Tis The Season: Week 4 Takeaways
Idk about you guys, but I have to have the sound on for big A&M games. I will bypass public to watch it at home 10/10 if there isn’t sound. I don’t want to hear Ariana Grande while I’m watching football, no offense.
So, I was very excited to learn that my little slice of home in New York was playing the sound for A&M/Bama. Football with sound? Great. At a Tex Mex restaurant? Even better.
(And before you jump on my ass and say “THERES NO WAY GOOD MEXICAN FOOD IN NEW YORK”, hear me out. Avenida in East Village is legit. The walls are covered in Texas license plates. They have four different kinds of queso – including “Houston” and “Austin” style. They have authentic micheladas. And they know how to make real tacos. They have framed pictures of College Station. It’s the closest you’re going to get to Tex Mex outside of Texas. Take all my money.)
Anyway. Much to my dismay, it was the Alabama watch party. I have no idea how this happens at a Texas bar, but whatever. We stayed anyway because I refused to walk away from that queso. Watching the game with a bunch of Bama fans wasn’t fun. I mean, I didn’t think A&M actually had a chance to win. But it definitely added salt to the wound seeing crimson pom-poms and hearing that god forsaken fight song a million times while I ate my body weight in chips and salsa.
Alabama fans have it so nice. They have no idea what it feels like to not be good at football. I wish Aggies knew how that felt.
So speaking of Bama, here are my biggest takeaways from Week 4:
1. This Alabama team is the best team I’ve ever seen.
I’m convinced that they’re not going to lose a game this season. Nick Saban has a real play maker at QB and it’s over with for the rest of CFB. They’re unreal in all three phases of the game.
When they intercepted Kellen Mond and scored a TD all in the first FIFTY SECONDS of the game, I figured it’d be a blood bath. A&M hung in there for the first half, but it eventually – as predicted by Vegas – got out of pretty out of hand.
They’re just too fucking good. But at least A&M covered, amiright?!
2. Oregon, yikes.
I’m not sure we’ll see a crazier game this season than Stanford/Oregon this season. The Ducks absolutely dominated the entire game… and lost… simultaneously. It was wild.
I mean, Oregon was literally INCHES away from being up 31-7. Then a TD was overturned. Then there was a million yard scoop and score.
And it just all unraveled from there.
But even after the epic collapse, they still had time to win. And then Mario Cristobol didn’t have his offense take a knee and they turned it over. WHY DIDN’T THEY TAKE A KNEE?
A silver lining for Oregon though: Justin Herbert is the real deal. I mean, he completed 92.6% of his passes. That’s pretty, pretty, pretty good.
3. Is Texas actually back?!
Hand up, I’m done saying that Texas isn’t atleast back-ish. Beating a TCU team that gave Ohio State a tough time means the Longhorns aren’t the same team that lost to Maryland in Week 1. Tom Herman is doing a good job at getting his squad of elite players (number unknown) to improve each and every week. It must be the kissing.
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My shit talking about Texas and Tom Herman has officially been put on hold. They may be actually good.
4. I can’t tell if Kentucky is that good or if Mississippi State just wasn’t that good.
Either way, it was a statement game for the SEC.
I think it’s probably somewhere in the middle. Nick Fitzgerald didn’t get protected. But he never really got on track on the ground or in the air in Lexington either. And Benny Snell is dangerous. He ran for 165 yards and 4 TDs.
Plus, he’s petty. I like petty.
It will be interesting to see how it plays out. But let’s not kid ourselves. It’s Alabama in the West. Georgia in the East.
5. Clemson finally named the right starter.
Dabo Sweeney said over the weekend that he was still not ready to name a starting QB for Syracuse this weekend. As of like 10 minutes ago, Trevor Lawrence is officially the guy. That’s not taking anything away from Kelly Bryant, of course. He’s incredibly talented. But the freshman (that looks just like the daughter in Ozark) is just playing at a higher level right now and the offense looks much better with him behind center.
I’m sure Kelly Bryant will be in the mix (a la Jalen Hurts), but this was the right move.
6. I’m not reading too much into OU’s sloppy game vs. Army.
I couldn’t watch it on TV (neither could you), but I’m not ready to overreact to it. The triple-option can be extremely frustrating. Army played their hearts out and almost ended OU’s CFP hopes.
But I’m still all in on Kyler Murray. OU will still win the Big 12, especially since OSU got their asses kicked. But it may not be as easy as I thought it could be.
7. Wisconsin is going to the Big Ten championship. Like I said.
That game at Kinnick was the definition of Big Ten football. Grind-it-out. It was kinda difficult to enjoy this as much as Stanford/Oregon since they were on at the same time. But still, what a game.
Alex Hornibrook came up big in the final minute of the game. No, Wisconsin is not a GREAT team (will there be Top Ten debate this week!?), but they’re going to win their division. Especially if they can get Jonathan Taylor in to the end zone.
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It wasn’t over the top exciting style of football, but it the Heartland Rivalry did not disappoint. Plus, we got the most entertaining lateral play that wouldn’t have mattered I’ve ever seen. (See: above).
8. Virginia Tech, actually not good. Old Dominion mosh pit celebration, actually good.
I mean ODU lost to Liberty, FIU and Charlotte. And beat the 13th team in the country. (??????) Why WOULDN’T you have a mosh pit??
PS – We’re on the second week of adding another episode to ComebackSZN. Make sure to look out for the weekend recap with me, Dave and JackMac that will drop later tonight.
Have yourself a Monday, fellas.