College football spent Week 3 delivering the kind of chaos that keeps the sport wired into every Saturday, even without a giant upset to hang the weekend on. The games still came with plenty of juice, plenty of drama, and one heavyweight matchup that actually lived up to the billing. That sets the stage for the biggest overreactions coming out of the weekend - and, in the case of Oxford, for a little reality check after the celebration.
Trinidad Chambliss did not win the Heisman Trophy
He certainly looked the part in one of the weekend’s most eye-catching performances. Chambliss handled the spotlight against LSU, beating the Tigers with both his arm and his legs while sending former coach Lane Kiffin to a loss. He threw for 363 yards and two touchdowns, then finished off the fourth-quarter game-winning drive with a run for a secore.
That’s the kind of night that sticks with voters. But the calendar still says September, and the season is barely into its first quarter. The Heisman is not handed out this early, no matter how loud the moment feels.
USC is not in the clear yet
The Trojans got the result they wanted in their Big Ten opener at Rutgers, but the trip to Piscataway was anything but tidy. USC left with a win, yet the Scarlet Knights still put up 35 points and 460 total yards. That’s the same Rutgers team that Massachusetts pushed around on that same field just two weeks earlier.
There’s no need to sound the alarm just because of one sloppy road outing. USC may have walked into this game with an eye on what’s coming next, and the schedule certainly doesn’t get softer.
Still, the Lincoln Riley era has already built a reputation for explosive offense and not much resistance on the other side of the ball. Five of the Trojans’ next six opponents are in the US LBM Coaches Poll Top 25, so the real answer on USC won’t take long to show up.
Ole Miss and Louisville may end up boosting each other
Week 1 already gave us a pair of SEC-ACC showdowns, and the more time passes, the more it looks like one of them may have been undervalued. Last week, the argument was that LSU may have received too much credit for blasting Clemson. This time, the case is that Ole Miss might not have gotten enough for surviving Louisville.
That result matters because the Cardinals backed it up in Week 3 by beating SMU, one of the more important wins of the weekend. Louisville’s offense, with Lincoln Kienholz at the controls, looks like it could hang around with early ACC favorite Miami (Fla.) in the race for conference supremacy. If the Cardinals keep stacking wins, that Week 1 loss could age very well for Ole Miss.
The Big 12 picture is starting to narrow fast
If the current polls hold, the league title game might already have its outline. Texas Tech got past Houston thanks to a late stop on a two-point conversion attempt, and the Red Raiders do not have another ranked opponent left on the schedule. They won’t see either Brigham Young or Utah in the regular season.
Those two teams are set to meet in the “Holy War” on Nov. 7, and the winner would then be positioned to face Texas Tech for the championship. That’s obviously a lot to assume this early, and the rest of the conference still has every chance to disrupt the script. Even so, Texas Tech, BYU and Utah have clearly separated themselves for now.
North Dakota State is in the playoff conversation
The path is open in a way it simply wasn’t before. In June, the NCAA Division I cabinet voted to remove the two-year waiting period for teams moving up to the Bowl Subdivision, which makes North Dakota State eligible right away in its first FBS season. That means the Bison can play for the Mountain West title, and yes, they can even reach the College Football Playoff.
They’ve already made a strong start, too, going 4-0 and winning their first conference game at Air Force. That gives the longtime FCS power a chance to reach the playoff field even faster than James Madison.
Of course, there’s still work to do. Even if NDSU runs the table in its new league, it would still need to finish as the highest-ranked conference champion from the Group of Six.
And the road ahead is no joke, with trips to New Mexico, UNLV and Hawaii still waiting. For now, the Bison get a week off and a little time to imagine how far this could go.
In Other News...
Rutgers Unleashed A Hidden Weapon Against USC Fans Didn't See Coming
A special teams wrinkle helped Rutgers flip a tense game against USC, and Jakob Anderson was right in the middle of it. The Rutgers punter uncorked a 40-yard pass on a fake punt that kept a drive alive and set up a key touchdown march, a reminder that even the most routine phase of the game can suddenly turn into a big-play opportunity.
Anderson, who grew up playing Australian rules football, has been refining his passing touch with special teams coordinator Eddie Allen, and the staff has clearly been willing to trust the work. Greg Schiano praised that effort afterward, noting the two-year grind Anderson has put into developing the skill, which made the gamble feel a lot less like a surprise and a lot more like a weapon Rutgers had been waiting to use. [Read more 🡒]
Rutgers Just Reopened The Greg Schiano Debate Again
Rutgers strong showing against USC did more than raise eyebrows. It reopened a familiar conversation around Greg Schiano and whether the Scarlet Knights are trending in a direction that can finally make them relevant in a conference race that has usually felt out of reach. Most around the program expected USC to separate itself, but Rutgers stayed competitive enough to force outside observers to rethink what this team might be capable of doing going forward.
The bigger question now is less about one Saturday and more about what it means for Schianos future and Rutgers next stretch of games. Was this a sign that the Knights are better than theyve looked at times, or did USC simply not play to its standard? However you read it, the performance gave Rutgers something it has not always had in this era: a legitimate reason for fans and analysts to argue about whether the program is finally moving in the right direction. [Read more 🡒]
Rutgers Freshman Is Raising Expectations At The Perfect Time
Rutgers field hockey freshman Lauren Iaccio is making her presence felt at just the right moment, earning Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors after a strong stretch that included a major role in the Scarlet Knights defense and a key goal in a win against Colgate. For a first-year player, starting all eight games this season is already a notable sign of trust, and Iaccio has backed it up with steady, two-way impact.
Her latest recognition also fits into a broader trend for Rutgers, which has now had a second player collect a Big Ten weekly award this season. For a program looking to keep building momentum, Iaccios emergence gives the Scarlet Knights another young piece to lean on, and it raises the question of how much more she can add as the season moves forward. [Read more 🡒]