Unlike the Coaches poll, another team from the SEC finds its way into the Top 10.
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Although he was disappointed he could not be at the Louisville blowout win over Florida State this past Saturday, senior safety commit TreSean Smith was understandably proud of the Cardinal effort.
Florida State defensive back Malique Jackson (28) makes a diving grab for Louisville’s Jaire Alexander (10) during the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sep. RB Mark Walton ran for 130 and two touchdowns.
The Cardinals (3-0, 2-0 ACC) lost back-to-back halftime leads to the Seminoles in the past, but they left no doubt in topping 60 points for the third straight game.
UVa (0-3, 0-0) fell to CT, 13-10.
Lamar Jackson leads the nation with 10 rushing touchdowns. This is not a good look for the conference or Bronco Mendenhall. Opponents are 12-for-49 on the year on third down, only 24.9-percent.
Next: Navy faces Air Force (2-0) on October 1. The offensive struggles for the Eagles are not surprising, but the defensive collapse is. Against Syracuse, Jackson threw a 72 yard pass on the first play from scrimmage.
Meanwhile, North Carolina and Virginia Tech are thanking their lucky stars for being in the Coastal Division. Quarterback Wilton Speight was efficient with 229 yards passing and a touchdown. The second is Ohio State, which answered any questions about its youth and inexperience with a dominant victory at Oklahoma. QB Mason Rudolph set a school record with 540 passing yards on 26/46. Will Worth ran for 111 yards and had the game-winning touchdown. FSU can still earn a spot in the ACC championship game, but now it needs Louisville to lose twice.
Out of the playoff picture: Florida State. Jim Harbaugh and Michigan have continued to steal the limelight, but Michigan State now has a nonconference win that will resonate with the selection committee through November. Had he stayed in the game, who knows what could have happened.
In the Top 25, there was much drama.
Alabama received 50 first-place votes while remaining in the top spot after beating Mississippi.
“I thought their defensive ends were doing a good job on one phase of our option runs where they were holding the point and then coming back out on him and mixing it up, so we made a decision to change a little bit and do a guy running across”. A potential late Cal touchdown (which would have padded the lead to 14) was dropped at the one, but it was ruled that there was no immediate recovery. Probably not. Will Louisville make it to the College Football Playoff? Somebody should work on that. Michigan State was tested by Furman but the Spartans win over Notre Dame is better than any the Aggies have. They take an eight-position hit and fall to No. 24. North Dakota State, the five-time defending FCS champion, received plenty of votes after stunning then-No. Iowa tumbled out of the Top 25 the next day. The Ducks went for 2 five times, and were successful only once, in Saturday’s 35-32 loss at Nebraska.
Yet in the Amway Coaches poll, Wisconsin moved up to #10 and in the AP poll they fell to the #11 spot after reaching the ninth spot in last week’s rankings. There were 10 penalties for 91 yards and the final play of the game had a Keystone Cops/Benny Hill theme to it as the Cavs rushed a field goal attempt that Alex Furbank missed from 20 yards out. He has accounted for 18 TDs in three games – more than 114 FBS programs have scored, total.
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Army wins the Week Three High Point award, with 66. Elon defeated Fayetteville State, 26-3.
