College Football Rankings: AP Top 25 Teams Moving Up, Down in Week 3

There will be a new No. 1 team in the college football rankings this week.

Just two Saturdays into the season, and already the AP top 25 pollsters have been forced into several major sweeping changes in the first pair of rankings, with more teams taking consequential losses that will force more changes in the vote. None more than the top-ranked team in the country.

Moving Up: Texas

College Football Rankings: AP Top 25 Teams Moving Up, Down in Week 3 — IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Last week’s ranking: No. 4

You could be forgiven for turning away from the Longhorns-Buckeyes matchup early on, when Ohio State took a 23-3 lead. But someone forgot to tell Arch Manning that he lost.

Texas stormed back from a 20-point deficit by scoring 21 unanswered in the fourth quarter to stun the top-ranked Buckeyes, with Manning leading drives of 91, 72, and 73 yards, including a last-second possession that saw Hollywood Smothers dive over from a yard out to complete an historic rebound.

In doing so, the Longhorns completed the largest comeback against a No. 1 team in 30 years and completely changed the narrative around their quarterback. Teams were 0-223 when trailing by 17 or more points to a top-ranked opponent in the last 23 seasons. Now, they’re 1-223.

Texas will be the No. 1 team in college football after a thriller they’ll never forget.

Moving Down: Ohio State

Last week’s ranking: No. 1

What do you even say? The Buckeyes looked to be in complete control in Austin, taking advantage of some Texas mistakes early on, but this vaunted offense was responsible for just three second-half points while allowing 21 in the final frame alone. A recipe for defeat.

Stalled offensive drives, one missed field goal when they could have taken a two-possession lead, and a defense that felt like it was on the field the entire second half finally gave way to a Texas attack that found an insane groove as a result and suddenly couldn’t be stopped.

Say what you will about Ryan Day, he loses to the best: nine of his 13 losses as head coach were to teams in the top-five; three others were in the top-ten.

Moving Down: Oregon

Last week’s ranking: No. 6

AP voters dropped the Ducks after winning a game last week, so they’ll definitely be in a mood to hand out an even more severe punishment after losing a week later, especially to an Oklahoma State team that hadn’t won an FBS game in almost two calendar years.

But credit to the Cowboys, who behind quarterback Drew Mestemaker and lead rusher Caleb Hawkins’ 110-yard day, stacked up over 500 total yards on an Oregon defense that was billed as potentially college football’s best, but right now the Ducks, this year’s Big Ten title favorite, look like a shadow of themselves on both sides of the ball.

Moving Up: Michigan

Last week’s ranking: Unranked

AP top 25 voters will be rethinking their, now perhaps in retrospect, overreaction to the Wolverines’ close and controversial win in the season opener, when they dropped UM out of the rankings entirely from the No. 16 position, and now will have to find a way to put them back in.

Bryce Underwood had a bounce-back showing after hearing about his job this week, accounting for nearly 200 yards with no turnovers and running for a 38 yard touchdown.

And despite Michigan’s vertical offense ultimately slowing in the face of OU’s expectedly dominant defensive front and their ground game finding increasingly little room to maneuver, the Wolverines’ tacklers did their part to preserve an early signature victory.

Moving Down: Oklahoma

Last week’s ranking: No. 11

The knock on the Sooners last season was their inconsistent blocking output and their basic inability to mount anything resembling a credible rushing threat, both questions that we’re still asking after a surprising 17-10 loss at Michigan.

Oklahoma was favored to beat the Wolverines, who looked more than beatable after last week, but still apparently have no serious ground offense to speak of, little push off the line, and quarterback John Mateer was unable to build much of any momentum in the face of Michigan’s pass rush, culminating in a costly late giveaway.

As a result, OU’s path to the College Football Playoff has already taken a serious hit, losing against a quality opponent on the road, still with a ton to repair offensively, and facing an uphill battle in convincing selectors of their worth, looking ahead to five SEC games against currently ranked opponents. How do they score against Georgia?

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