Longhorns Join Other Top Teams That Struggled vs. Unranked Foes in Week 3

AUSTIN, Texas -- After taking down Alabama at home last week, the Texas Longhorns hardly looked invincible in Saturday's meeting with the Wyoming Cowboys in Austin.

But a win's a win, and that's exactly what the No. 4 Longhorns got after beating Wyoming, 31-10, to move to 3-0. With a final score that wasn't indicative of how close the game was throughout the night, the Longhorns joined a group of highly-ranked teams on Saturday that either struggled against unranked teams or lost altogether.

Week 3 in college football didn't feature any ranked matchups, meaning some of the nation's top teams were facing unranked or non-Power 5 opponents. However, this hardly meant that all of them would be securing easy wins. This included the Longhorns, who were tied 10-10 with Wyoming entering the fourth quarter before blowing the doors open with three touchdowns in about a six-minute span to close it out.

The No. 3 Florida State Seminoles, even with quarterback Jordan Travis not completely healthy, nearly blew a 31-10 lead in the second half during their win over Boston College. The Golden Eagles scored 19 unanswered at one point, but were done in by penalties late and lost 31-29 to the Seminoles.

Coming off its loss to Texas, No. 10 Alabama was locked in a one-possession game late in the fourth quarter on the road with unranked South Florida. The Crimson Tide found the end zone with less than a minute left to pull away with a 17-3 win.

Staying in the SEC, No. 1 Georgia hosted unranked South Carolina at Sanford Stadium in Athens. The defending champion Bulldogs found themselves down 14-3 headed into halftime, and looked to be headed toward a loss at home.

Unsurprisingly, Georgia straightened things out and won 24-14.

However, another SEC matchup did deliver an upset, as No. 11 Tennessee fell to unranked Florida 29-16 in Gainesville.

Many other teams in the top 10 handled business No. 2 Michigan, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 7 Penn State, No. 8 Washington and No. 9 Notre Dame all secured blowout wins.

The Longhorns likely had the home fans feeling nervous until the final quarter against Wyoming, but the Texas faithful should take comfort in the fact that other elite teams around the country also struggled on Saturday.

The Longhorns of old might have let the game get away from them late en route to suffering a massive upset at home. But though this team still has much to prove, it's clear Steve Sarkisian's team can come up with a response when things aren't going their way.

Texas will open up Big 12 play next Saturday in Waco against the Baylor Bears.