Week 3 was supposed to be a breather before conference play. Instead it produced a walk-off fumble recovery in Nashville, a 21-point collapse at Kyle Field and a homecoming that went badly wrong in Oxford. Here are the winners and losers from Saturday, September 19.
Winners
Kentucky
The Wildcats went into Kyle Field, built a 28-7 third quarter lead on No. 9 Texas A&M and held on for a 31-21 win. It is Kentucky’s first win over the Aggies since 1952. Will Stein’s team was not supposed to be in this game, let alone control it for three quarters.
Vanderbilt
NC State led 31-28 with six seconds left and the ball. The Wolfpack fumbled trying to run out the clock and Vanderbilt fell on it in the end zone for a 35-31 win. It is the kind of ending that gets replayed for a decade, and it moved Vanderbilt to 3-0.
Ole Miss
Lane Kiffin came back to Vaught-Hemingway as LSU’s head coach and left with a 32-24 loss. No. 8 Ole Miss led 24-7 late in the first half and never surrendered the lead. For a fan base that spent the offseason processing his exit, the result mattered more than the standings.
Alabama and Keelon Russell
Alabama put up 50 on Florida State in a 50-36 win at Bryant-Denny, and Russell’s 57-yard touchdown run was the signature play. The Crimson Tide scored at will against an ACC team that arrived with real expectations.
Texas
No drama for the No. 1 team. Texas handled UTSA 30-6 in Austin and stayed unbeaten a week after surviving Ohio State 24-23. The Longhorns get Tennessee in Knoxville next Saturday.
Jeremiah Smith
Ohio State’s receiver became the program’s all-time leader in receiving yards during the win over Kent State, and he did it in 32 career games. He is also closing on the school records for receptions and receiving touchdowns.
Losers
Texas A&M
A 31-21 home loss to an unranked Kentucky team undoes most of what the Aggies built in the first two weeks. Marcel Reed’s fourth quarter interception on a fourth and short throw into the flat was the turning point, and it fits a pattern against power conference defenses.
NC State and Dave Doeren
Fourteen seasons in, Doeren has never pushed the Wolfpack into the top tier of the ACC. Losing a game his team had won with six seconds to play, on a fumble while kneeling out the clock, is the kind of result that follows a coach around.
LSU
The Tigers sat at No. 7 and lost 32-24 in a game their coach had circled since the day he was hired. LSU has now dropped a marquee SEC road game in September for the second straight year, and the schedule does not ease up.
Arkansas
Georgia rolled into Fayetteville and won 45-17. The Razorbacks have now lost to Utah by 33 and Georgia by 28 in back to back weeks, and the pressure around the program is building.
North Carolina
Bill Belichick had Clemson within reach and could not finish, falling 28-20 in Death Valley. The Tar Heels remain without the signature win that would quiet the noise around the program.
Florida State
Thirty six points on the road at Alabama and still a 14-point loss. The Seminoles can score, but a defense that gives up 50 in Tuscaloosa is not a playoff defense.
Related
AP Top 25 · College football scores · Heisman odds · Kentucky vs. Texas A&M score · LSU vs. Ole Miss score