Week 3 of the college football season brought us highlights galore, some lovable mascots and a number of surprises that nobody could have predicted earlier this year. While we know who won and lost the games from the box scores, who really came out of Saturday able to hold their heads high heading into Week 4?
Winners
Clint Trickett: The West Virginia quarterback put up 511 yards and four touchdowns through the air as the team nearly hit the 700-yard mark in total offense. The Mountaineers also pulled out a nice last-second win at Maryland in the process.
J.T. Barrett: A week after being the goat in a painful home loss to Virginia Tech, Barrett threw six touchdown passes to tie a school record and became the first Ohio State signal-caller to throw for over 300 yards in eight years.
East Carolina: The Pirates padded their Group of Five resume on Saturday with an upset on the road of Virginia Tech. QB Shane Carden put up 427 yards and had four total touchdowns.
Maty Mauk: The Missouri field general only had 144 yards passing against UCF but was big in the second half and ended up with four touchdown passes. The Tigers also went 10-of-14 on third down thanks to Mauk.
Shaq Thompson: The Washington linebacker had a pick-six and a fumble recovery for a touchdown as he nearly outscored Illinois by himself. Only 12 yards rushing on offense, however.
Paul Rhoads: SO PROUD (remember this speech after a 2009 win over Nebraska?) of a win over rival Iowa.
Bret Bielema: He got his best win at Arkansas on Saturday, but even nicer for Ol' Bert (as rival Big Ten fans used to refer to him during his Wisconsin days) is the Razorbacks had 68 rushing attempts (438 yards) and only 61 passing yards.
Mike London: After entering the season firmly on the hot seat, London's Virginia team has played well early in the season and pulled of a big ACC win against a ranked Louisville team. The offense still needs work, but maybe the Cavs can make some noise in their division.
Head Ball Coach: Steve Spurrier was vintage as South Carolina pulled off the upset and took back control of the SEC East.
Howard Schnellenberger: The FAU patriarch got the field named after him on Saturday and saw his Owls put up 50 on Tulsa.
Jerry Neuheisel: The son of former UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel, this young backup quarterback took over the Bruins' offense once Brett Hundley left with an injury and guided his team to a victory with a solid second-half performance.
Losers
The ACC: Big Ten woes last week, ACC woes this week. Both of the league's ranked teams that were in action lost. Pitt struggled with FIU (in South Florida for some reason), Georgia Tech needed a last-second drive to beat Georgia Southern 42-38 and any good will Virginia Tech had was lost when ECU pulled off the upset.
Kevin Wilson: Indiana gave up 574 yards and 45 points to Bowling Green in a loss that puts any Hoosier bowl hopes in jeopardy.
Fans in Columbia, S.C.: Another week, another long weather delay in SEC country. This time the marquee game on Saturday was hit and fans in Columbia had to suffer through a long wait. On the plus side, at least we were all treated to people on Twitter thinking last year's Iron Bowl was live on CBS after the network put that on during the delay. And those South Carolina fans ultimately walked away celebrating a win.
Kirk Ferentz: Iced the Iowa State kicker on a miss, only to lose the game when the guy made the next one. At least those checks keep on coming.
South Florida: The losing is bad, but the Bulls were blown off the field by a mediocre N.C. State team with nobody showing up at Raymond James Stadium on Saturday.
Charlie Weis: Losing 41-3 to Duke isn't as bad as it once was, I guess.
The Big Ten reputation: The league is 1-10 against Power Five teams after Week 3 and has three losses to MAC teams. Oof.
Will Muschamp: Yes, Florida won the game, but being pushed into triple overtime by Kentucky is never a good thing for the Gators' head coach when it comes to job security.
Justin Wilcox and the USC defense: Allowing 452 yards rushing is terrible for anybody but especially at a school like USC. The Trojans were flat out embarrassed by Boston College and quarterback Tyler Murphy.
You can follow Bryan Fischer on Twitter at @BryanDFischer.
