College football Week 6 takeaways: 6 things we learned and 4 things we didn’t
College football Week 6 takeaways include Clemson showing Miami is not back, Alabama having a big problem and LSU wanting to go back to 2019.
Whether you watched all the college football Week 6 action or you missed some of the action, there were plenty of important takeaways. There were things we learned, especially as it relates to the mirage that was Miami football being back, Alabama’s defense being an issue and Spencer Rattler being a heckuva thrill ride. But there are still some lingering questions that weren’t answered this weekend that will stick in the back of our minds for a few weeks.
We learned Spencer Rattler will be a roller coaster ride
The Spencer Rattler experience is going to be a bumpy ride. There will be some really high highs and there will be some lows. And in some games, you’ll get both. That was the case in the Red River Showdown when Rattler was benched in the second quarter after losing a fumble and throwing an interception on back-to-back possessions.
Tanner Mordecai came in out of the bullpen while Rattler stood on the sideline and watched his teammate doing what he should be doing. It was a humbling experience for the ultra-confident redshirt freshman who probably needed a wake-up call and a dose of reality. He’s not in high school anymore and he can’t take anything for granted. There are plenty of excuses he can use about Oklahoma’s lack of a running game or holes in the offensive line, but it all rests on Rattler’s right arm.
Rattler came back in the second half and helped lead Oklahoma to a 4OT win vs. Texas behind three passing touchdowns and a rushing score to avoid a third straight defeat. Rattler can forget about the Heisman chase and the playoff pursuit and concentrate on getting better each week and gaining command of the offense and winning the respect of his teammates.
It’s not uncommon for freshmen quarterbacks to experience these kinds of struggles. It has, however, been uncommon for Lincoln Riley’s quarterbacks to experience these kinds of struggles. But in the long run, this will be a blessing for Rattler who earned some redemption this week, but there will be more ups and downs and it’s how he manages his composure during those moments that will determine if he’s a legend in Norman or if he crumbles under the weight of expectations.
We learned Texas needs to go back to the drawing board
Tom Herman is 1-4 vs. Oklahoma since taking the Texas football head coaching job. That’s just not good enough and it’s the leading cause why he may not be long for the job in Austin. He’s 26-13 at Texas outside of the Red River Showdown, but when you’re the Texas football head coach, the one game you need to win is the Red River Showdown and he’s doing it 20 percent of the time. That’s a 100 percent recipe for disaster for Herman who arrived with so much promise and potential after a 22-4 two-year stint at Houston on the heels of being the offensive coordinator for Urban Meyer at Ohio State and winning the national championship in 2015.
But that feels like an eternity ago for Herman and for Texas football fans who have to be longing for the good old days. It makes it even worse when they see Mack Brown leading an undefeated North Carolina team that’s ranked in the top-10 and cleaning up on the recruiting trail. Sometimes you don’t know what you got til it’s gone. But in the case of Herman, Texas fans have soured on waiting for Herman to reach his potential.
We learned Sam Ehlinger deserved better than this
Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger is one of the best in program history but he’s going to leave without much to show for it outside of one win vs. Texas and a Cotton Bowl win and one proclamation gone wrong. That Cotton Bowl win was when Ehlinger famously said Texas was back, but they were not back, and have regressed since that win over Georgia.
Ehlinger, to his credit, did all he could do with a roster devoid of much skill-position talent, a defense allergic to tackling and a coach who can’t win a big game. Ehlinger ran for four touchdowns and threw for two more as he put his team on his back in the 4OT loss to rival Oklahoma.
If he had any kind of help from his teammates, he would likely be celebrating the rest of the weekend with a win in his final Red River Showdown. Alas, Ehlinger deserved better than what he got.
We learned Texas A&M is building something under Jimbo Fisher
After going 17-9 in his first two years at Texas A&M, Jimbo Fisher entered his third season with plenty of expectations and pressure to start delivering on his $75 million contract. After the Aggies got a game-winning field goal as time expired to beat No. 4 Florida, the investment is starting to pay off.
While the wins weren’t as plentiful as the Aggies fans would have liked, Fisher built a foundation through recruiting the No. 4 and No. 6 classes the previous two years. The real benefit of those classes will be felt over the next two-three years but having senior quarterback Kellen Mond as the leader of this team is paying dividends right now.
Mond has been overshadowed by elite quarterbacks in the SEC like Joe Burrow and Tua Tagovailoa and so far this year with Kyle Trask and Mac Jones, but after edging Trask in Kyle Field on Saturday, this win can be a program-altering win for the Aggies as they look to narrow the gap on Alabama. It was Alabama that blew out Texas A&M last weekend to show how wide that gap is, but there’s a great chance Texas A&M is the second-best team in the SEC West with LSU and Auburn down.
The future is suddenly a lot brighter in College Station than many thought just one week ago.
We learned Florida’s defense will cost them the SEC East
The Florida offense has been great with Kyle Trask looking like a Heisman front-runner and Kyle Pitts looking like the best tight end college football has seen in years. However, the downfall of this team is the suspect defense.
That was on display when the Gators allowed 41 points and 543 yards in a loss at Texas A&M on Saturday. Entering the game, Florida struggled to dominate defensively against Ole Miss and South Carolina, fielding the No. 66 total defense, allowing 471 yards per game. They fared a little better keeping teams out of the end zone as garbage-time stats helped inflate the stats for the Rebels and Gamecocks, ranking No. 42 in the nation, allowing 29.5 points per game.
The Florida defense ranked No. 38 in rush defense, allowing 138.5 yards per game and a not-so-nice No. 69 in pass defense, giving up 327.5 yards per game. Out of the 75 teams that have played so far this year, only Kansas State, Louisiana Tech, Texas Tech, North Texas, LSU and Memphis have been worse at defending the pass.
Now, that may not be a death blow in the SEC where Georgia is their main competition considering the Dawgs aren’t a prolific passing offense, in favor of a punishing defense, ground-control offense and Stetson Bennett under center waiting to pick his moments to unleash his arm on the unsuspecting defense.
But what’s most concerning about Florida’s defense is they couldn’t get off the field vs. Texas A&M. The Gators let Texas A&M convert 12-15 third-down tries and their lone fourth-down attempt. When you can’t get off the field and let your prolific offense get back on it, you’re doomed.
We learned Miami isn’t back
The Miami Hurricanes enjoyed a nice start to the season beating up on the likes of UAB, Louisville, Florida State but those teams are bad. They faced the best team in the nation on Saturday night and Clemson let them know they have a long way to go before The U is back. D’Eriq King is a talented quarterback and Manny Diaz did well in the transfer portal shoring up some of the team’s weaknesses, but there was nothing Miami could do right against Clemson other than block three field goals, which is more of a fluke than something to build on. If only King was a sophomore who would be able to build on what Miami is doing, then it would be a somewhat different story.
We didn’t learn how good Clemson can be
Look, Clemson is the best team in the country, they could be the unanimous No. 1 team in the AP Top 25 too. But I still don’t know how good this team can be. Granted, I think they can be great, potentially historically great, but they haven’t begun to reach their full potential. And for that, it’s absolutely terrifying to think what this team could look like when they meet Notre Dame next month in a game that could be a playoff elimination game.
Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne could be the two leading candidates for the Heisman Trophy and the Clemson offensive line looks as good as it has under Dabo Swinney, but they still need a receiver to fill the void left by Tee Higgins and Justyn Ross for the offense to be The Shining levels of frightening.
It’s coming though. Just like the Clemson defense that’s playing freshman in key spots and hasn’t even unleashed Xavier Thomas yet as he recovers from his COVID-19 diagnosis in the summer.
We didn’t learn if Alabama’s defense can stop anyone
Alabama’s offense hasn’t lost anything despite losing Tua Tagovailoa, Henry Ruggs III and Jerry Jeudy to the NFL, but the defense looks even worse than it did last year when it lost its luster. The return of All-American linebacker Dylan Moses hasn’t been the cure-all that many thought it would be. But we’ve never seen a Nick Saban defense look as bad as it did on Saturday night as it did against Lane Kiffin’s Ole Miss Rebels. They put up 48 points and 647 yards against the Alabama defense, but they also converted all four fourth-down tries and didn’t commit a turnover. That’s not Alabama defense and it could come back to cost the Crimson Tide as soon as next week against Georgia or in the College Football Playoff against Clemson, Ohio State or Florida.
We didn’t learn if Notre Dame can compete with Clemson
Duke is 1-4 with their lone coming this week vs. Syracuse, USF is 1-3 with their lone win vs. The Citadel and Florida State is 1-3 with their lone win a comeback against FCS Jacksonville State. Notre Dame has looked great but they’ve looked great against teams that could probably lose to the freshmen team at Clemson or Alabama.
That’s not a knock on Notre Dame as much as it’s a knock on the opponents they’ve seen so far. And it really won’t change for the next three weeks with Louisville, Pitt and Georgia Tech on the schedule until hosting Clemson on Nov. 7. Notre Dame should be undefeated for that game but we won’t have any idea if they’re any good or if they can go toe-to-toe with Clemson at that point. Notre Dame could be in for a rude awakening that night or they could prove to be legit and make their case as a playoff team and potentially the No. 1 team in the nation.
We didn’t learn if LSU can win without Joe Burrow
LSU football fans may not stop watching the 2019 highlights of the championship team for a while. 2020 is going to be a rough year for the Bayou Bengals without Heisman winner Joe Burrow, one of 14 NFL Draft picks, Ja’Marr Chase who opted out and assistants Dave Aranda and Joe Brady who took jobs elsewhere. After getting boat-raced by Mississippi State in the opener, which looks even worse after the Bulldogs lost to Arkansas and put up 2 points vs. Kentucky, LSU beat Vanderbilt only to lose at Missouri and redshirt freshman quarterback Connor Bazelak making his first career start.
Bazelak threw for more than 400 yards and had four touchdowns in the 45-41 win that had head coach Ed Orgeron wondering if he made a Gob Bluth-esque mistake hiring Bo Pelini as his defensive coordinator
“We couldn’t stop anybody. Really a poor showing on defense,” Orgeron said. “We have to coach better, No. 1. It starts with me. Players have to make plays. We couldn’t stop the run, receivers wide open down the field. It was embarrassing. We have to get it fixed.”
It’s going to be a long year for LSU but they’ll always have 2019.
For more NCAA football news, analysis, opinion and unique coverage by FanSided, including Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff rankings, be sure to bookmark these pages.