In week three of the season, college football witnessed some major upsets, which caused a shakeup in the polls. In the College Gameday Game of the week, the #2 Alabama Crimson Tide hosted the #15 Ole Miss Rebels. Last year, the Rebels shocked the ‘Tide in what was a memorable day in Oxford. Ole Miss had never beaten Alabama in consecutive years. That changed Saturday. It was a crazy game that saw multiple momentum swings, but in the end, the Rebels escaped with a 43-37 victory, leaving the Bryant Denny Stadium crowd stunned in Tuscaloosa.
Down in Los Angeles, the #6 USC Trojans hosted the Stanford Cardinal in a crucial early season PAC 12 match-up. The Cardinal came in to Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and stomped all over the Trojans with a shocking 41-31 victory.
A few other top ten teams faced near disaster. At one point in the 4th quarter, #3 TCU only led SMU by five points at home. The Horned Frogs did hang on for a 56-37 victory. In Pasadena, the #10 UCLA Bruins faced the #19 BYU Cougars. The Cougars, who were coming off back to back upset wins at Nebraska and at home vs Boise State, almost pulled off another upset at the Rose Bowl. A late score gave the Bruins a thrilling 24-23 victory. The defending champions and #1 Ohio State Buckeyes nearly fell victim to a monumental upset at home in Columbus. Out of the Mid-Atlantic Conference (MAC), Northern Illinois stayed right with Ohio State all game, but couldn’t take the lead late and fell 20-13.
A low scoring slugfest took place in Columbia, Missouri, as the #22 Missouri Tigers dodged what would’ve been a very disappointing loss against the unranked Connecticut Huskies with a 9-6 win. The #23 Northwestern Wildcats continued their impressive start, going on the road at Duke to defeat the Blue Devils 19-10. Without their starting quarterback, #8 Notre Dame came out and impressed at home against a surging #14 Georgia Tech team. The Fighting Irish were thought to have lost hope with out their QB, but this 30-22 victory certainly opened some eyes.
Some games to look out for next week include #8 LSU traveling up to Syracuse to face a 3-0 Orange squad, a Texas team that looks to have found their new quarterback and spark hosting #24 Oklahoma State in the first BIG 12 game of the year for both, and #16 Arizona hosting #9 UCLA in what should be a great duel in the desert.