College football rankings: Top 10 team performances of Week 4 – Wisconsin on top

Wisconsin was the most impressive team for their dominating win vs. Michigan and takes the top spot in our Week 4 Team Performance metric.

Ahead of time, Week 4 was billed as the best schedule of games yet during the 2019 college football season, and we were treated to several exciting games. Every television viewing window included a matchup of ranked teams, including the primetime headlining Top-10 matchup between Georgia and Notre Dame.

The main event did not disappoint, five ranked teams were beaten by unranked opponents, and every major College Football Playoff contender is still in the mix. But there weren’t many purely dominant performances. Wisconsin aside, of course.

Here we count down the Terrific 10: the top 10 CFB Winning Edge Team Performance ratings of the week. CFB Winning Edge uses a variety of statistical factors from each FBS game to calculate a specific game grade for each team on a 60-100 scale.

Grades are weighted to account for the strength of each opponent – which also helps to explain why Ohio State missed the cut this week despite winning 76-5. But don’t worry, the Buckeyes still rank in the top five overall.

Week 4 officially started with Tulane’s last-second win over Houston, but the weekend gave us its first major upset Friday night when USC knocked off Utah 30-23.

The Trojans lost quarterback Kedon Slovis to a hard hit on just the second play from scrimmage and turned to former third-stringer Matt Fink behind center. Fink responded with 21 completions in 30 pass attempts, for 351 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. Fink averaged an impressive 11.5 yards per pass attempt. He hooked up with Michael Pittman, Jr. 10 times for 232 yards and a 77-yard touchdown, which stretched the USC lead to 21-10 in the third quarter.

USC would have ranked higher on this list, but the Trojans’ lack of a rushing attack (13 yards on 22 carries) meant Utah actually out-gained USC 457-381 overall and therefore limited the big-play Trojans to an advantage of just 0.26 yards per snap. The Utes also won the turnover battle 2-1, but of course, USC won the war.

Texas finally put an end to one of the most unexpected streaks in college football. Oklahoma State had beaten the Longhorns in four straight games and hadn’t lost in Austin this decade, but the Longhorns prevailed 36-30 Saturday night.

The two teams were very evenly matched, statistically. Texas gained 498 total yards, split among 281 passing yards and 217 on the ground and averaged 10.0 yards per pass attempt. The Horns allowed 494 total yards, including 268 through the air and 226 rushing. Texas lost two fumbles and quarterback Sam Ehlinger was picked off once, and the Longhorns intercepted two Spencer Sanders passes, meaning Texas lost the turnover battle 3-2.

But the Longhorns won on the margins. Texas surrendered 8.1 yards per pass and 4.0 yards per carry on defense but averaged 10.0 yards per pass and 5.0 yards per rushing attempt. The Horns were also 8-for-14 on third down, held the Pokes to a 9-for-19 performance on third down and 0-for-2 on fourth. Texas did not allow a sack on offense but sacked Sanders twice.

Mississippi State bounced back from its disappointing 31-24 loss to Kansas State in Week 3 to beat Kentucky 28-13. The Bulldogs actually allowed fewer total yards to K-State (269) than they did to Kentucky (386) but kept UK out of the end zone in the first half and the return game and forced UK to settle for a 29-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.

Running back Kylin Hill and true freshman quarterback Garrett Shrader (staring in place of the injured Tommy Stevens) each ran for more than 100 yards. Shrader gained 125 yards on 11 carries, including a 49-yarder and Hill finished with 120 yards and three touchdowns on 26 carries.

Defensively, the Bulldogs held Kentucky in check in the passing game. Wildcats QB Sawyer Smith completed only 15 of 41 pass attempts for 232 yards, an average of 5.7 yards per pass, and was intercepted by Willie Gay in the first quarter, which Gay returned 53 yards for a touchdown.

The Florida Gators were better than many realized through the first three weeks of the season. Florida ranked No. 11 in Team Performance through Week 3 with an average rating of 91.72 but was largely criticized for a sloppy 24-20 win against Miami in the season opener, and a 29-21 win at Kentucky in which it lost its starting quarterback.

The Gators were less than dominant in Week 3, posting a season-low 88.42 game grade, but beat Tennessee 34-3. Kyle Trask threw for 293 yards and two touchdowns while averaging 10.5 yards per pass attempt in his first start, though he was also intercepted twice.

Florida struggled at times running the football and averaged only 3.5 yards per carry. But the defense was solid and held Tennessee to 3.3 yards per attempt on the ground, and 5.4 yards per attempt through the air. The Gators also intercepted Tennessee quarterbacks three times.

In arguably the biggest game of the season to date, Georgia started slow but finished strong in a 23-17 victory over Notre Dame. Jake Fromm completed 20 of 26 passes attempts (76.9 percent) for 187 yards – a modest 7.2 yards per attempt. The Bulldogs averaged 4.6 yards on 33 rushing attempts, and D’Andre Swift led all players with 98 rushing yards and a touchdown on 18 carries.

Defensively, though the Dawgs surrendered 275 passing yards, Georgia limited Notre Dame quarterback Ian Book to 5.9 yards per attempt and intercepted him twice. The Bulldogs also stuffed the Fighting Irish rushing attack and allowed just 46 yards on 14 attempts on the ground. Overall, the Dawgs out-gained Notre Dame by an average of 0.48 yards per snap.

Alabama led the nation in Team Performance through Week 3 with an average game grade of 97.07. But the Crimson Tide fell to No. 2 after settling for an 89.07 grade in a 49-7 victory over Southern Miss that could have been much more impressive if they didn’t ease up in the second half.

Tua Tagovailoa posted ridiculous passing numbers once again, including more touchdown passes (5) than incompletions (4). Tua averaged 14.0 yards per attempt in the game and now ranks third nationally with an average of 11.6 yards per pass this season. Overall, he has completed 77.7 percent of his passes for 1.300 yards and 17 touchdowns without an interception.

Southern Miss, which gained 626 total yards and averaged 8.13 yards per play in its previous game (and came in averaging 7.19 yards per snap this season) was held to 226 total yards and 3.90 yards per play by Alabama. The Crimson Tide out-gained the Eagles by 4.67 yards per play – third best of the week behind Ohio State (5.36) and Iowa State (5.34).

Most weeks, a 21-6 win wouldn’t register a top-four performance in our weekly Terrific 10. But, with the growing number of idle teams as the week progresses (23 teams were off in Week 4, which is just one fewer than the teams that had byes in Week 2 and Week 3 combined), and the increasing number of conference games means any Team Performance rating approaching 90 is excellent.

And let’s not forget: despite Stanford’s struggles early this season, the Cardinal are talented. It was impressive how the Oregon defense held K.J. Costello to just 120 passing yards on 30 attempts. For reference, UTSA and Northwestern are currently tied for last among all 130 FBS programs with 4.6 yards per pass attempt. Costello – a maximum 100-rated player according to the CFB Winning Edge VGR+ player ratings formula, and one of the top 100 players in college football  – managed 4.0.

Meanwhile, Justin Herbert averaged 10.8 yards per attempt (which would rank No. 4 on the individual national leaderboard this year) for the Ducks. He also threw three touchdowns without an interception, while Costello was picked off once.

Washington finished its non-conference schedule in impressive fashion, beating BYU 45.19 on the road, and finishing with an average score of 48-18. Even the 20-19 loss to Cal in Week 2 doesn’t look as bad as it did now that the Bears have climbed to No. 15 in the AP Top 25.

The Huskies held BYU to 2.9 yards per rushing attempt and 6.6 yards per pass while averaging 4.8 and 10.4 respectively. As a result, Washington out-gained the Cougars by an average of 1.96 yards per play. The Huskies also scored on an Adam Fuller punt return and won the turnover battle 3-2.

Though not flashy, Washington was simply better than the Cougars in every facet of the game and posted a solid all-around Team Performance grade.

What else can we say about Joe Burrow and the new-and-improved LSU offense?

After beating Vanderbilt 66-38 on the road Saturday, the Tigers now lead the country in scoring offense (57.8 points per game). Burrow, who has thrown for an average of 380.0 yards per contest, which ranks second only to Washington State quarterback Anthony Gordon. He has completed 80.6 of his pass attempts, which is the best among all qualified FBS signal-callers and ranks second in both touchdowns (17) and average yards per pass (12.3).

Despite surrendering 38 points, the Tigers outscored Vanderbilt by an average of 0.37 points per play and out-gained the Commodores by an average of 2.97 yards per snap. LSU now ranks No. 9 nationally in net yards per play, having out-gained its first four opponents by an average of 3.28 yards per play.

Wisconsin posted the highest Team Performance rating of Week 5, but the dominance the Badgers showed against Michigan goes far beyond the numbers.

Running back Jonathan Taylor became the first player in history to run for more than 200 yards in a game against the Wolverines and did so despite missing several minutes of game time while being treated for cramps. Taylor benefitted from a Wisconsin offensive line that looked bigger and stronger than the more highly recruited players across the line of scrimmage, and he capitalized by exploding through the holes created for big gains, including a 72-yard touchdown (one of two scores for Taylor on the day).

The Badgers led 28-0 at halftime, and 35-0 in the third quarter. Michigan managed just 123 total yards on 27 plays across seven offensive drives to that point – an average of 4.6 yards per play and 17.6 yards per possession. During the same period, Wisconsin racked up 406 total yards on 55 plays, averages of 7.38 yards per snap and 58 yards per series. The Badgers scored five touchdowns during its first seven possessions while holding Michigan scoreless until late in the third quarter.

Terrific 10: 2019 Full-Season (Average Team Performance rating)