surely a work in progress and will have to improve a lot for them to make a bowl but Mike Hartline hasn't thrown an interception yet and he looks competent. Derrick Locke and Tony Dixon really need to step up in the running game. SEC! SEC! SEC! SEC!