Now we are eight weeks in the 2024 college football season and there is just a mess of teams at the top and it seems like each week the #1 school looses. There is also a big clump of schools in the middle. As always there were some really surprising wins and losses and some interesting stories. Below are some of my favorite from this week of college football.
Some Schools Are Sliding After A Fast Start
After fast starts this season there are a number of schools that after a promising start have fallen off and are showing major weaknesses. Rutgers lost their 3rd game in a row after showing a really strong running game. Utah has also lost its 3rd game already. Some of it is due to Cam Rising’s injury, but also he hasn’t played great when healthy.
James Madison lost to Georgia Southern. Their offense was scoreless in first half. Alonza Barnett’s play has been up and down the last three weeks and has contributed to their losses. The passing game has been inconsistent. USC surprisingly lost to Maryland. 29-28. They now have a 3-4 record after losing their last three games. Miller Moss played ok, but they blew a 14 point lead. Billy Edwards threw the ball all over them.
Michigan lost their second game in a row and third on the season, 21-7 to Illinois. They are now 4-3, and quarterback play and having some just average receivers has really hurt them this season.
Oklahoma is 4-3 after loosing to South Carolina 35-9. They have lost three of last four and similar to Michigan quarterback play has been one of their issues, they have also had some injuries that have depleted their wide receiver corps; allowing teams to load up the box.
There Are A Lot Of Football Teams That Are 6-1
Because there is so much muddling (is that a word?) at the top that creates another mess in the middle as well. There are a lot of teams that are 6-1 and you could put these teams in a bunch of different orders and it could make sense. So, we have SMU that beat Stanford 40-10. Quarterback Kevin Jennings is showing improvement as a passer each week and could be a dude for the 2026 draft. Kansas State is 6-1 with a 45-18 win over West Virginia. DJ Giddens had his first poor game, but KSU was able to lean on the passing game to win.
LSU is 6-1. They won 34-10 over Arkansas. Garrett Nussmeier was meh this week throwing for just 233 yards 67% completion percentage and no touchdowns. Arkansas’ running game has disappeared. Texas A&M is 6-1 also after winning 34-24 over Mississippi State. Conner Weigman was up and down. Memphis is 6-1 and unranked after beating North Texas 52-44. Mario Anderson Jr. went off for 183 yards and 4 TDs, Seth Henigan also played well. Duke is 6-1 after beating a bad Florida State team, 23-16.
UNLV is 6-1 with a late 33-25 win over Oregon State. the UNLV defense had 6 sacks against OSU and was in the backfield all night. Hajj-Malik Williams has transformed their offense into more of a passing offense.
Clemson is 6-1 after beating Virginia 48-31. They are surprisingly ranked in the top 10. After his struggles last season and early this season Cade Klubnik is playing well, throwing three touchdowns in the win.
Notre Dame is 6-1 after some early season issues at quarterback. Riley Leonard still isn’t playing all that well, but he’s not terrible like he was early in the season. They won 31-13 over Georgia Tech without Haynes King.
Missouri beat Auburn 21-17 by kind of just weathering the storm and a leaky pass protection. Illinois is 6-1 after beating Michigan 21-7. Luke Altmyer threw for just 80 yards, but they ran for 187 yards as a team. Their defense was in Michigan’s backfield all day. Louisiana-Lafayette has a 6-1 record that no one saw coming and they could win the rest of their games. Ben Wooldridge has played well at quarterback for them and he targeted TE/Hback Terrance Carter a lot. Finally Washington State is 6-1 after beating Hawaii 42-10, John Mateer has been good at quarterback for them all season.
Some Big Wins This Week!
#5 Georgia hammered #1 Texas, Quinn Ewers struggled and was looked like he was back to his inconsistent play last season making weird decisions and bad throws. Their offensive line also really struggled blocking Georgia’s defensive line and linebackers. Georgia got seven sacks, but also got a bunch of TFL’s. Carson Beck plays poorly not throwing a single touchdown and three interceptions.
Alabama was upset by Tennessee. 24-17. Jalen Milroe thew 2 INTs and was sacked 3 times, completing just 55% of his passes. He had 14 carries but for just 11 yards. The Alabama offense had just 74 total rushing yards. Nico Iamaleava played ok throwing one touchdown and one interception, but completed just 51%. The Tennessee offense ran through Dylan Sampson. Both kickers also missed kicks.
Undefeated Schools Are Down By One
With Texas loosing we have one less undefeated school so far. The schools left are: Iowa State, who beat UCF 38-35. The UCF rushed for over 350 yards, but it was not enough. Rocco Becht was ISUs leading rusher. Oregon is 7-0 after easily taking down Purdue 35-0, Evan Stewart continues to show flashes. BYU beat Oklahoma State to go 7-0. It took a last second touchdown pass to beat Oklahoma State after they have gone up on BYU with about a minute left in the game. It was a back and forth game most of the day. Ollie Gordon kept OSU in the game. Jake Retzlaff threw two picks and Alan Bowman threw one.
Miami is undefeated after Beating a tough Louisville football team 52-45. Cam Ward threw for 319 yards and four touchdowns and no picks. He is definitely in the top three for the Heisman at this point. Miami also got their running game going finally collecting 222 rushing yards as a team.Tyler Shough gave Miami a run for its money putting up 342 yards and four touchdowns. Caullin Lacy also returned a kick for a TD.
Indiana beat up Nebraska 56-7. They are of course 7-0. Dylan Raiola did not play very well. He threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. Indiana to this point had been getting its numbers from the passing game, but Kurtis Rourke injured his hand and missed the second half. Tayven Jackson came in a threw a couple touchdowns but they still leaned on their running game having 215 yards rushing as a team. Navy is still undefeated as well, beating Charlotte 51-17.
A Couple Interesting Stories From the Week
Colorado beats AZ 34-7, which that score was a little surprising, but the fact that Shedeur Sanders did not have a big game was. He threw for just 250 yards with two TDs and two picks. Big game for LaJohntay Wester 8 catches for 127 yards; he had become a bit of an afterthought in the Colorado passing game. Tetairoa McMillan did almost nothing catching five balls for 38 yards. Colorado also sacked Fifita seven times
Kent State and Kennesaw State are both 0-7. Kennesaw State has an excuse since they just came up from the FCS where they weren’t some powerhouse school anyway, but Kent State has a history of having some good MAC teams. Their defense is kind of keeping them in games, but their offense is inept. KSU just lacks talent on their roster and will need some time to build it up. They are well coached.
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