A head-scratching road performance by Florida State, a lethargic performance by Texas, a what-the-heck-was-that-crap performance by Alabama at South Florida – all a part of the USA Today / AFCA Top 10 Coaches Poll roundup this week.
Even two-time defending national champion and top-ranked Georgia wasn’t themselves, looking sleepy-headed at times during a 24-14 home win “between the hedges” at home against South Carolina.
And was it raining all over the world on Saturday, or what?
Let’s just take ‘em one game at a time.
No. 1 Georgia 24, South Carolina 14: The first half was kind of weird, very much like the old “To Tell the Truth” game show, and I’m not talking about the new one with Anthony Anderson. I’m talking about the old corny one, with the three people standing straight up, each of them saying things like, “I’m Pan-Am Pilot John Smith.”
By that, I mean, Georgia didn’t do much – THEY were just sort of there, other than tight end Brock Bowers. Bowers never stands around.
Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler’s statistics in the first half: 16-of-18 for 152 yards and a 17-yard to Antwane “Juice” Wells Jr. But Wells was injured on the play.
Georgia got on the board late in the first quarter with a 31-yard field goal, but the Gamecocks shocked the crowd with another touchdown with a minute left in the half, a 2-yard run by Dakereon Joyner that, with the extra point, gave South Carolina a 14-3 lead at the half – and actually brought some boo-birds out from the Bulldogs’ crowd.
Things settled down in the second half, though, as Daijun Edwards got the ‘Dogs within four points on a 7-yard touchdown run (14-10), and then the Bulldogs took a lead for what turned out to be for good on a 3-yard run by Dillion Bell.
Cash Jones finished the scoring with a 13-yard run, capping a 61-yard drive with 9:10 left in the fourth quarter.
Georgia’s defense did the rest, completely shutting Rattler down in the second half and changing that last ‘R’ in Rattler to a ‘D.’ After the efficient first half, Rattler went 6-of-24 for 104 yards and two picks in the second.
Carson Beck, Georgia’s starting quarterback this year after the departure of two-time national title-winner Stetson Bennett, was 27-of-35 for 269 yards. Bowers had seven catches for 54 yards and Dominic Lovett, seven for 56.
After the game, South Carolina coach Shane Beamer tried to take the loss in stride. “We just went toe-to-toe with the No. 1 team in the country and back-to-back defending national champions,” Beamer said. “We just weren’t able to get it done.”
Georgia hosts Alabama-Birmingham on Saturday. South Carolina will host Mississippi State.
No. 2 Michigan 31, Bowling Green 6: At Ann Arbor, the Wolverines didn’t have head coach Jim Harbaugh, still serving that suspension, and quarterback J.J. McCarthy wasn’t on top of his game: he threw three interceptions.
But the Wolverines (3-0 with the win) did get two touchdowns and 101 yards rushing from Blake Corum and a nice defensive performance in this win over Bowling Green. Michigan’s defense had three sacks and 10 tackles for loss.
No. 3 Florida State 31, Boston College 29: The Seminoles took their show on the road, and went up 31-10 before they knew anyone was on the field with them.
Then, the Eagles began their comeback, scoring 19 straight points.
One almost got the feeling that if Boston College had had more time, FSU (3-0) could very well have been an upset victim.
In the end, a costly facemask penalty gave FSU a new set of downs, rather than giving BC the ball back, and allowed the Seminoles to run out the clock.
Boston College (1-2) was flagged for 18 penalties in the game, a new school record.
Florida State quarterback Jordan Travis went 15-of-23 for 200 yards and two touchdowns.
The Seminoles have a huge road trip this coming Saturday: they get to go to Clemson. Boston College will visit Louisville.
No. 4 Texas 31, Wyoming 10: The “our big game was last week” bug bit Texas a bit down in Austin on Saturday, as coach Steve Sarkisian did everything he could to get the Longhorns to wake up in the first half, but couldn’t get that to happen until the fourth quarter.
When they finally did, the Cowboys took it on the chin.
Texas led 10-3 going into the final quarter, then went off for 21 unanswered points in that last stanza: a 44-yard touchdown pass from Quinn Ewers to Xavier Worthy, a 5-yard run by Ewers, and then to put icing on the cake, a 27-yard pick-six by Jerrin Thompson sealed it.
Ewers was otherwise unspectacular, going 11-of-21 for 131 yards and two touchdowns, the other one a 1-yarder to Byron Murphy. Jonathan Brooks ran for 164 yards for the Longhorns, who are now 3-0, and play at Baylor this coming Saturday night.
For the Cowboys, Evan Svoboda went 17-of-28 for 136 yards and the pick. Harrison Waylee rushed for 110 yards and a score.
Wyoming is now 2-1, and gets to host giant-killer Appalachian State on Saturday.
No. 6 Ohio State 63, Western Kentucky 10: Did somebody say the Buckeyes’ offense couldn’t score?
Check that crap off.
Ohio State scored seven in the first quarter, led the Hilltoppers 7-3 going into the second, and then proceeded to drop 35 FREAKING POINTS on them before halftime, before going on to win 63-10.
The Buckeyes are now 3-0, and have a big one next week: they play at Notre Dame.
Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord was 19-of-23 for 318 yards and three touchdowns against the Hilltoppers on Saturday. Backup QB Devin Brown was 3-for-4 for 75 yards and a TD. Marvin Harrison caught one of the TDs for 75 yards. Emeka Egbuka had four catches for 57 yards and two scores. Carnell Tate had two for 40 and a score.
TreVeyon Henderson ran for 88 yards and a TD.
Western Kentucky QB Austin Reed went 21-of-37 for 207 yards for a touchdown and an interception.
No. 7 Penn State 30, Illinois 13: The first thing that stands out for the Nittany Lions (3-0 now) is their defense, after holding the Illini to 62 total yards. They also had four interceptions, a fumble recovery, three sacks and seven tackles for loss along the way.
Kicker Alex Felkins was busy, hitting field goals of 20, 45 and 28 yards, although he did have a field goal blocked (from 52 yards).
The Nittany Lions have Iowa coming to Happy Valley on Saturday.
No. 8 Washington 41, Michigan State 7: The Spartans have a host of problems, the greatest of which is off the field with the suspension of coach Mel Tucker (in his third season) on a charge of sexual harassment.
On the field, though, they have a few, as well, and Washington exposed those on Saturday, incredibly using Sparty as a punching bag to the tune of 713 total yards and a 35-0 lead at halftime.
Strangely, MSU was 2-0 coming into the game after beating Richmond, 45-14, last week, but there was nothing to celebrate during the game against the Huskies (3-0).
Washington quarterback Michael Penix was 27-of-35 for 473 yards and four touchdowns, three of them to Jack Westover.
The only score for Michigan State was a 4-yard TD run by second-string QB Katin Horser with 5:48 left in the game.
Harlon Barnett, the Spartans’ defensive backs’ coach, was the interim head coach in the game in place of Tucker.
Washington hosts Cal on Saturday; Michigan State will host Maryland.
No. 9 Notre Dame 41, Central Michigan 17: Quarterback Sam Hartman was fairly efficient and even though it could have been a bit prettier, we’ll say, the Fighting Irish took care of Central Michigan, 41-17.
Hartman ran for one touchdown and threw for three, and now has 123 all-time TD passes, good enough for seventh on the NCAA’s all-time list, tied with Oklahoma’s Landry Jones.
Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman’s focus, though, is turning toward Ohio State, whom the Irish will host this Saturday.
“I still don’t know if we’ve seen the full potential of this team, right? And that’s my challenge,” Freeman said. “My challenge is we got to get better each week.”
Also for ND, Audric Estime had 176 yards rushing and a touchdown. The Irish had 578 total yards.
Hartman’s three touchdown passes were to Tobias Merriweather (75 yards), Chris Tyree (76 yards) and Holden Staes (for 4 yards). Hartman had 330 passing yards.
Central Michigan visits South Alabama – who upset Oklahoma State in Stillwater on Saturday – this week.
No. 10 Alabama 17, South Florida 3: You read that right.
Alabama seems to have a few problems, most notably at quarterback, where three people – Jalen Milroe, Tyler Buchner and Ty Simpson – have taken snaps in the last two games.
Milroe, who was the only quarterback to play in the Crimson Tide’s home loss to Texas the week before, didn’t play in this one in Tampa, which was in a lightning delay for about an hour. There was also enough rain to make Noah proud.
But to say Buchner and Simpson were somewhat inaccurate would be a gross understatement.
Buchner, who transferred in the offseason through the portal from Notre Dame, went 5-of-14 fpr 34 yards, and Simpson was 5-of-9 for 73 yards and had a rush TD. Alabama was a 34-point favorite in Las Vegas, but was tied with South Florida at 3-all at the half.
C.J. Dippre had a 45-yard catch from Simpson and Roydell Williams had a 1-yard score to give the Tide a 10-3 lead, then Simpson would score late for the final tally. Alabama did finish with 310 yards of total offense in a rainy mess of a day.
Alabama (2-1) hosts Ole Miss in the Southeastern Conference opener for both programs on Saturday, and after the game, Saban told the media that the decision would be made on a starting quarterback this week (Nick Saban noncommittal about starter after more QB struggles – ESPN).
“I know you’re going to ask about the quarterbacks,” he said. “We’re going to evaluate the quarterbacks that played today and evaluate Jalen Milroe in terms of how he played and decide this week who gives us the best opportunity to be successful as an offensive team. And that’s the way we’ll go.”
