The BCS is officially in the rearview mirror and the new College Football Playoff is just down the road. Statements were made by several teams this past weekend, but which teams are for real? Here’s the contenders and pretenders after the third week of games.

Contenders

Oklahoma Sooners

Week 3 result: Defeated Tennessee, 34-10

Oklahoma looked dominant again, this time against a SEC team with a lot of momentum coming into the matchup. Tennessee traveled to Norman to take on the Sooners, looking to make a statement, but it was the Oklahoma defense that put their foot down. The Sooners held the Vols to just 10 points and only 313 yards as they swarmed to the football on seemingly every play. Tennessee had trouble all night developing any kind of rhythm, thanks in large part to Oklahoma forcing three turnovers, including a 100-yard pick-six in the fourth quarter. Behind a top-notch defense and an offense led by quarterback Trevor Knight and wide receiver Sterling Shepard, the Sooners have all the pieces to make a serious run at the inaugural College Football Playoff and a Big 12 championship.

Missouri Tigers

Week 3 result: Defeated UCF, 38-10

For the second consecutive week, Missouri throttled a respectable non-conference opponent behind a huge performance from quarterback Maty Mauk. The sophomore signal caller only threw for 144 yards, but added another four scores for his SEC leading 12 passing touchdowns. In addition to Mauk, Missouri boasts a number of playmakers in Russell Hansbrough, Bud Sasser, Darius White and Marcus Murphy. On the other side of the ball, defensive ends Markus Golden and Shane Ray continue to wreak havoc on opposing backfields as the two combined for another 3.5 sacks and five tackles for loss against UCF. As long as those two keep producing, it’ll be tough for offenses to have much success on the Tigers this season.

BYU Cougars

Week 3 result: Defeated Houston, 33-25

The BYU Cougars may be the best team that you don’t know about. Often forgotten about considering their FBS Independent status, BYU has enough talent on both sides of the football to be in the College Football Playoff conversation at the end of the season. Quarterback Taysom Hill does it all for the BYU offense and did so against Houston this past weekend. Despite having one of his less impressive games, Hill still racked up 360 total yards and two touchdowns en route to an eight-point victory over Houston. Now ranked in both the AP and Coaches Polls, an undefeated BYU could easily make a run to the top by season’s end. Their notable upcoming opponents include Virginia, UCF and Boise State. Their schedule may not be the toughest, but their talent is legitimate.

Pretenders

South Carolina Gamecocks

Week 3 result: Defeated Georgia, 38-35

The Gamecocks’ win against Georgia was arguably the best of any team this weekend. However, I’m not buying the hype on South Carolina just yet. The defense still surrendered 35 points and 408 total yards, along with another below average performance from running back Mike Davis, who carried the ball for just 66 yards on 17 carries. And if it weren’t for some poor coaching decisions by UGA, the Gamecocks could easily be 0-2 in the SEC and out of the Top 25.

The key to the success of South Carolina this season rests on the play of its defense. Lorenzo Ward’s group certainly has the potential to be great, but it’s not a unit that’s proven it can put it all together quickly enough to be a real contender this season. One could also argue Georgia left at least 13 points on the field, thanks to a holding call on Todd Gurley’s 54-yard touchdown run, two missed field goals and a controversial intentional grounding by quarterback Hutson Mason.

RELATED: Week 3 Recap: What we learned about every SEC East team

It was a great win for South Carolina, but question marks are still abound for Steve Spurrier’s squad and there’s still a long way to go in the SEC East.

UCLA Bruins

Week 3 result: Defeated Texas, 20-17

I have to give UCLA some credit here. They’ve been on my pretenders list since the beginning of the season and they held strong through their first three games, coming back against Texas to win 20-17 this past weekend. The injury that forced out quarterback Brett Hundley wasn’t enough to derail the Bruins, but I still don’t like their chances against an upcoming schedule that features Arizona State, Oregon, USC and Stanford. For now though, the Bruins remain in the top 15 and have a bye week before a road game against Arizona State to open up their Pac-12 schedule.