With four games between top 25 opponents and a couple of significant “mid-major” games on the schedule, week three was clearly the most exciting weekend of college football yet. Here are some takeways, reflections, and observations from last week’s action on the gridiron:
- Notre Dame looks more and more like a team that’s headed to the College Football Playoff. The Irish racked up 457 yards against a Georgia Tech defense that came into Saturday’s action allowing just 260 yards per game. Notre Dame’s defense was even more impressive, limiting the usually efficient Yellow Jacket offense to just 3-of-15 on third down conversions. As long as the Irish can remain healthy – which seems like an even big “if” each week – I like their chances to get into the field.
- Mississippi should be right there with Notre Dame. The Rebels turned in an impressive victory over Alabama on Saturday, giving the team a resume that’s a strong as anyone else’s. The Ole Miss defense was especially tough, dominating the line of scrimmage at times in the first half, and forcing five Crimson Tide turnovers.
- LSU turned in the most dominant performance of the week, throttling Auburn 45-21. The Bayou Bengals rolled up 411 yards on the ground against Will Muschamp’s defense, including a record 228 yards from Leonard Fournette on just 19 carries. LSU was equally dominant on the other side of the ball, limiting Auburn to just 285 yards of total offense — the lowest output during Gus Malzahn’s tenure as head coach.
- Had it not been for Fournette’s stellar outing, we’d all be talking about UCLA’s Paul Perkins. With quarterback Josh Rosen struggling, Perkins carried the team on his back for most of the second half. Even though everyone in the Rose Bowl knew he was going to get the ball on almost every play, Perkins ran for 219 yards on 26 carries.
- Don’t count Stanford out of the Pac-12 race just yet. Left for dead after a season-opening loss to Northwestern, the Cardinal proved to everyone why preseason expectations were so high. Quarterback Kevin Hogan’s precision passing (18 of 24 for 279 yards) allowed Stanford to control the tempo of its game against USC on Saturday night. By holding the ball for nearly 40 minutes, the Cardinal left the Trojan offense — which still managed to rack up 427 yards — on the sidelines.
- There shouldn’t be any further discussion about a potential quarterback controversy at Georgia. After all, Greyson Lambert set an FBS record on Saturday by completing 24 of 25 passes, sparking the Dawgs to a 52-20 win over South Carolina. Considering he did that against a Gamecock defense which held UGA to fewer than 200 yards passing in 6 of the last 10 meetings between the two schools, that’s quite an accomplishment.
- On the other hand, the quarterback controversy is just beginning at Ohio State. After Cardale Jones threw an interception in the second quarter of Saturday’s game against Northern Illinois, Urban Meyer opted to go with J.T. Barrett, who guided the Buckeyes to a touchdown in his second possession. It’ll be interesting to see whether Meyer opts to shuffle quarterbacks or stick with just one, as he hinted at after the game.
- Of course, the real takeaway from the Northern Illinois – Ohio State game is that the Buckeye defense is one of the best in the country. The OSU defense dominated this contest, controlling the line of scrimmage all afternoon, while registering four sacks and recording two intereceptions. In all, the Bucks limited the Huskies to just 190 yards of total offense and a paltry 2.6 yards per play. That ought to stand out more than anything the offense did or didn’t do. Ohio State’s defense also provided the game-winning score.
- Why does every media outlet assume that Louisville is going to be 1-5 at the midway point of the season? Sure, they’re currently 0-3, but those losses were against Auburn, Houston, and Clemson, which have a combined record of 8-1. Aside from a road trip to Florida State, however, there’s no reason to think that the Cardinals can’t win every other game on the schedule – including the season finale against Kentucky. As one of the top offensive minds in college football, Bobby Petrino will find a way to get UL offense firing on all cylinders again.
- Speaking of teams that are underrated, how about Memphis? Largely unnoticed by most in the media this year because they only returned three starters on defense, the Tigers extended the nation’s third-longest winning streak to 10 games. While some people will say, “big deal, it’s only Bowling Green,” it’s worth noting that the Falcons throttled Maryland last weekend and played well against Tennessee in the season opener. The Tigers — which came into the contest ranked fourth in the the nation in rushing — had no trouble moving the ball through the air. Quarterback Paxton Lynch completed 29 of 40 passes for 386 yards and 3 TDs. Keep an eye on the Tigers in the AAC West division.
- This week’s Clunker of the Week goes to Illinois. After coasting to easy victories over Kent State and Western Illinois, the Fighting Illini found out that playing against the ACC isn’t varsity intramurals. Illinois had no answers for the North Carolina offense, which racked up 471 yards even though it had the ball for only 24 minutes and 13 seconds. The Illini have a lot of work to do if they’re going to make it back to the postseason this fall.
