No. 8 Ole Miss beat No. 7 LSU 32-24 and No. 25 Virginia fell to West Virginia 38-27, giving Week 3 a pair of ranked results that are going to reshape the Poll Top 25. The night belonged to late pressure, sudden swings and one interception at the end that shut the door on LSU after the Tigers had clawed all the way back.
For readers searching top 25 college football scores, this was the kind of Saturday that makes the numbers matter. Ole Miss led 24-7 at halftime, then watched LSU answer with two touchdowns and a field goal to tie it before the Rebels steadied themselves and converted a two-point attempt for a 32-24 lead. LSU still had life, reaching first and goal with just under two minutes left, but Jaylon Braxton ended it by coming down with a tipped pass on fourth down.
The first half had already set the stage. Ole Miss had control at 24-7, and the game changed again in the third quarter when Kewan Lacy exited with shoulder pain and Trey’Dez Green was helped to the sideline with an apparent lower-body injury. Ole Miss scored after that stoppage, then kept the pressure on until the two-point try stretched the margin back to eight. LSU’s rally had been good enough to make the finish feel fragile, but not enough to finish the job.
West Virginia’s win over Virginia carried a different shape but the same ranking weight. Michael Hawkins Jr. delivered a career-high five touchdowns as West Virginia shook off a 14-7 first-quarter deficit, led 21-14 at halftime and answered when Virginia tied the game at 21 in the third quarter. West Virginia responded with a touchdown pass to DJ Epps and kept moving until the final score settled at 38-27.
Hawkins finished 21-of-27 for 248 yards, and the stat line matched the result: efficient, aggressive and hard to chase down once West Virginia got rolling. The night’s late scores also fit the broader reason these games are being searched now. Week 3 produced a pair of ranked upsets, and the expectation is that Poll movement will follow when the Top 25 is updated.
That leaves one clear takeaway and one clear next step. Ole Miss escaped a top-10 fight it nearly let slip, West Virginia handled a ranked opponent after absorbing its own momentum swings, and the rankings now have to catch up with both results before Sunday’s Poll Top 25 release.
