Kirk Herbstreit ranks his top four teams in college football following Week 3

ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit updated his ranking of the top college football teams after a loaded Week 3 Saturday.

While there weren’t many surprising upsets, several top squads did find themselves in much closer games than anticipated, which Herbstreit took notice of. There’s not a new No. 1 team, though, despite how Georgia struggled vs. South Carolina. However, plenty of other clubs moved around a bit in Herbstreit’s rankings based on some surprising final scores.

Below, you can check out where seven different teams landed in Kirk Herbstreit’s current College Football Playoff picture as we round the corner and head towards Week 4.

1. Georgia

South Carolina simply isn’t scared of the hedges the way many other SEC foes are, because the Gamecocks always seem to give Georgia a real game down in Athens. This Saturday, Shane Beamer’s group gave a little more than a scare when they got up 14-3 by half.

However, after Beamer ran his mouth a bit too much in the first half, the reigning two-time champs came back and knocked South Carolina back into their place. Kirby Smart’s group rolled off three touchdowns in the second half to the Gamecock’s zero and came home with the win. They haven’t looked nearly as dominant as they did a year ago, but the Dawgs are still 3-0 and atop Herbstreit’s rankings.

2. Michigan

Through three games against lower-tier competition, Michigan has given us a trio of near-identical performances. To open the season, UM scored 10 times the number of points as East Carolina in a 30-3 victory. Then, in Week 2, they scored in the thirties yet again while holding another foe, UNLV, to just one score in a 35-7 win. Lastly, it was Bowling Green who scored six points to Michigan’s 31 over this past weekend.

So, the clear evidence is that Michigan has another tremendous defense that can suffocate lesser offenses. Meanwhile, its offense has no trouble getting to 30 but failed to really pour it on heavy in any of those wins. Everybody, including Herbstreit, will get to see what this Wolverine squad is truly made of as they turn towards conference play.

3. Texas

When they aren’t facing Alabama, Texas hasn’t looked like a complete juggernaut quite yet. The Longhorns let local challenger Rice hang around for a while in the first half of the Week 1 win, then entered the fourth quarter of Saturday’s matchup with Wyoming tied at 10-10 before rolling off three TDs to make it 31-10.

Nonetheless, the Longhorns have a 3-0 clean resume and are responsible for one of two Alabama home losses in the last 54 contests at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Even if they beat Rice and Wyoming by one point apiece, they’d still have a top-four resume.

4. Florida State

Frankly speaking, Boston College had their way with the FSU defense in Saturday’s matchup, out-gaining the ‘Noles 457-340 on the day, with quarterback Thomas Castellanos passing for 305 yards while running for 95 more to give him an even 400 yards of offense on the day — a greater number than Florida State’s whole team! FSU was lucky to come out alive in that 31-29 barn-burner.

Ideally, that’s the wake up call for this group after letting their foot off their gas in wake of the LSU win while looking ahead to the bout vs. rival Clemson next week. The Tigers are certainly not the monster they were in the late 2010s, but yet, a trip to Death Valley is nearly as tough as a trip to Tusclaloosa. The ‘Noles could position themselves with an inside track at a playoff spot with a win this coming week; though, it’ll be tough.

Next Out: USC

The Pac-12 sits just outside Herbstreit’s current playoff picture, with USC staying pat at No. 5. After playing in Week 0 and rolling off three straight wins by four touchdowns or more, the Trojans were idle in Week 3 but return to begin conference play this coming Saturday at Arizona State, perhaps the only team in the league as bad as Stanford, whom they’ve already pummeled.

Expect yards in mass amounts, plenty of touchdowns, and if we’re lucky, a few jaw-dropping highlights from Caleb Williams or Zachariah Branch. The Trojans have at least one more week of such antics before the serious portion of the schedule begins as a trip to Boulder vs. an explosive Colorado team awaits in Week 5.

Next Out: Ohio State

The Buckeyes beat Indiana and Youngstown State in Weeks 1 and 2 by a combined 58-10 score. Then, this week, they surpassed that total to triumph over Western Kentucky by a 63-10 score thanks to a tremendous day from Kyle McCord.

He passed for 318 yards on just 23 total passes, completing 19 of those while tossing for three touchdowns on the day before he was yanked out. To nobody’s surprise, Marvin Harrison Jr. was again McCord’s favorite target and hauled in 126 yards worth of catches and found the end zone for a score. That 53-point beatdown of the Hilltoppers has OSU sitting just outside the CFP picture for Kirk Herbstreit.

Next Out: Washington

Between USC and Washington… and Oregon and Colorado and UCLA, the offensive firepower in the Pac-12 is off the charts. In a league full of star quarterbacks, the Huskies may have the top dog this year, though, as super-senior Michael Penix is annihilating defenses with every dropback.

Seriously, he’s averaging 11.8 yards per pass attempt right now and has 1,300 yards in just three games. Each game, he’s throwing for an average of 444 yards and is gaining more than 10 yards each time he passes the ball — and that average includes the incompletions which all count for 0! He’s spinning the ball like a future Heisman winner and this Husky offense is steamrolling their competition.

Some nice balance throughout the list for Kirk Herbstreit, who seems to like the Pac-12 and Big Ten a bit, since he included two teams from each. Meanwhile, the SEC has just one representative so far.