Sep 28, 2024; Boise, Idaho, USA; Boise State Broncos running back Ashton Jeanty (2) strikes the Heisman pose during the second half against the Washington State Cougars at Albertsons Stadium. Boise State defeats Washington State 45-24. Mandatory Credit: Brian Losness-Imagn Images
It was definitely another fun week of college football. Now that we are in the second half of the season the playoff picture is becoming more clear. It seems there is some sort of upset each week. So lets get to the headlines.
The Count Of Undefeated Schools Gets Smaller
We have a pretty decent list of schools that are still undefeated, but it did get smaller this week. We are down to eight schools at this time. Liberty is one of them, and what is impressive about that is they are doing it with not a lot of talent outside of Kaidon Salter and Quinton Cooley. Yes they are playing in a group of five conference, but its still surprising non the less.
#1Texas blew out Oklahoma. 34-3. Ewers played ok, but you have to give him some grace since he missed the last two weeks with a muscle injury. Gunnar Helm did the heavy lifting in the passing game with Quintrevion Wisner carrying the load in the running game. Neither of Oklahoma’s QBs have looked good enough and it seems halfway into the season they are still figuring that out.
#3 Oregon beat #2 OSU by one point. Coming into the game most were expecting Ohio State to win. Will Howard threw for 326 yards but made a crucial mistake late in the game, sliding at the end of the fourth quarter with no time left on the clock. Their defense couldn’t make a play especially Denzel Burke who was burnt toast by both Evan Stewart and Tez Johnson. The first of which more than doubled his season receiving yards in one game. Left Tackle Josh Simmons also tore his ACL in this game and he was a big part of their passing and running game.
Penn State won in OT against USC to stay unbeaten. USC is now 3-3 and the defense is not playing great and Miller Moss has been pretty meh. Drew Allar was solid throwing for almost 400 yards, but still threw three picks. Run game didn’t get it done. Tyler Warren was the star of the night, going off for 17 catches for 224 yards. He was all over the place, he even carried the ball and completed a pass!
Army is 6-0, not much needs to be said there. They are a team that knows their identity and sticks to it. BYU is 6-0 they pounded Arizona 41-19 and are actually ranked 14th in the nation. Noah Fifta did not play well, throwing three INTs and completing just 50% of his passes. BYU plays solid team ball, there are not really any standout players.
#11 Iowa State beat West Virginia and is 6-0. They got some solid production from the running game and of course from their big two Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel.
Pittsburgh barely beat Cal, although Cal has been giving some teams trouble. Holstein showed that he’s still just a Redshirt freshman. He threw two interceptions and just 133 yards. Little Desmond Reid carried the offense that night.
There Are Still Schools That Are Winless
UTEP, Kent State are the only two schools that are still winless. UTEP’s passing game is pretty anemic, but their rushing offense has been ok, and their defensive of course has been an issue as well. Kent State made a switch at QB and the Passing game has taken off a bit although Tommy Ulatowski’s accuracy has been questionable. They are almost the opposite of UTEP.
What To Do With Utah?
Utah lost their second game and this was with Cam Rising back and he did not play well throwing two picks. He also got hurt and is likely to miss the rest of the season. He could return for a 7th season if he wanted to. They are likely to be unranked by Monday.
Is UNLV A Better Offense Without Matthew Sluka?
UNLV blew out Utah State 50-34. They 313 rushing yards as a team which isn’t a huge surprise, but Hajj-Malik Williams looks like a better passer than Matthew Sluka did. He has nine passing TDs in three starts. Their matchup with Boise State in two weeks is likely to determine who wins the Mountain West this season.
Interesting Stories From This Week
#17 Boise State won again. They beat Hawaii who actually held Jeanty down a little. He averaged just 6.6 yards a carry, most thought he might set a single game rushing record against Hawaii’s porous defense. Kansas State beat Colorado 32-28 after Travis Hunter got injured. Shedeur Sanders was sacked 6 times and still puts up almost 400 yards passing. Partially due to the sacks they had -29 yards rushing as a team. They have some tough defenses coming up on their schedule.
Ole Miss lost to LSU in OT 29-26. Both quarterbacks had their struggles, but Garrett Nussmeier pulled it together at the end. Dart has cooled off the last three weeks after a fast start. They could loose two more games if they don’t play better.
Florida took #8 Tennessee to OT losing 17-23. Nico Iamaleava seems to be hitting the freshman wall. He hasn’t had a game with over 200 yards passing in four weeks and he’s not setting the world on fire with his rushing either. Dylan Sampson is the one pushing this offense a long. Graham Mertz will also miss the rest of the season.
Notre Dame is slowly climbing the rankings, all the way up to #11. Riley Leonard has played ok the last couple games. Also looking at the rest of their schedule they could win the rest of their games.
Wisconsin put up 40 points on Rutgers, which was very surprising. They seemed to beat them at their own game. Playing good defense and leaning on the running game. Wisconsin’s offense rushed for 309 yards as a team, with 198 coming from Tawee Walker. Rutgers offense has struggled the last few games. Athan Kaliakmanis has thrown for less than 200 yards the last three weeks and is completing less than 60% of his passes in that time frame and less than 50% in the last two games. Monongai has not broken 100 yards in three of their last four.
UCF has fallen apart after a fast start. They won their first three games, but have lost their last three with another likely loss to Iowa State coming up this weekend, then BYU after that. In those three losses RJ Harvey has not had 100 yards rushing. It seems he was the key to their offense. KJ Jefferson was even benched this past week.
Louisiana-Monroe and Washington State are both 5-1. Both are big surprises since neither is seen as having a lot of talent on their rosters, especially ULM. With Washington State quarterback John Mateer has came in and brought some life to their offense, he is the leading rusher and passer. He has already thrown for 1,400 yards, 13 TDs and rushed for 499 yards and six TDs. Their defense has been okay. ULM has been doing it mostly on the ground when it comes to its offense. Ahmad Hardy has 500 yards rushing and on defense they have been getting some good pressure on quarterbacks and getting turnovers. Their next couple games are winnable against South Alabama and Marshall.
A Few Close Wins This Week
Freshman QB Michael Van Buren from Mississippi State gave Georgia a game with Georgia winning 41-31. It will be interesting to see if Mississippi State found their new QB. He threw for 306 yards and three touchdowns against the vaunted Georgia defense. Georgia running game has been inconsistent. Carson Beck threw three touchdowns but also two interceptions. He’s still not playing at his 2023 level. The Georgia defense isn’t getting pressure, collecting just 11 sacks on the season.
Illinois wins in OT over Purdue 50-49. Hudson Card didn’t play due to injury and redshirt Freshman Ryan Brownie played well throwing for three touchdowns and almost 300 yards. He was Purdue’s leading passer and rusher, rushing for over 100 yards. Illinois has back to back big games with Michigan and Oregon coming up.
Alabama barely beat South Carolina 27-25. Jalen Milroe struggled again with two interceptions and just one passing TD. He did rush for two touchdowns, but again had 18 carries for just 36 yards. Jam Miller also had just 42 yards rushing. Their defense played ok, but not to the level they are used to. South Carolina didn’t do anything particularly special or crazy to keep the game so close either. They have Tennessee this week and if they don’t shape up could lose.
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A Packers fan, college football and especially NFL draft fan. He has been writing about the NFL draft off and on since 2001, but more heavily the last four years.