Collage Football winners, losers in Week 3: Arch Manning, Travis Hunter star, Florida State hits new low
Because of a novel calendar, each crew has two bye weeks this yr. Week 3 was one of many first casualties of the change, with seven AP Prime 25 groups on a bye. Solely two video games all weekend featured a pair of ranked groups – No. 14 Kansas State towards No. 20 Arizona on Friday and No. 6 Missouri towards No. 24 Boston Faculty on Saturday.
However typically when the school soccer slate feels the weakest, bizarre outcomes occur. No. 1 Georgia wanted all 60 minutes simply to outlive Kentucky. Missouri needed to overcome a sluggish begin towards Boston Faculty. No. 15 Oklahoma was fortunate to outlast Tulane. No. 16 LSU barely escaped Columbia with a win over South Carolina.
Whereas the video games could not have resulted in upsets, they did change the nationwide image dramatically. For some groups, like these from the non-power conferences, leaving some main scratches is sufficient to make their identities recognized. Listed here are the most important winners and losers of school soccer’s Week 3.
Winner: The Group of 5
Do not look now, however the Group of 5 has put collectively an unbelievable week. UNLV acquired the get together began by beating Kansas on Friday, selecting up its second win towards a Massive 12 crew on the season. On Saturday, Memphis shocked former coach Mike Norvell and his Florida State squad 20-12. Georgia State used a late surge to shock Vanderbilt 36-32 and Toledo crushed Mississippi State 41-17.
After all, all of those wins are solely a cherry on high to the historic Northern Illinois upset towards Notre Dame in Week 2. At a time when it seems like main faculty soccer is making an attempt tougher than ever to bury the non-power leagues, these colleges refuse to be ignored.
It is nice for faculty soccer, particularly in an period when a Group of 5 crew will make the 12-team Faculty Soccer Playoff. At this level, there are severe contenders coming from all 5 leagues.
Loser: Kentucky coach Mark Stoops
Kentucky coach Mark Stoops should have been auditioning for the job at his alma mater (Iowa) when he headed into one of many largest alternatives of his profession. The Wildcats trailed Georgia simply 13-12 with three minutes remaining and barely 10 yards to get into subject aim vary. A fourth-and-13 is under no circumstances simple, however Stoops inexplicably punted the ball again to the Bulldogs as an alternative of making an attempt to win the sport.
Naturally, Georgia quarterback Carson Beck hit Dominic Lovett for a 33-yard cross to get close to midfield immediately and the upset try was successfully over. Kentucky did not even get the ball again till 9 seconds remained within the sport. After all, Stoops trusts his protection. If he trusts his protection a lot, he ought to belief them to get a cease after a possible turnover on downs. There is a fairly good probability that Stoops won’t ever have a greater alternative to beat a blue blood like that for the remainder of his profession.
Hunter’s pathway to competing for the Heisman Trophy continues to be troublesome as a primarily defensive participant, however his efficiency towards Colorado State makes issues fascinating. Hunter caught 13 passes for 100 yards and two touchdowns within the 28-9 win. He added an interception, 5 tackles and one other cross breakup on protection. These are the form of particular, actually two-way performances that can give him an opportunity.
After three weeks, Hunter has 30 catches for 342 yards and 5 touchdowns to go together with 11 tackles, a sort out for loss and an interception. These are good numbers for a participant on both facet of the ball; they’re foolish for somebody enjoying each. The duty will get far more troublesome as Colorado heads into Massive 12 play subsequent week, however the Buffaloes’ star is legitimately giving himself an opportunity at a Heisman run.
Winner: Bounce-back groups
Notre Dame turned the primary top-five crew to ever lose to a MAC opponent final week, however the Preventing Irish got here into Week 3 motivated. In a rivalry sport that has typically been lopsided towards Purdue, Notre Dame dropped an all-timer in a 66-7 win, the most important within the historical past of the collection. The Irish had two 100-yard rushers and hit 42 factors earlier than halftime.
Throughout the nation, Texas Tech adopted up disappointing performances towards Washington State and Abilene Christian by beating the grime out of North Texas. The Crimson Raiders equally took a 49-7 lead into halftime and finally dropped a 66-21 win over the Imply Inexperienced.
Even Alabama was in a position to comply with up a disappointing efficiency towards South Florida by cruising to a 42-10 win over Wisconsin behind 4 touchdowns from QB Jalen Milroe. Generally a program simply must exorcise some demons; sadly, Wisconsin, North Texas and Purdue felt the outcomes.
West Virginia took a 10-point lead with 4 minutes remaining within the sport and appeared poised to flee the Yard Brawl with an enormous win. Actually, it appeared determined that the Mountaineers would win for the second yr in a row. Pittsburgh had solely 4 whole yards within the second half heading into the ultimate minutes. And groups have been 150-0 this season when main by double digits with 4 minutes left within the sport.
As a substitute, Pittsburgh quarterback Eli Holstein by some means engineered an insane pair of landing drives over the course of minutes as WVU blew the sport 38-34. Dropping a sport is irritating sufficient, however dropping this sport is a catastrophe ready to occur. Beating Pitt 17-6 final season helped kick off the perfect season of the Neal Brown period. All the nice vibes are leaving the station in Morgantown; that is how briskly issues can flip in a rivalry sport.
The primary actual snaps of the Manning period arrived after Quinn Ewers went out with an belly damage. One way or the other, they exceeded expectations. Manning scored touchdowns on two of his first three performs in reside motion towards UTSA and reached the tip zone 5 occasions general. Along with 4 explosive passing touchdowns, Manning gave the Longhorns a bit one thing additional with a 67-yard dashing rating.
Let me be clear: Ewers is the beginning quarterback at Texas. He would possibly miss the subsequent sport, however he shall be again within the beginning lineup as quickly as he’s wholesome. Nonetheless, it is thrilling to see that Manning is greater than his well-known identify. He appears to be like like a star when it is his flip to take over at Texas.
Loser: Florida State
Really, nothing might have ready Florida State for this begin. The Seminoles turned the primary crew in historical past to go from a preseason AP high 10 crew to 0-3 with three straight losses towards unranked opponents. This time, it was Norvell’s previous crew (Memphis) handing the Seminoles an embarrassing 20-12 loss.
The largest purpose Florida State is a loser? There’s simply nowhere to go from right here. Making a bowl sport out of the blue appears to be like awfully troublesome. Charleston Southern is now probably the one assured win left on the board. After bringing 40 new gamers into this system over the offseason — together with 17 transfers — the DNA of the 2023 ACC championship crew is actually gone.
UCLA most likely is not that good, however Indiana has had an unimaginable begin to the Curt Cignetti period. The Hoosiers amazingly moved to 3-0 after eviscerating UCLA 42-13, beginning and ending the sport with 14-0 runs. Quarterback Kurtis Rourke has lived as much as each expectation after transferring from Ohio and had a 300-yard, four-touchdown day. The Hoosiers have a manageable schedule that includes Maryland, Purdue, Michigan State and Washington. Might a magical bowl journey be on the desk?
Daniels needed to work laborious simply to offer himself an opportunity to get again on the sphere after a nagging again damage saved him out in 2023. Sadly, his return has gone about as badly as doable. In surprising back-to-back losses towards UNLV and Illinois, Daniels threw 5 mixed interceptions in video games that have been determined by a mixed 9 factors. Merely put, his rust and decision-making has made him a shell of the participant he was when he appeared able to take over the Massive 12. The small aid is that Kansas has but to begin Massive 12 play, so the problems are fixable. Nevertheless, the Jayhawks can not win with this model of Daniels. With Jason Bean within the NFL, the employees has nowhere else to show.
Winner: Washington State
Washington State capped off its huge week of rebuilding the Pac-12 by beating hated rival Washington within the first nonconference Apple Cup in generations. Quarterback John Mateer is a chaos agent and had three touchdowns within the win to beat the Massive Ten’s Huskies and remind the nation that the Cougars are nonetheless on the map. Washington State has been sneaky spectacular over the primary few weeks, beating Washington and crushing Texas Tech. With highway video games towards Boise State and Fresno State forward, Wazzu may need a severe pathway into the AP Prime 25.