The upsets continue in week 3 – While the national champions, Alabama, cruised against Arkansas with another shutout and LSU had another cupcake to roll over at home, USC lost at Stanford, with their national title aspirations taking a huge hit; meanwhile, the most dramatic ending to a game you might have seen recently resulted in a 24-21 win for Utah over BYU.

Alabama (#1, 3-0) 52 Arkansas (1-2) 0

This was supposed to be one of the highlights of the season in the SEC, but without their starting quarterback Tyler Wilson, the Razorbacks looked hopeless and helpless, finishing with only 137 yards on offense (46 in the first half), with Brandon Allen intercepted twice. No one really stood out on the Tide’s offense, backed by a defense that has now recorded two consecutive shutouts for the first time since 1980.

USC (#2, 2-1) 14 Stanford (#21, 3-0) 21

Matt Barkley will go on to the NFL with an 0-4 against Stanford, who beat the Trojans for a fourth consecutive time, a first for the Cardinal in the rivalry’s over-a-century-old history. Stepfan Taylor rushed for 156 yards, scoring two touchdowns, while the Stanford defense sacked Matt Barkley five times, forcing two interceptions out of he Heisman hopeful, maybe knocking USC out of national title contention. At the moment, they’re out of Pac-12 contention as well.

Idaho (0-3) 14 LSU (#3, 3-0) 63

Another easy with for the Tigers against a less than fit rival, keeping the Vandals at 174 yards and only 39 on the ground, and intercepting quarterback Dominique Blackman four times. Kenny Hilliard made the impression at running back this time, going for 116 yards and scoring two touchdowns.

Tennessee Tech (2-1) 14 Oregon (#4, 3-0) 63

Oregon didn’t stop scoring after the first half this time, coming up with 28 points in the third and fourth quarter, finishing with a total of 652 yards. Marcus Mariota threw for 308 yards and four touchdowns; Byron Marshall ran for 125 yards, scoring a touchdown; De’Anthony Thomas rushed for 62 yards and a TD and caught 3 passes for 73 yards and a touchdown.

Wake Forest (2-1) 0 Florida State (#5, 3-0) 52

Wake Forest don’t do too well in Tallahassee, losing by more than 50 points for a third time at Doaks Campbell Stadium. Chris Thompson ran for 197 yards and scored two touchdowns, as the Deamon Deacons were embarrassed, held to only 126 yards despite not turning the ball over once. It was the 11th straight time the Seminoles held an opponent to less than 20 points, the longest active streak in the nation.

Florida Atlantic (1-2) 20 Georgia (#7, 3-0) 56

So far, so good for the Bulldogs, who finished with a school record of 713 total yards despite their four turnovers and actually having less possession than the visiting Owls from Florida. Aaron Murray wasn’t great, but the running game, with Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall was on the money.

UAB (0-2) 6 South Carolina (#8, 3-0) 49

Dylan Thompson continues to impress ahead of Connor Shaw, throwing for 177 yards and two touchdowns while the original starting quarterback got playing time, throwing for 107 yards, a touchdown and an interception. UAB couldn’t get the ground game going with only 27 rushing yards, going scoreless in the second half.

James Madison (2-1) 12 West Virginia (#9, 2-0) 42

It’s been an easy life so far for the Mountaineers in the Big 12, especially since they haven’t played an actual conference game till now. Geno Smith impressed, as usual, with 411 passing yards, throwing five touchdown passes in what will probably be a nice little Heisman booster after Matt Barkley’s bad performance against Stanford.

Notre Dame (#20, 3-0) 20 Michigan State (#10, 2-1) 3

This was supposed to be another big step forward for the Spartans, who had a hyped up defense and running back (Le’Veon Bell) heading into the game against their big rivals. Instead, it was the Notre Dame defense that came up big, holding Michigan State to only 3 points for the first time since 2003. They held Bell to only 77 yards and kept Andrew Maxwell at 4.2 yards per pass. Maybe this year, the Irish hype is for real.

Furman (0-3) 7 Clemson (#11, 3-0) 41

Clemson got their wide receiver Sammy Watkins to score a 58 yard running touchdown, while Tajh Boyd threw for 310 yards and two touchdowns. Still, the Tigers were worried about their defense, letting Furman score a touchdown in the second quarter, giving them something to think about going into their clash with Florida State next week.

California (1-2) 28 Ohio State (#12, 3-0) 35

Ohio State needed a 74 yard touchdown pass from Braxton Miller to Devin Smith with 3:26 to go in the game to close out the Golden Bears who put up 512 yards of offense against the Buckeyes, mostly behind Brendan Bigelow who ran for 160 yards and scored two touchdown. Miller excelled by throwing for 249 yards, four touchdowns and running for 75 and a score.

Virginia Tech (#13, 2-1) 17 Pittsburgh (1-2) 35

The Hokies always have this one loss against someone unexpected to blow a hole in their hopes for something more than just an ACC title. Pitt aren’t an ACC team yet, but they beat a team that’s usually the best in the conference in recent years, intercepting Logan Thomas three times, holding them to only 59 yards on the ground and featuring Rushel Shell, running for 157 yards.

Texas (#14, 3-0) 66 Ole Miss (2-1) 31

No problem for the Longhorns in Oxford, leading 31-10 at half time, producing 676 yards of offense with David Ash throwing for 326 yards and four touchdowns and Malcolm Brown running for 128 yards and two touchdowns, scoring more than anyone hes against the Rebels since 1916.

North Texas (1-2) 21 Kansas State (#15, 3-0) 35

The mean green didn’t make it easy for the Wildcats, led by Collin Klein in another fine performance, throwing for 230 yards and two touchdowns (one interception as well) while leading the team in rushing as well, going for 85 yards and a score. Still, there were too many things off the mark to have them feeling confident going into the Oklahoma game next week.

TCU (#16, 2-0) 20 Kansas (1-2) 6

TCU do have the longest active winning streak in the nation with 10 W’s, but they weren’t too impressive in their first Big 12 game, struggling to score against a bad Jayhawks team, despite Casey Pachall’s 335 yards and two touchdowns, turning the ball over three times on fumbles.

UMass (0-3) 13 Michigan (#17, 2-1) 63

The Wolverines continue their recovery from the beating they took in Dallas against the Crimson Tide, easily dispatching of lowly UMass, with Denard Robinson throwing for 291 yards and three touchdowns while leading the team in the running game as well, going for 101 yards and a score. He moved to number two on the school’s all-time yards list for quarterbacks, now 90 yards behind Chad Henne.

Florida (#18, 3-0) 37 Tennessee (#23, 2-1) 20

It was tight for a half, but than Jeff Driskel and Mike Gillislee took off, scoring 24 consecutive points and the Gators showed once again that these great rivals are quite distanced from each other at the moment. Driskel threw for 219 yards and two touchdowns; Gillislee ran for 115, while Trey Burton added two end zone visits. Tennessee simply turned the ball over more, with quarterback Tyler Bray intercepted twice.

North Carolina 34 (1-2) Louisville (#19, 3-0)

A 36-7 lead in the first half was enough for Louisville to hang on for the win, as North Carolina scored 20 fourth quarter points, with one big defensive stop as the clock showed 01:53 left in the fourth needed to clinch the victory. Bryn Renner did throw for five touchdowns, but one costly interception while Kevin Bridgewater was very good, throwing for 279 yards and three touchdowns.

Houston (0-3) 6 UCLA (#22, 3-0) 37

UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley didn’t have the best of games, intercepted twice among the 11 total turnovers in the game, but it was still better than Houston’s David Piland, turning the ball over five times. Running back Johnathan Franklin ran for 110 yards, moving into second place on UCLA’s career rushing list with 3,210 yards.

South Carolina State (1-2) 0 Arizona (#24, 3-0)

Arizona continue to put up some big numbers on offense with 689 yards against the SC state Bulldogs, limiting their rivals to only 154 yards. Quarterback Matt Scott threw for 288 yards and three touchdown passes, but things should look very different as they open their Pac-12 season against Oregon next week.

BYU (#25, 2-1) 21 Utah (2-1) 24

It’s pretty guaranteed that there’s not going to be a more dramatic finish this season. Riley Nelson tried one more play before a field goal attempt to tie the game with six second left, but took a bit to long to get off the pass, resulting in an incompletion. The Utah fans stormed the field, but the referees decide there were 2 second left, giving BYU a field goal from 51 yards. Justin Sorensen’s kick was blocked by Utah’s Star Lotulelei, but the play continued, falling into Cougar hands. However, Utah fans stormed the field again, resulting in a 15 yard penalty and another field goal attempt (36 yards) for BYU. Riley Stephenson hit the upright, sending the crowd onto the field for a third time.