The march to Week 4 in college football begins today, and there’s plenty to talk about.
Let’s take a look at the top storylines in college football and where they intersect with the college football odds market.
Mississippi Rising
The big draw of Week 3 was the LSU/Ole Miss grudge match, and it didn’t disappoint. Ole Miss played a flawless first half and held on late to stun LSU and put the Rebels on a path back toward the College Football Playoff.
Ole Miss is now ranked inside the top five of the new AP Poll, and quarterback Trinidad Chambliss is now the co-favorite in BetMGM’s Heisman Trophy odds market.
The Rebels are the toast of college football right now, but they’re not the only team in the state of Mississippi making noise. Archrival Mississippi State also enters the AP Top 25 this week after a 3-0 start, and quarterback Kamario Taylor has been shooting up Heisman ballots after starting the season as a relative unknown.
Mississippi State scored a win at South Carolina last week but faces a much bigger test this week when it hosts No. 19 Missouri. The early odds for Mississippi State vs. Missouri have the Bulldogs as 6-point favorites.
Mark your calendars for the Egg Bowl.
10 SEC Teams Ranked…
It’s not just the Mississippi schools that are surging in the polls. The SEC now has 10 teams in the AP Top 25, meaning the voters basically threw in any SEC team that started 3-0.
Florida is ranked after its first 3-0 start since 2019. MSU is ranked for the first time since 2022, when Mike Leach was the head coach.
Texas A&M, which lost at home to Kentucky, remains in the poll at No. 23. Oklahoma, which struggled at home against New Mexico after losing to Michigan in Week 2, dropped out of the poll.
Texas (1), Georgia (2), Ole Miss (4), Alabama (8), and LSU (10) all rank inside the top 10.
…But SEC Remains Out of National Championship Picture
The popular analysis of the SEC right now is that the conference has loads of depth but is less competitive in the national championship picture.
BetMGM’s college football national championship odds market actually supports this claim. Though there are 10 SEC teams featured in the AP Poll, only two of the six current favorites (Texas and Georgia) are from the SEC.
Ohio State remains the national title favorite despite its Week 2 loss at Texas.
Big 12 Making Noise In High-Profile Matchups
The national media doesn’t always pay close attention to the Big 12, but I do. So in case you missed it, Week 3 was the second straight Saturday where a double-digit underdog from the Big 12 upset a ranked team.
This week, it was WVU, who advanced to 3-0 after a pretty convincing win over a good Virginia team.
In Week 2, it was Oklahoma State. The Cowboys’ win over Oregon was perhaps the most shocking outcome of the season so far.
Naturally, West Virginia and Oklahoma State will play each other head-to-head this week. West Virginia is an early 2-point favorite. The game is in Morgantown.
Jeremiah Smith Sets New Ohio State Record
Love them or hate them, nobody puts wide receivers into the NFL like Jeremiah Smith. The Buckeyes have amassed a hoard of receiver talent over the decades.
Anyone who’s setting new records in that position room is doing something truly historic. And that’s exactly what Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith did this weekend.
After finishing the game against Kent State with five catches for 85 yards, Smith had 2,958 career receiving yards since matriculating to Columbus in 2024. That set a new all-time program record for receiving yards, surpassing Michael Jenkins’ previous record of 2,898 yards.
Consider the list of receivers Smith is on top of, just from the last 10 or 20 years alone: Marvin Harrison Jr., Garrett Wilson, Jaxson Smith-Njigba, Chris Olave, Michael Thomas. There’s also older greats like Cris Carter, Joey Galloway, and Santonio Holmes.
It’s a major accomplishment for Smith, who is live in this year’s Heisman Trophy odds market. Even after the loss at Texas, Smith took a major adjustment down and is now considered one of the top contenders behind current co-favorites Chambliss and Darian Mensah.
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