A few thoughts on week 3

• USC's loss to Stanford is the headline of the week. But only because USC were ranked number 2, a position based on the pre-season guesswork and not losing their first 2 games. In reality this was always going to be a tough road game so the loss shouldn't be that surprising.
• Alabama's demolition of Arkansas means they will stay at number 1 for the next few weeks. However, a couple of plays early on in the game highlight how important special teams can be. Firstly a bad snap on an Arkansas punt led to great field position and a very quick touchdown for Alabama. Then another bad snap led to a missed Arkansas field goal. Would Arkansas have won without this 10-point swing from 2 bad snaps? Very unlikely but it gave all the momentum to Alabama early on and they didn't let it go for the rest of the game.
• Louisiana-Monroe nearly did it again.
• Notre Dame's defence looked impressive against Michigan State. The defensive line in particular had a dominant day. But they are still unconvincing on Offence for me. A 3rd down conversion rate of 1 from 14 is poor and on another day they will get punished for that.
• Florida could be about to challenge in the SEC East. South Carolina and Georgia still look the teams to beat, but after 2 big conference wins on the road Florida shouldn't be discounted.
• The AP rankings are still settling down and so shouldn't be taken too seriously yet. The influence of the pre-season position is too great. A couple of examples of this: Have USC (13) had a better start to the season than Florida (14)? And Florida State haven't been tested yet and so are in 4th mainly due to their pre-season ranking of 7 and the performances of those who were above them.