2026-27 NCAA Football (Week 3)

Games I saw (some of):

(7) Louisiana State 24-32 (8) Mississippi

Last year, Coach Lane Kiffin left Ole Miss as they were heading into the quarterfinals to take the LSU job. I couldn't believe a coach would leave a team that had a shot at winning the title--they beat Georgia!--to take a job at a school that had been a mess for a while. How do you walk away from a contender? Well, now Coach Kiff is back with his LSU Tigers and I'm sure he was expecting to get the better of his old mates. Didn't happen. I think Ole Miss kinda fell asleep after halftime and allowed LSU to make a game of it, but one good scoring drive was all the Rebels needed to finish off the Tigers. Ole Miss was better last year, still better this year. 

Top 25

Handled their business

(1) Texas, (2) Georgia, (3) Notre Dame, (4) Indiana,

(5) Miami, (6) Ohio State, (8) Mississippi, (10) Alabama, (11) Brigham Young, (12) Southern Cal, (13) Texas Tech, (14) Penn State, (15) Tennessee, (17) Utah, (19) Michigan, (20) Missouri, (21) Oregon, (23) Louisville

Won but did not impress

(24) Oklahoma (New Mexico 6-14 Oklahoma)

I don't want to diss on New Mexico, but what the hell was that? OU has yet to look good--and I was not a fan of how they closed last season. The Sooners look like they have a long way to go to actually the earn the rankings they've already had this season. 

Bad beat

(7) Louisiana State (LSU 24-32 Mississippi)

I'm gonna be generous to the Tigers and call this a Bad Beat, when we all know Lane Kiffin and the Tiger faithful really wanted to come into Ole Miss and lay a beatdown. But that wasn't happening because Ole Miss is pretty good. I liked their offense and pass rush last year, still impressed with them this year. LSU under Kiffin will be better than they have been lately, but maybe not this year (and not in Oxford). 

(16) Southern Methodist (SMU 31-41 Louisville)

A back and forth game, the Cardinals took control in the 2nd half. SMU went on the on the road and (kinda) hung with a ranked opponent, not a bad L.

(22) Houston (Houston 26-28 Texas Tech)

Needed the 2-point conversion to tie it late, didn't get it. Too little, too late for the Cougars. Not a bad L, though, looked like a fun game. 

Not so good

(9) Texas A&M (Kentucky 31-21 Texas A&M)

Whoa! Kentucky winning conference games on the road doesn't happen often, so what happened here? On the one hand, outside of the 2nd half of last week's Alabama, UK has played well this season--weller than usual! So can A&M turn it around? Were the caught off guard by a Kentucky squad playing with unexpected confidence? Or is it all over for the Aggies? I have no idea. My gut feeling is UK just came in feeling themselves and A&M just didn't know how to react. That might be because they're not that good (still not overwhelmed by their QB) or it could be that they turn dangerous from here. We'll see.

(25) Virginia (West Virginia 38-27 Virginia)

It's early but this is not a good result for the Cavs. WVU has been down lately, UVA has been, well, overrated, lately, but you're still expecting a well regarded Cavs squad at home to get the W over the Mountaineers. Well, not so much.  

Next week's intriguing matches:

(1) Texas @ (14) Tennessee (game of the week, right off the bat)

Illinois @ (7) Ohio State (Illinois is an enigma: this will either be the most fascinating game of the week or it'll be long over by halftime)

(4) Mississippi @ (21) Florida (I think the Rebels will get it done on the road, but we'll just have to see it, won't we?)

(17) Iowa @ (18) Michigan (yeah, I guess I'm supposed to care)

(23) Texas A&M @ (10) Louisiana State (hmmmmm....both coming off embarrassing L's, let's see whose season is over by Saturday night)

(20) Oregon @ (12) Southern Cal (could be fun or could be a tire fire--which might be fun!)

(19) Missouri @ (24) Mississippi State (I doubt either of these teams will be ranked by the end of September)