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texas2089 Ballot for 2023 Week 3

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 11, 2023, 2:12 p.m.

Rank Team Reason
1 Georgia Bulldogs The Bulldogs got off to a slow start again, ending the first quarter in a 0-0 tie. A 31 point second quarter blew the game wide open however and the Dawgs cruised to a 45-3 win. Not much to take away from this game. SEC play opens next week with the Gamecocks coming to town so we should find out a lot more about the 2023 Georgia Bulldogs.
2 Florida State Seminoles The 66 points scored by the Seminoles were the most under Coach Mike Norvell, and the scary thing is it felt like FSU could have scored even more. Jordan Travis completed just 15/29 passes for 175 yards and 2 TDs, and Johnny Wilson failed to log a catch on 5 targets as he continues to have a case of the dropsies. Back up QB Tate Rodemaker was 3/3 for 73 yards and 2 TDs. Trey Benson rushed for 79 yards and 3 TDs on just 9 carries and the Seminoles were down to 4th and 5th stringers by the end of the game. ACC play opens next week against Boston College, with a massive trip to Death Valley looming the following week.
3 Michigan Wolverines Michigan played their second game without Coach Jim Harbaugh and won another game comfortably 35-7. JJ McCarthy was a surgical 22/25 for 278 yards and 2 TDs. Blake Corum added 80 yards on the ground and 3 TDs of his own. The Wolverines host Bowling Green for their final non-conference game and final game without Harbaugh.
4 Texas Longhorns TEXAS. IS. BA......ttling very hard. I won't say the B word yet until they can win a conference championship but this was a statement win by the Longhorns on the road in Tuscaloosa. Quinn Ewers looked unfazed by raucous crowd at BDS as he threw for 349 yards and 3 TDs, 2 of which went to Georgia transfer Adonai Mitchell. Texas picked off Jalen Milroe twice, sacked him 5 times, and held Milroe largely in check on the ground. Texas kicker Bert Auburn was 2/3 on FG tries and 4/4 on XP totaling 10 points, the exact margin of defeat. So you could say that Auburn beat Alabama. The key for Texas going forward is can they keep focused following the highest of highs? When the entire world is patting you on the back telling you how great you are, can you tune it out and just keep that hunger? Wyoming comes to Austin next week, a team that shocked Texas Tech Week 1. The Longhorns better not get caught sleeping.
5 USC Trojans Caleb Williams continues to light up the scoreboard going 19/21 for 281 yards and 3 TDs in just a half of work as the Trojans rolled longtime ACC member Stanford 56-10. The defense continues to underwhelm as Stanford rushed for over 200 yards. The Trojans are off next week before traveling to Tempe.
6 Ohio State Buckeyes Kyle McCord and Devin Brown split reps in this contest against FCS Youngstown State. After the Penguins tied it 7-7, the Buckeyes scored the next 28 points for a 35-7 victory. Marvin Harrison Jr hauled in 7 catches for 160 yards and 2 TDs after logging just 2 catches for 18 yards in the season opener. The numbers look ok, the defense played well again, but this Ohio State team still feels like it's trying to find it's identity. It feels like they should have won this game by a lot more than they did. A showdown with Notre Dame comes up in just 2 weeks so they better figure it out quickly.
7 Penn State Nittany Lions The Nittany Lions dominated FCS Delaware, holding the Blue Hens to just 140 yards of total offense. Drew Allar posted another solid outing and Kaytron Allen rushed for 103 of Penn State's 315 yards on the ground. Penn State opens Big Ten play next week in Champaign. The biggest question is how many overtimes will we see this time?
8 Washington Huskies Michael Penix Jr threw for 409 yards with 3 TDs and pick as Washington braved the storm against the Golden Hurricane. The Huskies open Big Ten play next week with a trip to East Lansing against the Spartans.
9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Notre Dame looks for real folks. After two games against overmatched teams, the Irish went to Raleigh and braved the elements, walking out of Carter-Finley Stadium with a dominating 45-21 win. Sam Hartman threw another 4 TD passes and Audric Estime rumbled for 134 yards and 2 TDs, including an 80 yarder. Brennan Armstrong was picked 3 times and the Irish capitalized with 2 TDs off those interceptions. Central Michigan is up next for the Irish before hosting the Buckeyes in a huge top 10 showdown.
10 Alabama Crimson Tide The Tide never really seemed to get in rhythm in a 34-24 defeat to the Longhorns. After some uncertainty coming into the season about who the starting QB would be, Alabama rode Jalen Milroe the entire game. It's unknown whether Alabama plans on making a change at QB, but you can bet there will be discussions. Milroe has flashes of what he can be but is still raw. His legs give the Tide an added element so we'll see if any changes are made next week as Alabama travels to Tampa to play USF (yes, ALABAMA is playing ON THE ROAD against a G5 team) before SEC play opens in 2 weeks against Ole Miss.
11 Oregon Ducks In a back and forth contest in Lubbock, the Ducks picked off Tyler Shough 3 times including a pick 6 in the final minute to open an 8 point lead. Oregon picked off Shough to end the game on the following series. The Ducks overall forced 4 turnovers, scoring 10 points off of them en route to a 38-30 win. Bo Nix threw for 359 yards and 2 TDs. The Ducks get Hawai'i next week before hosting Coach Prime and the Buffs.
12 Tennessee Volunteers The Vols got off to an extremely ugly start against FCS Austin Peay. The teams were dead locked at 6-6 before Tennessee scored their first TD with just 15 seconds left in the first half. A 30-13 victory over the Governors was anything but convincing. The one bright spot was the balance the Vols showed. 33 passes, 32 rushes. 228 passing yards, 228 rushing yards. Perfectly balanced. Thanos would be proud. Speaking of Thanos, hopefully the Vols can SNAP out of it as a trip to Gainesville comes next week where the Vols have lost 9 straight times.
13 Kansas State Wildcats The Wildcats routed the reigning Sun Belt champion Trojans 42-13. Will Howard threw for 250 yards and 3 TDs and the defense produced 2 turnovers and 4 sacks. A showdown with former conference mate Mizzou is up next before taking on new conference mate UCF.
14 Oregon State Beavers DJU attempted just 13 passes, completing 8 with 2 TD passes in a half of work as the Beavers cruised to a 55-7 win against FCS UC Davis. The run game looked strong as the Beavs totaled 269 yards on 37 carries. The defense was suffocating, holding the Aggies to just 166 total yards. The Beavers take on the Aztecs next week before a 2-PAC showdown in Pullman.
15 Utah Utes *Insert SpongeBob whew meme.* The Utes, playing their second straight game without starting QB Cam Rising escaped Waco with a 20-13 win as Sawyer Robertson's pass fell to the turf on the final play of the game. The Utes got away with a pretty clear DPI on the play as well. Utah trailed for almost the entire game, but scored the game's final 17 points, including 2 TDs in the final 2 minutes to steal one on the road. It was ugly, but a win is a win. Neither QB was ever able to really get going, and Rising's presence was severely missed. Hopefully he can return before Utah opens Pac-12 play in 2 weeks.
16 LSU Tigers The Tigers of LSU bounced back back nicely against the Tigers of Grambling with a dominating 72-10 victory. Jayden Daniels threw 5 TD passes and the Tigers added 5 more on the ground. It was exactly what you'd wanna see as an LSU fan against an overmatched FCS foe, but SEC play opens next week with a trip to StarkVegas so we'll find out a lot more about where LSU really is.
17 North Carolina Tar Heels For the second straight year UNC and App State played a thriller as the Tar Heels came out on top 40-34 in 2OT. It wasn't quite the 120+ point offensive explosion we saw last year but both offenses were chugging. Omarion Hampton ran for a career high 234 yards with 3 TDs to lead the charge for North Carolina. Following the game Coach Mack Brown said how great it was for the state of North Carolina for App State to be playing these teams, while also offering for them to play NC State or ECU next. Safe to say the Tar Heels never want to see the Mountaineers ever again. Minnesota comes to Chapel Hill next week before the Heels open ACC play at Heinz Field (Yes I still call it that). Also, FREE TEZ WALKER.
18 Oklahoma Sooners In a classic SEC-ACC showdown the Sooners offense came back to earth. After dropping 642 yards and 73 points on the Red Wolves, the Mustangs held the Sooners to just 365 yards and 28 points. That 28 points proved to be more than enough as the Mustangs never really found rhythm on offense. Dillon Gabriel threw 4 TD passes and Tawee Walker ran for 117 yards to carry the load. Tulsa is up next before opening Big XII play the following week.
19 Duke Blue Devils The Blue Devils dominated FCS Lafayette 42-7. Riley Leonard completed all 12 of his passes in the first half and backup QB Henry Belin IV was 8/8 playing the second half as well as they combined for 254 yards and 2 TDs. The Blue Devils added another 261 yards and 4 TDs on the ground, and the defense posted another solid performance. A nerd-off with Northwestern is up next.
20 Ole Miss Rebels Playing without starting QB Miachel Pratt, the Green Wave got off to a fast start, taking a 17-7 lead late in the second quarter. Ole Miss added a FG to take a 10-17 deficit into the locker room. The second half was all Rebels though as Ole Miss outscored Tulane 27-3 in the final 2 quarters, 20 of which came in the 4th. Jaxon Dart had another solid game throwing for 267 yards with 2 TDs and pick. Quinshon Judkins was held to just 48 yards on 18 carries, just a 2.7 ypc average. He did however have a 9 yard TD, his 3rd of the season. The Rebels take on Georgia Tech before taking a trip to Tuscaloosa to face the Tide.
21 Colorado Buffaloes This Colorado team is really tough to rank for me. On one hand, they have 2 big non-conference wins, but on the other hand how good are the teams that they actually beat? Nebraska handed the Buffs fumbles like he was Oprah. Most of those fumbles were self inflicted, not forced by Colorado's defense. An equally bad interception thrown directly to a Buff's defender by Jeff Sims didn't help either. Despite a 13-0 lead at the half, the game felt much closer than the score indicated as the Huskers gifted Colorado an easy 10 points. The Colorado offense made the presence known in the second half though and the Buffs rolled behind Shedeur Sander's 393 yards. Xavier Weaver appears to have solidified himself as Sanders' top target, hauling in 10 passes for 170 yards and a TD. There are still questions on how good Colorado really is though. They're clearly worlds better than they were a season ago, but are the actually legit, or are they just looking good because they're playing bad teams? College GameDay comes to Boulder next week for a matchup with Colorado State, but we're really gonna find out if the Buffs are for real when they travel to Eugene the following week.
22 Clemson Tigers The Tigers got off to another sluggish start against FCS Charleston Southern. A Cade Klubnik pick 6 put the Buccaneers up 14-7 over the defending ACC champions. The Tigers took a way too close for comfort 21-17 lead into the break. Dabo fed them something at the half though as the floodgates opened in the 3rd to the tune of 28-0. The Tigers added 2 more TD's in the 4th to finish with a 66-17 victory. Klubkik rebounded nicely, throwing for 315 yards and 4 TDs. Phil Mafah punched it in twice on the ground as well. The Tigers take on former Texas Coach Tom Herman and FAU next week before a massive showdown with the Seminoles in Death Valley.
23 Miami Hurricanes Tyler Van Dyke looked like the TVD we saw in 2021 during his ACC Rookie of the Year season. Some serious special teams blunders by the Canes gifted the Aggies 14 points in the form of having a punt blocked and a muffing an A&M punt to put the Aggies up 17-7. The Hurricanes took over from there though, outscoring the Aggies 41-16 the rest of the way. Van Dymes threw for 374 yards and 5 TDs, 3 of which went to Jacolby George. The Canes defense forced 3 turnovers, while their offense didn't turn it over once. It wasn't all bad for the Miami special teams either, as they returned a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown. Last year's contest with the Aggies felt like Miami was the better team, but couldn't get out of their own way. This year the Canes took it to the Aggies and look to be on the climb back. Now how much of this is "Miami is good" and how much is "A&M is bad" remains to be seen, but it's a promising game if you're a Miami fan. FCS Bethune-Cookman is up next next.
24 Washington State Cougars 100% of the 2-PAC conference appears in my rankings. In the final year of the Pac-12, the conference looks absolutely LOADED. The Cougars gave the Badgers all they could handle. The defense record 3 sacks which resulted in 2 fumbles, one of which was returned for 6. The Cougars slowed down a potent rushing attack, limiting the Badgers to just 90 yards at 3.1 ypc. The two-headed monster of Chez Mellusi and Braelon Allen tallied just 69 yards combined, after each rushing for more than 140 yards in the opener. Cam Ward had a solid game, throwing for 212 yards and 2 TDs while adding 43 on the ground. It's clear the Cougars aren't going down without a fight. FCS Northern Colorado is up next, before the Beavers come to Pullman in a pivotal 2-PAC showdown.
25 Louisville Cardinals The rest of my ballot I felt very comfortable with, but picking my #25 team was the hardest. There were about 6 or 7 different teams I debated between, but ultimately I chose the Cardinals. I actually had the Cardinals at #25 in my preseason ballot initially, but ultimately swapped in UTSA. They're a team I may be higher on than most, but I think they have the potential to shock some people in the ACC. Louisville boatraced the Racers 56-0 while piling up almost 700 yards of offense. The Cardinals rotated in 47 different QBs, give or take, and no matter who was in the game the result was the same. Jack Plummer certainly has some work to do to clean up the turnovers, but this team is gritty and they look like they can be dangerous when they play their best. Indiana is up next before resuming ACC play.

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