It’s crazy to think we’re already entering Week 4 of the college football season. It seems like the offseason dragged on forever, and now the season is flying by like a runaway train.

It’s already less than 100 days until Christmas. Fewer than that until Thanksgiving. Halloween is in a few short weeks!

Before we know it, College Football Playoff rankings and Midweek MACtion will be back in our lives!

Where does the time go?

Just a reminder to enjoy the craziness and beauty of college football while we are lucky enough to have it in our lives every week!

For now, let’s dive into this week’s Mailbag (where time always moves a little slower):

Derek:

Through 3 weeks of the season, which 5 wins by SEC teams have impressed you the most?

The real meat of the SEC schedule starts this week, with Tennessee hosting Florida and Arkansas and Texas A&M squaring off in Arlington. But, there were a handful of impressive nonconference wins (and a couple of early SEC-on-SEC victories).

If I had to rank the top 5 wins thus far, here’s how I’d order them:

  1. Tennessee at Pitt
  2. Kentucky at Florida
  3. Georgia over Oregon (in Atlanta)
  4. Florida vs. Utah
  5. LSU vs. Mississippi State

First of all, I know Arkansas fans are going to be upset not to see any of their 3 wins on this list. The Hogs’ body of work as a whole is impressive, but I want to see what they can do away from Razorback Stadium first. Win vs. Texas A&M in Arlington and that’s certainly worthy of the No. 5 spot on this list.

For the first 2 choices, I value wins in true road games against ranked opponents higher than just about anything else. The Vols and Wildcats went into hostile environments and came away winners. That’s not easy to do.

Georgia’s win over Oregon in Atlanta was not exactly a “neutral site,” but the way the Dawgs dispatched a team that has looked fantastic since that Week 1 matchup only makes Georgia look even better.

Florida edging out Utah in Week 1 was one of the best games in all of college football thus far in 2022. And, I have LSU’s win over Mississippi State in the No. 5 spot because of how good the Tigers looked on both sides of the ball just 2 weeks after a heartbreaking loss to Florida State.

Honorable mentions for this list include Alabama holding off Texas in Austin and Texas A&M taking down then-No. 13 Miami in College Station in Week 3.

@SChinni12:

If Auburn does indeed end up firing Bryan Harsin, who would you have atop your list of replacements?

Auburn has gone with the “safe” choice at head coach for a while now. I want to see them shake things up. Thus, I’d have 2 very interesting names atop my list – Hugh Freeze and Deion Sanders.

With Coach Prime, you know you’re getting that “wow” factor that Auburn hasn’t had since Cam Newton was in town. But, it’s not just flash from Sanders. He’s a great recruiter and an excellent football coach. He also attracts smart people to work on his staff. He’s the total package as a coach, and if he decides he wants to move up to the Power 5, Auburn would be a very intriguing fit.

With Freeze, we know he can beat Nick Saban. He did it twice at Ole Miss. His offensive system is modern and throws the ball down the field (something that seemed foreign under Gus Malzahn). He also brings a certain amount of brashness and swag to the position that has been lacking.

I love what Jamey Chadwell has done with Coastal Carolina, but I don’t think the Auburn fan base (or board of trustees, for that matter) would be patient enough to let him develop his system in the SEC. I think he’s a heck of a coach, but this wouldn’t be a good fit for him.

Robert:

How insane is Kent State’s nonconference schedule this year? The Golden Flashes have played at Washington, at Oklahoma and, this weekend, travel to Athens to take on No. 1 Georgia. That shouldn’t be allowed, right?

I agree with you. That brutal nonconference schedule does a disservice to the players on that team.

Every other Group of 5 team that plays “money” games makes due with 1, maybe 2, per year. This is a blatant money grab by the athletic department and it comes at the expense of the football players.

Kent State is a fine team. I’m not taking that away from them. But do they deserve to play 3 ranked Power 5 teams (including 2 legitimate Playoff contenders) in the first 4 weeks? No.

The Bulldogs will reportedly pay Kent State $1.9 million to make the trip to Athens this weekend. It’s safe to say the payouts from Washington and Oklahoma were somewhere in the 7-figure range, too.

It seems to me like the Kent State administration saw the going rate for one of those games and said, “Let’s load up the schedule.” I just hope none of the Kent State players suffer injuries against the nation’s best defense and an elite offense. Hopefully, rules will be put into place to prevent this sort of blatant money grab at the expense of “student-athletes” in the future.

@Dobbe8:

How mad does it make you that Kansas is 3-0 right now?

Oh, it makes me very mad as a Mizzou graduate. Have I mentioned that I’m a Mizzou graduate before? I don’t think I have.

I have to grudgingly give the Jayhawks their due, though, as they’re not just beating up on nobodies. In fact, for the past decade, they’ve had trouble even beating the nobodies in college football.

There was a real chance that College GameDay could have gone to Lawrence for this weekend’s matchup between undefeated Duke and the Jayhawks, but fortunately, the show went to Rocky Top instead.

Still, it should be the best atmosphere in Lawrence since the Mark Mangino days, as the school announced a sellout for Saturday, which can only be taken as a sign of the apocalypse.

My hope is that Nebraska hires Lance Leipold away from the Jayhawks, though, and the program tumbles back into obscurity where it belongs.

Have a question for next week’s Mailbag? Tweet at us using #SDSMailbag or email me at Adam.Spencer@XLMedia.com.