Week 3 of the 2025 college football season certainly did not disappoint. Here are the key takeaways from another exciting weekend of action with a quarter of the season in the books.

Georgia Tech Is Not Only an ACC Title Contender, but a College Football Playoff Contender

The Yellow Jackets moved to 7-1 in ranked conference games under head coach Brent Key when the program took down No. 12 Clemson, 24-21, in Atlanta on Saturday thanks to timely defense, a powerful Haynes King rushing effort, and the 55-yard game-winning field goal by kicker Aidan Burr.

Georgia Tech was a trendy pick in the offseason to be a sleeper in the ACC, and through three weeks, the Jackets look every bit the part of a contender. Not only can Georgia Tech make it to Charlotte for the ACC title game, but the Jackets are a College Football Playoff threat.

Georgia Tech's remaining games?

  • Home vs. Temple
  • Away at Wake Forest
  • Home vs. Virginia Tech
  • Away at Duke
  • Home vs. Syracuse
  • Away at NC State
  • Away at Boston College
  • Home vs. Pittsburgh
  • Home vs. Georgia

There's a good argument for Georgia Tech to be favored in eight of the remaining nine. The one the Jackets likely won't be favored in is the finale against Georgia, where Tech has lost the last two meetings by a combined 10 points.

Georgia Tech will enter the Top 25 this week, and they'll be a team to watch in the ACC for the rest of the season.

Clemson's Neither an ACC Title Contender or a College Football Playoff Contender

Clemson, the team that was the preseason runaway favorite in the ACC, is now 1-2 on the season and 0-1 in ACC play after losing at Georgia Tech on Saturday.

The first loss was to LSU - that's acceptable. The first win? It felt like a loss, because it required a comeback from 16 points down against Troy as a near-five touchdown favorite.

The second loss came Saturday to the Yellow Jackets. The running game looked the best that it has all season - but it was in fits-and-starts. Senior quarterback Cade Klubnik has struggled to regain the form that he exhibited at the end of 2024, when he looked like he had finally realized his potential as a 5-star high school prospect. On Saturday, he turned in his third straight pedestrian performance in the passing game on 2025, lending credence to those who say "he is who he is" at this point of his career.

Clemson's defense appeared on paper to be one of the best in the country heading into the season, but has been anything but through the team's first three games. Georgia Tech racked up 358 total yards and went 8-of-15 on third down in Saturday's win.

It's not that the Tigers defense has been bad. It hasn't. In fact, it's been pretty good.

But it hasn't been elite, and with the offense's inconsistency through the opening month of the season, it's hard to envision Clemson reaching the form that many expected in the preseason.

The Tigers don't appear to be an ACC title contender (or College Football Playoff contender) at the season's quarter pole. There's time to turn things around, but it'll have to happen fast in Death Valley.

Notre Dame's Defense Could Cost the Program a College Football Playoff Return

Texas A&M's Marcel Reed thew an 11-yard touchdown pass to Nate Boerkircher on 4th-and-goal with 13 seconds remaining to sink Notre Dame 41-40 in South Bend on Saturday night.

The Irish are 0-2.

The Irish botched an extra point on the heels of a Jeremiyah Love touchdown run with 2:53 to play that would have put Notre Dame up 41-34. Instead, former starting quarterback-turned Alabama transfer-turned Notre Dame lacrosse player-turned Notre Dame third-string quarterback Tyler Buchner fumbled the hold on the extra point and the Irish were in a precarious position clinging to a six-point lead.

A year ago, a six-point lead would have been lights out. This season, not so much in year one of defensive coordinator Chris Ash.

Notre Dame fans will rue the botched extra point, but realists will point to the defense, which allowed 488 yards of offense to Texas A&M on Saturday. It could have been worse too, as Reed missed some deep shots to receivers that had a step (or several) on Notre Dame's secondary.

The Irish had a week off to correct the defensive woes from Week 1's road loss to Miami, where Notre Dame allowed 324 yards of offense and struggled to get off the field.

At 0-2, Notre Dame will have to run off 10 straight wins for any outside chance at the College Football Playoff.

Georgia's Gunner Stockton Makes Leap Forward to Propel Bulldogs in a Shootout in Knoxville

Georgia junior quarterback Gunner Stockton entered Saturday's road tilt against No. 15 Tennessee with something to prove.

Georgia's first two weeks of the 2025 season had been fairly ho-hum, with blowout wins against Marshall and Austin Peay. But if you ask Georgia fans about their opinion on Stockton through two contests, reactions were mixed - and with good reason.

Through two games, Stockton had the second-highest percentage of throws behind the line of scrimmage among power conference quarterbacks. He was also 1-for-5 on throws past the line of scrimmage, according to Connor O'Gara of Saturday Down South.

But Saturday was different. Stockton made some serious strides in the passing game, pushing the ball down the field and converting on some big time throws when the Bulldogs needed them most.

Stockton's perfectly placed 28-yard touchdown pass to London Humphreys with 2:32 to play will end up on his highlight tape for professional scouts.

Stockton finished Saturday 23-of-31 for 304 yards and two touchdowns, and has quieted some of his loudest doubters...for now.

DJ Lagway's Implosion in Death Valley Costs Florida Chance at Upset Bid

Florida fell in embarrassing fashion at home in Week 2 to unranked South Florida - a game that put Gators head coach Billy Napier back on the hot seat.

What better way to get Napier back in the good graces of the fan base than going on the road to Death Valley and pitching an upset bid of No. 3 LSU?

The defense did its part. Florida held LSU to just 316 of total offense and 4-for-14 on third down. The problem for the Gators is that their star DJ Lagway played his worst game in a Florida uniform. The sophomore went 33-of-49 for 287 yards with one touchdown and five backbreaking interceptions.

It's hard to win a football game when you turn it over five times, and the Gators were unable to capitalize on the play of their defense on the road on Saturday.

Now 1-2, Florida travels to Miami in Week 4 with another opportunity to get the season back on the right track.

It's Fair to Begin Questioning the Play of Arch Manning

Texas quarterback Arch Manning - the preseason Heisman frontrunner - has looked anything but in his first three weeks as the full-time starter for the Longhorns.

Manning has had his moments here and there, and clearly has the tools (and lineage) to be an excellent quarterback, but his play thus far this season has been rather pedestrian.

On Saturday, the Manning experience in 2025 reached a new low against UTEP. While the Miners never truly threatened the Longhorns on Saturday, Texas' failure to pull away from its inferior competition effectively had much to do with Manning's ineffectiveness. The Longhorns took a 14-3 lead into halftime, but Manning was just 5-for-16 for 69 yards and an interception at the intermission.

His end line? Not a ton better - 11-of-25 for 114 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

It's taking some time for Manning to get his feet underneath him as the full-time starter, but there's only one more warm-up game in Week 4 against Sam Houston State before getting into conference play, where Manning's inconsistency could prove more costly. Something to monitor.

Kiss the Brent Pry Era Goodbye at Virginia Tech

After Virginia Tech took a 20-10 lead into halftime in Week 2 against Vanderbilt, the Hokies have been outscored 79-26. That, of course, was courtesy of the Commodores' 34-0 run that landed Brent Pry in this weekly column after Week 2, and again on Saturday - where the Hokies fell at home to Old Dominion 45-26 in Blacksburg.

The game was never competitive. Virginia Tech, a 5.5-point favorite, trailed 28-0 at halftime, and the score was later 45-13 before the Hokies put lipstick on a pig late with a couple of fourth quarter scores.

Virginia Tech is 0-3. Brent Pry's buyout is $6 million that is due to be paid in quarterly installments. A coaching change is imminent in Blacksburg.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as College Football Week 3 Takeaways: Clemson Got Swarmed.

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