College football is unpredictable and delightful, which is why we live for what happens on Saturdays. And the third Saturday of the 2024 season did not disappoint, with wild finishes in places like Columbia, S.C., and Seattle and a dicey trip to Lexington, Ky., for the nation’s top-ranked team.
Each Sunday, I’ll publish my biggest takeaways from the college football weekend. I’ll highlight the most interesting storylines, track College Football Playoff contenders and specifically shout out individual and team performances that deserve the spotlight.
Here are my top takeaways from Week 3:
1. Arch Manning takes over Texas.
Well, sort of. We don’t know how long he’ll be the guy, because we don’t know enough about the severity of Quinn Ewers’ abdominal injury. We also don’t know yet if it’s a Wally Pipp situation, in large part because Ewers had been playing at a level that had him in early contention for the Heisman Trophy. But here’s what we do know: Entering Saturday, Texas had the most enviable backup quarterback situation in the country in an era in which it’s nearly impossible to have high quality depth at the position with the existence of the transfer portal. And that led to Arch Manning getting thrown into the second quarter of the Longhorns’ game against UTSA. He proceeded to immediately throw a 19-yard touchdown pass, followed by a 67-yard touchdown run two touches later. Manning finished the day with 223 passing yards and five total touchdowns in an unbelievably impressive performance for the redshirt freshman. Head coach Steve Sarkisian said after the game that he hopes Ewers’ injury isn’t long-term, but in the meantime, it sure looks like his offense is in good (and very famous) hands.
2. Billy Napier’s seat couldn’t be hotter at Florida.
At the Swamp on Saturday, rain poured down — and so did the boos. They were deafening before halftime as the Gators trailed, 20-0, to a Texas A&M team that started its backup quarterback. Though Florida fought back a bit after the break, there was little to be encouraged by. The 33-20 loss to the Aggies could be the final nail in the coffin for Napier, who is 12-16 over two-plus seasons in Gainesville. Afterward, Napier said he understood why fans booed him. “When you play a certain way in this arena, you’re going to be criticized,” he said. “This is one of those places where there’s history and tradition and expectations. There’s been a lot of really good football teams that played in that stadium in the past, and when you play ugly ball — and maybe it doesn’t look quite like we all want it to — then hey, it comes with the territory. I probably would have done the same thing, truth be known.” That sounds like a man who knows he’s nearing the end of his leash, $26 million buyout be damned.
3. Georgia survives a clunker against Kentucky.
The Bulldogs did something similar two years ago, winning ugly against Missouri early in the season en route to a national championship. And while no one knows how this season will end for the current No. 1 team in the nation, it’s always better to win a bad game than lose it. (Just ask Notre Dame.) Carson Beck and co. didn’t do all that much offensively against Kentucky — the ‘Dawgs put up only 262 total yards of offense, its lowest output since the season-opener against Clemson in 2021 — but they did just enough to win ugly in a weird game. I mean, Kentucky even punted the ball with three minutes to go down one point! Yeesh.
4. Florida State is having a no-good, very bad season.
It’s crazy how quickly things got so bleak, but here we are. The program that went undefeated a season ago and believed it should have played for a national championship … is now 0-3 after a loss to Memphis. Florida State is now the first team ranked in the top 10 of the preseason AP poll to lose its first three games of the season to unranked opponents. Obviously, this roster lost a lot from last year to now and that preseason ranking was too high. But this is a shocking drop-off, and it’s clear it’s not just because of quarterback play. The offensive line is not great. The offense can’t convert third downs reliably. And the defense is far more porous than it was last season. It’s hard to imagine that this particular team can turn things around following an abysmal start to the season, which will lead to conversations about Mike Norvell’s approach to roster-building. Has it been too portal-heavy and not reliant enough on high-school players who stick around and develop? What else can explain such a season?
5. It was a great weekend for the Group of 5.
First, UNLV came back to beat Kansas on Friday night to start its season 3-0 for the first time since 1984. Then Memphis picked up that aforementioned win over Florida State at Doak Campbell Stadium. But that was not all! Toledo crushed Mississippi State for the first MAC win over the SEC in nine years. And Georgia State beat Vandy for a Sun Belt-over-SEC victory to spread the wealth just a bit more. Throw in Northern Illinois’ win over Notre Dame in Week 2, and that’s a pretty good start to the season for schools in the leagues that some view as an afterthought. In the first year of the 12-team College Football Playoff, though, all of these games matter more than ever. One of the champions of one of these conferences gets to play in the 12-team bracket, and it sure feels like these teams all realize how much they have to play for.
6. Notre Dame and Oregon took care of business in get-right games.
After that somewhat inexplicable loss to Northern Illinois last weekend, the Irish can exhale after a very therapeutic 66-7 win at Purdue. Notre Dame got everything it wanted in the game, particularly on the ground; the Irish rushed for 362 yards and six touchdowns (three by quarterback Riley Leonard, who ran for 100 yards) while holding the Boilermakers to just 38 total rushing yards. Meanwhile, Oregon shook off its offensive rust and piled up nearly 550 yards of offense in a blowout win over in-state rival Oregon State. The Ducks averaged 9.3 yards per play, which is pretty, pretty good. Now, there are still questions for Dan Lanning about the defensive side of the ball, but he’s got to feel good about a dominant offensive outing after two subpar performances.
7. LSU survives a scare but does little to inspire Playoff-caliber confidence.
South Carolina lost Saturday’s game more than LSU won it. The offsides, the unnecessary roughness penalty … it was there for the taking for the Gamecocks, and they kept shooting themselves in the foot. So, how are we supposed to feel about the Tigers? Between this close call and the Week 1 loss to USC, there aren’t a lot of signs of progress in Brian Kelly’s third season. He took this job to win a national championship, and it doesn’t appear that his defense is anywhere near the level it would need to be to contend. One loss does not eliminate LSU from CFP contention, but how is this team supposed to beat Ole Miss and Alabama? Never say never, but this team seems worlds apart from those two.
8. Jalen Milroe and the Tide are now rolling.
I figured that Alabama would beat Wisconsin pretty handily, but that game was even more lopsided than I thought it would be. The Tide offense has taken awhile to get going at times so far this season — cough, South Florida, cough — but once the switch flips, this is a team that can bury its opponent quickly. Against Wisconsin, the game was essentially over by halftime. When all was said and done, Milroe had accounted for 196 yards and three touchdowns through the air and 75 yards and two more touchdowns on the ground. He’s long been one of the most exciting players in college football, but Milroe (and a finally healthy offensive line) is also turning into quite a prolific and reliable passer in the short and intermediate passing game to go along with that beautiful deep ball. It certainly looks like he’s fitting in quite well in a Kalen DeBoer offense.
9. Washington State caps off a big week with an emotional victory over in-state rival Washington.
No wonder head coach Jake Dickert was at a loss for words after that one. He’d decided to stay at Wazzu, even with its future far from certain. The players he has with him on this roster decided to do the same, not even knowing which teams would fill a football schedule for them to play. And the Cougs go and knock off the Huskies in one of the best games of the day, led by the fearless John Mateer, who threw for 245 yards and accounted for all three Wazzu touchdowns in the 24-19 Apple Cup win. Dickert celebrated with a cigar — and his fans celebrated a delicious win over the school they hold responsible for their current conference predicament. That predicament, by the way, is no longer nearly as dire as it seemed even a week ago. On Thursday, as the Pac-12 announced the addition of Boise State, San Diego State, Fresno State and Colorado State for the 2026 season. The league will need to add at least two more members, but it took a huge step toward a more stable future this week. Light another cigar for that.
10. Mizzou now owns the longest active win streak in the country — at 7.
And the Tigers earned a hard-fought win over a ranked opponent in Boston College in Saturday’s only top-25 showdown. Quarterback Brady Cook, star receiver Luther Burden and running back Nate Noel helped Mizzou come back from an 11-point second-quarter deficit and gain firm control of the contest after halftime. The Tigers seem talented enough to be in the mix for a CFP spot come December, and winning a game like Saturday’s — no matter how ugly it was at times — is just what they need to do to get there.