The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly From Week 3 In College Football
The final week of non conference football finished up with little fanfare. There weren't any upsets, and or games of note to be honest. Most teams that faced small school opponents got the job done. Let's unpack the weekend that was in college football.
The Good:
Ohio State: This is the best team in college football if your asking me. This offense is as good as any offense I've ever seen in the sport. Look, I get they played Toledo last night and I'll admit I had the Rockets (one of my only losses this year) but this was quite the performance. The Buckeyes had 77 points, 763 total yards, almost 10 yards a play and did it mostly without star running back Trevyon Henderson who left with an injury. They had three separate 100 yard or more receivers, had a 100 yard rusher and CJ Stroud had five TDs and just five incompletions. It's truly an embarrassment of riches at WR. I knew Ohio State was good, but I figured they'd cruise and win like 42-17. I was really wrong. This offense is special and this defense has flown around. They will be more tested in the coming weeks but thee Ohio State is thee best team in the country to me, right now.
Syracuse: 3 games, 3 wins for Dino Baber and the Cuse. They also are 3-0 against the spread. This team has some moves to make defensively but they will be fine. The offense has been the story anyway. QB Garrett Shrader has moved the ball through the air with a lot more efficiency and they are finding ways to score outside of shouldering the load to RB Sean Tucker. Saturday's win was a rollercoaster, but boy was the ending improbable. Might be a special year up in Cuse.
Minnesota: The first three games have been good to the Golden Gophers. They are 3-0 and covered all three winning them by 38, 52, and 42. They are second in the country in rushing yards per game and are averaging 5.8 yards per carry. RB Mohammed Ibrahim has been special so far this season and QB Tanner Morgan has just one interception. What makes this team such a great bet though is what's gonna carry them, their defense. This group is tough, hard nosed and finish plays. Keep in mind, last season they gave up just 17.3 points per game, good for 5th in America. They may be better this season. Things are gonna get harder on the Gophers, yes, but this team surely has everything in front of them to finally win a Big Ten West title. Yesterday they routed a bad Colorado team who I might add, if they face a team who can the run the ball, they are gonna get crushed. The Buffs just cannot and will not stop the run allowing 7.4 yards per rush this season. Things are good for Fleck and the boys, let's see how long it continues.
Kansas: Not much to say here besides, shout out to Jayhawks. Lance Leipold is one hell of a coach. I hope they keep it up. This team is fun to watch and it feels like they are really starting to buy in. This is what I mean when I say, make the right hire. They did and it's done wonders.
The Bad:
Nebraska: Things just keep getting worse for this shit show. After firing Scott Frost, things didn't go any different. Which to me wasn't a surprise. This team just isn't good. They can't move the ball and the defense is one of the worst in the country. I was blown away with the amount of people I saw backing the Cornhuskers +11 against Oklahoma. People just assumed they were just gonna jump up and respond. They have many more problems and while a lot of it was Scott Frost, some of it was they just aren't good. This program needs a complete overhaul and needs to go out and make the right hire.
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Auburn: It might be time to move on from Bryan Harsin. This guy just really hasn't panned out and it doesn't seem like he relates at all to Auburn and what they want. They got absolutely pummeled at Jordan Hare on Saturday. Now granted, Penn State to me is and has been a top 10 team. They are that good. But where was the fight from the Tigers? They yet again struggled to move the ball, whether it was through the air or on the ground. The QB position has been awful and really not good since Cam Newton. This more though may just be a program problem. This is another team that has trouble hiring the right coach. The Tigers are in big trouble because for the first time they can't lean on a great defense. They look to have issues on both sides.
The Ugly:
Houston: Players fighting on sidelines, the defense can't stop anything and Uncle Dana Holgersen looks lost. That's not a good recipe for a team who a lot of people thought would win the AAC. Now they still may, but right now things aren't good. This team went from tenacious defensively last year to in the last two games giving up 81 points combined. They seem to be having issues on offense with a lot of signals crossing as well as players were seen on the sidelines engaging in arguments. Not great. Dana seems to be having trouble too after this quote
"There's plenty of blame to go around," Holgorsen said. "I got outcoached. We got outcoached offensively, defensively. Put it on me. We have a lot of work to do."
Arizona State: The Sun Devils were the one team who were upset on Saturday losing to lowly MAC team Eastern Michigan at home. The quarterback play has been bad, the defense hasn't gotten any stops and the program is a mess with an off the field investigation. They also now need a new head coach after firing Herm Edwards Sunday. I'm not quite sure what Arizona State football can be but they should be better with some of the talent they have out there. If I were them I'd pull the Brinks truck up to BYU head coach Kilani Sitake. I guess time will tell, but this was an ugly loss. Eastern Michigan closed as 21 point dogs and +815 on the moneyline.
Troy defense: Don't they teach you on a hail mary to knock it down? What a disaster. I will say if you watch the clip, watch your ears. LOUD warning. This is just ugly though. No excuse
All in all, not a real crazy week, see you next week for Week 4… conference play time.
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