My heart is still racing after watching the final minutes of Ohio State’s victory over Notre Dame. The Buckeyes were not the only title contender that nearly lost on the road. Florida State showed they aren’t quite as dominant as they seemed in week 1. Likewise, Clemson isn’t quite as gone as they showed in week 1. LSU survived a nail biter at home against Arkansas. Minnesota gagged all over itself in a loss at Northwestern. Iowa State intercepted Oklahoma State late to win their Big 12 opener. On Friday, Virginia managed three unsportsmanlike penalties in the final 2:00 minutes to secure a victory for NC State.
Close finishes were prevelant throughout the day.
Unless you were one of the three teams playing their first ever Big 12 game. UCF, BYU, and Cincinnati were rudely welcomed to the Big 12. Each of them lost by at least 11 points on Saturday.
Let’s dive in.
Florida State and Ohio State Survive
Florida State never led in regulation at Clemson. The Florida State and Clemson teams of week 1 were nowhere to be found (mostly) in this early season matchup of ACC favorites. Clemson’s defensive front shredded Florida State’s offensive line early. The Tigers jumped out to a 10-0 lead. Clemson’s offense was far from spectacular, but it was efficient and kept the Seminoles off balance. Florida State’s offense finally found some rhythm midway through the second quarter and they scored two touchdowns, including a touchdown with 22 seconds left in the half to pull within 17-14 at the half. Late in the third quarter Clemson led 24-17 and were driving. The Seminoles appeared to be in danger. The Tigers were moving the ball efficiently and a two touchdown deficit could have been the game. Florida State’s defense pulled off the biggest play of the game.
Neither team managed a score in the 4th quarter. Clemson’s recruited walk-on kicker, totally whiffed on a go-ahead field goal in the final minutes.
Florida State’s Keon Coleman made a fantastic touchdown grab on the second play of overtime. Clemson lost their nerve on their first overtime possession and failed to convert on 3rd and 4th down with only one yard to go. Clemson fans are probably furious with the clock management and play-calling down the stretch. This was a game they should have pulled out. Instead, Florida State survives and ends their seven-game losing streak to Clemson. For the Seminoles, it is mostly smooth sailing the rest of the year. They’ve passed their two toughest regular season tests against LSU and at Clemson.
Ohio State scores the game winning touchdown with 1 second left on the clock after a gutsy and thrilling final drive orchestrated by Kyle McCord. Much like Clemson fans, Notre Dame fans can’t help but feel what could have been.
Ohio State needed one play in the second half to take a 10-0 lead after stopping Sam Hartman’s sneak attempt on 4th and 1. The next play, TreVeyon Henderson blew past Notre Dame’s defense for a 61-yard touchdown. The play was not all rainbows for Ohio State as Marvin Harrison, Jr., went down with what looked like a tough ankle injury. After a stingy first half, a ten point lead felt borderline insurmountable. However, Notre Dame responded and finished off a long drive to pull within three. Ohio State was on their way to providing their own response, when the drive was derailed by a personal foul injury. The Buckeyes pinned Notre Dame at their own 4 to start the 4th quarter. The Irish pulled off a magnificent drive to take the lead 14-10. 96 yards on 11 plays, lasting 6 minutes and 28 seconds. A drive that probably would have gone down in Notre Dame lore if the result had held up.
On Ohio State’s next drive, they made it deep into Notre Dame territory, but ran into their greatest nemesis in recent years. 3rd and short. Notre Dame stuffed a 3rd and 1 run up the middle. On 4th and short, Ohio State ran a jet sweep to Emeka Egbuka, one of their staple short yardage plays. Notre Dame was ready. They strung it out and stuffed Ohio State. The Irish had the ball with just over 4 minutes left and a chance to run out the clock. J.T. Tuimoloau saved the day for Ohio State. He blew up a read-option for a loss of five on first and ten, and nearly intercepted a screen pass to stop the clock. Notre Dame punted back to Ohio State with one timeout 1:26 left to play.
McCord, who had been fairly pedestrian on the day came up clutch on this drive. He repeatedly found Emeka Egbuka, Cade Stover, and even Julian Fleming on a key fourth down to move the ball down the field. After an intentional grounding penalty, McCord hit Ebguka at the one-yard line on 3rd and 19 with nine second left. Ohio State spiked the ball with seven second left and had time for either two passes or one run. After missing Marvin Harrison on 2nd and goal, it came down to one last play.
Notre Dame only had 10 guys on the field for both this play and the prior incompletion to Harrison. I’ll bet they would have liked one more guy in the box to try to stop this run.
For Notre Dame, just another “close but not cigar loss” for a program that so desparately wants to do more than just hang with the kings of the sport. This game shows they are close. Presuming we believe Ohio State is a king of the sport this year. I don’t think that’s a given. This is clearly the most limited offense the Buckeyes have had since Ryan Day has been around the program. The defense is likely pretty good, but showed it can get worn down. It seems unlikely Ohio State makes it through Big Ten play unscathed.
A Rude Welcome To The Big 12
Houston lost their Big 12 opener to TCU last week. Not that surprising. Dana Holgerson seems intent on getting to his buy-out. Fellow newcomers BYU, UCF, and Cincinnati all made their Big 12 debuts this week. It was not great.
Cincinnati lost to Oklahoma 20-6. The Bearcats had their chances. They missed a chip shot field goal and finished three consecutive drives in the second half by failing to convert on 4th down. The Cincinnati defense was solid against an explosive Oklahoma offense. The Bearcats forced a Dillon Gabriel fumble in the redzone. Ultimately, the Cincinnati offense just wasn’t up to the task. Oklahoma fans are also probably not thrilled they only managed 20 points against their new and soon to be former conference foe.
It is telling how good of a job Lance Leipold has done at Kansas that a 38-27 win over BYU is totally unsurprising. This game was all about the rushing attacks. The Jayhawks ripped off 221 yards on the ground on 37 carries (6.0 ypc). In contrast, BYU rushed for just 9 yards on 22 carries. The Cougars did throw for over 350 yards, but it took them nearly 60 attempts to get their. Kansas made BYU totally one-dimensional as they start Big 12 play 0-1.
Kansas State shrugged off a tough loss against Missouri last week to ruin UCF’s first Big 12 game with a 44-31 victory. It was a back and forth affair through the middle of the third quarter when Kansas State went on a 24-0 run to build up a 44-24 lead with just over two minutes to play. Kansas State racked up nearly 300 yards rushing to control the game.
Not a great start for the newest Big 12 members.
Quick Hits
Colorado’s Cinderella start came to an end. Oregon thoroughly dominated the Buffaloes in a 42-6 victory. Oregon had 35 points at the half, Colorado had 21 yards. This was not a surprising result for the college football veterans, but based on the discourse I’ve seen online, the celebrity and new fans Deion has attracted were convinced this was a playoff-contender. Sorry to burst that bubble. It likely won’t be a lot better against USC next week.
In a battle of the Pac-2, Washington State outlasted Oregon State 38-35. The final score is a bit deceiving. Washington State led by at least two touchdowns most of the game, including a 35-14 lead entering the fourth quarter. The Beavers reeled off three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to make it a little more competitive.
Utah led 7-0 after one play thanks to a Dante Moore pick-six. It was the most exciting thing that happened in the game, not counting UCLA’s missed opportunities. Utah led 14-0 for most of the game and won 14-7. This was a really odd game. Utah’s defense largely harassed, dominated, and shut down the Bruins’ attack. And yet, UCLA missed on three sure-fire touchdowns. UCLA could have easily won this game if not for a couple of drops and Dante Moore just not seeing a wide open receiver. Utah’s defense continues to be very good, but they need Cam Rising back to save this offense. They are bordering on Iowa levels of incompetence.
Speaking of Iowa. The drive for 325 took a hit today. Entering today, Iowa had scored 85 points on the season. They scored 0 at Penn State today. If I am doing my math correctly, that leaves them at 85 points scored through 4 games. Less than 22 points per game. The performance was particularly ghastly today. 4 first downs. 76 yards. 4 turnovers. Less than 15 minutes of possession. AP voters, let’s stop ranking these guys. 31-0 Penn State.
Texas reaches 4-0 for the first time since 2009. Texas defeats Baylor 38-6. Unlike last weeks’ victory over Wyoming, which looked respectable only after a 4th quarter onslaught, Texas snuffed out Baylor early. 28-6 at the half and 38-6 after three. The Longhorns stymied the Bears’ rushing attack and generally looked much more like the team that won at Alabama.
Alabama pulled off an old fashioned crock potting of Ole Miss in a 24-10 victory. Alabama’s defense looked very good harassing Jaxson Dart after the first quarter. Ole Miss looked like they might have a day in Tuscaloosa after the first quarter, but the defense settled in and Alabama’s offense did just enough to slowly drown out the Rebels’ morale.
Entering the 4th quarter, Minnesota 31 - Northwestern 10. Final score. Northwestern 37 - Minnesota 34 overtime. Bad, bad, bad loss for the Gophers.
Marshall 24 - Virginia Tech 17. Yikes. Are the Hokies ever going to get their progam turned around? It seems like all those Carolina and Virginia based programs entering the FBS ranks may be negatively impacting Virginia Tech more than you would expect.
Miami, Duke, and North Carolina all scored exactly 41 points today. I have no other thoughts about any of their games.
USC messed around with Arizona State tonight in a 42-28 victory. The Sun Devils lost 29-0 to Fresno State last week. USC’s tackling issues reared their ugly head again.
Plays Of The Week
I am lacking this week. I didn’t do a great job keeping track of things as they came up. There was a crazy catch in the Florida game worth checking out.
I did manage to catch a pretty good touchdown run for Air Force on Friday.
College Football Moment Of The Weekend
The last two minutes of Virginia-NC State from Friday night takes the cake this week.
I recommend you start watching at about the 1:50 mark.
As a runner-up, we have Jimbo Fisher out on the field in the middle of a play. I have no idea why.
See you next week!