Week 4 Recap

by Big Al

It was a fun weekend. Not an earthshaking one, but fun and interesting.

Texas Tech 28 - Houston 26

Looked like it was a great game. Didn't get to watch it all because I had to get up early on Saturday. But what I saw was definitely not boring.

Ole Miss 32 - LSU 24

Aside from LSU fans, was anybody rooting for LSU in this one? Didn't think so.

Did get to watch this game. Or at least a lot of the end. Gotta say, I didn't understand the choice to go for two after Ole Miss went ahead by a touchdown. If LSU storms back (and they had plenty of time to do so), a missed two-pointer would allow LSU to just kick the extra point for the win rather than go to overtime. But LSU was kind enough to make it easy on them with two straight offsides penalties, and Ole Miss had less than a yard to punch it in. Also, Trinidad Chambliss is fun to watch. Sam Leavitt ain't exactly boring neither. Anyway, I also think that Ole Miss is very good, but lacks depth... which is why LSU was able to storm back late. Something to consider come November.

Actually, now that I think of it, I wonder if the point of the two-pointer was to avoid overtime? This early in the year, you would not want your team to have a long, grinding game that would wear your team out for the rest of the year. Go for the win, accept it if you lose, but at least get it done so you can play the rest of the season. Especially when your team is already playing four quarters of grinding football that is going to leave both teams beat up for next week.

Anyway, great win by Ole Miss, tough loss for LSU, time for both teams to rest up as well as they can and move on, because they've both got some good teams coming right up.

Kentucky 31 - Texas A&M 21

I don't actually know what happened here, except that we found out Texas A&M wasn't as good as their ranking. I kind of knew that anyway, but I didn't think they'd be knocked off by Kentucky of all people. Were they looking ahead to LSU? Oh yeah. Should they have been able to beat Kentucky despite that? A number 9 team should have, yes. Gonna be a rough go of it for the Aggies this year.

Notre Dame 27 - Michigan State 10

I forgot that Pat Fitzgerald landed in Michigan State: talk about failing up. Also, I was endlessly distracted by how much CJ Carr looks like Lincoln Riley.

Got to watch a good portion of this game too. Michigan State is not far off. Offensively, they are short on talent, but they were giving Notre Dame a lot of stress. Defensively, you could see that what they were doing was working on scheme, but they often couldn't quite finish the play, either due to lack of talent or experience. They haven't turned a corner, but they are at least looking like they are on the road and have a map.

For Notre Dame, this was a good test. And their biggest risks of the season have been passed. After this, they knew BYU, Miami, and SMU would be good, so they are not going to be suprised. I know two losses kept them out of the playoffs last year, but that is VERY unlikely to happen again. Their next biggest question mark is North Carolina, who is seemingly better than they were last year. But really, it's a few teams that are good, but their schedule sets up pretty well for a coast into the playoffs. Their biggest risk is complacency for the team they have right now.

Vanderbilt 35 - NC State 31

So, in case you had not heard, NC State was up by 3 with 6 seconds left and 4th down on the 5 yard line. Their quarterback was assigned the task of running around for 6 seconds, if possible, to kill the clock and win the game. Failing that, take the safety. He ran around in the end zone, fumbled on the tackle, Vanderbilt recovered it and came away with the craziest win of the last several years. It may not be pretty, but it's a win. Kudos to Vanderbilt for making a way somehow!

Alabama 50 - Florida State 36

Gotta say, Florida State made it interesting! And they turned it into a Big 12 game circa 2014. But Alabama was just too much. Florida State may or may not turn out good this year, but this year is going to be a process setting up for next year.

USC 42 - Rutgers 35

Okay, point one: a win is a win. Especially when you literally traveled from one side of the country to the other for the game. Point two: yeah, it was disconcertingly ugly. But I'm remembering point one and I'm not going to worry about it for now.

Louisville 41 - SMU 31

A big game for positioning in the ACC. It's a long season, but Louisville got into better position for the conference.

Oklahoma 14 - New Mexico 6

Not surprising. New Mexico is actually pretty good. They aren't going to beat top teams, but they are good enough to challenge them for four quarters. Oklahoma won, good for them, it's on to the next game.

West Virginia 38 - Virginia 27

West takes the battle of the Virginias! Anyway, good win by the Mountaineers to get ready for Big 12 play.

Clemson 28 - North Carolina 20

Well, it looked ugly early, but Clemson was up to the task. I'm glad to see they've still got fight in them.

Florida 44 - Auburn 39

Florida is 3-0 and ranked. That's pretty good. They may not be there, but they are maybe on their way back. We find out a lot more next week.

Northwestern 41 - Colorado 7

I don't know if this says more about Northwestern or Colorado, but holy cow on both ends.