Looking at Texas A&M's 2026 schedule, it seemed obvious the Aggies faced a tougher path this year than they did during an 11-1 regular season in 2025. A year ago, A&M played five SEC foes who fired their coaches while dodging playoff teams Alabama, Georgia and Oklahoma. But when assessing Texas A&M's 2026 slate, the "challenging" portion wasn't supposed to start until Week 4.
It arrived a week earlier than expected on Saturday, as Kentucky stunned the Aggies 31-21 at Kyle Field. The loss sent Texas A&M's national title odds plummeting. With six games against ranked opposition still ahead, the Aggies need to make massive improvements on both sides of the ball if they are going emerge from this Week 3 wreckage.
After A&M, which gets an 'F' this week, USC earned the second-worst grade of the week. The Trojans made Rutgers look great offensively, which isn't easy to do. All in all, it wasn't a great week for the national title contenders.
In fact, just one team gets an 'A' for their performance in Week 3 action. We are handing out grades evaluating every team that started or ended the day with national championship odds of +3000 or better. 2026 national championship odds listed below courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook. Teams listed in order of their AP Top 25 ranking.
Grade: C Result: 30-6 win vs. UTSA Title odds: +600On the heels of a program-defining win over Ohio State, Texas looked offensively hungover during an uninspiring win over its in-state foe. Arch Manning completed just 16 of 32 passes as the Longhorns averaged just 4.8 yards per play.
The defense shut down a capable UTSA passing attack, but the offense's inability to dominate was concerning. There will be plenty of talk in Austin this week about Manning's improvement as a passer, or lack thereof, as Texas travels to Tennessee. Grade: B Result: 45-17 win at Arkansas Title odds: +600Georgia is now 3 for 3 on covering the spread after running all over Arkansas and dominating time of possession in the SEC opener for both.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
