Week 3 Stock Report: Is 2023 shaping up to be a chaos season?

Another college football weekend in the books. More lessons learned. The 2023 season is shaping up for some chaos. At least it seems like it.

Each Monday, I take note of whose stock — be it team, head coach, player, assistant, unit, Heisman candidacy, preseason narrative, etc. — is trending upward, whose is down and whose is holding.

Here’s the Week 3 Stock Report:

📈STOCK UP: Chaos Szn

There were just two Top 25 upsets Saturday — Tennessee losing at Florida and Kansas State at Missouri — so it wasn’t a weekend chalked with madness. 

But this sure seems like it’s setting up to be a crazy season. Maybe not 2007-chaos. But crazy. 

The Georgia Bulldogs played like poop for a half before stuffing South Carolina in a locker. Florida State was fortunate to escape Boston College, and Texas was tied with a Wyoming team with a backup QB in the fourth quarter. Michigan was underwhelming. Same for Penn State, while Saturday was the first time all season Ohio State looked like Ohio State. 

Alabama, Clemson, LSU and the aforementioned Vols already have a loss on the resume. With six ranked-on-ranked matchups on next weekend’s loaded state, a bunch more are going to add a L to their ledger, too. 

Does everyone stink this season? No. But there is no clear dominant team, either. Certainly not yet. The national championship race is wide open. Can a team like Washington, led by blistering-hot quarterback Michael Penix Jr., who is averaging over 400 yards and four touchdowns per game this season, ride his rocket arm to the playoff? Is Oklahoma legit? Are we looking at a two-loss team in the field?

I smell chaos with a side of unpredictability.

📉STOCK DOWN: Transfer QBs being the answer to your offense’s problems 

At least 24 transfer quarterbacks have started for a major conference team + Notre Dame in 2023 — over 1/3 of the teams in college football’s Power 5. 

There have been some notable success stories — Shedeur Sanders at Colorado and Sam Hartman with the Irish. Guys like Haynes King (Georgia Tech), Devin Leary (Kentucky), DJ Uiagalelei (Oregon State) and Hudson Card (Purdue) have been good to decent. 

But most of the transfer quarterbacks have been as advertised. As in, they are who we thought they were: Which is not good. 

Several transfer starters have already been benched (Jeff Sims at Nebraska, Tony Muskett at Virginia). A dozen transfers have thrown at least three interceptions — with Luke Altymer (7 INTs) and Sims (4 INTs) leading the way. Seven starters are averaging under 6.6 yards per attempt (Brennan Armstrong (6.5), Donovan Smith (6.5), Phil Jurkovec (6.3), Cade McNamara (5.9), Sam Jackson (5.0), Ben Bryant (4.7), Alan bowman (4.5).

The new faces in new places is a fun gimmick, but remember it’s mostly just that. Your team landing a transfer quarterback probably isn’t going to solve your favorite school’s offensive problems.

STOCK HOLDING: Tennessee will turn back to a pumpkin in 2023 

The Swamp has long been a house of horrors for Tennessee — the 21-year streak is real. But what happened Saturday wasn’t anti-Vol voodoo. 

The Vols played extremely poorly and were out-coached. 

Tennessee’s offensive line (down starting center Cooper Mays) committed seven penalties, allowed 12 pressures and couldn’t up holes in the run game (3.3 yards per carry). The Vols got blown off the ball on 4th-and-1 attempt. 

Joe Milton struggled and the defense, while solid overall (zero explosive passing plays allowed), missed 11 tackles and had little answers for Florida’s counter-rushing game. 

But unlike others, I’m not ready to bury Tennessee in 2023 just yet. I never saw the Vols as a national title contender this fall. After last year’s Cinderella season, I thought it was more a hump year — win 10 games, finish No. 2 in the SEC East and get ready to really reload with Nico Iamaleava & Co. in the expanded College Football Playoff world of 2024. 

That all remains possible. But — and that’s a BUT — Tennessee needs to start looking like Tennessee again. The Vols need Joe Milton to play better (some completions off-platform would be nice). Their receivers need to step up. Their OL must improve. I actually think UT is going to be okay defensively, but Josh Heupel needs to figure out what’s ailing Tennessee’s offense (which ranks 93rd in explosiveness)or else there are another couple of losses on the schedule. 

📈STOCK UP: September signature wins

Whether on the hot seat or just under hot water with frustrated fan bases, four different head coaches secured signature wins in the last two weeks. 

Mario Cristobal have folks asking if ‘The U’ is back after Miami thumped Texas A&M by two touchdowns and is ranked again. This weekend, Billy Napier, Eli Drinkwitz and Neal Brown all won games they really needed. 

Playing Napier’s complimentary brand of football, the Gators humbled the Vols 29-16, giving the former Louisiana head coach his first rivalry win in Gainesville. This was capital Napier needed and now he got it. 

Missouri quarterback Brady Cook threw for 350 yards and two touchdowns and Thiccer Kicker Harrison Mevis banged home a game-winning 61-yard field goal — an SEC record! — to take down the defending Big 12 champ Wildcats, giving Drinkwitz the biggest win of his four-year career with the Tigers. Notably, Drinkwitz was bailed out by Mevis after Mizzou completely botched the clock at the end of the game, taking a delay penalty after acting like they had a timeout to force Mevis to kick from 61 instead of 56. He nailed it anyways. 

Lastly, no one needed a marquee moment more than West Virginia’s embattled head coach. Brown has openly acknowledged this is a must-win year for the Mountaineers, and style points be damned, WVU won an eye-gouging 17-6 affair in the Backyard Brawl to beat Pitt. West Virginia lost its starting quarterback in the second series of the game, but it road three takeaways and 102 yards from CJ Donaldson to deliver Brown a big win.

📉STOCK DOWN: Oklahoma State 

Something is rotten in Stillwater. 

After going 7-6 last season, losing 5 of 6 down the stretch, Mike Gundy vowed all offseason that 2023 would be different. Oklahoma State had a mass exodus from the transfer portal, but Gundy actually felt like team chemistry was better in fall camp. He liked his new-look coaching staff, too. 

Uh, Bueller?

Oklahoma State had to rally in the second halves to beat FCS Central Arkansas and Arizona State, and then the Cowboys got hammered at home by South Alabama 33-7 on Saturday. It has to be among the worst losses of Gundy’s 19-year career at his alma mater. 

The Jaguars are a solid Sun Belt team, but they were without their best receiver and starting left tackle and still pounded the Pokes, rushing for 243 yards. 

I don’t know the details of why Spencer Sanders left Ok State for Ole Miss, but it sure seems like the Cowboys could use him considering Gundy is currently executing this bizarre three-man rotation at QB — all while Sanders sits behind Jaxson Dart in Oxford. 

The Pokes are last in the Big 12 in yards per play. They’re averaging just 5.3 yards per attempt, and they didn’t reach the end zone until the 4th quarter on Saturday. 

Two years ago, Mike Gundy had his program back in the Big 12 title game, but Oklahoma State is trending in the wrong direction — fast.