College football Week 3 winners, losers: Florida State leads way

Florida State is already one of the biggest disappointments in recent Bowl Subdivision history.

Actually, disappointment is too soft a word. The Seminoles should be considered a flat-out disaster after losing 20-12 at home to No. 25 Memphis, dropping the Seminoles to 0-3 after entering the year No. 10 in US LBM Coaches Poll. Amid intense expectations on the heels of last year’s ACC championship and unbeaten regular season, Florida State is the second team in the past 35 years to open the year in the top 10 during the poll era and lose its first three games, joining 2020 Penn State.

The Tigers are the top team in the Group of Five and the choice at this point to land in the 12-team College Football Playoff. The Seminoles could be there, too — they’ll just have to buy tickets like the rest of the country.

As in last week’s loss to Boston College, the numbers on offense were ugly for reeling Florida State.

The Seminoles converted just two of 12 third-down attempts. They gained 37 yards on 24 carries when counting sacks, an average of 1.5 yards per tote. The offense turned the ball over three times and failed to score a touchdown until midway through the third quarter.

The easiest explanation for Florida State’s intense swoon since last season can be tied to the transfer portal. Mike Norvell and his staff had done better than most with transfers, bringing in talents such as eventual All-America defensive end Jared Verse, but this year’s haul has completely failed to fill spots on the two-deep and maintain the program’s trajectory.

Quarterback DJ Uiagalelei encapsulates the Seminoles’ transfer woes. The senior has been a misfire from the start, quickly reverting back to his Clemson-era play after a very solid one year as the starter at Oregon State. Uiagalelei hit on 16 of 30 attempts for 201 yards and an interception against Memphis, leaving him with more picks (2), than touchdowns (1) through three games.

Meanwhile, Memphis senior Seth Henigan completed 65.7% of his throws for 272 yards and two touchdowns. When it comes to college football in 2024, you only go as far as your quarterback can take you; while Henigan has the Tigers aimed for the playoff, Uiagalelei and FSU are going to belly flop onto the list of college football’s all-time biggest duds.

Florida State, Memphis and Alabama lead the way for the biggest winners and losers of Week 3:

Winners

Memphis

Northern Illinois has made some noise. UNLV is 3-0 after Friday night’s win at Kansas. Coastal Carolina’s unbeaten, though against a flimsy schedule. All those other contenders can take a backseat: Memphis is the unquestioned favorite for the Group of Five’s playoff spot. The preseason hype has played out to the letter for the Tigers, who broke out last season with 10 wins and a bowl victory against Iowa State. While it won’t be easy to go unbeaten through the American, Memphis has the breathing room to lose once or even twice during the regular season and still make the 12-team field as long as it captures the AAC crown.

Alabama

No. 4 Alabama had 407 yards of offense against Wisconsin but made almost every inch count, averaging 7.3 yards per play across 56 snaps and burying the overmatched Badgers 42-10. This included another run of splash moments from quarterback Jalen Milroe, who went 12 of 17 for 196 yards and three scores with a team-best 75 rushing yards and another two touchdowns on the ground. Two additional trends have developed through the first three games of the Kalen DeBoer era. One is the eye-popping play of true freshman Ryan Williams, a 17-year-old receiver who had 78 receiving yards and a touchdown. Williams already has 10 receptions for 285 yards (28.5 yards per grab) and four scores. The second is the performance of the Crimson Tide defense, which clamped down on Wisconsin and is giving up just 3.4 yards per play.

Missouri

Whether beating Boston College 27-21 ends up moving the needle with the playoff selection committee won’t be known until that group convenes in early November. (It definitely won’t hurt, you can say now.) But there are some good optics around a non-conference win against an opponent that had made some early noise and inched onto the doorstep of the Top 25. Make no mistake: Missouri could use the help. The Tigers play two ranked teams — Alabama on the road and No. 13 Oklahoma at home — but miss the SEC’s best of the best, so topping the Eagles could end up being a big boost to the team’s at-large playoff hopes. The win featured another dynamic game from star wideout Luther Burden III, who had 117 yards and a touchdown while continuing to make even defenders look foolish in the open field.

Notre Dame

Let’s not make too much out of trouncing hapless Purdue, even with this many style points: Notre Dame led 42-0 and had a jaw-dropping 278 rushing yards at halftime before cruising to a 66-7 win. But this bounce-back performance is the first step toward overwriting last week’s upset at home to Northern Illinois and making the most of a schedule that could still leave the Fighting Irish in the thick of the playoff chase in November and December. The Irish finished with 362 rushing yards on 8.2 yards per carry and six touchdowns, the team’s most in a single game since six against South Florida on Sept. 19, 2020.

Oregon

After two weeks of less-than-impressive wins against Idaho and Boise State to get things started, No. 6 Oregon looked the part in a 49-14 romp against rival Oregon State in the (now non-conference) Civil War. The Ducks did it behind a balanced attack, with 306 yards through the air and 240 on the ground, and despite racking up all that yardage across 59 plays faced only six third downs — and converted four of them for good measure. Rolling over the Beavers in Corvallis is a really positive sign based on how Oregon had looked out of the gate and what’s ahead in Big Ten play, beginning with familiar face UCLA on Sept. 28.

Arch Manning

With Quinn Ewers sidelined early in the second quarter with what Texas coach Steve Sarkisian called a “strained abdomen,” Manning got his first taste of extended action since joining the Longhorns last season and showed why he is the program’s next in line under center. You’d heard that Manning was more athletic than his uncles, Peyton and Eli, and there you go: On his first full series in the lineup, the redshirt freshman wiggled and weaved 67 yards through the Texas-San Antonio defense for a touchdown, marking the longest run by a Texas quarterback since Vince Young in 2005. You’d also heard he could sling it, and that he did: Manning finished 9 of 12 for 223 yards and four touchdowns as Texas beat the Roadrunners 56-7. There is not and will not be a quarterback controversy in Austin, but it’s a comfort for Sarkisian to know that Manning can keep the offense rolling and is developing into a future starter.

Indiana

Are the Hoosiers, uh, sorta good? That’s the feel through the first three games of the Curt Cignetti era, which has kicked off with some major offensive fireworks. Beating Florida International 31-7 and Western Illinois 77-3 was the setup for Indiana’s Big Ten opener against new conference pushover UCLA, a 42-13 rout that says a bit about the Bruins (my goodness, they are terrible) while highlighting the Hoosiers’ chances of getting to a bowl game in Cignetti’s debut. Cignetti clearly knows offense, and with a few solid starters at his disposal could steer this team to six wins and the postseason. Shoot, the Hoosiers’ next three games are against Charlotte, Maryland and Northwestern, so they could lock down a bowl game by early October.

Losers

Florida

This is getting uglier and uglier, leaving almost no doubt whatsoever that Florida is about to embark on yet another coaching search after yet another failed hire in four seasons or less. If you’re keeping track, every UF coach since Urban Meyer resigned (again) in 2010 has been canned within that time frame: Will Muschamp (2011-14), Jim McElwain (2015-17), Dan Mullen (2018-21) and now Billy Napier. Saturday’s 33-20 loss at home to Texas A&M was never even competitive despite being as close to a must-win game as you’ll find on the schedule. Getting to a bowl game without beating the Aggies? The 1-2 Gators have essentially no chance at getting to six wins given the nastiness of this year’s schedule and the team’s obvious lack of talent, drive, consistency. And hope. Hope is also in very short supply.

Michigan

The No. 16 Wolverines did beat Arkansas State 28-18 to kick off a new winning streak after last week’s lopsided loss to No. 3 Texas, but the issues on offense have come to a head after another subpar performance from quarterback Davis Warren. The former walk-on had three interceptions without a touchdown and was replaced by backup Alex Orji, signaling the high possibility of a quarterback change in the near future. Will that make a difference? The offense is clearly a mess for new coach Sherrone Moore, making it harder and harder — if not outright impossible — to picture how the defending champs cobble together a playoff push.

Washington

Down 24-19 with just over a minute left and facing 4th-and-goal at the Cougars’ 1-yard line, Washington went with the option … and got stuffed for a loss of two. Cue the jubilation for Washington State, which got left behind with the disintegration of the Pac-12 but got a small sliver of revenge by beating Washington on the road. This smells like just the first loss of several for the new-look Huskies, clearly in a degree of rebuilding mode after reaching last year’s national title game but entering this season with a new coach, new quarterback, new receivers, new linemen and just two returning starters.

West Virginia

A wild-and-wacky Backyard Brawl lived up to expectations with six lead changes, a heavy dash of bitterness and a go-ahead touchdown with 32 seconds left that sends West Virginia staggering into Big 12 play at a discouraging 1-2. Up 34-24 with just under five minutes left, the Mountaineers allowed Pittsburgh to score on a five-play drive, went three and out and then punted back to the Panthers, who went 77 yards in six plays for the win. West Virginia coach Neal Brown received a very modest one-year contract extension this offseason but is quickly moving back onto the hot seat amid the team’s slow start. On the other hand, Pittsburgh coach Pat Narduzzi’s status is trending in the right direction after going 3-9 a year ago. He’s found a real player in redshirt freshman quarterback Eli Holstein, an offseason addition from Alabama.

Mississippi State

And Mississippi State fans thought losing to Arizona State was bad. One week after dropping a 30-23 decision in Tempe, the Bulldogs played host to MAC power Toledo and promptly went down 28-3 at halftime on the way to a 41-17 loss. Sorry, that’s not just a loss — that’s a complete and utter embarrassment. New coach and supposed offensive mastermind Jeff Lebby orchestrated a game plan that netted 385 yards of offense, the majority with the game no longer in doubt, and 2.4 yards per carry. If you’re looking for the worst team in the SEC, look at Vanderbilt. (The Commodores lost on Saturday to Georgia State.) But if you’re looking for a team that could give Vandy a run for its money at the bottom of the conference standings, the Bulldogs aren’t far behind.