The Week In College Football: Penn State Chokes Against Ohio State... Again

College football delivered once again this weekend, with a slew of frantic finishes, none better than the early pick for game of the year, the Ohio State-Penn State showdown at State College.

Let’s just start there…

Penn State blew a double-digit lead to Ohio State late in the 4^th quarter for the second consecutive year

What an absolutely crushing loss. The Buckeyes erased an 11 point lead with five minutes to go last season, and pulled off a similar miracle on Saturday by making up a 12 point deficit with seven minutes left. PSU wasted a Heisman-level performance from their quarterback Trace McSorley (461 yards of total offense) in a loss that will sting everyone involved with the program for years.

The most incredible thing about this game (besides the final PSU offensive play of the game) was how severely the Nittany Lion defense crumbled on the last two Ohio State possessions, which was the total opposite of how they'd played for the prior three and half quarters. 14 of the first 15 Buckeye drives went for less than 30 yards, but when Penn State needed stops the most, OSU went 75 yards in 3 plays and 96 yards in eight plays for two touchdowns and a one point lead. Dwayne Haskins looked like a terrified ninth grader bombing horribly with the varsity for much of the first 52 minutes, only to inexplicably turn into a rich man’s JT Barrett on the biggest stage of his life, in the face of 110,000+ screaming PSU fans.

That final Penn State play was simply atrocious; McSorley, your senior quarterback who had never lost a home game, and had just spent the last three and half hours demonstrating that he was the best player on the field, didn't get to decide what happened on the 4^th and 5 play? Why the hell not? An inside handoff to a running back who got annihilated as soon as he was given the ball is the best you can do? Why not run anything else? If I was Penn State, I’d have gotten McSorley out on a rollout where he could've either beat the defense with his legs or found a receiver open downfield. Again, he’s been the best player on the field for the last three and half hours AND he’s your senior quarterback. Let him decide the game! That’s why you have him back there.

Side note: did anyone else think it was a little awkward when Tom Rinaldi interviewed Urban Meyer before halftime and after the game? I really wanted him to say something to Meyer like, “Hey coach, the last time we talked you gave a self-serving interview where you twisted the truth about your knowledge/involvement in one of your former assistants beating his wife. It’s really strange to me now that people would be celebrating anything you do” followed by Meyer cutting him off and saying, “Geez, I’m really glad the administration at Ohio State is incompetent. Jim Tressel got fired for a hell of a lot less than what I did. Being dishonest with the NCAA is SO MUCH WORSE than lying about/covering for/keeping around a mediocre position coach who smacked his wife on multiple occasions over the years. Courtney Smith? Was that her name? Never heard of her.”

Notre Dame beat Stanford by three touchdowns

Notre Dame pulled away from the Cardinal in the 4^th quarter and have now scored 94 points in their last two games since Ian Book became the starting QB. It’s really incredible how much of a difference Book has made for them since he was inserted into the starting lineup; he brings a completely different feel to an Irish offense that was really sluggish in spots the first three weeks of the season.

Notre Dame should realistically be thinking about a playoff berth. As I wrote on Friday, the Irish schedule is really workable the rest of the season, particularly if they can get by Virginia Tech on the road this weekend. If they run the slate and finish 12-0, they’re assuredly making the Top 4, and even if they were to slip up once, an 11-1 ND team could make a strong case to the committee with wins over Michigan and Stanford, two teams who are still very much alive in their respective conference races.  

As for Stanford, their playoff aspirations aren’t over yet. No two loss team has made the playoff in the four years it’s been around, so they probably can’t lose again, but the schedule for them going forward isn’t impossible, even though they do have to travel to Washington on November 3^rd in what will probably be the Pac 12 South Championship Game. Here’s another fun stat for all the one loss teams; since the playoff system was implemented in 2014, only three Power 5 teams have finished the regular season undefeated; 2014 Florida State, 2015 Clemson, and 2016 Alabama. And none of them won the national title. Translation: we’ve still got a ton of teams alive for this thing.

Tennessee showed life against Georgia but still lost by 26

I went more in-depth on this one on Saturday night, but suffice to say, Tennessee played significantly better than I thought they were capable of, as evidenced by the fact that they were still hanging around in the 4^th quarter. We can't ignore how sloppy Georgia was most of the day though, and if Jake Fromm had been more accurate in the first half, the Bulldogs could've been up 30-0 at the intermission and we would've been having a significantly different conversation about Tennessee and Jeremy Pruitt. And we certainly wouldn’t have seen tears from Jeremy Pruitt at the podium after the game. Sheesh. (but more on that later)

Georgia had a chance to destroy the Vols and put themselves in the Alabama-Ohio State pantheon of teams, but they aren't close to that with a performance like they had on Saturday, at least not at this point. I think they have a chance to get there, but this is a really bad Tennessee team and they couldn’t put them away until late in the 4^th quarter, despite the fact that the Vols didn’t run a single offensive play in Georgia territory until under 9 minutes to go in the third quarter. I thought the 'Dawg offense was more dynamic when Justin Fields came into the game, but that might’ve been due to the fact that he’s more of a threat with his legs and the Vols stop the run about as well as the Avengers stopped Thanos from murdering half the planet’s population. I think I’d stick with Fromm long term because he’s at least somewhat of a passing threat, but the Georgia offense is going to have to be significantly better if they want to be a challenger to Alabama at the end of the year.

Side note: Here’s the weirdest stat of the week; Every Tennessee loss this season has come by exactly 26 points (40-14 to West Virginia, 47-21 to Florida, and 38-12 to Georgia), and Jeremy Pruitt is the 26^th head coach in program history. If that’s not Illuminati Confirmed than I don’t know what is.

Clemson almost lost to Syracuse and Dino Babers for the second consecutive year

The Tigers started the game out poorly, and their performance went further into the toilet when freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence got knocked out with a head injury (yes, pun intended). I picked Clemson to win the national title before the season, but I’ve been bewildered by their inconsistency the first five weeks of the season. This is easily one of the most talented teams in the country, and yet, outside of Georgia Tech last weekend, they’ve underachieved every game compared to the level of ability they have. I originally thought it had something to do with Dabo’s insistence on playing both Lawrence and senior Kelly Bryant at quarterback, a switch that would seem to throw off his team for a possession or two each time it was made, but that problem seemed to be fixed when he decided to name Lawrence his starter going forward (which led to Bryant announcing his intent to transfer). But Clemson still came out sluggish this week anyway. So I don’t know. They’re, to this point, the most over-ranked team in the country; some idiot even gave them a number 1 vote in the AP poll this week. What have they done to deserve that? Barely survived at home against a Syracuse team that has significantly inferior talent to them? I haven’t been impressed by them a single time this season, and I wouldn’t rank them even close to the Top 10 right now. And how nice would it be to have Kelly Bryant right now? I think Dabo screwed that one up. If you bench Lawrence, he might get pissed but he probably doesn't transfer. But Bryant, a senior, has no reason to stick around if he's not going to play since this is his last year with the program anyway. Pick the senior who got you an ACC Title and a playoff berth last season, and come into 2019 completely on the Lawrence train.

As for Syracuse, I’d keep my eye on their head coach Dino Babers, a 57 year old who looks like he’s not a day over 37. He had two 10+ win seasons at Eastern Illinois and Bowling Green, and has Syracuse competitive in the ACC despite the fact that it’s arguably the worst job in the ACC and a bottom five Power 5 job. If he wins nine or ten games this season, he could become an intriguing name for whatever the next big time job opening is. Could there be interest from USC? Clay Helton looks like he should be selling insurance you don’t want door to door, the Trojan offense sucks, and Dino has created a respectable offensive attack at Syracuse (despite the lack of athletes), Plus, he’s a west coast guy! He was born in Honolulu, graduated from University of Hawaii, and has spent 16 seasons coaching out west, including four seasons at UCLA as an assistant. He’s not the sexiest name in the world but I think he’s an solid coach who could do a really good job at a higher level program.

Dana Holgorsen is extremely fortunate that Will Grier got popped for steroids while he was at Florida

Otherwise, Grier never gets suspended for a year or makes the decision to transfer to WVU, which in turn means we aren’t having a conversation about the Mountaineers being in the playoff race at the start of October. From 2011-17 at West Virginia, Holgorsen had only two ten win seasons and finished ranked only twice; basically, he’s the Clay Helton of the East Coast, where a fantastic quarterback (Sam Darnold, Will Grier) is carrying him and making everyone forget about how mediocre he actually is.

WVU has a good chance to be 7-0 heading into the final month of the season, a four game gauntlet that goes like this: at Texas, home for TCU, at Oklahoma State, and home for Oklahoma. Grier is talented enough to win all four of those games, and it’ll help to have a defense with him that’s ranked 1^st in points per game and 4^th in yards per game in the Big 12. I’m still on Oklahoma to win the conference, but I’m keeping my eye on West Virginia.

Kentucky Took Apart South Carolina and are 5-0 for the first time since 2007

Even more shocking, they’re 3-0 in the SEC for the first time since 1977. 1977! Benny Snell (639 rushing yards, 8 TDs, 5.6 yards per carry) is a dark horse Heisman candidate, and they’ve outscored their SEC opponents 79-33 so far. I’ve made my fair share of “Kentucky and Mark Stoops have no self-awareness” jokes since they started displaying a trophy to commemorate their 1950 “national championship” season, but the truth is that Stoops, in Year 6, has somehow built a quality football team that is an SEC East contender. Who would’ve thought that when Mark Stoops was hired in 2013, he would have a more successful run at no tradition Kentucky than both Butch Jones at Tennessee and Bret Bielema at Arkansas, who were hired the same year. I’ll be interested to see how the Wildcats play this weekend at Texas A&M; even if they lose, their November 3^rd game against Georgia in Lexington could decide the SEC East.

As for South Carolina, I said before the year that Will Muschamp is a mediocre coach who pops in his second year and then descends back into what he really is. It’s already started this season; after winning 9 games last year, the Gamecocks have been dominated by both Georgia and Kentucky, the only legitimate opponents they’ve played in 2018. HOT TAKE: South Carolina will be starting a coaching search sometime in the fall of 2019.

Side note: I can’t believe I’m saying this, but my Angry Old Man asked me on Saturday if, given the chance, would I trade Mark Stoops straight up for Jeremy Pruitt. Is it bad that I had to think about it before I said no? Is it bad that after thinking about it for the last 36 hours, I might change my answer?

Dan Mullen won in his return to Starkville and has the Gators at 4-1

Mullen has now won back to back SEC road games despite not having an above average quarterback or any explosive playmakers. I don’t know if he’ll recruit well enough long term to build a superpower in Gainesville, but the UF program is certainly in better shape now than it was last year at this time.

And with Mullen gone, it’s demonstrated just how poor the Mississippi State job actually is, and how impressive it was for him to get them to relevance every season. New coach Joe Moorhead has presided over consecutive games where his team scored 7 and 6 points despite the fact that he inherited Nick Fitzgerald, a senior who had played in 32 career games coming into the season and was thought of as either the best or second best quarterback in the conference headed into 2018.

Michigan almost blew their entire season at Northwestern

After three straight weeks of displaying competent offense, the Wolverines found themselves trailing 17-0 early and were only able to slog all the way back thanks to their defense, which held the Wildcats scoreless the entire second half.

The fly in the ointment of the, “Michigan’s offense has turned the corner with Shea Patterson” argument is that they put up all those points against the turd sandwich trio of Western Michigan, SMU, and Nebraska. Not exactly a Murderer’s Row. I have serious doubts about their offense's ability to score against legitimate opponents going forward, or that Shea Patterson is even a half-decent quarterback. I’m frantically trying to sell all the Michigan stock I bought last week. I’m I'm dropping it like it's hot. 

Jeremy Pruitt was the overwhelming favorite for “Dumbest Coaching Moment of the Week” until James Franklin showed up and dunked over everyone with his stupidity

Pruitt getting choked up at the podium about Tennessee’s effort WHEN THEY LOST BY 26 made him look like a disingenuous youth pastor.  I mean seriously, what the hell was that? You lost by almost four touchdowns, you couldn’t stop the run all day, and you’re 0-3 in the three biggest games you’ve coached in so far. Save the tears for when you actually achieve something substantial. Would Nick Saban ever lose his composure like that at the podium after losing by 26? No, he wouldn’t, and you shouldn’t either.

But then, there was James Franklin. Penn State ran a horrific play that took the ball out of his best player’s hands at the end of the game, and then he had to be physically restrained when he was leaving the field because some fan called him out for running that dumb play. But worst of all, he gave one of the least motivational speeches of all time at the podium. This was coach speak at its finest; it would’ve made Butch Jones blush:

“We have gotten comfortable being great. We will no longer be comfortable being great”

“The reality is that we’ve gone from an average football team to a good football team to a great football team and we’ve worked really hard to do those things. But we’re not an elite football team yet”

“Scratch and claw and fight”

“Right now we’re comfortable being great. I’m going to make sure that everybody in my program, including myself, is very uncomfortable. Because you only grow in life when you’re uncomfortable. So we are going to break through and become an elite program by doing all the little things”

What? Let’s be honest, aren’t “great” and “elite” basically synonyms? And were you elite two years ago when you beat Ohio State and won the Big Ten, but only great now? And if so, why didn’t you mention that in your speech? Was it because you were totally winging it up there and defaulted to typical coach speak BS? I think Franklin is a great coach but he’s always come off as a bit of a con artist. This “performance” explains him perfectly.

This has been fun. I might have to make this a part of this every week.

My Playoff Four

Alabama

The Tide demolished Louisiana-Lafayette and have yet to be challenged by anyone this season. Next up? At Arkansas. Good luck Razorbacks! This is going to be the biggest blowout since every Steven Seagal fight that’s ever happened on film.

Ohio State

The Buckeyes secured the best win of the entire college football season by going into Beaver Stadium on Saturday and beating Penn State. They, so far, seem to be the only team capable of matching up with Alabama/Steven Seagal. There’s no Seagal bad guy equivalent for what Ohio State could potentially do to the Crimson Tide.

LSU

The Tigers have two Top 10 wins this season, both away from home, and they destroyed Ole Miss in Tiger Stadium on Saturday night, a better team than the Tennessee one that Georgia struggled to put away that afternoon. It’s incredible to me that the Swamp Monster Ed Orgeron has cracked my Top 4 the last two weeks. Football makes no sense sometimes.

Notre Dame

The Irish dominated both Michigan and Stanford, have a dynamic offense now with Ian Book at quarterback, and tie it all together with a stingy defense that’s allowed 17 points or less in four of their five games.