WEEK 4 COLLEGE FOOTBALL TAKEAWAYS + BIG GAME RECAP
- sidelinebeef
- Sep 23
- 4 min read
WEEK 4 TAKEAWAYS
Gundy’s time at Oklahoma State may be coming to an end.
Arch found his groove against Sam Houston but will he keep that up?
Diego Pavia and Vandy are on a war path after dropping 70 against Georgia State.
USC new #1 scoring offense averaging 52.5 ppg.
Is Clemson just Florida State in a mask? They drop one no one saw coming to Syracuse. Second note here is Fran Brown. I LOVE what this guy is building and keep your eyes out for the Orange as he gets a few recruiting classes under his belt.
Demond Williams and Washington are rolling heading into a home game against Ohio State. I expect them to get a lot more coverage this week.
WEEK 4 RECAP
Florida 7 @ #4 Miami 26
From the first drive Miami looked like they were ready to take it to the Gators. Florida’s defense put up a great fight keeping this game a lot tighter than most expected but not enough. In fact they held Miami to just 160 pass yards and Beck was 17/30 with 0 TDs and 1 INT. Miami was able to get the job done on the ground as multiple times through out the night they pushed the pile for an extra five or six yards. They finished the day with Fletcher and Brown combining for 196 rush yards! DJ Lagway and this offense just can not figure things out especially when Ruben Bain and Akheem Mesidor are breathing down their necks. Florida still has a very tough schedule a head of them and someone is going to have to show up on Saturdays. Meanwhile Miami goes to Tallahassee this week to take on #8 Florida State.
This was a bludgeoning! There’s not many other ways to put it. Kurt Cignetti has to be putting something in the water over there in Bloomington. As we mentioned this Indiana team was a major question mark because we haven’t seen them play anyone yet. Well they got their chance to take on a top 10 Illinois team at home and they hung 63 and shut them out in the second half. Illinois will get to bounce back against Purdue but this was a tough one to swallow for Bielema and co. Let’s give the Hoosiers some props for this one. Fernando Mendoza finished the day 21/23 for 267 yds and 5 TDs! Meanwhile as a team they rushed for 300+ yards and were led by Khobie Martin with 107 on 12 carries. Not to mention the Indiana DL generated 7 sacks against what is supposed to be one of the better OL units in the conference in Illinois. If you weren’t excited to watch this Indiana team before you will be now as they head to Iowa looking to put up big numbers in Kinnick stadium.
We got an SEC matchup here that was truly about the defense. As we tend to say a lot this year the focal point has been the QBs. Arnold returning to OU and Mateer the Heisman favorite make for easy conversation. But what decided this game eventually was defense. Arnold looked good when he wasn’t running for his life. OU tied a school record with 9 sacks in this game and severely limited the Auburn offense. Mateer was mainly able to get it done through the air with leading WR Sategna finished with 9 rec for 127 yards and 1 TD. Oklahoma struggled mightily running the ball against this Auburn defense and finished the day with only 32 yards on 26 carries. Something to keep an eye out as the season continues is if that Sooner OL can get a push against these SEC defenses as conference play continues.
This was a very uncharacteristic game from Utah but that’s because of the way Texas Tech played. Utah was sloppy with the ball turning it over 4 times on the day. Dampier had some flashes of his old self throwing 2 INTs and finishing the 25/38 for only 162 yards. The Utah OL couldn’t move the Red Raiders DL and they topped out at 101 yards on the ground averaging only 3.3 ypc. Texas Tech saw an opportunity and they took it. They strolled into one of the toughest places in the country and just beat up this Utah team. While it may have been a close game until the final 8 or so minutes, it never felt like Utah had a chance. Morton looked decent besides throwing 2 INTs but FR QB Will Hammond stepped up to the plate. Hammond finished 13/16 for 169 with 2 TDs and rushed for 61 on the ground! In the second half you could feel the shift after Hammonds first few plays. This leave Tech in an odd QB situation but either way they are the undoubted BIG12 favorite.
#21 Michigan 30 @ Nebraska 27
I’m not out on Year 3 Matt Rhule yet. While Nebraska didn’t win here they played a tight one and didn’t lose in the embarrassing Cornhusker fashion as of recent years. Nebraska has shown they’ve definitely been developing but are still missing some finishing touches needed to compete with the Big Boys. Michigan rose to the challenge here and got things done on the road. In a time where people have been questioning their OL and DL they both stepped up. The Wolverines sacked Raiola 7 times and held the Cornhuskers to under 100 yards on the ground. Meanwhile the OL paved way for 300 yards on the ground. Here is what Michigan’s 3 ball carriers averaged per carry!
Underwood - 7.6 ypc
Marshall - 13.3 ypc
Haynes - 8.8 ypc
Each with their own rushing TD! Raiola and the offense weren’t bad but its tough to win being sacked 7 times and not being able to run the ball. That Cornhusker pass defense looked good but was too susceptible to explosive plays in the run game. They gave up a TD on a 75 yard carry, 54 yard carry and 37 yard carry! I won’t say Nebraska’s season is over but Michigan is feeling a whole better heading into a bye.
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