College football Week 3 superlatives: Georgia’s pink out, Pat Narduzzi’s gaffe; Playoff, Heisman rankings

There weren’t any ranked matchups in Week 3 but college football delivered a memorable weekend full of memorable performances, for good and bad reasons.

Best road win by a notoriously bad program: Kansas beats Boston College

In case you were out Friday night and missed the Kansas-Boston College game on Friday night, you missed the first road win vs. a Power team by the Jayhawks since Oct. 4, 2008. Not only did they win, but they crushed the Eagles and Steve Addazio may have placed him squarely back on the hot seat.

For perspective, Nick Saban had zero national titles at Alabama and Dabo Swinney was coaching receivers at Clemson. Further, Game of Thrones was 2.5 years away from premiering and Jim just proposed to Pam on The Office. So yeah, it was a long wait, and Kansas head coach Les Miles was jubilant afterward.

“If anybody wants to know why a guy would come back to college football, this tells you how fun and how important college football is,” said Miles. “It shows the Jayhawks are coming,” he added. “I think it’s very realistic that we can be a great program and have real quality football teams year after year — not today, not tomorrow. Shortly in the future.”

What makes this win even more impressive, or surprising is Kansas lost last week to Coastal Carolina after only putting up seven points at home. Could this be a sign of more wins to come for Miles and KU this fall? Let’s keep things in proper perspective considering the state of the program, but I’m going to say they win at least one Big 12 win this year. The most likely victim looks like West Virginia.

Kansas is a football school now.

Worst use of technology: Alabama tracking student attendance

From the “This feels like an episode of Black Mirror” department, Alabama has gone all Big Brother on students by tracking which students are staying for the duration of games and who is bailing before the fourth quarter.

This has been a point of emphasis for head coach Nick Saban who wants fans to provide a great environment and atmosphere for his team. It’s also why he hates noon starts.

“I want the stadium to be full,” Saban said. “I want everybody to stay. I want everybody to be there. But I also know that it’s not very comfortable when we play in certain circumstances. From a player’s standpoint, I don’t want to hear any of that. Whenever we play, we play.”

So the school is trying to incentivize the students who may prefer to be tailgating or taking a nap in the dorms to recover from Friday night’s festivities and to rally before they do it again Saturday night. Through a tracking device on a mobile app, students will receive 100 “loyalty points” for attending and 250 points for staying the entire game. The points, which have the same cash value as Schrute Bucks, can be traded in for priority access to select games.

Best fans: Georgia fans organize ‘pink out’ to honor Wendy Anderson

The best thing I saw this week was Georgia fans organizing a pink out to honor Wendy Anderson, the late wife of Arkansas State head coach Blake Anderson. The group Bulldogs Battling Breast Cancer, founded by Jay and Teresa Abbott of Douglasville, Georgia organized the movement.

This weekend marked the return to the sidelines for who took a leave of absence to be with his wife before she passed away after a courageous fight with breast cancer in late August.

“It’s overwhelming, to be honest with you, Anderson said before the game. I teared up and took a little while to compose myself. It’ll be hard today but very honored and appreciate all the support. We’ve leaned on a lot of people to get through this.”

“I’ll just say publicly, one of the classiest moves I’ve ever seen,” Anderson said postgame. “Hard to truly prepare for something like that, so thank you to all those that showed up today wearing pink or thinking pink. You know, they don’t know my wife and they don’t know me, and they didn’t have to do it. Just very grateful, honored and overwhelmed.”

https://twitter.com/CHbanderson/status/1172960168595861504

Worst way to lose a game: Iowa State vs. Iowa

There was some good competition this week for the worst way to lose a game. There was USC throwing an interception in overtime to lose to BYU. Then there was Michigan State having 12 men on the field that nullified their game-tying field goal vs. Arizona State. They missed the next kick and couldn’t force overtime. And Kentucky allowed 18 fourth-quarter points to Florida with their backup quarterback to lose at home. We can’t forget about this end-of-game sequence by Florida State that makes the Carolina Panthers end on Thursday Night Football look transcendent by comparison.

But the worst way was when two Iowa State players on the punt team took each other out, leaving Iowa to recover the ball and kill the clock. The Cyclones would have had about 90 seconds to get into field goal range but lose 18-17 at home to their in-state rival. This was the first time College GameDay was in Ames and it was marred by weather delays that made for a marathon game that lasted about six hours.

The slow-motion replay makes it even more painful.

Best use of the truckstick: Najee Harris vs. South Carolina

Alabama junior running back Najee Harris came to Tuscaloosa as the nation’s No. 1 overall recruit but he had to wait his turn as the feature back in the Tide backfield. After showing flashes of dominance his first two years, Harris had the play of his career (so far) with an impressive catch and run for a touchdown vs. South Carolina. Harris ran a defender over, then he hurdled another and dragged a third defender into the end zone. It was the play Alabama fans had dreamt about from the 6-foot-2, 230-pound back and he delivered the play of the week.

Worst bad beat: South Carolina’s last-minute TD gets the back door cover

Alabama dominated South Carolina for the better part of the game. The Gamecocks had a fake field goal touchdown called back on a penalty and another close call that could have been a touchdown that resulted in zero points. That said, South Carolina got the back door cover vs. Alabama when they got a touchdown with 11 seconds remaining to lose by 24. The cover was 26.5 points and this is the latest example why betting on sports takes years off your life.

Best impression of John Elway’s helicopter run: Garrett Shrader

Mississippi State freshman quarterback Garrett Shrader was pressed into duty after Tommy Stevens was knocked out with an injury. The Bulldogs lost to Kansas State at home in a tough non-conference loss. One of the “wow” plays of the game came from Shrader who did his best John Elway impression of his famous “helicopter run” in Super Bowl XXXII vs. the Green Bay Packers. Unfortunately, for Shrader and Mississippi State, his run didn’t inspire the rest of his teammates to a win. But credit him for putting his body on the line and in the air for a shot at picking up the first down.

https://twitter.com/espn/status/1172955895426441216

Best impression of Randy Moss by someone 5-foot-5: Champ Flemings

Oregon State receiver Champ Flemings stands five-foot-five and is listed at 141 pounds but he made a play that caught the attention of Randy Moss. That’s doin’ it big and that’s what Jennings did when he Moss’d the defender to bring down this touchdown. He practically scales the back of the defender like it’s the big wall on American Ninja Warrior and casually strolled in for six.

Flemings, a redshirt sophomore had five catches for 142 yards and two scores. It represented the best game of his early career. Let this be an example for anyone who is told they are too short or too small to excel in sports. Play the tape of Flemings going vertical to bring down this touchdown and it’ll inspire a new wave of diminutive athletes with oversized competitiveness who make big plays. He was also the 1,797 overall recruit by the 247Sports Composite rankings. So don’t worry if you’re not a four or five-star recruit. Work hard and you’ll make plays and maybe even get the attention from one of the best to ever do it in the process.

Worst coaching decision: Pat Narduzzi goes for the FG down seven

In the 100th and final (for now) game between Penn State and Pitt, the game was decided by a highly questionable decision by Panthers head coach Pat Narduzzi. Pitt had a first and goal from the 1 as they tried to tie the game. After an incomplete pass, run for no gain and another incomplete pass, Narduzzi brought out the kicker instead of going for it. You’re shocked, right?! It’s completely inexcusable and lesser coaches would be fired on the spot. It was football karma then when Pitt missed the 19-yard field goal and ended up losing.

Narduzzi was asked about the decision to attempt the field goal and his answer is sure to incite Pitt fans and make them want to pull their hair out.

“Because you need two scores to win the football game, Narduzzi said via Craig Meyer of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.”

He also said he doesn’t question the decision. Pitt fans should be questioning the direction of the program under Narduzzi with these kinds of late-game decisions.

Best coach you (probably) never heard of: Eastern Michigan’s Chris Creighton

Eastern Michigan beat Illinois in their stadium on Saturday, marking the third year in a row they have beat a Big Ten team on the road. EMU head coach Chris Creighton is doing a great job and it’s largely going unnoticed.

After winning on the NAIA (Ottawa), DIII (Wabash) and FCS (Drake) levels, Creighton is starting to turn the program around after three total wins in his first two years with the Eagles.

When he took over, Eastern Michigan was one of the worst FBS programs. Now, in his sixth year, they’re certifiable Big Ten slayers. Creighton has gone 19-19 with a pair of bowl games since 2016.

That record won’t open many eyes, but when you consider how bad the program was when he took over, it’s really an accomplishment and a testament to what he’s building. It’s only a matter of time before Creighton is coaching in the Big Ten. After all, he has more Big Ten wins over the last three years than Illinois head coach, Lovie Smith. Maybe a Creighton for Smith swap will be in order this December?

Stat of the week: Saban improves to 17-0

With Alabama’s win over South Carolina and Will Muschamp, Nick Saban improved to 17-0 vs. his former assistants. Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher will try to give him his first loss on Oct. 12, but the best shot could come from Georgia’s Kirby Smart if the two teams meet in the SEC Championship Game.

Stat of the week Part II: Zero points allowed on Trevor Lawrence interceptions

Clemson wunderkind quarterback Trevor Lawrence isn’t off to the perfect start many, including myself, forecasted entering his sophomore season. In fact, he’s looked kinda human and already has more interceptions through three games (five) this year than he did all of last season (four). That’s a worthy stat of the week, but on three of Lawrence’s five interceptions, the opponent got the ball in the red zone. And the Clemson defense has surrendered a grand total of zero points on those drives. Simply remarkable defense by the Tigers and coordinator Brent Venables who remains one of the best in the business even after losing three linemen in the first round of the NFL Draft.

College Football Playoff picture

1. Clemson – The reigning national champions were a little listless vs. Syracuse and Trevor Lawrence threw a pair of interceptions. The Tigers turned it on in the second half and cruised to another blowout victory. Trevor Lawrence threw for 395 yards and three touchdowns with two interceptions. He also ran for a touchdown and had 42 rushing yards. The Clemson defense was nasty and sacked Syracuse quarterback Tommy DeVito eight times.
2. Alabama – The offense might be the scariest in the country with Tua Tagovailoa, Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs III and Najee Harris. Tua continues his Heisman push with 444 yards and five touchdowns. The defense, however, allowed 23 points to South Carolina. Granted one was in the final seconds with the game decided but the Gamecocks had penalties negate a fake field goal for a touchdown and the Gamecocks got zero points on a drive at the end of the first half when a review could have resulted in a South Carolina touchdown. Neither of which happened. Alabama also missed a field goal and an extra point. That has to be better.
3. Georgia – The Bulldogs have barely had to break a sweat their first three games. Jake Fromm threw three touchdowns in the 55-0 win over Arkansas State before departing with the score out of control. Notre Dame comes to Athens this Saturday. A win for Georgia gives them a big resume booster in the event the SEC Championship Game is their lone loss. It could open a door for them to get in as a one-loss non-conference champion. It would also eliminate a potential one-loss conference champion from the Big 12 or Pac-12.
4. Ohio State – Justin Fields looks really good in Ryan Day’s offense. Three games in and the Georgia transfer has had at least four touchdowns in each one. He joins J.T. Barrett and Dwayne Haskins as the only Buckeyes to accomplish that feat. J.K. Dobbins had his best game of the year with 193 yards and a touchdown in the 51-10 win over Indiana.

Just missed: LSU, Oklahoma

Heisman Trophy rankings

1. Tua Tagovailoa, QB, Alabama – For the first time in Alabama history, a quarterback threw 400 yards and had five touchdowns in a game. That honor belongs to Tua Tagovailoa who did most of it in the first three quarters before taking a seat vs. South Carolina.
2. Jalen Hurts, QB, Oklahoma – It’s really a tie at the top. Hurts has been unstoppable through the air and the ground for the Sooners. Hurts ran for 99 yards and a touchdown on the opening drive and finished with 150 yards on 14 carries. He was 15-of-20 for 289 yards and three touchdowns through the air in the blowout win over UCLA.
3. Justin Fields, QB, Ohio State – Fields had his third straight four-touchdown game in Ohio State’s win vs. Indiana. He threw for three scores on 199 yards and added a rushing score. He’s getting better with every game.
4. Jonathan Taylor, RB, Wisconsin – Taylor was off as they prepare for Michigan next Saturday. The Badger back looks well on his way toward his third straight 2,000-yard season. He’s also added a receiving dimension to his game with receiving scores in the first two games for Wisconsin.