Week 3 Reflections
Everybody Stinks. With A Few Exceptions.
This is a predictably unpredictable sport. There were zero matchups involving two ranked teams. Naturally the well-traveled fans braced for the chaos (or the worst when your team’s game starts). Afterall, we are still dealing with midly informed preseason polls. The top 25 is full of imposters. We just hadn’t noticed them yet. A few potential imposters revealed themselves this week. Whether it is a top 20 team masquerading as a top 10 team, or a top 40 team pretending to be in the top 25, the cracks are starting to show.
Every season there are a couple of weeks where everybody stinks. Week 3 was the first of those for the 2023 season. However, in a week of unexpected struggle, two teams have consistently dominated their foes through three (or four) weeks. Washington and Notre Dame.
Washington And Notre Dame Remain Above The Fray
Washington and Michigan State played part two of their home and home series. The Spartans were led by interim head coach Mark Dantonio…
The Huskies jumped on Sparty early and did not let up in a relentless first half. Michael Penix threw for 375 yards and 4 touchdowns in the first half. He finished with 473 passing yards on the day. Penix has now thrown for at least 400 yards in each of Washington’s first three games. A first in program history. Caleb Williams may get all the hype, but Penix will likely better him with his passing numbers if he keeps up this torrid pace. Washington scored on 5 of their 7 first-half possessions and held a commanding 35-0 at the half. The Huskies added a couple of field goals in the third quarter as they held a 41-0 lead entering the fourth quarter. Michigan State avoided the shutout with a fourth quarter touchdown. For the day, Washington outgained Michigan State 713 to 261. A dominant performance by a Washington squad that has won each of their first three games by at least 30 points.
160 miles to the southwest, Notre Dame put on their own strong performance against Central Michigan. Now Central Michigan is not exactly an opponent that puts fear in to anybody, but given what happened around the rest of the country today, a 41-17 win is a great result for the Irish.
Notre Dame is the first team to reach 4-0 for the year thanks in part to their week 0 victory over Navy. The Irish have won every game by at least 3 touchdowns. Sam Hartman has unlocked a new level to their offense. Audric Estime is a dangerous runner, averaging 8.0 yards per carry in the young season. Notre Dame gears up to host College Gameday and Ohio State next week in the biggest matchup of the weekend and Notre Dame’s biggest home game since hosting Georgia in 2017.
The Upsets That Were
There were several upsets on the day. Four of them stood out to me as particularly noteworthy for one reason or another.
Florida 29 - #11 Tenssee 16. This was the Florida team everyone was expecting to see under Billy Napier. A strong rushing attack and sound defense. Florida built up a 26-7 lead at the half on the strength of their running attack, efficient passing from Graham Mertz, and capitalizing on Tennessee’s mistakes. The Gators effectively sat on the lead in the second half to win 29-16.
For Tennessee, the concerns about Joe Milton’s ability to replace Hendon Hooker appeared to be well-founded in the game. It was not just the mind-numbing interception in the first half. Milton missed several chances, both incompletions and poorly placed completions that could have gone for more with a more accurate throw. The Vols also could not get much going on the ground. Tennesse hasn’t completely regressed, but they are not a threat to make the playoff in 2023.
Missouri 30 - #15 Kansas State 27. Missouri upset their former Big 12 opponent in a well-earned victory for the Tigers over defending Big 12 Champion, Kansas State. This was a fun back and forth affair. While the game winning play (more on that in the plays of the week section) will steal the show, Luther Burden, the former 5-star recruit went off for Missouri. 114 yards and 2 touchdowns on 7 catches. He roasted a solid Kansas State defense. Missouri is 3-0 and given the disarray in the rest of the conference, has a real shot at making some noise in the SEC for the first time in several years.
Miami (OH) 31 - Cincinnati 24 (OT). Not exactly a headliner game. I know. Miami ended a 16-game losing streak to Cincinnati to take back the Victory Bell. A trophy I did not know existed until 10 minutes after this game ended. One of the best moments of the game was this shot…
This is Miami’s eventual game-winning touchdown. Great camera work to capture the receiver and cornerback battling for the ball.
Miami intercepted Cincinnati on 4th and goal in overtime to seal the game. A truly confounding pass by Emory Jones who did not throw it remotely close to a Bearcat receiver. I would post a clip, but I can’t find it. I presume Cincinnati had it scrubbed from the internet already.
South Alabama 33 - Oklahoma State 7. What the heck, Oklahoma State? An absolute no show tonight. The Jaguars were up 23-0 entering the 4th quarter. The Jaguars held the Cowboys to 208 yards. It seems Oklahoma State may not show a lot of improvement from their tailspin in the second of last season. Good win for South Alabama after getting outclassed by Tulane in week 1.
Quick Hits
Ohio State turned on the jets against Western Kentucky. It seems Ryan Day announcing the starter helped relax the offense. The Buckeyes scored 4 touchdowns on 9 plays, in a dominant 8 minute stretch of the second quarter to blow the game open. The defense adjusted to the Hilltoppers attack and after giving up several drives in the first 20 minutes of play, largely stymied them. Adding two defensive scores helped the bottom line. 63-10 Buckeyes.
The upset alert nature of the day started early with Florida State struggling against Boston College in the early slot. Florida State seemingly took control of the game by the end of half after scoring touchdowns on consecutive drives to take a 17-10 lead. The Seminoles suffered a serious scare as Jordan Travis landed awkwardly on his left arm on a scramble near the end of the first half and was down in pain for awhile. Whatever it was, he was able to play in the second half. However, Boston College refused to go away and nearly overcame a 31-10 deficit. The Seminoles held on 31-29.
LSU made quick work of Mississippi State and it will be incredibly surprising if the Tigers don’t win the SEC West. Malik Nabers had 199 receiving yards at the half. The Tigers raced out to a 24-0 lead and won the game 41-14. The Bulldogs are not a great team, but a 27-point win on the road is an impressive accomplishment for LSU as they look to erase the memories of the openeing weak loss to Florida State.
After one half Georiga looked done for. The Bulldogs trailed the Gamecocks 14-3 at the half. The offense had done nothing, and the defense was struggling with some of the basics against the upset-minded Gamecocks. Kirby gave his players his “secret stuff” at halftime and Georgia looked like a totally different team. They bulldozed their way down the field on two straight possessions to retake the lead and then suffocated South Carolina’s to win 24-14. Georgia did not lose today, but a few more performances like this and it could bite them. The SEC is down this year and Georgia does not have a marquee nonconference game to boost their resume. Even one loss puts Georgia’s playoff hopes in danger.
North Carolina uses a strong pass defense (or inept Gopher passing attack) to comfortably beat Minnesota, 31-13. Drake Maye threw for 414 yards and 2 touchdowns, but he also had 2 interceptions. That’s two multi-interception games for Maye this year. He’s been mistake prone, which is something to keep an eye on.
BYU is 3-0 on the year after winning 38-31 at Arkansas. Not bad for BYU’s first game against a team with a pulse this year. The Cougars now start Big 12 play for the first time in their history. Also, Arkansas’ last play was…something.
Old Dominion defender, LaMereon James had two touchdowns in a 27-24 loss against Wake Forest: an 80-yard fumble return and a 55-yard intception return. Seventh player in FBS history to pull off scoop’n’score and a pick-six in the same game according to The Athletic’s Chris Vannini.
There were a couple of crazy scores in the lower leagues today:
Portland State beat North American 91-0. It was 91-0 after three quarters. You might remember Portland State gave up 81 to Oregon. Transitive property not kind to North American in this scenario.
In Division III, Howard Payne beat Lyon 85-0. It was 47-0 at the end of the first quarter. FORTY. SEVEN.
Colorado improved to 3-0 with a 43-35 overtime victory over Colorado State. This was a nasty game early as emotions were high. Colorado State largely dominated the game and held an 11 point lead in the 4th quarter. Colorado forced overtime with a long touchdown pass to Jimmy Horn with under a minute left. Travis Hunter left the game after a big hit and was being observed at the hospital. Hopefully he’s okay. Colorado’s schedule gets real next week with a trip to Eugene.
Iowa scored 41 points! They are now ahead of schedule in the drive for 325. Although Bud Elliott of CBS and 247Sports, ran his own model of points he projects Iowa will score in each game this season. He thinks they are behind schedule given what they are likely to score in Big 10 play.
Plays Of The Weekend
Let’s check out some of the highlights and lowlights of the day.
Boston College defensive back acting surprised he got called for pass interference on this play.
There hasn’t been a pass interference this obvious since the Rams took out the Saints in the NFC Championship game in 2018. Maybe he thought since they didn’t call it in that spot, they wouldn’t call it here.
Georgia Tech’s attempted fake punt against Ole Miss
Let’s just toss this one out.
Oregon State showing some love to the offensive line in this goal-line trick play.
Vanderbilt with one of the best five-yard runs you will ever see.
Missouri’s upset over #15 Kansas State produced a few good clips for the day.
Just like they drew it up. Teams have evolved from the jump pass. They’re running the volleyball inspired “bump pass” now.
The Mizzou player trying to draw a personal foul. This is a soccer worthy flop.
And finally, the most noteworthy highlight of the day. A 61-yard field goal to upset #15 Kansas State. The longest field goal in SEC history. Goodbye my 10 point pick on College Pick’em. Congratulations to Mizzou.
College Football Moment Of The Weekend
Lastly, the most college football moment of the weekend was the entirety of the Alabama-South Florida game.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way. Alabama is not that good this year. Some incredible streaks are likely going to end for this historic dynasty. Alabama has appeared in the top 10 of 128 straight AP polls, dating back to 2015. Second only to Miami’s 137 straight appearances from 1985-1993. Alabama’s last time being unraked was 2007. That makes 248 straight poll appearances. Second only to Nebraska’s 348 straight apperances from 1981-2002. A loss against South Florida, which was very much on the table until late in the game, would have certainly ended the top 10 streak and possibly ended the top 25 streak. I will not be surprised if the top 10 streak ends tomorrow.
Alabama’s biggest problem? They don’t have a quarterback. Tyler Buchner started the game. 5/14 for 34 yards. Ty Simpson replaced him. 5/9 for 73 yards - most of those coming on a nice catch and run to the tight end. Maybe Saban was just proving to the fans that Milroe is in fact the best quarterback on the roster. I certainly believe it after the coma-inducing 17-3 win over South Florida. Now, the performances were not aided by the monsoon, which gets us to the real reason this game was selected as the college football moment of the weekend.
Early in the 2nd quarter, USF was leading Alabama 3-0, when lightning struck. Weather delay. After play resumed, ESPN kept a skeleton crew inside the stadium for safety reasons for nearly two quarters. This resulted in a nearly unwatchable game. Here are a couple of examples:
This was the default shot in between plays, and occasionally during plays. Like watching ants.
When they did switch to a sideline view, this would sometimes happen:
Great work all around.
On at least one drive, the sideline view cameras were zoomed out, but not enough to see the whole field. The cameras were also fixed. They would not follow the play. They had two or three cameras set up to cover the whole field in this fixed position. More than once on a drive a play would run out of frame of the camera pointed at that section of the field. They tried jumping to the next camera mid-play to keep up. It did not work.
I suppose everyone is a little better off having missed out on parts of this dreadful game.
P.S. An account dedicated to finding the worst seat in a college stadium in the country thinks it may have finally found it in Boston College.
See you all next week!
That BC bleacher spot 🤣