Week 3 may not bring “Separation Saturday” yet, but it does serve up a pair of ranked showdowns that could start shaping the playoff chatter early.
The headliner is in Oxford, where No. 7 LSU is a 3.5-point favorite at No.
8 Ole Miss. It’s the only top-10 matchup on the Week 3 board, and it comes with plenty of heat: Lane Kiffin is back at Ole Miss, this time leading the Tigers into a stadium that won’t be welcoming him with open arms.
Both teams arrive unbeaten after opening with statement nonconference wins, and the matchup has carried plenty of buzz since the offseason.
LSU has taken care of business with wins over Clemson and Louisiana Tech, while Ole Miss is still sorting out some early issues in the secondary under Pete Golding. The game also features a pile of elite transfers on both sides, which only adds to the intrigue in a matchup that could push the winner closer to the SEC’s top tier.
The other ranked clash comes in the ACC, where No. 23 Louisville is a 2.5-point favorite over No.
16 SMU. That one carries real league weight, with the winner joining Miami atop the ACC standings.
It also comes with a path toward College Football Playoff relevance this early in the season. Kevin Jennings and Lincoln Kienholz have both given their offenses a spark, and the setup points to a shootout between two teams that haven’t faced much resistance yet.
For Louisville, it’s the only nationally ranked opponent left on the schedule.
Elsewhere in the top 25, Texas A&M is laying 16.5 points at home against Kentucky. The No.
9 Aggies are coming off a 24-point fourth quarter in last week’s win over Arizona State, and they’ll open SEC play with a matchup that only turns up the pressure on ball security. Texas A&M scored two defensive touchdowns last time out, while Kentucky committed three straight turnovers in a 45-17 loss to Alabama.
No. 10 Alabama is a 20.5-point favorite against Florida State, giving the Crimson Tide a shot at payback after last season’s loss to the Seminoles.
Florida State has stayed afloat under Mike Norvell and nearly knocked off nationally ranked SMU on Labor Day, helped by Ousmane Kromah’s second straight 100-yard rushing performance. Alabama’s offense has also looked sharp with new starting quarterback Keelon Russell, who overcame multiple first-half turnovers before the Tide pulled away from Kentucky in Week 2.
West Virginia and Virginia meet in another unbeaten-versus-unbeaten matchup, with the Cavaliers favored by 9.5 points. It’s the first meeting between the programs since 2002, and the Mountaineers will lean on a ground-heavy approach led by transfers Michael Hawkins Jr. and Cam Cook in hopes of controlling the clock. Virginia, meanwhile, has gone 13-3 over its last 16 games after Tony Elliott’s 11-23 start across his first three seasons.
The rest of the board is loaded with hefty numbers, including No. 1 Texas (-30.5) against UTSA, No.
2 Georgia (-24.5) at Arkansas, and No. 3 Notre Dame (-29.5) against Michigan State.
No. 4 Indiana is a massive 44.5-point favorite over WKU, while No.
5 Miami is laying 22.5 points at Wake Forest on Friday.
The biggest spreads of the week include No. 6 Ohio State (-52.5) against Kent State and No.
21 Oregon (-58.5) against Portland State. Other ranked favorites include No.
11 BYU (-17.5) at Colorado State, No. 12 USC (-24.5) at Rutgers, No.
14 Penn State (-39.5) against Buffalo, No. 15 Tennessee (-35.5) against Kennesaw State, No.
17 Utah (-28.5) against Utah State, No. 18 Iowa (-41.5) against Northern Iowa, No.
19 Michigan (-35.5) against UTEP, No. 20 Missouri (-27.5) against Troy, and No.
24 Oklahoma (-22.5) against New Mexico.
In Other News...
LSU Just Got A Bigger Spotlight After Trey'Dez Green's Breakout
Trey'Dez Greens breakout against Louisiana Tech gave LSU another weapon to talk about, and it arrived at a moment when the Tigers are already drawing plenty of national attention. Green finished with six catches for 104 yards and a touchdown, the kind of line that tends to travel fast when a team is trying to build an early-season identity around its passing game and its most dangerous matchups.
The timing matters, too, because LSU is sitting seventh in the 2026 US LBM Coaches Top 25 poll, behind Texas, Georgia and Notre Dame at the top of the rankings. Poll placement alone does not define a season, but performances like Greens can shape how voters and everyone else view the Tigers going forward, especially with the season still early and the spotlight only getting brighter. [Read more 🡒]
LSU Heads Into A Lane Kiffin Showdown With Extra Emotion
The buildup around LSUs Week 3 trip to Oxford has already taken on an extra layer because of who is standing across the sideline. Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss acknowledged the matchup feels weird with Lane Kiffin now coaching LSU, but he also made clear the Rebels are trying to keep the focus where it belongs. The game will be nationally televised, which only adds to the noise around a meeting that already has plenty of history attached to it.
For LSU, the storyline is unavoidable even before kickoff arrives. Kiffins return to face the program he once led gives the matchup a personal edge, while Ole Miss is treating it like another chance to settle in and play football instead of getting caught up in the drama. That balance between emotion and business will shape the conversation all week, and it should make Saturday in Oxford feel like more than just another early-season SEC game. [Read more 🡒]
LSU Stayed Unbeaten But Ole Miss Questions Are Already Back
LSU kept its unbeaten start intact with a 45-14 win over Louisiana Tech, and the defense did the heavy lifting for much of the afternoon. The Tigers controlled field position, smothered the Bulldogs offense and generally made life miserable for Louisiana Tech whenever it tried to build anything resembling a rhythm.
Still, the game did not exactly quiet the bigger concern hovering over LSU: offensive consistency. Even with the final margin looking comfortable, the Tigers had stretches where they failed to separate cleanly, and that leaves the discussion pointed straight at next weeks trip to Ole Miss, where loose execution and wasted chances tend to get exposed in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]