The Couch Power 10, Week 3

There are always ebbs and flows to college football slates, but it's felt pronounced thus far in this young season. The relatively quiet Week 2 was sandwiched between two weeks, in Week 1 and last weekend's Week 3, that had multiple juicy ranked showdowns at every window of the day.

While this week didn't have some of the eye-popping upsets that Week 2 brought us, we did have our fill of great games, and chaff-separating showdowns. It was a rough week for the Palmetto State, as # 11 South Carolina and # 12 Clemson both fell to then-unranked conference rivals (Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech, respectively), but otherwise, the only ranked teams to lose on the weekend were the 3 that were facing fellow ranked opponents. South Florida's rip-roaring start to the season hit a brick wall in Miami, as the Top 5 'Canes were too much of them on both sides of the ball, but Georgia and Tennessee treated us to an epic in Knoxville, as the Dawgs twice rallied from a double-digit deficit and withstood a 40-yard would-be winner going wide right as time expired to extend their rivals' misery. Then in the nightcap, Texas A&M came back over and over in South Bend, matching Notre Dame blow for blow, before a botched extra point snap for the Irish ended up dooming them as the Aggies scored a touchdown (and ensuing extra point) in the final minute to stun the Notre Dame crowd.

Just a refresher, in case you forgot: this is not a definitive ranking on how good the teams are, or on who I think will be/deserves to be in the playoff at the end of the year. Rather, it's more of a "What if preseason rankings and bigwig bias didn't predetermine the top teams" kind of thing, an ideal ranking of the country's teams based on what they've actually proved on the field to date. Don't be mad cuz I'm doin' me better than you doin' you:

1. Ohio State

Daniel's Meritocracy Preseason Ranking # 1 (and, you know, reigning national champs) showed us no reason to drop them from their spot after blowing out Ohio to improve to 3-0. The only thing to perhaps be wary of is that Texas, who has bumbled through two less-than-impressive wins since that season-opening loss in Columbus, might just not be nearly as good as we thought.

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2. Miami

Yes, the significance of that season-opening Notre Dame win is lessened slightly by Texas A&M beating the (still winless) Irish on their home field. But Miami counterbalanced that by shellacking a USF team that had climbed to # 4 on these rankings by confounding both Boise State and Florida. The Canes can stake an early claim on the mythical "state championship" with their own win over the Gators this coming weekend.

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3. Florida State

Florida State got an early bye week, which is a bit of a bummer for them, as they had started red hot. A win over Bama that so far has aged quite nicely, and a 74-point win in Week 2 is already quite the resumé compared to most of the country.

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4. Texas A&M

Critics will point to a weak schedule and a "signature win" over a Notre Dame team that still hasn't won a game. But the Aggie believers (me, unfortunately) will rebut that they blew out two overmatched opponents, as they should, and to win that game in South Bend on Saturday night shows this a whole different team with a whole different level of toughness.

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5. Vanderbilt

If there were any concerns about Vandy's unexpected 2024 season being a one-hit wonder, Diego Pavia and the Commodores have already shut those down. Virginia Tech might be downright dreadful, but the way Vanderbilt stormed into Lane Stadium and dominated them last week felt awfully impressive...until they did one even better and ran # 10 South Carolina out of Columbia with their spurs between their legs. The Commodores still have to face the SEC gauntlet, and no, they won't make it out unscathed, but they have more than proven they are legit.

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6. Georgia

For people trying to figure out what to make of Georgia: this might sound strange, but I'm going to draw a parallel from the soccer world. Followers of this blog know my love for Liverpool; the reigning Premier League champions have gotten off to a crazy 4-0 start in the league, in that they have spent most of all 4 matches of their season looking unconvincing and beatable... only to win off a goal in the closing minutes every single time. This is what Georgia, preseason # 2 and perennial title contenders, have looked like thus far this season. Against lesser opponents, it was understandably a concern. On the road at archrivals and AP top 10/Couch Top 5 Tennessee? Coming back from a double-digit deficit in that hostile environment, against a team desperate to break the cycle of heartbreak against them? Maybe this is just a program that figures out a way to win games, and that's part of being a great team, too.

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7. Penn State

8. Oregon

I'm swapping Penn State and Oregon this week; the Big Ten pair remain in the same tier they've occupied since the start, of "they look brilliant, but haven't played anyone." But Oregon were the first of the two to look underwhelming this season, with a fairly slow-developing win at lowly Northwestern on Saturday. The Ducks pulled away late on in Evanston, while Penn State annihilated poor Villanova. The good news is these two are less than 2 weeks removed from their showdown with each other, which will tell us a whole lot more about each side.

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9. Mississippi State

Mississippi State followed up their win over Big 12 champs Arizona State with a 63-point shutout of Alcorn... only to still not even be ranked in the AP Top 25. Make it make sense.

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10. LSU

Nobody impressed me more in Week 1 than LSU (genuinely, nobody), but it's been a precipitous drop in this Power 10 since then. Now, this may seem extremely harsh as they've won each of their games since, and this weekend, held off an old rival and tough AP-ranked opponent. But the fact of the matter is, while a win in Death Valley is still impressive, Clemson might turn out to be kinda bad this season, and since that statement win Brian Kelly's Tigers have now struggled with both Louisiana Tech and a Florida team I suspect also might not be very good. The good news? Another hard game awaits Florida this weekend against Miami, and if the Gators win, it bumps LSU's credibility right back up, and if they lose, it proves me right. The better news? The more LSU wins, the more it makes my quick loss of faith look silly.

Just missed: Oklahoma, Georgia Tech, Ole Miss, Illinois, Iowa State, the new-look Tar Heel defense

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The Playoff Picture according to The Couch:

(5) Vanderbilt v (12) Memphis

(6) Georgia v (11) Oklahoma

(7) Penn State v (10) LSU

(8) Oregon v (9) Mississippi State

ROSE BOWL: (1) Ohio State v ORE/MSU winner

ORANGE BOWL: (2) Miami v PSU/LSU winner

SUGAR BOWL: (3) Florida State v UGA/OU winner

COTTON BOWL: (4) Texas A&M v VAN/MEM winner