Sport
Week 4 Game Day Kickoff: Can Oregon turn a corner? Is USC for real?
Week 4 will tell us if our knee-jerk reactions to the first few weeks of the season actually mean anything.
David Hale · 24 September 2026 22:40 · 16 min
We are at a strange point in the college football season. On the one hand, we know next to nothing. Highly ranked teams such as Penn State, Indiana, USC and Georgia have yet to play a credible opponent, unless you consider Arkansas credible, which Kirby Smart certainly does not.
On the other hand, we're 25% of the way through the regular season for most schools, so certainly those first three games have to mean something, right?
Football's greatest strength and most frustrating deficit is its sheer scarcity of data points. We appreciate each game because there are so few to enjoy, and yet we debate the meaningfulness of each contest endlessly because that same scarcity affords so many possible interpretations of the results.
For example, is Oregon a team that we believed was a national championship contender to start the season? Or is it a team that looked comically inept against Oklahoma State and cycles through top receivers like Spinal Tap drummers?
Was Oklahoma's underwhelming 14-6 win over New Mexico last week a classic case of a letdown game after the loss to Michigan against a better-than-you-think Group of 6 school that viewed the game as its Super Bowl or a reminder that the Sooners' offense is less explosive than a can of Sprite someone dropped on the floor?
Or how about Texas A&M? What if last week's stunning loss to Kentucky actually says more about an up-and-coming Wildcats team under new head coach Will Stein -- a team that gave Alabama all it could handle for a half a week earlier, mind you -- than it does about the Aggies?
In the playoff era, knee-jerk reactions are the norm, and it would be easy enough to write off the Ducks, Sooners and Aggies as yet another round of preseason darlings that ended up faltering. In simpler times, this was called "pulling an Auburn," and it foretold certain doom (and some angry Paul Finebaum calls from Bryan Harsin's dad) but these days, with a 12-team playoff and overstuffed conferences, there's no reason to abandon all hope.
A year ago, Alabama lost its opener to a Florida State team coming off a 2-10 season. The Tide were cooked ... for a few weeks. Then they made the playoff, won a game and got Kalen DeBoer a contract extension.
Texas lost two of its first five last season, including a brutal defeat at the hands of Florida. Still, the Longhorns were knocking on the door of the playoff when it was all said and done.
Notre Dame opened last season 0-2 but still looked poised for the playoff by late November, thanks to the committee instead writing off Miami after two midseason losses. But that narrative also had to be erased, with the committee reverse engineering a path for Miami to get back into the playoff after all, while only offering an apoplectic Notre Dame only a "New committee, who dis?" text when the Irish complained.
September tells us plenty of lies.
But the more we march into a new season, the more the truth emerges from the mist.
Oregon heads to the Coliseum in Week 4 for a showdown with USC. Can the Ducks turn a corner? Are the Trojans for real? We won't know for certain afterward, but we'll have a much better idea.
Oklahoma will line up between the hedges, where a win over Georgia would certainly go a long way to painting over the offensive misery endured over the past two weeks.
Texas A&M travels to Death Valley, where LSU offers the Aggies a chance to script a new narrative.
If the first three weeks told one story, Week 4 could easily send us barreling down some new highway in another direction entirely. Lose to Oregon fresh off a way-too-close game against Rutgers, and suddenly USC goes from thinking playoff to wondering where the nearest airport tarmac is. Lose to Oklahoma, and Kirby Smart will have his guys go from blocking drills during timeouts to following around Uga with little plastic bags. Lose to Texas A&M, and Lane Kiffin won't just be a villain in Oxford. The LSU message boards will be ready to wheel him out to the bayou.
That's the magic of a college football season, after all. It's one long sleight-of-hand trick. The football gods force us to look one way, only to pocket a few aces while we're distracted. When the final reveal arrives, we'll wonder how we missed all the clues along the way.
Jump to:
Top games | Under-the-radar
Upset alert | Heisman five
Power rankings | Two-minute drill
Best of the rest of Week 4
Arch Manning has apparently never been to Knoxville, despite the fact that his uncle, Peyton, is a legend there and the fact that every kid grows up dreaming of seeing the Sun Sphere in person.
That all changes in Week 3, when a member of the Manning clan takes the field at Neyland Stadium for the first time since Peyton was a senior.
Of course, it's not Manning Tennessee fans will be turning out to see. It's the other QB -- true freshman Faizon Brandon, who has helped the Vols to a 3-0 start while racking up nine total touchdowns and only one turnover in his career. He's threatening to become the greatest "last name as a first name and first name as a last name" athlete since Hale Irwin won the 1990 US Open.
But the Texas defense will be Brandon's biggest challenge to date, with Colin Simmons, Rasheem Biles & Co. off to a strong start of their own.
What's interesting is Brandon might not be the QB with the most to prove Saturday.
Manning's fourth-quarter efforts against Ohio State turned heads -- but in seven other quarters of action of the past two weeks, he has been pretty shaky.
Indeed, take out that magical fourth quarter and Manning's stat line over his last two: 53% completions, 4.7 yards-per-attempt, two touchdowns, one interception.
Manning has averaged less than 6 yards per pass in each of his last two -- and in six different starts over the past two years (the same number Peyton had in his four-year career at Tennessee).
Is this another case of Arch dealing with the September doldrums -- bound to emerge as an elite QB again by Halloween? Given the talent he has to work with on Texas' offense, it's a concern, but one that presumably can be erased with a strong performance Saturday, after everyone gives up on him again and someone writes that he's a bust and shouldn't be drafted.
They say the best revenge is living well, but mercilessly booing your archnemesis then stomping his defense for the first half, crushing a comeback attempt, picking off a last-gasp pass in the end zone, then pointing at him as you sprint down the field celebrating a win is also pretty good. But in the aftermath of Ole Miss' win over LSU, head coach Pete Golding was quick to note that the game "wasn't our Super Bowl" in an attempt to shift attention to the next opponent -- a revitalized Florida.
Saturday's game will be Golding's eighth as the Rebels' head coach -- and his seventh against a ranked opponent. Should Ole Miss win, Golding's six wins over ranked foes would be more than 48 Power 4/5 teams have had in the past five years. Add up all the ranked wins for Nebraska, Northwestern, Rutgers, Auburn, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin, Iowa and North Carolina since the start of the 2022 season and you'll get the same number Golding has in only seven career games. In fact, a win over Florida would give Golding as many ranked wins in eight games as Lane Kiffin had in his final three seasons with the Rebels.
On the other side of the field is Florida, off to a 3-0 start for the first time since 2019. The Gators' 162 points scored is their most through three games since 2007 and its plus-99 points margin is its best at this point in a season since 2009. As long as no one throws a shoe at an inopportune late-game spot, this is shaping up to be Florida's best season in years.
Here's an astounding fact: Ohio State has lost three straight games vs. Power 4 opponents. That hadn't happened since the Buckeyes closed out 2011 with four straight Ls to BCS conference foes. Granted, those three losses came to the Nos. 1, 2 and 1 teams in the country, so it's not as damning as it might seem.
Since a shaky first half in his first career start in Week 1 against Ole Miss, Louisville QB Lincoln Kienholz has completed 69% of his throws, averaged 11.2 yards per attempt and 14.6 yards per dropback, accounted for 10 touchdowns and no interceptions, with 30 scramble yards and only two sacks. And Week 3 marked the first time the Cardinals had their projected starters at both tackle spots. The good news is, the Bourbon and Beyond music festival is going on in Louisville this weekend, so if the Cardinals are up by 30 at the half, fans can easily sneak away to go see Buffalo Traffic Jam and Adam Ant.
Apropos of nothing, the record for combined punts in a college football game is 77, set in a 1939 matchup between Texas Tech and Centenary.
Under-the-radar games
Bob Chesney has the Bruins looking good after convincing wins against Cal, San Diego State and Purdue. UCLA has 125 points scored through three games -- its most since 2017 -- and Wayne Knight already has twice as many rushing touchdowns (eight) as UCLA tailbacks had all of last season (four), all while secretly plotting to steal dinosaur DNA from Jurassic Park.
Clemson finally seems to have righted the ship a bit after outscoring North Carolina 22-3 in the second half to score a comeback win in Death Valley, 28-20 in Week 3. Their reward? Get on a plane and travel across the country on a short week to play Cal. On the upside, Dabo Swinney can place a single rose in Luke Ferrelli's old Cal locker to honor the linebacker who was so unceremoniously stolen from him and might've saved Clemson's season.
Oklahoma State at West Virginia
Fun fact: The best Total QBR in the country right now belongs to ... West Virginia's Michael Hawkins Jr., who racked up five touchdowns in a win over Virginia last week. Hawkins has the Mountaineers at 3-0 and favored in this one. What are the odds Brent Venables is staring wistfully at a photo of Hawkins in an Oklahoma uniform right now with a single tear running down his cheek?
Boise State at Western Michigan
With less than two minutes to go in Week 1, Boise State had the ball with a shot to knock off Oregon. With less than zero seconds to go, Western Michigan had a shot to beat Michigan in Week 1. Neither upset happened, but this is still a showdown of two of the top Group of 6 teams, and the winner might have the inside track on a playoff berth.
Week 4 upset alert
Tulsa already has a Power 4 win over Oklahoma State. Arkansas has all the swagger of a middle-aged dad shopping for socks at Costco after being outscored by 71 in its past two games. Ryan Silverfield's overhaul of the program was always going to be a heavy lift, but there is good news. Last season, the Hogs were 0-6 in games decided by seven points or fewer (with four losses by three or fewer). Close games aren't likely to be an issue this season.
Normally, this wouldn't have much upset potential but, given what transpired at the end of the Vanderbilt game, it's fair to wonder whether NC State will come out angry or defeated (or has entered witness protection and relocated to an Idaho suburb under an assumed name). On the other hand, one watch of this 20-year-old pregame hype video should set the Wolfpack right.
Mississippi State (home vs. Missouri)
Yes, the Bulldogs are one of the hottest teams in the country with a Heisman contender at QB, but Missouri is 17-0 in August/September games since 2023 and has a pretty good QB of its own in Austin Simmons, who's averaging close to 10 yards per pass attempt with eight touchdowns and no interceptions.
Heisman five
Three weeks into the season, the Heisman race remains wide open as long.
1. Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss
You know who we feel bad for? Those guys playing Division II football who had to try to stop Chambliss at Ferris State. It must've been like having Stephen Hawking show up to a fifth grade science fair with a working time machine while everyone else was dumping banking soda into a paper-mache volcano.
2. Miami QB Darian Mensah
Through three games this season, Mensah has as many passing touchdowns (11) as dropbacks that didn't gain yardage (eight incompletions, a sack and two completions for no gain). No one expects Mensah to complete 90% of his throws for the whole season, but with Central Michigan up next, it won't be a surprise if he keeps this up for at least another week.
3. Mississippi State QB Kamario Taylor
On the one hand, the rampant online speculation about Taylor's future after an electric start to the season -- 12 touchdowns, 1,010 total yards -- and just ahead of a pivotal top-25 matchup with Missouri feels like everything that's wrong with college sports right now. On the other hand, Curt Cignetti just sent Taylor a W-9 form and a note asking for his jersey size.
4. One final second
Has anything been more impactful this season than the 0:01 on game clocks? First, 0:01 stole the show between Western Michigan and Michigan when it engineered an improbable Wolverines comeback win. Then, in Week 3, 0:01 found a wayward CJ Bailey in the end zone and watched NC State fall to Vandy. The final second of games in 2026 has to be the most riveting increment of time since Season 3 of "24" and, frankly, if we get to an episode where Kiefer Sutherland rescues Arch Manning, who has amnesia and is pursued by a cougar, just in time for him to throw the game winner against Oklahoma -- then a clock operator should be accepting both the Heisman and the Oscar for Best Screenplay.
5. Alabama QB Keelon Russell
Against Florida State, Russell threw for 320 yards and three touchdowns without a pick, adding another 56 rushing yards and a score. In the past 20 years, there are only nine other SEC QBs who've posted a 300/3/0 passing line and 50/1 on the ground vs. a Power 5 opponent. Four won the Heisman (Cam Newton, Johnny Manziel, Joe Burrow and Jayden Daniels), two more were finalists (Diego Pavia and Bo Nix, granted he was a finalist at Oregon), another was a first-round draft pick (Jaxson Dart), another an SEC offensive player of the year (Hendon Hooker) and the last was Chad Kelly, who was pretty good in the Canadian Football League. So, Russell is on pace to either push for a Heisman or have a really nice condo in Saskatchewan one day. Both are solid options.
Post-Week 3 power rankings
Our weekly recap of the players and teams that made the biggest leaps forward in last week's games.
1. Ole Miss
2. Tailgating at The Grove
3. The cursed monkey's paw Dave Doeren purchased at a run-down antiques shop whose mysterious proprietor offered a dire warning and cackled maniacally as Doeren wished for "the most memorable NC State season in years."
4. Kentucky
5. Jeremiah Smith
6. Louisville
7. Jimbo Fisher-to-Florida State rumors
8. Delaware's fighting chicken mascot supremacy
9. Northwestern, Libraries (tie)
10. Second-half Alabama
Unranked: Lightning delays; Indiana's nonconference schedule; taunting a MAC team you narrowly beat at home after trailing by three touchdowns; Texas A&M
Two-minute drill
News, notes and nuggets from around college football ahead of Week 4's action.
- Fun fact you might've missed: Purdue QB Ryan Browne is one of only two FBS QBs with 1,000 passing yards through his first three games of the season. It's not likely he'll add a lot to that tally against Leonard Moore and Notre Dame this week, but his prolific play is worth noting as it relates to Notre Dame's Week 5 opponent: North Carolina. Browne was Bill Belichick's first QB signee last year. He spent spring with the Heels before going back into the portal and returning to Purdue, presumably to avoid having to fulfill any public records requests from Jordon Hudson. Belichick then replaced Browne with Gio Lopez, who performed poorly and transferred to Wake Forest at year's end. So, how have those decisions played out in 2026?
Browne: 73% completions, 1,024 passing yards, seven touchdowns, one pick, 70.4 Total QBR
Lopez: 63% completions, 887 passing yards, nine touchdowns, one pick, 69.1 Total QBR
UNC QB Billy Edwards Jr.: 56% completions, 611 passing yards, three touchdowns, one pick, 43.9 Total QBR - Fresh off an embarrassing loss at Northwestern, Colorado travels to Baylor this week, where Buffaloes players have vowed not to insult the Bears' home stadium before the game as being like -- what's the Texas equivalent of a library? The camping section at Buc-ee's? Regardless, Colorado is 6-12 in road games against power-conference foes under Deion Sanders, including dropping seven of its past eight.
- Massachusetts looks to get off to a 4-0 start with a trip to Sacramento State in Week 4. Given that it's the Minutemen, that would be an impressive feat, but the success is tempered a bit with the knowledge that all four teams were outside the FBS ranks before this season. Sacramento State is in its first season in the MAC, and UMass played FCS foes Sacred Heart and Stonehill in Weeks 2 and 3. And, of course, the Minutemen opened the season with a win over local New Jersey rec league team, Rutgers.
- There are 10 Power 4 schools who've yet to play an opponent who was ranked in the top 60 in FPI (at game time). Seven of them -- Nebraska, Iowa, USC, Washington, Indiana, UCLA and Penn State -- are in the Big Ten, but it hasn't kept four of them from being ranked in the AP top 20. That starts to change as Big Ten play begins in earnest this week, with some notable challenges for Indiana (vs. Northwestern), Iowa (at Michigan) and USC (vs. Oregon) getting serious tests, while Washington hosts Minnesota in its toughest matchup of the year. No wonder Tony Pettiti is so adamant about a 24-team playoff. No one can be expected to run the gauntlet of Temple, Buffalo, Rutgers, Purdue and Maryland and come out without a few scars.
- Duke hosts William & Mary this week, which probably means the Blue Devils will move to 4-0 on the season. Will anyone notice? Duke is one of only five teams -- alongside Alabama, Mississippi State, UCLA and Miami -- to be 3-0, have won a road game and beaten two Power 4 schools -- but the Blue Devils were still ninth among the "others receiving votes" in the latest AP poll. That's not much of a surprise. Duke has 21 wins since the start of the 2024 season. Every other Power 4 program with that many has spent at least 10 weeks ranked -- and an average of 31 weeks in the top 25. Duke's tally: zero.
- Vanderbilt travels to Auburn in Week 4 in a critical showdown for two schools on the fringes of the SEC race and, in case it comes down to one final play, a little advice for Tigers' QB Byrum Brown: Vandy's players have developed an awareness of object permanence, so simply hiding the ball from them does not eliminate the possibility they will take it from you -- possibly in the end zone, possibly to steal the game. Instead, consider taking a knee, running out the back of the end zone, ordering an Uber and taking the entire offense to Dairy Queen for some ice cream. Any of those options would be better.
- Nebraska hasn't had a quarterback throw for 20 touchdowns in a season since 2017. Anthony Colandrea already has eight through three games. Dating to the start of last season, Colandrea has 43 total touchdowns, the seventh most by an active QB. He'll face off against a Michigan State team Saturday that has given only two passing touchdowns so far this season.
- Marty Whims won't be calling plays for Akron when it hosts UNLV this week, but the fan named the Zips' "offensive coordinator for a day" in Week 2 did make it into the EA Sports video game.
