Looking back on the college football weekend, and we’ll do this each Sunday. This one was posting a little late, but hope you’ll enjoy it.
Famous last, or in this case, stupid words: I actually opened the college football weekend schedule story with these words: “This weekend’s college football schedule isn’t loaded like last weekend’s…”
Yes, I said it.
How stupid.
Turns out, even though there were a few blowouts, there were some fantastic moments.
Off the top of my head:
- The catch by Michigan’s Roman Wilson against Nebraska (Michigan WR Roman Wilson Catches a TD on the Defender’s Helmet). Wilson gave us the first real entry into the catch-of-the-year award category with this play, a 29-yard pass of a great pass by J.J. McCarthy. Wilson and Nebraska defensive back Isaac Gifford both leapt on the play, with Gifford face-guarding Wilson. But Wilson managed to pull the ball in, using Gifford’s back and helmet, maintaining control of the ball all the way to the ground.
McCarthy told the media afterward that he thought a pass interference flag had been thrown on the Cornhuskers; he didn’t realize Wilson had caught the ball.
It wasn’t the first time I’ve seen a catch like that (Prothro Catch – YouTube), as Alabama’s Tyrone Prothro made a spectacular similar catch against Southern Miss back in the 2005 season.
Michigan went on to blast Nebraska, 45-7, but that was by far the highlight of the game, and it would’ve been the highlight of the day – if not for the very next bullet point.
- Central Florida quarterback Timmy McClain’s fourth-down conversion against Baylor (Announcers can’t contain themselves over Timmy McClain’s WILD fourth down conversion vs. Baylor).
Now, this is somewhat dampened by the simple fact that the Knights allowed Baylor to make a 28-point comeback and win the freaking game, 36-35.
Central Florida got the ball back after a Baylor score, with a minute left in the game and no time outs. McClain needed 5 yards for a first down.
Baylor’s pass-rushers had other ideas and appeared to have McClain dead to rights at the 20, before he spun free, but ran backward, all the way to his own end zone.
Baylor defensive lineman Gabe Hall made a last-ditch effort to get McClain at the goal line, but missed. With three Baylor defenders rushing at him, McClain steadied himself and got off a dart, a pass to running back R.J. Harvey, who caught the ball just beyond the first-down marker, then juked Baylor safety Corey Gordon Jr. and picked up about 9 yards beyond the necessary yards he needed, getting the first down and keeping UCF’s hopes alive.
The Knights would go on to miss a long field goal that would’ve won the game, and lost, 36-35.
But McClain ran around for what seems like forever, at least long enough to get a cake ready to put in the oven, until he found Harvey for the catch on this heck of a highlight-reel play.
Baylor’s comeback (Baylor stages remarkable comeback, ruins UCF Big 12 Conference home debut, 36-35) from being completely, totally dead in the game is the real story, I guess, but that play…wow.
- Baylor’s comeback succeeded. Colorado’s comeback against Southern Cal on Saturday fell short (Williams ties career high with 6 TD passes, No. 8 USC withstands late Colorado rally for 48-41 win), but made for a wildly-entertaining finish.
USC quarterback Caleb Williams is on a tear aiming at a second-straight Heisman Trophy, and after six touchdown passes to just one interception yesterday in Boulder, Williams has to be the leader in the clubhouse for the award, still with most of the season to be played. Williams went for 403 yards and had Colorado knocked out, a 34-7 lead for the Trojans in the second quarter.
That was before the Buffaloes roared back, and almost came all the way back. USC held on for the 48-41 win.
That Trojans’ defense, though, rough performance.
- Georgia looks human. I’ve been saying this to our staff for the entire season, but other than tight end Brock Bowers, whose nickname should be “Baby Gronk,” or something, nothing about this Georgia team looks special. Their schedule is their schedule, and that’s somewhat of a cop-out in itself.
The Bulldogs are getting off to slow starts, and it’s costing them. It could have cost them their number one ranking on Saturday, as Auburn, whose talent level is nowhere near Georgia’s right now, took the ‘Dawgs down to the wire. (Beck-to-Bowers combo rallies No. 1 Georgia to 27-20 win over Auburn).
Carson Beck, Georgia’s first-year starter at quarterback, found Bowers for a 40-yard touchdown to break a 20-all tie. Auburn got the ball back, trailing 27-20 at home, with time running out. But Auburn QB Payton Thorne – who only threw for 82 yards in the game – threw an interception to Georgia’s Malaki Starks and that sealed the win for the Bulldogs.
It was their 22nd straight win overall, and their seventh straight over archrival Auburn, whom they’ve defeated 10 of the last 11 times.
In a schedule so far that’s included Ball State, Alabama-Birmingham, South Carolina and Auburn, the ‘Dawgs came out flat against all four, especially South Carolina and Auburn. They trailed South Carolina 14-3 at the half, and never looked dominant in the least against Auburn Saturday. But they escaped, and although the lost a few number-one votes, the Bulldogs remained number one in both the AP and USA Today / AFCA Coaches Polls.
Flirting with a loss, though, isn’t a good way to keep it, especially with Michigan, Texas, and Florida State all nipping at their heels.
- Ainias Smith’s 82-yard touchdown helps Texas A&M top Arkansas. Smith’s return was one of several highlights for the Aggies Saturday at AT&T Stadium in a 34-22 SEC West Division win over the Razorbacks. A lot of people wrote the Aggies off after starting quarterback Conner Weigman was lost for the year to a foot injury.
But Max Johnson, the son of former Tampa Bay quarterback Brad Johnson, isn’t much of a drop-off from Weigman at all, if any, and the Aggies will likely prove to be a formidable opponent for Alabama this Saturday in College Station.
- Kentucky’s Ray Davis was so good, Florida tried to use 13 men on one play. Kentucky moved to 5-0 with a bit of an embarrassing beat-down of the rebuilding Gators on Saturday. The Wildcats scored 16 points in the first quarter and never looked back.
Davis, one of the Wildcats’ running backs, was nothing short of amazing, rushing for 280 yards on 26 carries and three touchdowns.
And on one of them, the Gators actually had 13 men on the field at the goal line, and still couldn’t stop Davis from getting into the end zone (Florida had 13 on field and couldn’t stop a Ray Davis/Kentucky TD).
With 10:55 left in the third quarter, Florida (as you can see by clicking on that link, where there’s a photo), somehow didn’t get called for having 13 defenders on the field: six on the goalline, and SEVEN MORE in the end zone behind them.
Still, Kentucky’s offensive line handled the situation somehow, and Davis ploughed into the end zone.
Based on what we’ve seen from Kentucky so far, and what we’ve seen of Georgia, the game on Oct. 7 in Athens should at least be competitive.
- Missouri remains undefeated. Who was it that put Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz on the hot seat?
Well, I was one of ‘em, I have to admit it. And they’re not exactly 2019 LSU, either, but they haven’t lost.
The Tigers didn’t exactly beat a juggernaut Saturday in a 38-21 win over Vanderbilt in Nashville. But again, there’s that 5-0 beside Missouri’s name.
It gets somewhat real next week, though, as the high-powered LSU offense (and the porous LSU DEFENSE, who would have ever thought that?) come to town on Saturday, and the following week, there’s a trip to Kentucky, which suddenly looks daunting.
- Finn Hogan? More like HULK Hogan for Bowling Green. If Michigan’s Roman Wilson had the catch of the day, then BG receiver Finn Hogan had the second-best, a one-hander in the end zone against Georgia Tech on Saturday. And to make it even better for Bowling Green, they scored 38 unanswered points and beat the Yellow Jackets, 38-27.
The catch was a 14-yarder for a touchdown from quarterback Connor Bazelak (Bowling Green WR Finn Hogan UNREAL TD Catch vs Georgia Tech) that gave Bowling Green the 17-14 lead with 2 1/2 minutes left in the first half.
- Ole Miss-LSU turns into a shootout, and Tigers’ once-famed defense looks like they need lessons in fundamentals. “Son, this is a football.” That might be one way LSU coach Brian Kelly could start his practice on Monday, with his defense, after the numbers and points coach Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss Rebels put on the Tigers Saturday: 55 points and 711 total yards.
Ole Miss beat LSU, 55-49, in Oxford, Mississippi Saturday afternoon, and in doing so, severely dented the Tigers’ national title hopes. LSU has two losses overall on the season, now, and actually won a national title several years ago with two, but likely wouldn’t get into a four-team playoff today with two losses, unless there were severe calamity everywhere else.
The Tigers also have a loss in the SEC West, and would lose the tiebreaker to Ole Miss, with games at Alabama and against Texas A&M left on the schedule.
Ole Miss scored the game-winning touchdown with less than a minute left, a 13-yard pass from Jaxson Dart to Tre Harris, who had over 150 yards receiving in the game.
Dart shredded LSU’s defense, going 26-of-39 for 389 yards and four touchdowns to no interceptions, and also ran for 50 yards and a score. And running back Quinshon Judkins ran for 181 yards and a score on 34 carries.
Now, LSU’s offense also put up tremendous numbers: 637 total yards and a 414-yard, five total touchdown performance by quarterback Jayden Daniels. But it’s not Ole Miss that’s been known as one of major college football’s best defensive programs for the last 20 years.
- Alabama pastes Mississippi State. Coach Nick Saban and his Crimson Tide took about an hour and 10-minute bus ride from Tuscaloosa to Starkville, Mississippi on Saturday, and although it started shaky, with a couple of fumbles, Saban’s screaming helped right the Tide, and they blew by State, 40-17.
Alabama is 4-1 overall, and still unbeaten in SEC play, their one loss a home loss to Texas. The Tide scored 31 first-half points in Starkville in the 108th meeting between Alabama and State. It’ll be their last for at least two years, though, as somewhat shockingly, Alabama is not scheduled to play either State or Ole Miss next year. The SEC is abandoning the divisional format, and neither Mississippi team is on the Alabama schedule.
Alabama won the Mississippi Championship this year, though, beating Ole Miss last Saturday and State this week, and outscoring them by a combined 64-27.
Saban after the win: Nick Saban after Alabama’s 16th straight win over Mississippi State.
It was Alabama’s 16th straight win in the series.
Quarterback Jalen Milroe has been questioned this year, but seems to be taking better command of the offense. Milroe only threw the ball 12 times Saturday, but went an efficient 10-of-12, and ran the ball for 69 yards and two touchdowns. Alabama also had an interception for a touchdown early in the game by Chris Braswell to give them a 14-0 lead.
- Texas doesn’t look flukey at all. The Longhorns instead look dominant, having beaten Alabama in Tuscaloosa at first, raising eyebrows, and then blowing out rival Baylor in Waco.
On Saturday, the Longhorns, led by running back Jonathon Brooks, blasted Kansas, 40-14, in Austin.
Now, Texas didn’t have to face Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels, who had stiffness in his back prior to the game in warm-ups and didn’t play.
Texas proceeded to go completely off. Brooks was the biggest gun of all: 217 yards and two rushing touchdowns, as the Longhorns finished with 600 total yards. The Texas defense has allowed only three touchdowns in the three games since facing Alabama.
- Duke blows the lead, allows Irish a come-from-behind win. Duke came into their home game against No. 11 Notre Dame having done so much right this season.
And they did a lot right on Saturday – right up until they allowed coach Marcus Freeman’s Fighting Irish to drive 95 yards for the winning score with 31 seconds left in the game.
Notre Dame staves off that second loss, and stayed alive in the national championship picture with the win, its 30th straight over teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Freeman also broke his own tie: Notre Dame is now 5-4 against ranked teams under Freeman.
