College Football Awards, Week 3 (2025) September 16, 2025

Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.
Tags: Aggies, Arch Manning, Arkansas, Arkansas State, Army, Auburn, Bill Belichick, Bret Bielema, Central Michigan, Clark Lea, Clemson, college football, Commodores, Curt Cignetti, DeShaun Foster, Florida State, Fresno State, Gamecocks, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa State, Jacksonville State, Josh Heupel, Kent State, Kirby Smart, Longhorns, Marcus Freeman, Marshall, Maryland, Memphis, Michigan, Michigan State, Middle Tennessee, Mike Elko, Missouri, NCAA, NCAA football, North Carolina, North Texas, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Scott Frost, Shane Beamer, South Carolina, Steve Sarkesian, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, UCF, UCLA, USC, Utah, UTEP, Vanderbilt, Washington State, Wisconsin, Yellow Jackets
trackback

COACHES
Wish I were him:  Kirby Smart, Georgia

Glad I’m not him: Josh Heupel, Tennessee

Lucky guy: Mike Elko, Texas A&M

Poor guy: Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame

Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Steve Sarkesian, Texas

Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Clark Lea, Vanderbilt

Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Shane Beamer, South Carolina

Desperately seeking … anything:  DeShaun Foster, UCLA

TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Indiana (defeated Indiana State 73-0)

Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Texas (defeated UTEP 27-10)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Central Michigan (lost to No. 23 Michigan 63-3)

Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t:  Arkansas State (lost to No. 14 Iowa State 24-16)

Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did:  North Texas (defeated Washington State 59-10)  

Dang, they’re good: Georgia
Dang, they’re bad:  Washington State

Can’t Stand Prosperity:  South Carolina

Did the season start?  Clemson
Can the season end?  UCLA

Can the season never end? Texas A&M

GAMES
Play this again:  No. 6 Georgia 44, No. 15 Tennessee 41, OT

Play this again, too: No. 16 Texas A&M 41, No. 8 Notre Dame 40

Never play this again: No. 22 Indiana 73, Indiana State 0

Huh?  No. 16 Texas A&M 41, No. 8 Notre Dame 40

Are you kidding me??  Georgia Tech 24, No. 12 Clemson 21

Oh – my – God:  Vanderbilt 31, No. 11 South Carolina 7

NEXT WEEK

rankings are current AP (week 4)
Ticket to die for:  No. 9 Illinois @ No. 19 Indiana

Best non-Power Four vs. Power Four  matchup: Arkansas @ Memphis

Best non-Power Four matchup: Fresno State @ Hawaii

Upset alert: South Carolina @ No. 23 Missouri

Must win: No. 22 Auburn @ No. 11 Oklahoma

Offensive explosion: No. 17 Texas Tech @ No. 16 Utah

Defensive struggle: Maryland @ Wisconsin

Great game no one is talking about: Michigan State @ No. 25 USC

Intriguing coaching matchup:  Curt Cignetti of Indiana vs Brett Bielema of Illinois

Honorable mention:  Scott Frost of UCF vs Bill Belichick of North Carolina

Who’s bringing the body bags?  North Texas @ Army

Why are they playing? Kent State @ No. 7 Florida State

Plenty of good seats remaining: Marshall @ Middle Tennessee

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?  Murray State @ Jacksonville State

Week 3 Thoughts:

We the fans enjoyed two incredible games this week, one was during the 3:30 EDT timeslot in Knoxville, between Georgia and Tennessee.  The other was in the evening, in South Bend, as a rematch between Texas A&M and Notre Dame.  Both we close games that went down to the wire. 

For the former, Tennessee had the chance to bring home the win, but made too many mistakes, and in the end, snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

For the latter, fewer mistakes on both sides of the ball were made, and was arguably an even more epic game.  The ‘so-what’ outcome is that Mike Elko & Co. finally have a signature win, establishing the Aggies as a force to be reckoned with in their division of the SEC.

Random Thoughts:

Either Vanderbilt is that good or South Carolina decided to take a night off in their own home stadium.  Making sense of such a drubbing on one’s own home turf shall take time in the form of seeing more games from the Commodores to find out if embarrassing the Gamecocks was some fluke or if they are the real deal.

Should the Longhorn faithful become increasingly concerned?  Probably.  For the second week in a row in what should have been a cakewalk for Texas, the home team scored only 27 points against lowly, lowly UTEP.  QB Arch Manning remains off-rhythm, still missing easy passes.  What on Earth is going on in Austin?  They have one last game to get it together (against Sam Houston State) before things start to get real with conference play.

Was Clemson overrated all this time, or has Georgia Tech been underrated for the same duration?  Regardless, the Yellow Jackets winning on a last-second field goal provided yet another thrilling finish to contribute to a great day for the game of college football.  The completed FG made me want to jump up like Homer Simpson (in Season 1 of the long-enduring sitcom), exclaiming “It’s good!  It’s good!”