Welcome to a new feature here at Last Word on Sports. Throughout the 2014 season, we will be publishing composite rankings based on Top 25 ballots of 13 writers for LWOS, who cover teams from coast-to-coast. In addition to the rankings, we’ll also be providing some perspective on each of the teams in that week’s rankings. As a reminder, many of these same writers conspired to predict the College Football Playoff participants and the outcomes of the match ups between them here.
Here we go.
LWOS Week 3 College Football Rankings
(1st Place votes in parentheses)
| 1 | Oregon (7) | The Ducks have started the season 3-0 and they have looked extremely impressive. Their key victory over Michigan State separates them from the rest of the pack right now. – Al Preziosi | ||
| 2 |
Florida State (4) |
After a sluggish start against Oklahoma State, the Seminoles looked to be more in sync against The Citadel (take it for what it’s worth) last week, before being idle this week. Now with two weeks to prepare for Clemson, expect FSU to be running on all cylinders. – Anthony Murphy | ||
| 3 | Alabama (1) | After struggling against West Virginia in week one, the Crimson tide has looked good in its next two games. QB Blake Sims is completing 75% of his passes, and the Tide sit at 3-0. Now, the schedule gets considerably more difficult, with the Tide playing 4 ranked teams in their final 7 games. – Elijah Klein | ||
| 4 | Oklahoma (1) | Oklahoma’s defense dominated Tennessee, ultimately leading to a blowout win. Will the Oklahoma-Baylor game be a matchup of Top 5 teams in early November? – Michael Gray | ||
| 5 | Auburn | The Tigers were spared from the hectic college football results of this past weekend with a bye in order to prepare for their first test of the season. Auburn heads to Manhattan for a heavily anticipated matchup against #20 Kansas State. Auburn hopes to make a statement to solidify its ranking heading into conference play. – Kaden Kotinek | ||
| 6 | Texas A&M | Efficient offense and a much improved defence has the Aggies suddenly in contention in the SEC West. – Matthew Atkinson | ||
| 7 | Baylor | Bryce Petty and Baylor won in a “pick your score” game in Week 3. True tests for the Bears are still yet to come. – Donald King | ||
| 8 | LSU | The Tigers made quick work of Louisiana Monroe and advance to an easy 3-0 record. A tough SEC West slate awaits the Bayou Bengals. – Connor Ferguson | ||
| 9 | Notre Dame | The Irish got off to a slow start but eventually pulled away from Purdue, 30-14, in Indianapolis. Next up is a bye week before facing Syracuse on September 27 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ. – John Bava III | ||
| 10 | Michigan State | Sparty still figures to be the class of the B1G. Dantonio’s crew will look to run the table and attempt to charge into the inaugural CFP. – Donald King | ||
| 11 | Mississippi | Bo Wallace is playing well and the Ole Miss defense has been impressive as well. Ole Miss is letting people know that it is ready to compete in the SEC West. – Mike Loveall | ||
| 12 | UCLA | While UCLA is 3-0, they have not looked impressive in any of their games against Virginia, Memphis, or Texas. If they can play together on both sides of the ball at the same time, this can be a scary team. – Al Preziosi | ||
| 13 | Arizona State | While Arizona State hasn’t been tested yet, they have gotten the job done in the correct fashion against inferior opponents. They handily defeated Weber State, New Mexico, and Colorado, but UCLA will be the first big test of the season after the bye week. – Al Preziosi | ||
| 14 | Georgia | Tough loss for TGIII in Columbia last Saturday, but all is not lost. The Dawgs will not concede the SEC East crown just yet. – Donald King | ||
| 15 | South Carolina | The Ol’ Ball Coach ties Vince Dooley’s SEC win mark and gets the Gamecocks back into the hunt with an impressive win against a strong Georgia team.- Mike Loveall | ||
| 16 | Stanford | The Cardinal righted the ship a bit against Army after the USC meltdown. Stanford’s #1 ranked scoring defense is yielding just 4.3 ppg. – Donald King | ||
| 17 | Missouri | Despite losing their top passer, rusher, AND their top three receivers the offense hasn’t missed a beat. One more warm up game against Indiana before starting tough SEC schedule. – Anthony Murphy | ||
| 18 | USC | After a marquee conference victory against Stanford on the road, USC took a step back after traveling across the country to face Boston College. The depth remains a concern, but the young talent is there. USC remains an enigma. – Al Preziosi | ||
| 19 | Wisconsin | Coming off a bye week at 1-1, Wisconsin will face a strong BGSU team this Saturday. Bucky will be a factor in the BiG West race. – Connor Ferguson | ||
| 20 | Kansas State | Survived a scare at Iowa State on Saturday but has a chance to really make a statement this Thursday against highly ranked Auburn. – Matthew Atkinson | ||
| 21 | BYU | The Cougars snap the ball to a fullback on every offensive play. Look for BYU to march through the rest of its schedule unimpeded. – Donald King | ||
| 22 | Clemson | Clemson was another top-25 team with a Week 3 Bye. The Tigers are coming off a dominating performance against South Carolina St. They’ll need all of the offense they can get this week though, when they face off against their toughest opponent of the year, Florida State. – Kaden Kotinek | ||
| 23 | Oklahoma State | A hard fought loss to Florida State, followed by blowout wins over Missouri State and UTSA have the Cowboys sitting at 2-1. QB J.W Walsh was injured two weeks ago against Missouri State and could miss the remainder of the season. Backup quarterback Daxx Garman played well against UTSA, giving some hope for the remainder of the season. – Elijah Klein | ||
| 24 | Ohio State | The Buckeyes took out their frustration following last week’s home loss to Virginia Tech by throttling Kent State, 66-0. An intriguing matchup with a dangerous Cincinnati team awaits them on September 27, following a Week 4 Bye. – John Bava III | ||
| 25 | Nebraska | Nebraska moves back into the Top 25 with a true beat down of Fresno State on the road. Could undefeated Nebraska be a true dark horse contender in the Big 10? – Michael Gray | ||
| Others receiving votes: Mississippi State (4), Washington (3), Duke (3), Penn State (2), Marshall (2), Virginia Tech (2), Pittsburgh (2), Utah (1), Arkansas (1), North Carolina (1), East Carolina (1), Louisville (1) | ||||
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