We are now three weeks into the college football season, and we are all starting to get a sense of which teams have a shot, which teams are for real and which teams are just pretenders. Many of the scores in week three were predictable, but some provided insight into how the rest of the season will play out. Here’s how week three stacked up:
Winner: Kansas
Last week, I was ripping into the Jayhawks for laying an egg on the field against Coastal Carolina at home, and I honestly thought that was the last time I would have to think about Kansas (2-1) this season. Yet head coach Les Miles and his team were able to turn right around, march across the country to Boston College and seize Kansas’ first road win against a power-five team in 11 years. A Kansas team that has struggled on offense this year (and for much longer than that, to be honest) suddenly piled 48 points onto the scoreboard on 567 yards of total offense, all on the road. Nobody expected Miles to turn this horrendous football program around in the blink of an eye, but this is certainly a welcome start in Lawrence. We’ll see what kind of boost this gives the Jayhawks heading into conference play.
Loser: Chip Kelly
The wheels are officially falling off at UCLA. Head coach Chip Kelly, who was regarded by many as an offensive mastermind (at least on the collegiate level), has not managed to guide his offense to more than 14 points in any of the Bruins’ three ugly games this season. After a lethargic loss at home to San Diego State, the team had to give away free tickets just to get people to show up to its game against No. 5 Oklahoma last Saturday, and the stadium was still only half full. Those that did attend were treated to a 34-point clobbering at the hands of the Sooners (3-0). Chip Kelly now has a 3-12 record as the head coach at UCLA (0-3), and the team will likely be at the bottom of the Pac-12 this year, putting the former Oregon boss squarely on the hot seat.
Loser: Florida
It’s always tough to make the argument that a team who won its game is a loser, but No. 9 Florida certainly fits that category this week. It did not look particularly good against a lowly Miami squad in its opener, and similarly struggled against Kentucky on Saturday. The Gators (3-0) were dominated on time of possession and were sloppy causing two turnovers and seven penalties. The only reason the team won the game was because Kentucky (2-1) was equally as sloppy. The worst aspect of the game for Florida, of course, was losing its starting quarterback, Feleipe Franks, for the rest of the season. The Gators still have Auburn, LSU and Georgia on their schedule for the season — teams that will make them pay for sloppy play, especially with a backup under center. It’s hard to see how this Florida season doesn’t go south fairly soon.
Loser: Maryland
The Terrapins had their chance. Coming off its week-two thrashing of Syracuse, Maryland (2-1) was immediately entered into the AP Top 25. After years of mediocrity, the Terps had the opportunity this season to prove that they could hang among the top tier of college football and maybe even knock off a Big Ten powerhouse. And in the very next game they played, the Terps blew it against Temple. My goodness did they play poorly, going 5-for-21 on third down, punting nine times and committing nine penalties. Even with all of that, Maryland had two goal line opportunities to go ahead and failed to convert both times, sealing an upset win for the Owls (2-0). Looks like it’ll be another mediocre season in College Park.
Honorable Mention: Beer on GameDay
Nothing particularly eye-popping occurred on the field this past week, so I’m going to give some attention to a viral story that occurred off the field. For the first time ever, ESPN’s College GameDay visited Ames, Iowa, and a fan in the crowd, Carson King, held up a sign asking folks to Venmo him money so that he could buy beer. And boy did the viewers come through, donating thousands of dollars to his cause. Not wanting to drink himself to death on thousands of dollars’ worth of beer, King took the charitable route, donating most of the money to the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, keeping for himself only enough money to purchase one case of beer. That’s a winner if I ever saw one.