Week 3 of the 2024 college football season is over and the updated Associated Press Top 25 poll will be released Sunday afternoon.

As an AP voter this season, I’ll be bringing you my top 25 ballots week by week and giving you a behind-the-scenes look at my thought process.

(Previous rankings on my preseason ballot are in parentheses.)

Eliminated: Arizona (20)

25. State of Washington (NR)

24. Boise State (25)

23. Syracuse (24)

22. Louisville (23)

21. Nebraska (22)

A few teams were in contention for the final spot on my ballot. Illinois remained undefeated after a nice win over Kansas last week. Memphis looks like a G5 CFP player. But how about some Apple Cup love for Washington State? The Cougars, who were knocked off by Washington in the Pac-12, beat their rivals in Week 3. Wave the flag, Wazzu.

20. Iowa State (21)

19. Michigan (17)

18.Clemson (19)

17. LSU-18

16. Notre-Dame (16)

Notre Dame took out its anger on Purdue after last week’s embarrassing loss to Northern Illinois, winning 66-7. LSU survived an extremely stupid game at South Carolina. Iowa State and Clemson were idle, while Michigan was again pathetic on offense. Wolverines QB Davis Warren completed 11 of 14 passes; his three incomplete passes were interceptions. These are not the Wolverines of last year in more ways than one.

15. State of Oklahoma (15)

14. Oklahoma (14)

13. Utah (10)

12. Miami (12)

11.USC (11)

More on Utah below, but otherwise everything remains the same. Oklahoma State crushed Tulsa, Oklahoma blew its way through Tulane, and Miami and USC were idle.

10. State of Kansas (13)

9.Oregon (9)

8. Missouri (7)

7. State of Pennsylvania (6)

6. Tennessee (8)

Every time I watch Tennessee, I’m more impressed with QB Nico Iamaleavea and the Vols’ running attack. I know it was Kent State, a team that lost to St. Francis last week and will face Penn State soon. But Tennessee is a serious SEC contender. Missouri, on the other hand, could have and probably should have won by a bigger margin against Boston College.

Kansas State also impressed me. The Wildcats systematically beat Arizona 31-7. Utah’s problems – QB Cam Rising is injured again and the Utes struggled early against Utah State – reinforce my prediction that Kansas State will win the Big 12.

5. Ole Miss (4)

4. Alabama (5)

3. Ohio State (3)

2. Georgia (1)

1. Texas (2)

I didn’t expect much to change in the top five coming into Saturday night. But man, Georgia’s offense struggled more than I thought it would in a close win over Kentucky. I’m going to let Kirby Smart’s team slide for now; I don’t want to be too hasty and drop them far. But it’s going to be an interesting off week in Athens before heading to Alabama.

Speaking of the Crimson Tide, Kalen DeBoer’s team started slow but finished strong in Wisconsin. Alabama came out on top at Camp Randall Stadium, with Jalen Milroe scoring five touchdowns in an impressive individual performance. I can’t wait to see Georgia-Alabama in Week 5 at Bryant-Denny Stadium.