Michigan State Leaps to No. 2 in AP Poll, Bama Tumbles to No. 12

Written by Ryan Wright

Twitter: @HogManInLA

The mighty (Alabama) has fallen and chinks in the armor of those atop the AP rankings have already started to come through in Week 3 of the college football season. The AP voters have been finicky all season quickly demoting a team for a poor showing and that is exactly what they did to Ohio State in the latest rankings.

Ohio State still remains the No. 1 team in the nation but have gone from the first ever consensus top team in the nation in the preseason polls to only having 42 voters out of 60 still believing they are the best in the land. OSU hung on for a 20-13 win over Northern Illinois, at home, raising questions about how the Buckeyes would do against a tougher regular season schedule.

Michigan State jumped from No. 4 to No. 2 after beating Air Force 35-21 giving the Big Ten the top two spots in the poll for the first time since 2006 when Ohio State and Michigan occupied the spots.

TCU fans are miffed because they were jumped, yet again, by a Big Ten team but MSU has played a Top 10 team this season, Oregon, and won, the Horned Frogs have not. TCU beat SMU 56-37 in Week 2 and now have to wait until November before playing at team that is currently ranked, No. 24 Oklahoma State.

The team to make the biggest jump in this week’s poll is Ole Miss. The Rebels were ranked No. 15 last week and are now tied with TCU at No. 3. Ole Miss laid it on last week’s No. 2 Alabama 43-37 in Tuscaloosa capturing the imagination of college football nation. The Crimson Tide outplayed Ole Miss in several parts of the game including racking up 503 yards of total offense to the Rebels 433 but turned the ball over five times. Despite all of the miscues Alabama fought until the end and was still within a score of winning.

Mississippi’s quick rise towards the top displaced another Big 12 team, Baylor. The Bears had an early season bye after beating SMU (56-21) and Lamar (66-31) but get Rice next week. How Baylor fans can be upset is confusing and amusing.

Notre Dame won over a lot of fans this week after losing their starting running back and starting tight end along with their starting quarterback to beat No. 14 Georgia Tech on the road 30-22. Tech dropped to No. 20 after the home loss.

LSU was another big mover in the rankings jumping up five spots to No. 8 after handling Auburn 45-21. The game was never really in question with LSU building a 24-0 lead before Auburn responded early in the third quarter.

Those teams moving in the wrong direction include Alabama and USC, both former Top 10 teams now in a free fall. Bama is at No. 12, 10 spots down, and USC is at No. 19, from No. 6. The Trojans lost on national TV 41-31 to unranked Stanford at home. The Cardinal just outplayed USC in every facet of the game. Stanford quarterback Kevin Hogan had perhaps the game of his life completing 18-of-23 passes for 279 yards with two scores and no turnovers. One-time potential Heisman candidate Cody Kessler played well hitting 25-of-32 passes with three touchdowns but could not get the ball into the end zone when it counted in the end. USC gets a hungry Arizona State team next week before going on a run that includes Notre Dame, Utah, Cal, Arizona, Oregon, and UCLA. Steve Sarkisian has to get the Trojans back on track quick or it will be a long season for the men of Troy.

The Pac-12 South Division will have a clearer picture after this week with UCLA traveling to Arizona, Cal at Washington, and Utah off to north division Oregon.

The one team in the nation still kind of on the outside looking in is Texas A&M. The Aggies get a beat up Arkansas team this week and then Mississippi State before hosting Alabama. If the Aggies can get past Bama before traveling to Ole Miss, this could be the conference winner with LSU having something to say in the end.

Top Games in Week 3

No. 9 UCLA at Arizona

No. 18 Utah at No. 13 Oregon

No. 22 BYU at Michigan

No. 3 TCU at Texas Tech

No. 14 Texas A&M at Arkansas

No. 25 Missouri at Kentucky

 

AP Top 25 Rankings Week 3

No. 1 Ohio State (42)

No. 2 Michigan State (7)

No. 3 Ole Miss (11)

No. 3 TCU

No. 5 Baylor

No. 6 Notre Dame

No. 7 Georgia

No. 8 LSU

No. 9 UCLA

No. 10 Florida State

No. 11 Clemson

No. 12 Alabama

No. 13 Oregon

No. 14 Texas A&M

No. 15 Oklahoma

No. 16 Arizona

No. 17 Northwestern

No. 18 Utah

No. 19 Southern Cal

No. 20 Georgia Tech

No. 21 Stanford

No. 22 BYU

No. 23 Wisconsin

No. 24 Oklahoma State

No. 25 Missouri

 

Others receiving votes: Mississippi St. 52, West Virginia 48, Tennessee 45, California 38, Toledo 36, Arizona St. 25, Houston 22, Auburn 20, Temple 20, Texas Tech 20, Boise St. 17, Miami 13, Iowa 10, Kansas St. 8, Florida 7, NC State 5, Minnesota 4, Virginia Tech 4, Memphis 1.

Photo credit: Butch Dill; Chad Kelly dives for a touchdown against then No. 2 Alabama.