The Joe Rankings: Week 3

Last week had a couple of intriguing results for the Utes and Cougars. As a result, you will see that the 1-2 Utes are now ranked higher than the 1-2 Cougars. Congratulations!

It was a great win for the Utes over the UCLA Bruins. Some positive developments: a) Tommy Grady did not throw a single interception to a defender who was standing all by himself. b) It appeared that Kyle Whittingham did an impressive job gearing up the Ute defense to dominate this game. They played awesome, and to make it even better, they had a lot of freshmen and underclassmen contribute to that dominating defense. c)As far as I know, they did not suffer a single season-ending injury. And d) They actually had some semblance of a running game, even if it was far from dominant.

Many Ute fans have jumped back on the bandwagon. Though I am not a big fan of Utah sports--meaning I do not jump either on or off the bandwagon ever--I will declare that I am not a believer quite yet in this year's Ute squad. I think Coach Whittingham is an expert at motivating his team when their backs are against the wall and when his job is inching closer to termination. But I am interested in seeing how his team plays over the next few weeks. I think this positive momentum will carry over against UNLV and Utah State, but what about when they play Colorado State, New Mexico, and Louisville? Those games will truly tell if this team is for real.

As much as I thought Utah's defense played awesome, I was still relatively unimpressed with the Utah offense. It is very easy to score 44 points when your defense and special teams is letting you start drives inside the 40-yard line every time. The running game--though mildly improved--is still weak, and I don't think it's necessarily accurate to say that Tommy Grady has suddenly turned the corner to a mistake-free quarterback. Brian Johnson will be coming back, and how he will play coming off so many injuries--well, that's anybody's guess.

On to the rankings. Remember, the numbers simply don't lie.

1. LSU. I don't miss him, but I'm glad he's doing well with the Tigers.
2. Boston College
3. Texas Tech
4. Texas
5. Ohio State
6. West Virginia
7. Wisconsin
8. Missouri
9. Oklahoma
10. Rutgers

11. Michigan State
12. USC
13. Florida Atlantic--They are the highest-ranked team with a loss (2-1).
14. Cincinnati
15. Virginia Tech
16. California
17. Alabama
18. Penn State
19. Arizona State
20. Georgia
21. Moku'aina
22. Troy--The Trojans made the biggest jump (82 spots) after beating Oklahoma State. They are also the highest-ranked team with a losing record (1-2).
23. Oregon
24. Tulsa
25. Bowling Green
26. South Carolina
27. Florida
28. Washington
29. Mississippi State
30. Kentucky

31. Washington State
32. Clemson
33. Air Force--#1 in Mountain West
34. Boise State
35. Nebraska
36. Kansas
37. Utah--#2 in Mountain West
38. TCU--#3 in Mountain West
39. Miami (OH)
40. Texas A&M
41. Wyoming--#4 in Mountain West
42. Arkansas State
43. Central Florida
44. Florida State
45. Purdue
46. Indiana
47. Miami
48. South Florida
49. Illinois
50. Connecticut--The Huskies are the lowest-ranked undefeated team (3-0).

51. Southern Miss
52. UCLA--I am very glad that Ben Olson transferred from BYU.
53. Louisville
54. Buffalo
55. Georgia Tech
56. New Mexico State
57. Oregon State
58. Virginia
59. UNLV--#5 in Mountain West
60. New Mexico--#6 in Mountain West
61. Kent State
62. Tennessee
63. BYU--#7 in Mountain West
64. Pittsburgh
65. Houston
66. Maryland
67. Stanford
68. Vanderbilt
69. Wake Forest
70. Western Kentucky
71. Ball State
72. Auburn
73. Kansas State
74. Akron
75. Iowa

76. Ohio
77. Fresno State
78. Louisiana Tech
79. Arkansas
80. Baylor
81. Duke
82. San Diego State--#8 in the Mountain West. The Aztecs are the highest-ranked winless team (0-2).
83. Navy
84. Alabama-Birmingham
85. Colorado
86. Central Michigan
87. Nevada
88. North Texas
89. North Carolina State
90. Colorado State--#9 in Mountain West
91. UTEP
92. Idaho
93. Memphis
94. Mississippi
95. Utah State--Two straight weeks in the Top 100!!!!!
96. Western Michigan
97. Oklahoma State--The Cowboys dropped 87 spots after losing to Troy.
98. Army
99. Eastern Michigan
100. Northwestern--The Wildcats are the lowest-ranked team with a winning record (2-1).

101. Minnesota
102. SMU
103. Arizona
104. North Carolina
105. Middle Tennessee State
106. San Jose State
107. East Carolina
108. Florida International
109. Louisiana-Monroe
110. Notre Dame
111. Toledo
112. Syracuse
113. Temple
114. Michigan--No, beating Notre Dame doesn't move you up very far this year, does it?
115. Tulane
116. Rice
117. Iowa State--They are the lowest-ranked team with a win (1-2).
118. Louisiana-Lafayette
119. Marshall
120. Northern Illinois--Losing to Eastern Michigan is not the best way to get out of the bottom position of The Rankings.