Well, South Carolina still can’t stop the run. Like I said in the game thread on Saturday, if Georgia throws more than 5 passes, they need to take Kirby’s money back. It’s going to be funny that Mercer will have held Georgia to fewer points than the 2 Power 5 schools they played in the first tree weeks of the year.

Yep, it’s a week late but the AP voters finally got the correct number 1 team this week. Georgia should have been there after whooping Oregon, but I guess it took Alabama looking beatable against "we’re back" Texas. Well, it has been 12 years since South Carolina has beaten a #1 ranked team…there is a chance.

So, how to play the backup QB from Texas with the reigning Heisman winner and only survive by 1 point? I don’t have multiple TVs to watch at the same time, I don’t have picture in picture (if that is still a thing), and I didn’t think I would need to flip to the game thinking like everyone else that Alabama was going to cover the spread. I guess Saban is teaching a little too much in his head coach revival program. This was almost 3 out of 4 games that he has lost to former assistants. Is Saban worth his contract now?

Ohio State remains number three in the rankings after a slow start against Arkansas State. Did South Carolina even try to pay them to switch opponents last weekend? At least they have a few more tune up games (Toledo, Wisconsin, and Rutgers) before playing Michigan State. Yes, I threw Wisconsin in there because they lost to Washington State. I would have dropped them below Michigan after Notre Dame lost to Marshall.

Speaking of Michigan, didn’t I tell you guys to beat Hawaii worse than Vanderbilt beat them? No wonder the voters still have Ohio State above you. I hope ABC puts a R rating on the game against UConn for unnecessary violence. This is more for UConn being bad than it is for Michigan being good. Coach Khakis needs to make sure the offense is clicking the next couple of weeks.

Clemson must not have like the fact it was raining a little bit on Saturday. Or, Saint Dabo was just feeling extra good to not run up the score on Furman. I know the Paladins are a good FCS team for the mighty Southern Conference, but 35-12? Are you telling me they are better than Georgia Tech? If so, maybe Tech will hire Elliot from Georgia State this off season.

Dabo’s ex-defensive coordinator is off to a 2-0 start at Oklahoma. UTEP and Kent State are world beaters, but two 30-point wins ain’t bad, I guess. Let’s see if Kansas State has anything for them in a couple of weeks. Next week’s game against Nebraska is against another pay to get beat game. Although they might have some fire in them after their coach got fired.

Oklahoma’s former head coach and former QB1 has risen in the poll to number seven. I think this is voters having confidence in Lincoln Riley than anything else. Beating Rice and Stanford is anything to write home about for peak Southern Cal. I just hope people show up to watch the games. It was embarrassing to see the stadium practically empty when ESPN did their piece on Caleb Williams. The reported was asking about his first time out of the tunnel for Southern Cal. He was very politically correct with his answer, but he had to have thought that he was back playing JV football with the number of fans there. Well, good luck to the Pac 12’s only hope for a playoff berth. Oh, who am I kidding…I hope they lose at least 2 games this year.

Mike Gundy has the other Oklahoma school up to number eight. If they can keep this up along with Oklahoma, then Bedlam will be especially big this year. They are the 2 front runners for the Big XII since Texas and Baylor both lost Saturday. Their QB can end up in the Heisman talk if he puts up big numbers against the better teams in the Big XII.

Kentucky has owned Florida in recent years, not quite like have owned South Carolina but close. Florida flops after their big week 1 win against Utah. I don’t think anyone thought this was any kind of an upset, at least I hope they didn’t. It must be something about Florida though, since Kentucky moved up almost as much as Florida did last week. In big news for the basketball school, their return running back is cleared to play when they get back to SEC football on October 1st against Ole Miss. I guess getting paid to not work a job within the school’s domain only gets you a 4-game suspension. He could have been out 6 weeks and South Carolina still couldn’t stop them from running the ball.

I’m just glad so many voters thought that South Carolina was that good of a team to move Arkansas up 6 spots into the top ten. I mean, that has got to make South Carolina fans happy to know we will now have 2 losses to top 10 teams in the first 3 weeks of the season. I’m glad that Beamer and company have recruited a very good crop of offensive and defensive linemen in this upcoming class. The problem is that means it will be at least 2 years before they will see significant playing time. Sorry, Arkansas fans for not really talking about your team. I mean, your schedule just got a little easier with A&M losing to App State though.

The B1G is trying to squeeze 3 teams into the top 10 with Michigan State sitting at number 11. The Spartans are off to another quick start to the year. I’m not sure the next two weeks will show us anything about them unless they lose. The bigger test is in 3 weeks when the Buckeyes come rolling into East Lansing on October 8th. Michigan State’s B1G dreams could be over by the end of October after the Michigan game on the 29th.

BYU shoots up the poll to number twelve after beating Baylor Saturday evening. It might have taken overtime to pull the upset, but it is still a win…right, Tennessee? What possessed Baylor to go to Provo to play that game? No one walks into Provo and comes out a winner. Good for BYU. Now, just don’t go to Eugene and lose to Oregon. You have momentum right now, and you don’t want to lose it after week 3. You still have some marquee games against Notre Dame (not as big now) and a top 10 Arkansas squad. You can’t lose to Oregon and look still try to get into the CFB Playoffs.

You know your football players stayed up too late playing video games if you are losing to Southern Miss in the second quarter. Yes, you came back and made the game slightly less competitive, but you can’t have another showing like that against Texas A&M this week. The Aggies will be out for blood after getting embarrassed at home against App State. Yes, I know South Carolina lost to them a couple of years ago…we are not talking about that now…okay. ESPN convinced some voters to leave A&M in the poll so your game might mean a little more Saturday night.

Wow Utah, it must suck to lose a spot because the team that beat you lost in week 2. The curse of losing to Florida strikes again. At least if you guys played again, you’d still be ranked higher. Have fun hanging around the top 15 for the next few weeks. The good news if you beat Southern Cal in mid-October, you might get back into the top 10. That is unless there are a couple more SEC teams ahead of you. The other good news is you have a bye week between that Southern Cal game on the Washington State game. Gives you plenty of time to heal up and lick your wounds if needed.

Tennessee moved up 9 spots after winning on the road against Pitt’s one legged, 2nd string QB. I mean, that is a good win. It’s better than last year when you lost at home to them. The other good thing that happened Saturday is Kentucky beating Florida. You should have a good game plan for that game now. At least South Carolina has some company in the worst run defense in the SEC East this year. I guess the game later this year in Columbia will decide the winner of that award.

NC State bounced back this week to obliterate Charleston Southern. That had to feel good after losing to ECU, I mean almost losing to ECU. Plus, if Furman can stay with 20 points of Clemson that game is winnable for you guys again this year. If I had a vote in the poll, I’d put you as #1 if you can beat them again down in Pickens County. You are still like the 4th or 5th best team in North Carolina. It is a toss up between you and the Tarheels. I’d rank Wake Forest, App State and ECU as the top 3 right now. ECU did beat might Old Dominion hat beat your fellow ACC member VT in week 1.

Baylor tumbles down the poll to number 17. At least the Big XII title is still a dream for the Bears. It looks like it will be a tough go with Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas all playing well this year. I mean, shoot Texas moved into the poll after a loss. Not too many teams can say that. Not sure how that happens, but it is "We’re Back". So, again plenty to play for the rest of the year. And you learned a good lesson…don’t go to Provo to play BYU.

Why is Florida still in the poll? They beat Utah, well Utah beat themselves and then they lay an egg against Kentucky. I know Kentucky is a "top 10" team but come on man (sorry Randy Moss). It will be interesting of a 2-2 Florida team can stay in the top 25. I know we are all SEC, SEC, SEC…. but even then they shouldn’t be a top 25 team. Don’t start with they beat a top 10 team and then lost to 2 top 15 teams. Stop trying to force teams to be better than what they actually are because they are a bigger name.

My favorite ACC school is next in the poll. Wake Forest went into SEC Network game of the week and walked out a 20-point winner. Welcome back Sam Hartman. Glad your blood clot situation has gotten better. You walked into a rowdy Nashville and beat the early "surprise" team of the SEC. Holding them to 25 points might mean you are good on defense this year. That would be a good thing to have so you don’t always rely on the offense to outscore everyone you play. You held the Commadores to half of their offensive production. The next 3 weeks will be interesting to say the least as you welcome Liberty, Clemson, and travel to Florida State. Watch out for that UNC game later in the year, that one is an ACC game this year.

Ole Miss is the next SEC team in the AP Poll. They are milling around the top 20 for the second consecutive week. Game two was a little easier than the week one game against Troy. You have got a good opportunity to see how you stack up against the number 5 team in the nation when you play Georgia Tech this weekend. GT has a decent defense, so you need to watch out for that. Their second most productive wide receiver is South Carolina transfer EJ Jenkins. He is averaging a first down every time he catches the ball. Unfortunately for GT and Jenkins, that has happened 4 times this year. Although he did catch a nice ball for a touchdown against Clemson. So watch out for him in the red zone.

Texas shows up in the AP Poll after a hard-fought loss to Alabama. I mean you were a 20-point underdog, lost your starting QB in the first half, and received no help from the officials late in the game. That is all well and good, but I’m not sure you deserve to be a top 25 team right now. That game was more of what Alabama looks like half asleep on the field. I respect the people that took you and the 20 points though. I hope they raked in some good cash flow over the weekend. The next three weekends will be interesting. UTSA is not a team to sleep on, Texas Tech is always a hard match up for Texas, and West by God looks to be an improved team this year. That is just your warmup for the Red River Showdown game against Oklahoma.

Penn State is repping the B1G at the bottom of the poll. Like the SEC, it looks like the B1G is top heavy this year. James Franklin always seems to have Penn State looking good early in the season, but then fades down the stretch. This week’s game with Auburn might be a litmus test of sorts for the Nitty Lions. We will see if the Purdue game was just some first game jitters, or if there is something more going on in Happy Valley. At least 2 of the 3 toughest on paper games left are at home. Travelling to Ann Arbor in mid-October is a tough ask right now for Penn State.

Pennsylvania’s other major college football team slide down to number 22 after a tough overtime loss to Tennessee. The "Johnny Major’s Bowl/Cup" was a game that might have gone Pitt’s way again this year if the starting QB was in the game in the final quarter and overtime. Like Baylor in the Big XII, Pitt still has their dream of ACC glory still on the table. Missing Clemson, NC State, and Wake Forest this year is a break for the Panthers. Let’s see if they can repeat an ACC Championship Game appearance again this season.

If Oregon get dropped from the poll for losing to the now number one team in college football in week 1, then A&M needed to drop out of the poll for losing to a top 15 ranked App State. I mean, App state would be ranked in the top 15 if they converted a 2-point conversion against UNC. But my point should stand to not include them in the top 25 this week. There must be too many people voting for the Lone Star State. Miami doesn’t look like the world beaters they were after week 1. They do a have a good QB though, so they should give A&M more than what they want. It doesn’t get easier on them as they head to Dallas to face Arkansas. I guess the good news is you didn’t lose to an ACC school like LSU did. See that is funny because South Carolina has lost to Clemson 6 straight years (sarcasm font).

Oregon pokes their heads back into the top 25 poll this week. They will probably exit stage left after a loss to BYU this Saturday. I mean you can never tell, but BYU is coming in high off the win against Baylor. They will not be scared of a Bo Nix lead offense. I think I would have given more votes to Marshall or Cincinnati to be in the top 25.

As always, Go Cocks!