Week 3 top 25 Recap

In this episode of the Offseason Sports Podcast, Manny Fresh discusses the highlights of week three in college football. He talks about the performance of top-ranked teams like Georgia, Michigan, and Florida State, as well as the struggles of Alabama. He also mentions some upsets and previews upcoming matchups. Manny shares his thoughts on each team's stock and where they should be ranked. It's an exciting week in college football with several top 25 matchups. Hello, and welcome to the Offseason Sports Podcast. This is your host, Manny Fresh, aka Manny. Let's go ahead and deep dive into week three. The media dubbed week three as a dud week. The talking heads, specifically ESPN, Fox Sports Radio, they all said it was a dud. In my opinion, it was probably one of the most exciting weekends in college football. Let's go ahead and deep dive into the top 25 that was, and look ahead to their upcoming matchups. First off, we have Georgia. Georgia faced South Carolina and walked away with a W, 24-14. The two-time national champs had a huge target on their back this past week with opening up against South Carolina. They were booed at halftime. They came back and won, 24-14, like I said. I'm going to hold on their stock for right now. It's hard to tell where they belong in the standings, but I'll keep them at one. Moving on to number two. Number two, Michigan hosted Bowling Green and won 31-6, but it was the rushing attack that helped lead the way. Blake Corum scoring two touchdowns and rushing for 101 yards. QB J.J. McCarthy struggled, going eight for 13 and two picks. They faced Rutgers this weekend. Again, I'll hold their stock where they are. They'll stay at number two for me. The polls kept them, I believe, at number two, going into week four. Moving on to Florida State at number three, I would actually drop them in the polls, maybe like one or two spots. The Knolls of Florida State blew most of their 21-point lead on Saturday, but scraped by Boston College. Jordan Travis was banged up a bit, but returned to the game at half. BC stopped Florida State on the final drive to milk the clock. However, a penalty was called against Boston College for a face mask. That pretty much sealed the victory for the Knolls. The Knolls will have a tough test going to Clemson this weekend. Let's move on to number four. The Texas Longhorns making the top four in the polls this season after upsetting Alabama, hosted Wyoming and beating them 31-10, and proving to us that just maybe, they may be back. I don't know. It's only week three, but they are looking like they may be back, so if we hear from all those Texas fans, they're back. They do have a lot of weight behind what they say right now. Moving on to number five is USC. I'm going to hold them. They were playing bye this week. They had a bye week. They are facing Arizona State and are favored by 34.5 points. They should win that game and possibly move up any pending upsets. Let's move on to number six, Ohio State. They had a tune-up game against Western Kentucky, where we saw Kyle McCord explode in the second quarter, throwing for three touchdowns. They will travel to South Bend to take on the Irish of Notre Dame this upcoming week in week four, and I'm really excited to see that matchup. It's going to be the real test for Ohio State and that squad against Sam Hartman, the Notre Dame fighting Irish. Let's move on to number seven in Penn State, the Nittany Lions mauled at Illini in Champaign, Illinois. Penn State's first road game of the 23 campaign sees them winning 30-13 with five takeaways, holding the Illini to 62 rushing yards. It's pretty impressive for the Penn State Nittany Lions. I'm going to buy some more stock in them. I actually see them moving up. I would actually replace Penn State with Ohio State at six. Ohio State really hasn't faced anybody yet, but again, they're playing Notre Dame this week. Let's move on to number eight in Washington. The Huskies embarrassed Michigan State with a 41-7 win. Michael Penix, Jr. had a monster game, throwing for 473 yards and four touchdowns. Ohio's Cal this weekend, I'm going to hold their stock. I'm going to keep them at number eight if it was me going to the polls. Let's move on to number nine. Number nine is Notre Dame. I'm really excited to see Notre Dame this season. They have Sam Hartman and company. Not only is Sam Hartman learning a new offense with a new coordinator, but he's moved. He's moved on from Wake Forest into a new territory with Notre Dame. I've watched him since he had an Amazon series in high school, watched him a little bit at Wake Forest. Really high on him and his draft stock, Sam Hartman leading this team to a victory. He went 16 of 26 with three touchdowns and 333 yards. They played Central Michigan. The score was 41-17. Notre Dame is one of those other teams where they look like they're the most complete team in all three phases of the game, offense, defense, and special teams. It's going to be an exciting matchup. As I said, they play Ohio State this weekend. Let's see what they can do. Moving on to number 10 is Alabama and the Crimson Tide. The Tide coming off a massive upset of the year against Texas. They travel down to Tampa, Florida to face South Florida. See what I did there, Tampa, South Florida. We saw Ty Simpson and Tyler Buckner going for a combined 10 of 23 and only 107 yards. They ultimately beat USF 17-3. This team does not look like the number 10 team in the land. I would drop them probably out of the polls if it was up to me. They played an awful USF team and barely scraping by. It was actually a closer game. They scored a garbage time touchdown in the last, I believe, minute just to make it a 17-3 game. I don't know if it was a garbage USF team or if USF is really that good. I don't know. It's hard to tell, but for me, Bama looks awful this year. They don't have a quarterback. Let's move on to one of the upsets of the weekend in Tennessee. Coming in at 11, the Vols were gator bait, losing to Florida 16-29 in what was the upset of the weekend. The Vols and Hypo's high-octane offense were held to 387 yards, ultimately came down to penalties, killing any of the Vols' momentum. That game wasn't the most exciting, but for the Vols, they lucked out. They're going to fall in the polls. I don't know at what cost. Let's move on to number 12, to Utah. The Utes blew out Weber State 31-7. This was a dominant performance by the Utes. They had the ball 40 minutes of the game to Weber State's 19. If there was any way to move them up, I'd move them up maybe a one or two spot, but that's about it. Going to buy a little bit more stock. They look legit. Could give the Pac-12 a run for their money for the title game this year. Moving on to Oregon at 13, the Ducks hosted Hawaii and the Rainbow Warriors and routed them 55-10. Bo Nix goes 21-27 in three touchdowns. They host Deion Sanders and Company in Colorado this weekend. It's going to be a huge matchup. More on that later. Moving on to 14 is LSU. The Bayou Bengals played Mississippi State, beating them 41-14. This looked like the team we should have seen on opening night against Florida State. Jayden Daniels went 30-34, 361 yards and two touchdowns. He also led the team in rushing yards at 64. Again, this was the team that I think we all expected when we saw them open up against Florida State. I'm going to hold them at 14. They still have a lot to prove in the SEC. Moving on to Kansas State, another upset of the weekend. Kansas State was upset by a walk-off 61-yard field goal by Harrison Mavis of Missouri. Missouri went on to win 27-30. Kansas not only lost the game, but they got banged up while battling the Tigers. Starting quarterback Will Howard was seen wobbling on and off the field. He's being subbed in and out for specific running option plays by the backup quarterback. They go on to play UCF this weekend. I don't know who's starting at quarterback. I believe it's going to be a game-time decision from what I'm hearing. I ultimately see them dropping in the polls, maybe even out of the polls. We'll see what happens. Moving on to 16, Oregon State. The Beavers rolled San Diego State University 26-9. DJ Young, I'll probably butcher that, so I'm sorry, DJ, I'll just again call you DJ, continues his Heisman campaign, passing for 284 yards, one rushing and passing touchdown. It was the defense that really boosted the Beavers to the win. They had six sacks, and Oregon State opens up Pac-12 play to play Washington State, another top 25 matchup. This week, week four, is going to be an exciting top 25 matchup week, so expect a lot of heat and fire from all these teams facing each other, going to go battle. Ole Miss is at 17, and what we call a look-ahead game or a trap game in the college football world, they went on to play Georgia Tech, but they did not skip a beat. Jackson Dart and the Rebels handled Georgia Tech 48-23. Dart ran for two touchdowns while throwing for one for 251 yards, rushing and 136 yards, passing. They will now focus on Alabama this weekend. Let's move on to number 18 in Colorado. Depending on what coast you lived on, this might have been the game of the night or morning. Let's see, Colorado State was giving Colorado everything they had, but it was Shador Sanders' time in Boulder, with all the drama in prime time, and Coach Jay Norvell, to the late hit on Travis Hunter, to the double overtime winner. Colorado was a 23.5 point favorite to win this game, and it took double overtime for them to come back. Again, I feel like they're getting the prime time treatment, I'm going to hold them where they are, I'm not going to move them, I'm not going to knock them down, but to go on to win double overtime against a really rebuilding year for Colorado State, again, I feel like the polls are favoring prime time and their brand. Let's move on to number 19, Oklahoma. The Sooners throttled Tulsa 66-17, all while Dillon Gabriel throws for five touchdowns and 421 yards and one pick. Not much to say here, this was no contest for Tulsa, I don't know if Tulsa was getting paid to go on and play Oklahoma, I know they're in-state quote-unquote rivals, but there was really no chance for Tulsa to win this game, I'm going to hold them at 19. Moving on to North Carolina, the Tar Heels had a huge bounce back game after battling back Appalachian State last weekend in overtime, beating Minnesota 31-13, QB Drake May had a monster game, throwing for 414 yards. The Tar Heels are on the road to open up conference play against Pittsburgh this week, I'm going to again hold them at 20, I'm not going to move them up, I'm not going to move them down. Number 21 is Duke, Duke and QB Riley Leonard runs for two touchdowns and threw for 219 yards and leads them to a 38-14 victory against Northwestern. Duke plays UConn this Saturday, again going to hold them, not going to move them up, not going to move them down. The Poles may move them up, depending on any upsets. Moving on to 22 in Miami, Miami after upsetting Texas A&M last week, I feel like they're getting the Colorado treatment with the big brand, they beat Bethune-Cookman 48-7. Tyler Van Dyke is having a great year so far, he's had 8 touchdowns and 1 pick for 822 yards on the season, I believe this was Tyler Van Dyke they were looking for last year, just never really panned out, maybe because they were learning a new system, but I'm going to hold them at 22. Coming in at 23 is Washington State, after upsetting Wisconsin last week, the Cougars jumped into the Poles and beat up North Colorado 64-21, I don't really have much to say here, it wasn't, it's not really a matchup that you expect them to win or lose, it was an NCS team, I fully expect to have them blowing out the water, again some of these teams are ranked that shouldn't be ranked, I feel like there's plenty of other teams well deserving being in the top 25, at least the 20-25 list, again we're going to move on to 24, UCLA, they jumped into the top 25, again they didn't really, they haven't really played anybody, they played NC Central and blew them out 59-7, they're going to have a real test this week against Utah, I feel like it was more of a, hey let's get another top 25 matchup for the upcoming week, and they looked ahead to the schedule and saw that they were playing Utah so, it's a real test for both squads, I know Utah has already played Florida, moving on to 25, Iowa blows the doors off Western Michigan 41-10, it's one of those games where I fully expect Iowa to win, let's look ahead into week 4 and the top matchups, I'm really looking forward to the Colorado against Oregon game, that game will be a real test for Colorado in prime time, I believe Oregon's going to blow the doors off, Oregon currently is a 21 point favorite, I'm really excited to see what prime time and Shador Sanders can do, again no Travis Hunter, I believe he's out for 3 weeks, 3-4 weeks, last reports that I've heard is a lacerated liver, more on week 4, there's a lot, like I said earlier in the podcast, there's a lot of top 10 matchups, you've got UCLA and Utah, I said that previously, we have Oregon State and Washington State, that should be a really good one, Oregon State's a 3 point favorite, what else we have, the one that I'm most excited for is Ohio State visiting Notre Dame in South Bend, I believe that's going to be probably the best game of the night in my humble opinion, I'm going to be rooting for Notre Dame, I'm not one to root for Notre Dame, simply because they still play, we have a big brand, but this year they look like I said before, one of the most complete teams in college football and I feel like they're getting a little bit of disrespect from the AP media poll at being 9 when Alabama's still 10, I mean, come on, what are we doing here, so that's my take on week, the week that was in college football, the so-called dud week, I'm going to give you my bets for this week if I was a betting man, I would have Clemson upsetting Florida State, currently the line for Florida State is 2, they're a 2 point favorite over Clemson, I don't know, I just see Clemson coming out kind of with a bad taste in their mouth, they got upset, they're kind of on a roll so far, I know they haven't had the hardest schedules, but if Florida State played like they did last week, I really see Clemson upsetting Florida State, so this may be Florida State's look ahead game, trap game, however you want to look at it, but I have Clemson beating Florida State, I'm going to take the over on the Utah and UCLA game, it's currently at 52 and a half in total points, I'm going to take over, I feel like Utah is either going to run the clock out or they're going to score fast and make UCLA play from behind, that's just my take, and then I see Ole Miss upsetting Bama, I don't know how Bama is a 6 and a half point favorite, excuse me, that line moved, Alabama is now a 7 point favorite, I don't know what Vegas and the books are seeing in this Alabama team, maybe their defense, I don't know, but I feel like Jackson Dart may have himself a day against Alabama in the tie, I'm going to take Ole Miss upsetting Alabama. Thank you for listening to the Off-Season Sports Podcast, I look forward to recapping week 4 with you next week, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend, thank you and make sure you follow along at Off-Season Sports Podcast on Instagram for the weekly pick-em, have a good one.