Moving the Chains: Takeaways from College Football

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Since this catches up on two weeks of action, this will be limited to teams in the Top 10.    

First, a recap of Week 3:

In a Lone Star State Showdown/Snoozefest, #1 Texas outscored UTSA by 24 points.  Otherwise, it was a rather underwhelming performance for a team ranked best in the country. 

Perhaps the true Top Dog, #2 Georgia won their 51^st straight game over an unranked opponent by beating Arkansas 45 – 17.  Incidentally, the Bulldogs’ last loss to an unranked team was against South Carolina in 2019 – and it took the Gamecocks two overtimes to pull it off.

Speaking of beating unranked teams – which they do quite often with their easy schedule – #3 Notre Dame had no trouble with Michigan State, winning 27 – 10. 

One week after losing to Georgia by 50 points, Western Kentucky upped their game against #4 Indiana.  But to win you still have to put points on the board: Indiana – 38, Western Kentucky – 0.  

#5 Miami wasn’t overly impressive in a 33 – 20 win over Wake Forest, but their Big Two continue to shine: quarterback Darian Mensah was 30/34 for 220 yards and 3 TD’s, and receiver Malachi Toney had 12 receptions for 114 yards and 1 TD.  Of note: the Hurricanes were held to 75 yards of offense in the second half, and had it not been for 13 penalties totalling 122 yards, the Demon Deacons might have pulled off the upset.

One week removed from seeing their 20-point fourth quarter evaporate in a loss to Texas, #6 Ohio State took out their frustrations against undermanned Kent State, 59 – 3.  (Along those same lines, #21 Oregon rebounded after last week’s embarrassing loss to Oklahoma State by pummeling Portland State 84 – 0.  That should make coach Dan Lanning feel better.  After all, 84 points is more than some teams score in an entire season.  Portland State, for example.)

The much-anticipated return to Oxford for LSU coach Lane Kiffin gave the Ole Miss crowd what they wanted: the Derailment of the Lane Train.  #8 Ole Miss – 32, #7 LSU – 24.  After the game, Kiffin may or may not have said the loss wasn’t anything that adding a couple of NFL players to their roster couldn’t have prevented.  

Kentucky coach Will Stein made his presence known in his SEC debut with a 31 – 21 win against #9 Texas A&M in front of the Aggies’ 12^th Man – and a disappointing SEC opener for A&M coach Mike Elko.  

#10 Alabama toyed with FSU for most of the game before putting the Seminoles away 50 – 36 as the Mike Norvell Farewell Tour rolls on.  

Bonus coverage: in the Orange-and-Blue Bowl, despite being flagged 16 times for 138 yards in penalties, Florida held on to beat Auburn in War Eagle Country, 44 – 39.   

On to Week Four:

If you didn’t catch the first 58 minutes of the game, you didn’t miss much.  The fact that there were 16 quarterback sacks in the game is all you need to know about the level of excitement when #1 Texas took on #14 Tennessee in Knoxville.  Down 20 – 10 late in the game, the Vols scored on what was essentially a Hail Mary in the closing minutes to pull within a field goal.  Then, after a successful onsides kick (more on that later), Tennessee still had a chance to pull the upset.  But apparently  head coach Josh Huepel didn’t feel that way, because he called perhaps the worst two-minute drill of the last decade.  Final score: Longhorns – 20, Vols – 17.   

Has anyone noticed how poorly Oklahoma has fared in recent years?  Now in their third year in the SEC, the Sooners are 18 – 12 overall … and just 8 – 9 in conference play.  Final score: #2 Georgia – 41, Oklahoma – 13.   Unfortunately, Georgia and Texas don’t play one another in the regular season – but don’t be at all surprised if they don’t meet somewhere down the road.  

#3 Notre Dame – 49, Purdue – 10.  Nothing to see here.  Moving on …    

#4 Ole Miss and #21 Florida.  The underdogs were favored by 3 in this game, once again proving that the polls are stupid – because the Gators won by 24.  Final score: Gators – 52, Rebels – 28. Florida running back Jaden Baugh is the real deal: 29 carries for 142 yards and 3 TD’s.  He deserves to be noticed by the Heisman committee.       

#5 Indiana got a taste of what it’s like to be the defending National Champions –  everyone gunning to take you down – in their Big Ten opener against Northwestern.  In front of a sold out home crowd, the outcome was in doubt before the Hoosiers locked the game away with a touchdown with less than 2 minutes left.  Hoosiers – 29, Northwestern – 23.  

#6 Miami – 52, Central Michigan – 3.  The only interesting thing about this game is that although Miami quarterback Darian Mensah completed 23 of 27 passes (85.2%) for 338 yards and 3 TD’s, he actually lowered his completion percentage for the season (it fell to 89.9%; for the season he’s 71/79 for 873 yards and 11 TD’s without an interception).  

#7 Ohio State – 42, Illinois – 19.  This game was essentially the Julian Sayin to Jeremiah Smith Show (JS-2-JS, anyone?): they combined on 12 receptions for 217 yards and 4 touchdowns.  

#8 Alabama – 49, South Carolina – 18.  The days for head coach Shane Beamer could be numbered.  In his 6^th season with the Gamecocks, his record is now 35 – 31, and  this season it’s 2 – 2 after a disappointing 4 – 8 in 2025.  Incidentally, his contract runs through 2030, so a buyout would be costly for the university.     

#10 LSU – 35, #23 Texas A&M – 6.  After posting 5 – 3 and 7 – 1 SEC records in his first two years with the Aggies, head coach Mike Elko is winless in two conference games this season.  Just remember the university paid Jimbo Fisher $77 million when they relieved him of his coaching duties before hiring Elko.  This information may come in handy later.      

Bonus coverage: with two seconds left in the game, #17 Iowa completed a mini-Hail Mary (of 16 yards) for a touchdown to slip by #18 Michigan in Ann Arbor, 20 – 19.  Karma was obviously making up for the Wolverines’ controversial ‘win’ earlier in the season against Western Michigan.     

Saving the worst for last: the player wearing #1 on his uniform for the #1 Texas Longhorns, after sacking the opposing quarterback just before halftime, was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct for ‘faux urinating’ on the field.  That wasn’t the worst part: Texas’ coach let him play the rest of the game.  But here’s the good part: the Vols were able to recover their onside kick at the end of the game because As Karma would have it, Texas’ #1 let the ball slip under his hands.

Interesting fact: no team penalized for faux urinating on the field has ever won the National Championship (see Ole Miss, circa 2019).  If karma has anything to do with it – and it most certainly does – Texas won’t win it this year either.