Josh’s College Football Rankings 2026–Week 3

One of the worst things about the first few weeks of the season is not knowing how good certain teams are since they play weak out of conference schedules. Also we had a few upsets this week which allows for plenty of movement.

1. Texas (3-0)–#1–W 30-6 UTSA
2. Ohio State (2-1)–#2–W 59-3 Kent State
3. Georgia (3-0)–#3–W 45-17 Arkansas. It is funny how little people are talking about Georgia this year. All of the news has been about Lane/LSU, Ole Miss, Arch Manning…and the Bulldogs out here looking like one of the most complete teams out there.
4. Notre Dame (3-0)–#4–W 27-10 Michigan State. Not a pretty game, but a solid Irish win.
5. Miami (3-0)–#5–W 33-20 Wake Forest. Mensah completed his first 24 passes, and the Hurricanes beat a solid Wake Forest team.
6. Indiana (3-0)–#6–W 38-0 Western Kentucky
7. Ole Miss (3-0)–#9–W 32-24 #8 LSU. The Rebels wanted to shut everyone up about Lane Kiffin and they definitely did that.
8. Alabama (3-0)–#7–W 50-36 Florida State. This game started out in the Seminoles favor, but then it turned around after the weather delay, and the Tide never looked back.
9. BYU (3-0)–#11–W 41-23 Colorado State
10. LSU (2-1)–#8–L 32-24 #9 Ole Miss. Hard to punish the Tigers after that loss.
11. Utah (3-0)–#12–W 33-0 Utah State
12. Texas Tech (3-0)–#13–W 28-26 #19 Houston. I thought for sure the Red Raiders were going to lose this one, but they fought hard and managed the win against a good Houston team.
13. USC (3-0)–#15–W 42-35 Rutgers. I did not see much of this one, but I do not think it was actually as close as the score suggested. But, the defense gave up 35 to Rutgers, that only scored ten against UMass.
14. Louisville (2-1)–#20–W 41-31 #14 SMU. Ranked teams have to hate going to Louisville. Or facing Jeff Brohm. Either way, this Cardinals team looked good against the Mustangs. And that loss to Ole Miss is looking even more impressive now.
15. Washington (3-0)–#16–W 48-16 Eastern Washington
16. Penn State (3-0)–#17–W 55-13 Buffalo
17. Tennessee (3-0)–#18–W 42-9 Kennesaw State
18. Missouri (3-0)–#21–W 27-17 Troy
19. Houston (2-1)–#19–L 28-26 #13 Texas Tech. Conner Weigman can sling it. He is one of those college QBs that I enjoy watching.
20. Oregon (2-1)–#23–W 84-0 Portland State. At least Oregon had four QBs in there getting a little work. I always defend the FCS games, since those schools make money playing the big programs, but these scores can be a little ridiculous.
21. Michigan (3-0)–#24–W 52-17 UTEP
22. Texas A&M (2-1)–#10–L 31-21 Kentucky. The Aggies could be in trouble after this loss.
23. SMU (2-1)–#14–L 41-31 #20 Louisville. Jennings and Marcel Reed are both super talented QBs, who just continually make terrible decisions at times.
24. Oklahoma (2-1)–#25–W 14-6 New Mexico. I knew this would be a low-scoring game. New Mexico has a very good defense, and the Sooners managed to come away with a win.
25. Iowa (3-0)–#26–W 55-0 Northern Iowa
26. Florida (3-0)–#29–W 44-39 #30 Auburn. Everyone is ready to bump the Gators up to the Top 25. I am not quite ready for that yet. Still have a lot of football to play.
27. West Virginia (3-0)–NR–W 38-27 #22 Virginia. I did not expect the Mountaineers to crack the Top 40 this year, but after that win over Virginia, they deserve to be in the mix.
28. Pittsburgh (3-0)–#27–W 27-13 Syracuse. It was an ugly game in the rain…as Eric Draven once said “it can’t rain all the time.”
29. Mississippi State (3-0)–#39–W 41-34 #28 South Carolina. This team is legit. The SEC better not sleep on these Bulldogs.
30. Kansas State (3-0)–#31–W 31-20 Tulane
31. Nebraska (3-0)–#32–W 34-7 North Dakota
32. Virginia Tech (3-0)–#33–W 35-26 Maryland. The Hokies are a good team. I look forward to seeing what they do against Pitt in two weeks.
33. Duke (3-0)–#34–W 35-7 Stanford
34. Auburn (2-1)–#30–L 44-39 #29 Florida
35. Virginia (2-1)–#22–L 38-27 West Virginia
36. South Carolina (2-1)–#28–L 41-34 #39 Mississippi State
37. Vanderbilt (3-0)–#35–W 35-31 NC State. What an insane win that was for the Commodores! Not sure if this team is very good or not.
38. Boise State (2-1)–#36–W 38-24 South Dakota
39. Arizona (2-1)–#37–W 42-17 Northern Illinois
40. Tulsa (3-0)–#40–W 42-0 East Texas A&M

Honorable Mentions
Illinois (2-1)–#38–W 48-10 Southern Illinois
Kentucky (2-1)–NR–W 31-21 #10 Texas A&M. Congrats to Will Stein for his first big time win. They also played well for the first half against Alabama. Could this team stack a few more wins together? 
Western Michigan (2-1)–HM–W 28-21 Rice. The NCAA admitted that Western Michigan should have won that game against Michigan, but they cannot change the result. Sucks, but that is the way life goes.
UCLA (3-0)–HM–W 52-38 Purdue
Northwestern (2-0)–NR–W 41-7 Colorado. This team had a bye week already. Weird! But they came back from the bye and absolutely destroyed Coach Prime and his Buffs. Keep an eye on these Wildcats.

Now this week has some high quality football! We are getting more conference play, which should mean we will have some more exciting battles. 
Northwestern at #6 Indiana–This is where we find out if Northwestern is any good. 
Wisconsin at #16 Penn State–The Nittany Lions first real test, and it is at a weird start time (5:00 p.m.???)
Illinois at #2 Ohio State–Could Illinois knock off Ohio State? Probably not, but they might hang with the Buckeyes for a half.
Wake Forest at #14 Louisville–This is a game where the Cardinals sometimes struggle. They will be on an emotional high after that win over SMU…they better not overlook the Demon Deacons.
#38 Boise State at Western Michigan–The battle of the top two G6 teams!
#37 Vanderbilt at #34 Auburn–Good fight between two Top 40 teams.
#36 South Carolina at #8 Alabama–This should be an easy one for ‘Bama, but never count South Carolina out (as soon as Beamer’s name starts getting mentioned on the hot seat, he seems to pull off an upset).
Oklahoma State at #27 West Virginia–The Mountaineers better be ready for the Cowboys, who have played well since that loss to Tulsa.
#18 Missouri at #29 Mississippi State–The Bulldogs could find themselves in the Top 20 if they can pull off another big win.

Yeah, lots of great games. But those are not even the best ones! We have five others that I think have potential to be great. 
#24 Oklahoma at #3 Georgia–Can the Sooners defense stifle the Bulldogs offense? Can Mateer perform well against Georgia?
#25 Iowa at #21 Michigan–It will be ugly. It will be the definition of Big Ten football. I am going to call it now, Michigan wins it 17-12.
#22 Texas A&M at #10 LSU–Two teams looking to bounce back after a tough loss. Whoever loses this game will probably see any playoff hopes ruined. No pressure at all.
#7 Ole Miss at #26 Florida–Are the Gators for real? We are going to find out.
#20 Oregon at #13 USC–A few weeks ago this was probably circled on the calendar as a test for one of the top five teams in the country. Now though? It looks like a game that Oregon has to win if they want to climb back into the playoff conversation. USC has to prove they can play some defense. I have a feeling this game will be a shootout. 48-42 Oregon

Tiny But Mighty
Only one FCS win over the FBS this week. Southeastern Louisiana beat ULM 38-35. If you are wondering, SE Louisiana is located in Hammond, which is about 45 miles northwest of New Orleans. The Lions play at Strawberry Stadium, which seats about 7400 people. They are 2-2 on the year (they lost to South Alabama, so they are now 1-1 in the Sun Belt, while being 0-1 in the Southland Conference of FCS). 

Coaching Hot Seat
I think Greg Schiano and Mike Norvell might be in serious trouble. There are reports that Brian Kelly is interested in the Rutgers job, and that Florida State is interested in Jimbo Fisher. Probably not a good sign if teams are already looking at new coaches. So my ranking now looks like this:
Greg Schiano (Rutgers)
Mike Norvell (Florida State)
Thomas Hammock (Northern Illinois)
Dave Aranda (Baylor)
Mike Locksley (Maryland)
Luke Fickell (Wisconsin)
Dabo Swinny (Clemson)

Heisman Watch
Darian Mensah-QB-Miami
Malachi Toney-WR-Miami
Jeremiah Smith-WR-Ohio State
Kamario Taylor-QB-Mississippi State
Jayden Maiava-QB-USC