134 College Football Team Rankings After Week 3: Texas or Georgia? Give it a month

Editor's Note: Athletic 134 A weekly ranking of all FBS college football teams.

Sometimes you have to sit back and marvel at what Georgia has done. The Bulldogs now have 43 consecutive regular season wins. Until this past Saturday, none of them had come by a three-point margin or shorter.

But every so often, Georgia has an odd performance, usually against Missouri or Kentucky. This year, it was Kentucky's turn. Georgia won 13-12 in Lexington and needed a fourth-quarter comeback to do it, a week after Kentucky lost 31-6 to South Carolina and cost itself “College GameDay” hosting honors. Welcome to the weirdness of college football.

As a result, Texas moves to No. 1 in this week's edition of The Athletic 134, our third different No. 1 team in four weeks. The Longhorns lost Quin Yers to injury against UTSA a week after the quarterback's dominant performance at Michigan. But his replacement Arch Manning didn't miss a step, and actually took many himself, with four passing touchdowns and a 67-yard touchdown run. Only time will tell as to Ewers' status, but the Longhorns are rolling at every level right now, even with a backup quarterback on the field. So they occupy the top spot.

But guess what? About a month from today, we've got Georgia vs. Texas in Austin.

These rankings are now starting to find their level. Almost every team has played at least one significant opponent. Wild swings will be few, though there are some this week (hello, Georgia State). Head-to-head results still play a heavy role at this point. The deeper we go into the season, the less transitive things become.

Here is the Week 4 edition of The Athletic 134.

1-10

In addition to Texas moving up to No. 1, there are a few minor changes. Tennessee moves past Miami at No. 5 because the Canes' opening win over Florida didn't look as good as it did then. Tennessee's win over NC State looks even better now. Penn State also dropped to No. 10 after a 49-14 win at Oregon State, and Missouri beat Boston College at home, a nice win for the Tigers. Penn State's win over West Virginia also lost its luster as the Mountaineers are now 1-2.

Go deeper

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11-25

Other than many ranked matchups or upsets in Week 3, there are only a few moves in this group. LSU moved up one spot to No. 14 after beating South Carolina on the road, while Kansas State beat Arizona 31-7 to move up to No. 15. Oklahoma dropped two spots to No. 16 and the Sooners are on the offensive. Things are especially worrisome in the passing game, though the defense has been solid. Tennessee travels to Norman this week.

Welcome to the Top 25, Illinois and UNLV. Both have wins against Kansas. The Illini have really taken care of business through week three, while the Rebels are 2-0 in Big 12 play with wins over Houston and KU.

26-50

Here come the shakeups. I really wanted to put Memphis in the top 25. They have played very well all season. They are fine. But a win over Florida State doesn't mean it used to (sorry, Noles – more on you later). Iowa moved to No. 29 after coming back in the second half to overcome a winless Troy team.

Washington State shot up to No. 34 after beating Washington to go 3-0. The Cougs have two Power 4 wins, and quarterback Jon Mater is a complete delight. Louisville is ranked No. 35 because the Cardinals have only played Austin Peay and winless Jacksonville State. UCF pushed to No. 36 after a big comeback win at TCU.

Indiana fans were upset the Hoosiers didn't move much after putting up 77 points on a bad FCS team. I said they needed to see them play better competition like Louisville. Well, a 42-13 win at UCLA is what I wanted to see, so the Hoosiers jump from No. 82 to No. 38. Pitt made a similar jump to No. 39 after another fourth-quarter comeback win, this one against him. West Virginia, will move to 3-0.

Georgia State rocketed from No. 116 to No. 42 after beating Vanderbilt. I have a feeling Vandy is coming back down to earth, but with a limited sample size, it just happens. So even though Virginia Tech holds Old Dominion, the Hokies drop because that loss to Vandy was so recent. (Georgia State's loss was to Georgia Tech.) Welcome to the Top 50, No. 48 Toledo after whipping Mississippi State 41-17.

51-75

I understand Liberty wins and falls. The Flames, now ranked No. 52, aren't playing up to their ranking. They didn't play great against Campbell, needed a comeback against New Mexico State and were pedestrian against UTEP. Meanwhile, Fresno State defeated New Mexico State 48-0 on Saturday. Texas State slipped just one spot to No. 58 after a three-point home loss to Arizona State.

Wisconsin dropped to No. 66 after a 42-10 loss to Alabama. I know it's a steep drop for a loss to Alabama, but the Badgers have never been better this season and they didn't get the benefit of the doubt. Duke is 3-0 but dropped a few spots to No. 60 after needing a fourth-quarter comeback to beat UConn. Florida drops to No. 67 after an ugly loss to Texas A&M and its backup quarterback. Appalachian State dropped to No. 69 after a second-half comeback in a 21-19 win over East Carolina.

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76-100

Baylor moved up a few spots to No. 76 after beating Air Force. No. 79 Houston could be in decent form after following up a good performance against Oklahoma with a 33-7 win over Rice. Mississippi State looks to be one of the worst Power 4 teams after losing to Toledo at home and dropping to No. 81. Same goes for UCLA, now No. 86 after beating Indiana on a last-second win. against Hawaii.

But that's even more true for Florida State, now ranked No. 87 as the only 0-3 team in the Power 4. The only reason the Seminoles didn't fall short is because they played three pretty decent teams. But don't lose to Cal next week and go 0-4.

No. 88 Western Kentucky looks like the WKU of old, beating Middle Tennessee 49-21. Sam Houston looks improved after beating Hawaii and is now ranked 94.

Go deeper

Navarro: Florida State's 0-3 loss is poor evaluation, a product of development

101–134

Not much has changed in this group, including below. Kent State was already ranked No. 134, and the Golden Flashes could stay there for a while. Tennessee trailed 37-0 after one quarter and 65-0 at halftime, coming off an FCS loss as ugly as it gets.

The Athletic 134 Series is part of a partnership with Allstate. The Athletic maintains complete editorial independence. Partners have no control or input over the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.

(Photo: Tim Warner/Getty Images)