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What a Week 4 we had in the world of college football. Friday night’s games were a sign of the fiasco that would come the following day, as Stanford beat Syracuse on the road at the last second and Illinois beat Nebraska at the last second, both as multiple-score underdogs.
Saturday started off slow in the noon slate, as many superior teams steamrolled their opponents. The afternoon slate had an early contender for game of the year as Michigan took down USC in thrilling fashion. Utah dominated Oklahoma State without Cam Rising, and Missouri escaped Vanderbilt in double-overtime.
The night slate included an inept Oklahoma team falling at home to Tennessee, Florida State’s first win of the season, Arch Manning’s first career start, and last-second exhilarating wins by Boston College and Colorado. If you stuck around to watch the after-dark slate, BYU throttled Kansas State in a league-altering win. Let’s dig into this week’s risers and fallers.
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Stock Up
Clemson Tigers
Is Clemson back in the contender race? Dabo Swinney’s team was blown out by Georgia 34-3 and immediately put on everybody’s backburner. After two more weeks of play, Lee Corso’s voice echoes “Not so fast.”
Sure, the Tigers have played an Appalachian State team that was blown out by South Alabama this past week and an NC State team that appears to have been vastly overrated to open the season. However, the Clemson team we saw the past two weeks, especially in Week 4, was not the same team we saw in the season opener.
The Tigers got out to a 28-0 lead in the first quarter, looking dominant on both sides of the ball. Cade Klubnik has regained confidence and has played some good football over the past two weeks. Clemson does not play Miami, and the toughest game on the schedule appears to be a home game against Louisville. This team should be heading for an ACC Championship berth and could easily find themselves in the mix to qualify for the 12-team CFP.
Group of 5 Playoff Race
A week ago, anybody you asked would have told you that Memphis and Northern Illinois were the frontrunners for the Group of 5 playoff spot. Northern Illinois’ epic road win over Notre Dame and Memphis’ stifling performance against Florida State put them firmly on the radar.
Then Week 4 happened. Memphis was gashed on the ground by Navy for 361 rushing yards and 56 points. Northern Illinois fell in overtime to Buffalo. And the Group of 5 playoff race opened up wide. Heading into conference play, there is no frontrunner based on non-conference performances. Boise State nearly toppled Oregon. UNLV beat Kansas and laid into Houston on the road. Liberty has a soft schedule but could string together another undefeated season. This will be one of the more underrated storylines to follow as the season progresses, but it will be a fun roller coaster ride.
Utah Utes
What a road win for Utah! Without starting quarterback Cam Rising, the Utes went to Stillwater and stifled the Cowboys. The final score of 22-19 was not an indication of the game, as Oklahoma State scored 16 of their 19 points in the final six minutes of the game.
In his second career start, true freshman Isaac Wilson – brother of @NFL QB Zach Wilson – led Utah to a ranked road win in its Big 12 opener.#Big12FB | @Utah_Football pic.twitter.com/XqbUUnNrXa
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) September 22, 2024
This Utes team is probably not a national title contender with Isaac Wilson under center in place of Rising, but Wilson did what needed to be done to deliver a win and keep the season on track. On paper, this was the toughest test that Utah should face this season. The Big 12 title game is in reach and the Utes are trending up.
Vanderbilt Commodores
Vanderbilt did not win on Saturday, but they did enough to warrant a spot in the risers column this week. This team has been the laughingstock of the SEC for years now, but this is not the same old Vanderbilt. It took Missouri, the number seven team in the nation, two overtimes and a badly shanked kick to topple the Commodores at home.
This team has some fight, as displayed in Week 1’s upset win over Virginia Tech and this past week. Senior transfer quarterback Diego Pavia is a very impressive dual-threat college quarterback, and his experience and leadership has breathed new life into this team.
I’m not saying Vanderbilt is going to go out and beat Alabama the next time we see them take the field, but this team is going to provide us with more fun games like we saw on Saturday.
Stock Down
Mack Brown, North Carolina
Mack Brown’s return to coaching after a five-year hiatus was a great story, but it may be time for the 73-year-old to hang it up for good. The Tar Heels surrendered 70 points to James Madison on Saturday, suffering their first loss of the season.
Brown’s team has shown signs of a decline in play after losing Drake Maye to the NFL, and it hit hard on Saturday. Following the loss he even offered up his resignation to the team, but later said that he was disappointed in himself for going that far. Regardless, this team is not in a good spot following the throttling and Brown appears to have lost confidence in himself.
Jalon Daniels, QB, Kansas
Jalon Daniels has been deemed the savior of the Kansas football program for a few seasons now, and rightfully so as he has been a big part of the reason that the Jayhawks have crawled their way out of the Big 12 cellar.
However, he may also be a reason they are heading right back to where they came from. Daniels’ draft stock is plummeting with his play this season. He’s been playing carefree and has thrown seven interceptions as opposed to only four touchdowns.
Kansas surrendered 15 points in the final 3:27 of the game to lose their third straight game, and one of the preseason favorites in the conference finds themselves right back at the bottom.
Kansas State Wildcats
After-dark upsets, Jewish BYU quarterbacks, and shoving Taco Bell where it doesn’t belong is what college football is all about.
A Kansas State Fan Has Vowed To Shove A Beefy 5 Layer Burrito Up His Ass If They Lose To BYU On Saturday https://t.co/eZOUTe3pBI pic.twitter.com/Fm8CfpG2jw
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) September 18, 2024
Just over a week removed from their big win over Arizona, Kansas State completely imploded on the road at BYU en route to a 38-9 loss. Avery Johnson threw two interceptions and was outplayed by Jake Retzlaff.
The Wildcats were talked about as playoff contenders after the Arizona win. Now, they’re an afterthought. They still have the schedule to turn things around, but getting bludgeoned by BYU is not going to help their case for a playoff spot.
Hugh Freeze, Auburn
Hugh Freeze was a risky hire at the time for Auburn, but not for his on-the-field pedigree. Year 2 of the Freeze experience is not delivering promising results so far for the Tigers. After losing to California at home in Week 2, Auburn fell to Arkansas at home to drop to 2-2 on the year.
Most of the Tigers’ struggles can be attributed back to their poor quarterback play. Payton Thorne and Hank Brown have not played good football this season. However, winning is the standard at Auburn. If Freeze can’t get the ship turned around quickly, he may find himself on the hot seat sooner rather than later. Next up is Oklahoma in a pivotal matchup for both sides.
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