College football winners, losers in Week 3: Georgia weathers the Tennessee storm

Week 3 was expected to be relatively quiet, but it delivered several heavyweight clashes. No. 6 Georgia outlasted No. 15 Tennessee in one of the weekend's marquee wins, while Georgia Tech upset No. 12 Clemson.

The slate also turned into a showcase for rising quarterbacks. Tennessee's Joey Aguilar impressed in his first SEC start, Michigan's Bryce Underwood carried the offense with his arm and legs, Alabama's Ty Simpson extended his hot start and Houston's Conner Weigman posted a career performance against Colorado.

The night schedule still features No. 8 Notre Dame hosting No. 16 Texas A&M, No. 3 LSU trying to fend off Florida, No. 17 Ole Miss locked in a shootout with Arkansas, and No. 11 South Carolina battling Vanderbilt.

Here are the biggest winners and losers from the early slate of Week 3 college football.

Winner: Georgia

Kirby Smart will have plenty to say to his defense after giving up 496 total yards -- including 371 through the air to Joey Aguilar -- in No. 6 Georgia's 44-41 overtime win over No. 15 Tennessee. But the Bulldogs showed championship resolve in withstanding a back-and-forth game at Neyland Stadium, one of the nation's rowdiest venues.

After a sluggish start, quarterback Gunner Stockton settled in and justified the staff's confidence. The junior threw for 304 yards and two touchdowns. He also added a rushing score to keep Georgia on track. The defense delivered in overtime, holding the Vols to a 42-yard field goal.

It took some fortunate breaks for the Bulldogs to survive their trip to Knoxville, but passing such an early test bodes well for their title hopes. For Tennessee, the missed opportunity could sting for years.

Loser: Clemson

Before the season, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney told reporters he believed his program could be the first to post a 16-0 record in the expanded College Football Playoff era. That dream is already on hold after a stunning 24-21 loss to Georgia Tech -- the Tigers' first to the Yellow Jackets since 2014.

Clemson has struggled in nearly every phase during its 1-2 start, also the program's first since 2014. Georgia Tech piled up 147 yards rushing -- including 103 from quarterback Haynes King -- while Cade Klubnik managed just 207 yards passing for the Tigers.

ESPN's David Hale highlighted a brutal trend: Clemson is two plays -- a 58-yard touchdown vs. Pitt and a 57-yard field goal vs. SMU -- from being 1-7 in its last eight games against Power Four opponents. The Tigers haven't beaten a power-conference foe by double digits in 11 months.

The whispers of a Clemson resurgence have been premature. Right now, the Tigers look cooked.

Winner: West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez

Nearly 20 years ago, Rich Rodriguez suffered one of the most devastating losses of the 21st Century. His West Virginia team was one win away from playing for a BCS National Championship, but lost 13-9 against hated rival Pittsburgh -- a mediocre 5-7 team. After the game, Rodriguez abandoned West Virginia (his home state program) for Michigan, making him a public enemy in the state.

Nearly two decades later, Rodriguez got his revenge in his second stint with the program. West Virginia went down 24-14 in the fourth quarter and had to score 10 points in the final 5:03 just to force overtime. After scoring a touchdown to open overtime, West Virginia's defense came alive to deliver the program one of its biggest wins of the last five years. They're drinking the RichRod Kool Aid again in Morgantown.

Winner: Alabama QB Ty Simpson

Ty Simpson was the face of No. 19 Alabama's frustrating season-opening loss to Florida State after completing just over half his passes. Two weeks later, he's leading the Tide's resurgence.

The junior was nearly flawless in a 38-14 rout of Wisconsin, completing 24 of 29 passes for 382 yards and four touchdowns while connecting with six different receivers. Dating back to the previous win over ULM, Simpson put together a stretch where he completed 31 of 32 passes for 493 yards and six scores across just over six quarters.

Most importantly, he's getting the ball out quicker and giving his playmakers room to thrive. Alabama still has work to do to climb back into the CFP picture, but Simpson is starting to look like a star.

Loser: Kansas State QB Avery Johnson

There are structural flaws all over Kansas State's roster during its historically terrible 1-3 start, but Johnson's performance was truly abysmal in the team's loss to Arizona. Johnson completed a paltry 13 of 29 passes for 88 yards, and was credited with minus-16 yards rushing as Kansas State became the first offense to record fewer than 200 yards against Arizona since 2021 California.

Every frustration with Johnson as a passer showed up in the final minutes with a chance to win the game. Johnson read a pull poorly to put Kansas State behind the chains and then threw a wobbly slant that was dropped. When Kansas State got it back, he threw a huge four-yard pass to Jayce Brown, but whiffed on three of his final four passes to cost Kansas State the game. He finished averaging an absurd 3.0 yards per pass attempt.

By the way, the 1-3 start is the program's worst since 1989. That was the first year of the Bill Snyder era, when Kansas State was considering shutting down its football program. That's probably not on the table, but Chris Klieman's staff is reaching the danger zone.

Winner: New Mexico

I'm tired of talking about UCLA stinking, so let's give the Lobos all the flowers. New Mexico walked into the historic Rose Bowl and obliterated UCLA to the tune of 35-10, a dominant victory for Jason Eck's upstart program. There was nothing special about how they did it, Eck's offense simply rushed for 298 physical yards against a Power Four defense, with Weber State transfer Damon Bankston fielding 154 of the yards.

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