College Football Rankings After Week 3: LSU Sinks, Rebels Rise in Coaches Top 25 Poll

A marquee clash in the SEC had the expected effect on the Coaches Poll top 25 college football rankings heading into Week 4, but voters made some other big moves, too.

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Just three weeks into the season and already voters in the Coaches Poll have been forced into several consequential decisions when putting together the weekly college football rankings, and that was true once again coming out of Week 3 after Lane Kiffin’s return to Ole Miss didn’t go the way he and LSU intended.

But that’s not the only change the coaches had to make in the top-ten of their latest poll after another consequential upset in the SEC once again overturned the seeming consensus among the highest-ranked teams as we close out September action.

Coaches Poll Top 25 Rankings

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First-place votes in parentheses

1. Texas (46)
2. Georgia (16)
3. Notre Dame (2)
4. Indiana (9)
5. Miami (1)
6. Ole Miss
7. Ohio State
8. Alabama
9. BYU
10. Texas Tech
11. LSU
12. USC
13. Tennessee
14. Penn State
15. Utah
16. Oregon
17. Iowa
18. Michigan
19. Louisville
20. Texas A&M
21. Missouri
22. Florida
23. Washington
24. Oklahoma
25. SMU

Teams That Went From Ranked to Unranked

No. 23 Houston. Despite a very strong beginning and coming just inches away from tying it late, the Cougars were unable to get past Texas Tech on the road, and the coaches dropped them out in favor of undefeated Florida after its win at Auburn.

No. 25 Virginia. A solid start that included a win against NC State had pollsters confident in the Cavaliers, but those feelings of goodwill evaporated after losing a 38-27 decision at home against unranked West Virginia, dropping the Hoos from the top 25 altogether.

Who Went from Unranked to Ranked?

Florida. The coaches were blunt with the Gators a week ago, dropping them out of the rankings after being tied with Virginia the week before, but a strong offensive showing in a road test at Auburn regained that confidence enough to give the SEC another ranked team.

Louisville. A strong showing from the Cardinal ground attack, finally, was enough to take out ranked SMU at home in an important early litmus test for ACC championship contenders who want a shot at Miami later on, and UL slides into the poll after placing 27th last week.

Coaches Poll Biggest Movers

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Ole Miss (Up 3). Trinidad Chambliss reiterated his claim as being the best quarterback in the SEC with a gutsy outing to put away LSU in the game of the week, and catapulting the Rebels back firmly into consideration as a College Football Playoff threat from this conference.

LSU (Down 4). Give credit to the Tigers. They stormed back in the second half after surrendering a bad 24-7 halftime advantage to the Rebs, but put up 17 unanswered points of their own. That is, until Sam Leavitt had his fourth down pass tipped and intercepted in the end zone. Lane is 2-1.

Texas A&M (Down 12). Despite being 17 point favorites at home against unranked Kentucky, the Aggies failed to dominate in the trenches and could not stop an inspired UK attack in a surprising 10-point loss at home that will be used as a demerit come playoff selection time.

Louisville (Up 8). An important early test was passed by the Cardinals in taking down SMU at home, as Jeff Brohm as designs on competing for the ACC championship.

SMU (Down 9). A 10-point loss that revealed some offensive consistency issues at Louisville was enough for the ACC hopefuls to get demoted, but not enough to fall out of the rankings this week.

Teams That Received Votes, But Stayed Outside the Rankings

Houston 116; Mississippi State 114; Duke 70; West Virginia 55; Kentucky 54; Oklahoma State 36; Pittsburgh 35; Virginia Tech 30; Vanderbilt 29; Boise State 29; Tulsa 20; UCLA 18; Kansas State 18; Western Michigan 17; Nebraska 11; North Dakota State 8; Northwestern 4; Clemson 3; Massachusetts 2; James Madison 2; Arizona 1.