Texas A&M, Penn State headline five biggest overreactions from Week 3 in college football
Only three full weeks of the college football season have been completed. Most teams in the sport’s top division haven’t even embarked on the conference portion of their schedules yet. Naturally, everybody loves to talk about what they’ve just seen (That’s what we’re here for, right?), and that inevitably leads to some of that talk getting just a wee bit hyperbolic.
OK, sometimes those first impressions prove to be correct, as future outcomes validate the significance of some earlier results. But as it is still September, usually some more data points will be needed.
Here are the top five overreactions of the week.
Texas AM is still a contender in the SEC West
We’ll say this much — the Aggies’ victory against Miami was desperately needed. After the Appalachian State setback, AM could ill afford a second non-league loss before entering an extremely challenging stretch of games away from College Station.
Despite getting out with the victory, however, the offensive inconsistencies remain. The change at quarterback didn’t really address problems in pass protection and the lack of receiver depth. A major overhaul isn’t really practical with the Aggies set to face Arkansas and Alabama over the next three weeks. Things could get worse before they get better if that doesn’t happen.
Penn State is a contender in the Big Ten East
A contender? Perhaps, but probably not a favorite just yet. Give the Nittany Lions credit for a complete performance in SEC territory, even against a team as flawed as Auburn. With two Power Five wins away from home, they’ve done as much to earn their ranking as anyone at this early juncture of the campaign.
Obviously, the competition will get tougher in the division, which now features six 3-0 teams in all. True, the subjective value of Ohio State’s opening win against Notre Dame has changed, and we don’t actually know much about Michigan yet given the Wolverines’ level of competition to date. But those two remain atop the league’s power rankings for most analysts. PSU is now probably a solid third in that pecking order in the wake of the Auburn win and Michigan State’s loss at Washington. That’s still a far better place than where the program stood at the end of 2021.
RE-RANK:Southern California, Washington among Pac-12 teams on rise
WHAT YOU MISSED:Washington’s win, Oklahoma’s mettle lead list
MISERY INDEX:Harsin has turned Auburn into a bad and boring team
HIGHS AND LOWS:Winners and losers in Week 3 of college football
The Big 12 champ will come from the state of Oklahoma
The Sooners and Cowboys have done nothing to indicate their lofty preseason rankings were unwarranted. OU’s business-like dismantling of a Nebraska team that started fast was impressive, and while we don’t know much about the Cowboys yet, they’ve handled their preconference slate without incident.