Instant Replay
What did we just watch?
O-H-I-O - Sometimes you have some dudes and they are just more DUDE than the other team’s dudes. This game always felt like it was going to be PAINFUL for someone and in this case, it just happened to be the Irish.
In the game of the night, No. 6 Ohio State walked it off against No. 9 Notre Dame to escape South Bend with a 17-14 victory. Ohio State did a great job of limiting big plays from the ND offense, and their offense made just enough plays (and I mean that literally) to get it done.
Despite Ryan Day doing his damndest to call bizarre plays, he called the most sensible play of the night when his team needed it most. The Buckeyes leaned on their All-Star offensive line and 5-star running back to get a yard and a half to seal the victory.
Also, LOL at Ryan Day basically saying ‘fuck you’ to Lou Holtz in his post-game interview. Very normal and rational behavior.
Clemsoning - God gives his hardest battles to his toughest soldiers and man, that Dabo Swinney must be one tough son of a bitch because he and that Clemson team sure can find nauseating ways to lose, huh?
Instead of nickel and diming their way to victory, the Tigers were let down by Dabo and his decision to trot out a graduate school kicker with the game on the line. With the hopes of Tiger Nation resting on his shoulders (and his family proudly watching from the stands), Clemson kicker Jonathan Weitz shanked a 29-yard attempt, taking the game to OT.
The Noles jumpballed their way to victory and walked away with a 31-24 victory. In the words of the undeniable Ric Flair, “If you want to be the man, you have to beat the man.” Well, FSU just beat the man.
PAC 2 CHAMPS - Wazzu-Oregon State is just the annual family reunion where your slightly estranged, hillbilly cousins get hopped up on Fireball, say some politically incorrect stuff and end the night by burning donuts in the supermarket parking lot.
The Cougs pretty much dominated this thing from start to finish, and that was due to Cam Ward’s superstar showing. He’s a video game-caliber quarterback and has rocket fuel spraying out of his hind parts.
He finished the game with a gaudy stat line of 28-34 for 404 yards and 4 TDs. Random observation about him, but Alex Kirshner called him perhaps the best thrower while on the run we’ve had in college football in a long time and I totally agree. Cam Ward rules.
Kiffin’s miscalculation - Ole Miss HC Lane Kiffin did a lot of shit-talking and nipple-twisting all week only for his team to put up 10 measly points in a 24-10 loss to Alabama. Something about poking the bear, right?
Bama is still extremely limited with Jalen Milroe at quarterback, but he made some solid plays today (including an awesome bomb to take the lead) and did enough to give them a chance. This still feels like a 10-win Bama team that just doesn’t make it to the CFP.
Ducks dominate - In the pregame pep talk, Oregon HC Dan Lanning told his team that CU was “playing for clicks, not for wins” and god damn that’s a good burn. No wonder they played with their ass on fire and beat the Buffs to the tune of 42-6.
Oregon’s offense cooked, with head chef Bo Nix leading the charge. On the other side, Shedeur Sanders got every look in the book from Oregon’s defense and looked very mortal. He still holds the ball way too long for my personal taste.
The rent was always coming due at some point for CU, but now it seems like a Buffaloes loss is just as clickbaity as a win?
Man, we’re in for a long season with this team.
Whittingham whippin’ ass - Death, taxes and Utah beating the ever-living hell out of every team they play. That defense is something to be reckoned with. They held Chip Kelly and the Bruins to a lowly seven points and just 60 sack-adjusted yards on the ground. Somehow, without Cam Rising, they’re 4-0 and looked like they’ll be a really tough out for this collection of fun Pac-12 teams.
Embarrassing Iowa - Look, I know the Ferentz clan doesn’t really care about offense but could they at least pretend to? Iowa laid a big stinky egg on the road against Penn State in an embarrassing 31-0 loss in Happy Valley. 76 yards. Really? Shame on you, Iowa.
I’m fully banking on Kirk Ferentz cooking up some nonsense at the end of the year as it pertains to his son’s Drive to 25 contract clause. There’s no way they’re hitting that.
Texas State = America’s Team - Congrats, Texas State, you’re officially America’s Team. What a freaking day. The Bobcats came back from behind to notch a nice 35-24 win over Nevada. But that’s not all!
At some point during the game, one of their band members stole Nevada’s Turnover Trident and launched it at a group of Wolfpack players? FREE THAT MAN!!!
God bless this stupid sport that we love so much.
LSU wins Das boot! - LSU kind of sleptwalked their way to a 34-31 win against a largely underwhelming Arkansas team. Was this just a let-down-look-ahead sandwich for LSU with Florida looming? Or did Arkansas figure some things out?
SEC Mess - I unfortunately exposed myself to about 2.5 quarters of the Auburn-Texas A&M game and I don’t recommend anyone doing that. That was some nasty, nasty football. Hopefully, Hugh Freeze can keep lying to everyone about how bad of a job Bryan Harsin did at recruiting talent because as far as I can tell Freeze hasn’t done much better.
We are Marshall - Charles Huff and Marshall quietly moved to 3-0 on the year after notching a 24-17 win against Virginia Tech. Look out for Huff to get some calls for some coach vacancies this offseason.
Neal Brown saves his job - I was as hot as anyone on the whole ‘Neal Brown might be fired by Halloween’ trend and I’m happy to admit I was wrong. He and the Mountaineers (preseason-ranked last in the Big 12) notched a huge 20-13 win over Texas Tech even with a backup quarterback. He probably saved his job in the process.
Joey Maguire appears to be hitting his sophomore slump. Tough scene, especially seeing how some of their boosters have finally started splashing some of that West Texas oil money.
Good grief, Gundy - I wrote a little about it last week but man, it’s time to have a conversation about Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State. Today the Cowboys lost to an awful Iowa State team in Ames. We need to have a talk.
Without a paddle - In what was one of the most bizarre losses of the night, Minnesota lost 37-34 to Northwestern of all teams. I don’t care if it was overtime or what exactly it was…this is an abysmal loss for PJ Fleck and the Gophers. That whole Greek Rifle thing really isn’t working out, huh?