College Football Final: Highlights, Recaps, Takeaways & More From Week 3's Action

By Brian Rauf September 17, 2017
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While there were only two matchups between ranked teams in Week 3, the college football Saturday did not disappoint. There were a number of major upsets, as well as statement games and fantastic performances. We're here to break it all down in this week's College Football Final:

Big games
#4 USC survives upset bid from Texas, win 27-24 in 2OT
It wasn't pretty, but the #4 USC Trojans did just enough to avoid the upset and pulled off a 27-17 double-overtime comeback win over the Texas Longhorns. 

Star quarterback Sam Darnold threw for 397 yards and three touchdowns while true freshman walk-on kicker Chase McGrath drilled two clutch field goals - the first two made field goals of his career - as the Trojans claimed the narrow victory.

USC's defense came up big all night and did so again in overtime, forcing a turnover to set up the game-winning field goal in double overtime.

#3 Clemson gets 47-21 blowout win over #14 Louisville
#3 Clemson's defense dominated from start to finish, limiting reigning Heisman winner Lamar Jackson as the Tigers rolled to a 47-21 win over the #14 Louisville Cardinals.

Clemson quarterback Kelly Bryant, who was making his first career start on the road, outplayed Lamar Jackson in this one. He passed for 316 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 26 yards and two more scores to lead the Tigers offense. 

Ray-Ray McCloud, who caught that long touchdown pass, finished with seven catches for 115 yards and that score. Running back Tavien Feaster also played well, picking up 92 yards on 10 carries.

#24 Florida edges #23 Tennessee with Hail Mary
This was an absolutely terrible game through three quarters as neither team had scored a touchdown. That changed in a crazy fourth quarter that saw a flurry of big plays.

Florida took a 13-3 lead on a pick six and then a 20-10 lead on their first offensive touchdown of the season. However, Tennessee suddenly got hot, scoring 10 points to tie the game in the final minute. Then, this happened:

Florida quarterback Feleipe Franks finished the game with 212 yards and two touchdowns with an interception to lead the Gators.

Upset alert
Mississippi State stuns #12 LSU with 37-7 win
Quarterback Nick Fitzgerald accounted for 268 yards and four total touchdowns as the Bulldogs started fast and never relented, cruising to a blowout win over #12 LSU. 

Offense was, once again, the problem for LSU as they racked up just 270 yards of total offense. Quarterback Danny Etling completed just 13/29 passes and star running back Derrius Guice was limited to 76 yards.

Riley Ferguson leads Memphis to 48-45 win over #25 UCLA
In a game filled with offense - the two teams combined for 1,193 total yards - Memphis made more plays down the stretch as they held on for a wild 48-45 home win over #25 UCLA. Quarterback Riley Ferguson was the key for the Tigers, passing for 396 yards and six touchdowns in a career day for him.

This is now the fourth straight season in which Memphis has beaten a ranked Power 5 conference team at home.

Star UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen also played well with 463 yards and four touchdowns, but through two back-breaking interceptions - a pick six and one in the red zone - that kept the Bruins from pulling off another comeback.

Vanderbilt shocks #18 Kansas State with 14-7 win
Defense ruled the day in Nashville, but Vanderbilt got the last laught with a hard-fought 14-7 victory over #18 Kansas State. The Commodores got just enough offense from quarterback Kyle Shurmur who threw for 205 yards and a touchdown and rushed for the game-winner.

Other top 25 results
#1 Alabama 41, Colorado State 23
#2 Oklahoma 56, Tulane 14
#5 Penn State 56, Georgia State 0
#6 Washington 48, Fresno State 16
#7 Michigan 29, Air Force 13
#8 Ohio State 38, Army 7
#9 Oklahoma State 56, Pitt 21
#10 Wisconsin 40, BYU 6
#13 Georgia 42, Samford 17
#15 Auburn 24, Mercer 10
#16 Virginia Tech 64, ECU 17 
San Diego State 20, #19 Stanford 17
#20 TCU 56, SMU 36
#21 Washington State 52, Oregon State 23
#23 South Florida 47, Illinois 23

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Performance of the day
Ferguson's play in Memphis' win could certainly land him in this spot, but since we talked about him already, we'll use to space to credit Mason Rudolph. The Oklahoma State quarterback threw for 497 yards and five touchdowns in the Cowboys' 56-21 win over Pitt - and almost all of his production came in the first half.

Heisman update
Rudolph's performance is enough to put him at No. 2 on my list, trailing only Baker Mayfield. Lamar Jackson was right at the front of the race coming into the weekend, but a lackluster performance against Clemson sent him reeling down the list. He's not out of it, but falling short on the biggest stage he'll play on this season certainly doesn't bode well for him.

Here's my current top three - the only top contenders for the award at this point - with stats from today's games:

1) Baker Mayfield, QB, Oklahoma - 17/27, 331 pass yards, 4 TD
2) Mason Rudolph, QB, Oklahoma State -  23/32, 497 pass yards, 5 TD, INT
3) Saquon Barkley, RB, Penn State - 10 carries, 47 rush yards, 4 catches, 142 rec yards, TD

Top plays
These are the top plays of the day that were not included in any of the recaps above:

Next week's biggest games
Here are the biggest games we have to look forward to next weekend:

NC State at #11 Florida State
#20 TCU at #9 Oklahoma State
#25 UCLA vs. #19 Stanford

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Related Topics: 2017 College Football, NCAA Football

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