Week 3 shook up the Heisman conversation, and four quarterbacks have separated themselves from the pack after another weekend full of rivalry heat, big-stage wins and eye-catching performances.
Arch Manning sits at the top for Texas, and the leap he’s made since last season has been hard to miss. When he took over as the Longhorns’ full-time starter in 2025, the early stretch was rocky.
The 22-year-old dealt with accuracy problems, shaky pocket awareness and a lack of conviction in his game. That version of Manning is not the one showing up now.
He is 10-1 over his last 11 games dating back to last season, a run that includes wins over then-No. 14 Vanderbilt, then-No.
7 Texas A&M, then-No. 18 Michigan in the 2025 Citrus Bowl and No.
1 Ohio State. In that span, the Louisiana native has thrown for 2,676 yards, 21 touchdowns and only four interceptions.
He’s only getting sharper.
Right behind him is Trinidad Chambliss, who keeps building his case as one of the most electric players in the country. The Ole Miss quarterback delivered a huge night against former head coach Lane Kiffin and LSU on Saturday, throwing for 363 yards and two touchdowns while completing 68.8 percent of his passes.
Chambliss is ninth in the nation in passing statistics and is the only SEC quarterback to clear 900 total passing yards so far. After Ole Miss knocked off No.
7 LSU, the Rebels are likely headed for the top five in the next AP Poll.
Darian Mensah has made his first season at Miami look almost absurdly clean. The former Duke quarterback was perfect to start, going 24-for-24 in Friday night’s 33-20 win over Wake Forest.
That performance broke the ACC consecutive completion record previously held by former Virginia quarterback Michael Rocco in 2012. For the season, Mensah is 71-of-79 with 11 touchdowns, zero interceptions and an 89.9 percent completion rate.
The 21-year-old has been the most efficient passer in college football, even if Miami hasn’t faced top-tier competition yet. That changes soon, with Clemson on 10/3 and Florida State on 10/17 looming as the next real tests.
Kamario Taylor rounds out the top four, and the Mississippi State freshman is turning heads fast. The 19-year-old helped the Bulldogs improve to 3-0 with a 41-34 road win over South Carolina after Mississippi State fell behind by 16 points.
Taylor threw for 251 yards and four touchdowns while completing 69.2 percent of his passes in the comeback. Through three games, he has 832 passing yards, 11 touchdowns and one interception.
He’s also been a major factor on the ground, piling up 178 rushing yards at 6.6 yards per carry. At 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds, Taylor is already drawing comparisons to Cam Newton, Lamar Jackson and Robert Griffin III.
Mississippi State’s next chance to keep the momentum rolling comes against Missouri next weekend.
In Other News...
Mike Williams Texas Honor Carries A Much More Personal Pride
Mike Williams induction into the Texas Athletics Hall of Honor gave the former Longhorns offensive tackle a chance to look back on the path that took him from a young player trying to find his footing in Austin to becoming the No. 4 pick in the 2002 NFL Draft. The honor recognized a career that began with real growing pains as a freshman, but it also came with the kind of reflection that often comes only after the playing days are over.
Williams spoke during the event about the pride he takes now in helping guide his daughter, Mia Williams, whose own wrestling career has Olympic aspirations. The story shifted from one generation to the next, with both father and daughter offering their perspective on the work it takes to chase big goals, and on how the lessons from one athletic journey can shape another. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Has A New No. 1 Debate As Schedule Turns Serious
Texas kept its grip on the top spot in both the AP and Coaches polls after a 30-6 win over UTSA, but the weekly rankings conversation is getting more crowded by the day. Georgia, Notre Dame and Ole Miss also handled their latest games, while the rest of the top tier shuffled behind them as college footballs early-season order started to take shape.
Ole Miss win over LSU and Kentuckys upset of Texas A&M added another layer to a weekend that changed the look of the rankings without knocking Texas off its perch. With Week 2 in the books and the schedule about to stiffen, the Longhorns are still the team everyone is chasing, even as the case for the rest of the top five gets harder to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Fans Just Got The Ranking Reality After Texas Loss
Texas stayed planted at No. 1 in the latest AP Top 25 update for the 2026 college football season, a status that still carries plenty of weight as the Week 3 results settled in. The Longhorns handled UTSA 30-6, and the poll reflected a college football landscape that kept shifting around them, with Ole Miss climbing to No. 4 after its upset of LSU.
For Texas fans, the bigger backdrop may be how the rankings continue to shake out elsewhere in the sport, especially with Texas A&M tumbling out of the top 25 after a loss to unranked Kentucky. It is the kind of early-season turn that sharpens every debate about who is really built to stay near the top, and Texas is still the team sitting in the pole position for now. [Read more 🡒]