As a companion to Evan’s NFL content, I will be providing NCAA football coverage, talking about what I believe are the biggest stories in College Football each week. Let’s get started:
Notre Dame finally beats a top team
It finally happened. After years of Notre Dame underperforming in big games against top teams not named Stanford or USC, Notre Dame finally beat a Top 5 team. It was a pretty dominant performance, as they showed they were clearly the better team on the field on offense and defense. After leading for most of the game, they fell behind 33-26 late in the 4th, but they marched down the field to tie it and won it in overtime. The first reaction to many people would be to discount the Irish in this game, as Clemson was playing without Trevor Lawrence due to his testing positive for COVID a few weeks ago, but that simply isn’t the full story here. Although Trevor Lawrence seems poised to go 1st or 2nd in the next NFL Draft, he plays Quarterback, not defense. A defense that allowed 28 points against Boston College, and 47 points against Notre Dame (along with 21 points from Syracuse in the last game that Lawrence played) has some serious questions to answer. People will point out that it’s impossible to know how the game would have played out, given that Lawrence scoring points would have taken pressure off the defense, but allowing 28 points last week against Boston College and 33 in regulation against the Irish this week are not good numbers, and seriously question the ability of this team to win in a re-match against Notre Dame, which can come in the ACC Championship Game.
Looking Forward to a Florida/Alabama SEC Championship Game
After Florida’s win against Georgia this weekend, it’s impossible not to begin to look forward to the possibility of a classic rematch of Florida/Alabama in the SEC Championship game. In many ways, this is the perfect matchup for the Championship game, as Florida is a team that will be able to test Alabama’s smothering defense, and Florida will try to contain Alabama’s explosive offense. This Florida team has shown that they can be competitive, and play from behind, as they fell behind early 14-0 against Georgia. After the 11:44 mark in the 1st, Florida would only allow 14 more points from Georgia all game, and stormed back with 44 points, scoring the most points against this Georgia defense than any team all year. What is the second highest point total against this Georgia team all year? You guessed it, Alabama, where they beat Georgia 41-24 in Georgia.
Will the best team in the Big 12 please stand up?
Who is the best team in the Big 12 this year? I’m genuinely asking. For a while it seemed like Kansas State might be, with their amazingly strong defense in what many people believe to be the highest scoring conference in College Football. After two straight losses, in which they only scored a combined 28 points against other Big 12 defenses, that ship seems to be sinking. Is it Oklahoma State? While they have been almost equally as strong on Defense as Kansas State, they have been able to score more points, but their point totals this year are very disappointing, considering the amount of offensive weapons available to this Oklahoma State team, and what they have been able to do historically in the last few years. How about Iowa State? After scoring a huge upset win against Oklahoma in Week 3, they lost to the previously mentioned Oklahoma State, and looked very shaky against Baylor this weekend, needing to come from behind with 21 third quarter points to pull out the win at home. Are we really back to Oklahoma and Texas being at the top? Although it seemed impossible after their early season struggles, both Texas and Oklahoma have gotten the job done in the last few weeks, with Texas notching an upset win last week at Oklahoma State. Although a 17-13 win against West Virginia at home this last week will hardly calm the doubters, if things go right for Texas and Oklahoma in the next few weeks, we can easily be looking at a rematch of these two teams to determine the Conference Champion.
The teams we thought were the best in the Big Ten are definitely not the best teams in the Big Ten
Michigan is 1-2. Penn State is 0-3. Minnesota finally got a win against Illinois. Indiana is 3-0. Northwestern is 3-0. MARYLAND is 2-1. Everything seems to be upside down in the Big Ten, and to make matters worse, all of Ohio State’s early season hype is in question here. The record of Ohio State’s opponents through 3 weeks is 1-5 (1-2 if you exclude the 3 losses to Ohio State) their lone win is Rutgers’s upset win against Michigan State Week 1. After beating a Minnesota team people thought was good Week 1, Michigan crashed against Michigan State, and then lost badly this week against Indiana. This week will prove pivotal for the Big Ten, as Ohio State gets its first test against a resurgent Maryland (I can’t believe I’m typing those words after last year, or even after Maryland lost 43-3 in Week 1 to Northwestern, but here we are), and watch Wisconsin after coming back from two lost weeks to COVID against a Michigan team that is falling fast, and Northwestern heads to Purdue in a battle of undefeated teams (again, all of this is just crazy)
Pac-12 gets back to action, and things start making sense again
Welcome back criminally overrated USC, as you struggled to win a game you were an 11 point favourite in. There isn’t much to write about this week for the Pac-12, as most of the games (except USC) went according to plan. After looking a little weak early, Oregon closed strong, as their replacement QB for Justin Herbert, Tyler Shough threw for 227 yards and TD, while running for 85 yards and another TD on the ground. This team is not looking to take a step back from last year’s Rose Bowl win. If Oregon were to go undefeated, it would make the College Football Playoff very interesting, as the selection committee would have to balance a one loss Clemson, a one loss (assuming they win the SEC Championship game) Florida, a really beat-up Big 12 winner, whatever happens in the Big Ten, plus a very likely undefeated BYU, and possibly undefeated Cincinnati. Good luck keeping everybody happy with that choice.