5 College Football Programs That Should Be Worried After Week 3
TJ Inman
Host · Writer
We have hit the quarter pole for most college football programs in the 2025 season. Which five teams should be worried after three weeks of the season?
1. Kansas State Wildcats
The Kansas State Wildcats are 1-3 after a Friday night loss to the Arizona Wildcats in Tucson. The record is one thing, and that would be cause for concern enough, but the performances have been even worse than the record indicates, and there should be real alarm in the Little Apple. On Friday night, Kansas State was 3-for-13 on third down and only gained 193 yards, with just 88 yards through the air. Quarterback Avery Johnson was supposed to be a star, but he’s looking like a liability, and the Kansas State offense looks broken. They are getting next to nothing from their running backs, and Johnson’s mobility has yet to be a real factor. The defense was gashed on the ground by Ismail Mahdi and the Arizona rushing attack for a total of 234 yards. The Wildcats have one win on the season, which was in a squeaker against FCS foe North Dakota. There are red flags all over the place for Kansas State, and they appear to be in for a very long year.
2. Texas Longhorns
Uh oh, what if Arch Manning is actually not going to be all that good? The Texas Longhorns handled the UTEP Miners 27-10 in a ho-hum and relatively boring contest on Saturday in Austin. The real takeaway from that game and the cause for concern is the continued subpar play from Manning. The ballyhooed prospect has been poor in all three of Texas’ games, and he was booed by Texas fans for his performance on Saturday. Manning went just 11 for 25 for 114 yards with one touchdown and one interception. At one point, Manning threw nine straight incompletions. Struggling against the Ohio State Buckeyes is one thing, but failing to gain rhythm and put up big numbers against UTEP and San Jose State? That’s a significant concern. Manning is completing only 55.3 percent of his passes and has only six touchdowns and three interceptions while averaging a paltry 6.8 yards per attempt. That is just not good enough, and if he doesn’t get it figured out quickly, Texas won’t be going back to the College Football Playoff.
3. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Notre Dame is now 0-2, and they have gone from a College Football Playoff shoe-in to seeing their postseason hopes now on life support. Losing at Miami and against Texas A&M at home is nothing to be ashamed of. Still, Marcus Freeman has built a program with national title hopes, and missing the College Football Playoff altogether would be a disastrous step back. The two biggest takeaways through just two games are the defensive frailty (Notre Dame is giving up 34 points per game) and the struggles of Jeremiyah Love and the running game. Love is averaging only 3.85 yards per game, and he has only 127 yards on the season. Notre Dame doesn’t have the schedule to support a College Football Playoff bid with these two losses as the only real quality win they have remaining could be the USC Trojans, and even that one is unlikely to be a win over a top 15 team. Even if Notre Dame runs the table, they might be on the outside looking in.
4. South Carolina Gamecocks
The South Carolina Gamecocks hosted the Vanderbilt Commodores on Saturday night in Columbia. They sat at 2-0 and ranked on the fringe of the top ten. South Carolina fans were feeling good. At least, right up until Diego Pavia and the Vanderbilt Commodores began rolling down the field and stormed their way to a convincing 31-7 victory. LaNorris Sellers was knocked out of the game, and his status for this Saturday’s contest at red-hot Missouri is unknown. Let’s be clear about this one. South Carolina was not going to win that game with or without Sellers on the field. Vanderbilt was the tougher and better team, and it was not particularly close. That followed two unconvincing performances against Virginia Tech and South Carolina State in the opening weeks, and South Carolina does not look like they have replaced the star power they lost to the NFL. With games remaining against Missouri, LSU, Oklahoma, Alabama, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and Clemson, South Carolina might be fortunate to reach a bowl game.
5. Wisconsin Badgers
Wisconsin lost at Alabama in an uncompetitive game on Saturday in Tuscaloosa. That’s not surprising, and losing at Alabama is certainly not cause for concern, but the continued trend of the Luke Fickell era certainly is. Wisconsin gained only 209 yards of offense, and they ran for just 2.9 yards per rush. That lack of physicality at the line of scrimmage has become a staple of Fickell’s teams, and that’s just unacceptable at Wisconsin. The Badgers will not have the type of speed and skill to go toe-to-toe with the better teams in the Big Ten, so they need to win on the line, and that’s just not happening. Wisconsin was unconvincing against Miami (OH) and Middle Tennessee State, and they still have games against five ranked teams remaining.
Stay ahead of the game and elevate your sports betting experience with SportsGrid.
