College Football: Week 4 Review

Five Headlines of Week 4

  1. Kelly Sets New School Record- #12 Notre Dame scores 31 points in the 4th quarter to secure the record-breaking win for Brian Kelly in Chicago, 41-13 over #18 Wisconsin
  2. Fear the Wolfpack- NC State overcomes missed FG at the end of regulation, upset #9 Clemson in 2 OT, 27-21, to turn the ACC on its head
  3. Razor Sharp in Arlington- #16 Arkansas holds #7 Texas A&M to 10 points, secure a huge conference win to move to 4-0
  4. Tar Heels Stung Hard- Jeff Sims, Georgia Tech throttle #21 North Carolina 45-22 with strong ground attack
  5. Sooners Survive West Virginia- Late drive by Spencer Rattler sets up GW FG as time expires as #4 Oklahoma avoids the up 16-13 to West Virginia
College Gameday's Game of the Week- #12 Notre Dame 41 #18 Wisconsin 13 (Soldier Field, Chicago, IL)
Billed as the Jack Coan Revenge Game, Notre Dame's starting quarterback was getting to play against his old teammates in a ranked matchup in an NFL stadium. The final score doesn't indicate how close of a game this was for three quarters. There was only one touchdown in the first half, a 36-yard strike to Kevin Austin from Jack Coan, and the Irish led at halftime 10-3. The two defenses were putting on a clinic with Notre Dame holding Nebraska QB Graham Mertz in check, while Notre Dame couldn't do anything on the ground against Nebraska's defensive front. The score was knotted at 10 entering the fourth quarter and Wisconsin kicked a field goal early in the final quarter to take a 13-10 lead. On the ensuing kickoff, Notre Dame's Chris Tyree ran it back 96 yards and from that point on it was all Notre Dame. Jack Coan would leave the game and with the back-up injured as well, third string QB Drew Pyne came in and led a touchdown drive to make it 24-13. Add a field goal and two pick sixes and Notre Dame ran away with the game. They picked off Mertz four times in the game and despite just three total yards rushing, Notre Dame was able to give Brian Kelly his record-breaking 106th win at Notre Dame.

My Game of the Week- NC State 27, #9 Clemson 21 in 2OT (Raleigh, NC)
In what might be the upset of the day, I had a serious feeling this could happen. Clemson's offense hasn't been impressive in their first three games this season and on the road against a conference opponent, this was bound to happen. NC State's QB Devin Leary threw for four touchdowns, including a beautiful pitch and catch with Devin Carter in the second overtime on what would be the game-winning score. The NC State offense tore apart the Clemson defense for 386 total yards, while their defense held Clemson QB DJ Uiagalelei to just 111 yards threw the air. The game wouldn't have gone to overtime if the NC State kicker had made one of the three kicks he missed during the game. I'll give him a pass on the 51 and 53-yard kicks, but the 39 yarder to end regulation was makeable. Regardless, the NC State defense held on and was able to hold Clemson in the second overtime to ensure their upset win at home. This is Clemson's second loss already. The loss to Georgia early in the season was understandable, but this loss casts serious doubt as to not Clemson's status as the cream of the crop in the Atlantic Division of the ACC, but who is the best team in the ACC with how poorly the ranked teams in the conference have played. It opens the door for someone to take over the conference, but it's unclear who that could be. 

Teams of the Week
  1. #13 Notre Dame- Won arguably the highest-profile game of the week over #18 Wisconsin, giving Jack Coan a revenge win and Brian Kelly his school record-breaking victory as well.
  2. NC State- NC State's defense was phenomenal at stopping Clemson's high power offense and was able to secure a season-defining upset over a top ten team.
  3. Georgia Tech- Jeff Sims accounted for four touchdowns, three of them on the ground, and Georgia Tech dominated the last three quarters of the game to upset #21 North Carolina.
  4. Texas- The Longhorns hung 70 points on Texas Tech in a big conference matchup, giving an even bigger feeling that Texas might be for real this season.
  5. Bowling Green- The Falcons went on the road to Minnesota as a 30.5-point underdog and pulled off a historic upset, 14-10.
Most Disappointing Teams of the Week
  1. #9 Clemson- Clemson's offense has been slow all season and it came to a head when they only put up 14 points in regular on the road against NC State to drop to 2-2.
  2. #21 North Carolina- Just when it looked like they might be able to capitalize on Clemson's loss, UNC falls on the road to an unranked team too. 
  3. USC- The Trojans entered the season as the 15th ranked team and the second-best team in the PAC-12. They've now lost two of their last three and Oregon State's offense torched them.
  4. #18 Wisconsin- This is less about Wisconsin as a whole then it is about Graham Mertz not performing well. They were in the game until the two pick sixes at the end of the game.
  5. #7 Texas A&M- Since Haynes King went down, the Aggies' offense hasn't played well and for the second time in three contests, they only scored ten points in a game.
My Top 25 Going into Week 5 (Not the Official AP Top 25)
  1. Alabama (4-0, W 63-14 Southern Mississippi)
  2. Georgia (4-0, W 62-0 Vanderbilt)
  3. Oregon (4-0, W 41-19 Arizona)
  4. Oklahoma (4-0, W 16-13 West Virginia)
  5. Iowa (4-0, W 24-14 Colorado State)
  6. Penn State (4-0, W 38-17 Villanova)
  7. Notre Dame (4-0, W 41-13 #18 Wisconsin)
  8. Cincinnati (3-0, BYE)
  9. Ohio State (3-1, W 59-7 Akron)
  10. Arkansas (4-0, W 20-19 #7 Texas A&M)
  11. Ole Miss (3-0, BYE)
  12. Coastal Carolina (4-0, W 53-3 Massachusetts)
  13. BYU (4-0, W 35-27 South Florida)
  14. Michigan (4-0, W 20-13 Rutgers)
  15. Florida (3-1, W 38-14 Tennessee)
  16. Michigan State (4-0, W 23-20 (OT) Nebraska)
  17. Fresno State (4-1, W 38-30 UNLV)
  18. Auburn (3-1, W 34-24 Georgia State)
  19. Oklahoma State (4-0, W 31-20 #25 Kansas State)
  20. Texas A&M (3-1, L 20-10 #16 Arkansas)
  21. Virginia Tech (3-1, W 21-10 Richmond)
  22. UCLA (3-1, W 35-24 Stanford)
  23. Baylor (4-0, W 31-29 #14 Iowa State)
  24. Clemson (2-2, L 27-21 (2OT) NC State)
  25. Wake Forest (4-0, W 37-17 Virginia)
Week 5 Games to Watch
  1. #8 Arkansas v. #2 Georgia
  2. #7 Cincinnati v. #9 Notre Dame
  3. #21 Baylor v. #19 Oklahoma State
  4. #12 Ole Miss v. #1 Alabama
  5. #5 Iowa v. Maryland

 

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