College football Week 9 takeaways: D.J. Uiagalelei goes as Trevor Lawrence for Halloween, Jim Harbaugh done at Michigan?

D.J. Uiagalelei dresses up as Trevor Lawrence for Halloween, Jim Harbaugh and Michigan headed for a divorce and the biggest takeaways from college football Week 9.

I’m with the D.J.

D.J. Uiagalelei was worth all the hype as the five-star freshman phenom threw for 342 yards and scored three total touchdowns in Clemson’s comeback win vs. Boston College. With Trevor Lawrence sidelined after testing positive for COVID-19, it was an opportunity for Clemson to get a glimpse of the future when Lawrence leaves for the NFL after this season.

If his first start is any indication of the future, it’s clear Clemson has another superstar quarterback waiting in the wings. Clemson is QBU with Tajh Boyd, Deshaun Watson, Lawrence and Uiagalelei one-upping each other. This wasn’t just a one-hit-wonder either as Uiagalalei will get another start next week when Clemson travels to No. 4 Notre Dame with Lawrence ruled out as he continues to battle the coronavirus. Lawrence will continue to be Clemson’s biggest cheerleader until he can return.

It’s the biggest game in the ACC this year, and a potential preview of the ACC Championship Game, albeit Lawrence should be back in time for that game, and it’s not out of the realm of possibility we see these teams meet a third time in the College Football Playoff, provided they split the two regular-season matchups.

Jim Harbaugh and Michigan headed for divorce?

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Jim Harbaugh lost a rivalry game. It happened again as the Michigan head coach fell to 3-3 against Michigan State after the Wolverines choked vs. “little brother” after an impressive opener vs. Minnesota last week. That’s been the story of Harbaugh’s tenure with his alma mater.

They dominate the teams they should dominate and fall short against Michigan’s two rivals. Michigan State was embarrassed by Rutgers last week, committing seven turnovers in a loss, but got the Paul Bunyan Trophy coming back to East Lansing.

Now, Harbaugh and Michigan could need couples counseling because they look headed for a divorce. I don’t think Michigan will fire Harbaugh, but I think there will be a mutual separation with Harbaugh looking to the NFL for his next job.

After winning 69 percent of his games in five seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, Harbaugh will be in high demand and could be an option for the New York Jets where he could develop Lawrence or Ohio State’s Justin Fields.

Just crown Ohio State already

The regular season is just delaying the inevitable for Ohio State. In the words of the late Dennis Green, “Now if you want to crown them, then crown their ass!” That’s precisely what I’d like to do with Ryan Day’s team because they have no competition in the Big Ten. Michigan is Michigan. Penn State got run off the field. Wisconsin has had their season disrupted by a COVID-19 outbreak.

The only thing that can stop Ohio State is the Buckeyes getting a game canceled because they or their opponent has a COVID-19 outbreak. Did a chill go down your spine reading that? It did for me just typing that. I don’t want to think about it, because this is arguably one of the most talented teams in Ohio State history and as I and so many said when the season was initially scrapped, it would be a travesty if they don’t get a chance to prove that on the field.

DeVonta Smith makes up for Jaylen Waddle’s absence

For one game, Alabama didn’t miss Jaylen Waddle. The All-American return man and leading receiver for the Crimson Tide was lost for the season after suffering an ankle fracture on the opening kickoff vs. Tennessee last week. Alabama will miss Waddle the rest of the way, but DeVonta Smith put up production that he and Waddle would love to combine to produce.

Smith tied Amari Cooper for the program record with four receiving touchdowns in the blowout win over Mississippi State. The four scores also ties an SEC record. Three of the scores came in the first half when Smith had nine receptions for 159 yards. He finished with 11 receptions for 203 yards and the four scores in the 41-0 win on Nick Saban’s 69th birthday.

RIP Big 12 playoff chances

After Oklahoma lost to Kansas State, the Big 12’s playoff chances were on life support. After Oklahoma State lost to Texas in overtime on Saturday, the plug was pulled on the conference’s playoff hopes. The Pokes were the last hope for the conference to make the four-team postseason after Oklahoma and Texas suffered multiple losses. Mike Gundy’s team was undefeated and ranked No. 6 but after losing to Tom Herman’s team, they find themselves in the thick of a Big 12 race with Kansas State, West Virginia, Oklahoma and even Texas now, but their playoff hopes are deader than dead.

Time for Georgia to make a quarterback change

Georgia has relied on dominant defense and a punishing ground game to win under Kirby Smart but the Dawgs can no longer let their quarterback hold them back. Stetson Bennett was a nice story in the first half of the year as the former fourth-string walk-on emerged as the starter but he’s not capable of leading the Georgia offense to a win over Florida next week or against Alabama in a rematch in the SEC Championship Game. He’s a poor man’s Jake Fromm, which is never a compliment anyone wants to receive.

Bennett was 9-of-13 for 112 yards and a pair of interceptions that came in Kentucky territory in the 14-3 win over the Wildcats. That performance can beat Kentucky but with USC transfer JT Daniels sitting on the bench and waiting for his turn, it’s time for Kirby Smart to unleash the player who has 12 starts under his belt. Daniels has had plenty of time to recover from the torn ACL he suffered in the season-opener last year with the Trojans and keeping him on the bench is further proof of Smart’s inability to get the most out of the most important position in the game.

We missed you, Pac-12 football

Well, we had to wait until the first weekend in November, but Pac-12 football is finally coming back. It’s been a long wait, but we’ll have all 12 teams in action with six games on Saturday, Nov. 7. Arizona State travels to No. 21 USC, Arizona goes to Utah, UCLA heads to Colorado, Stanford heads north to take on No. 14 Oregon, Washington State travels to Oregon State and Washington heads to Berkley to take on California.

I think we’ll see USC and Oregon in the Pac-12 Championship Game, but I’m not sure if we have a truly great team in the conference, but USC’s offense has the potential to put up huge numbers with Kedon Slovis and Oregon’s defense could be nasty with Kayvon Thibodeaux leading the Ducks unit. It’ll just be glad to get west coast football back in our lives.

Clear your Wednesdays for the return of MACtion!

I don’t know about you but I’ve sorely missed mid-week college football with the MAC season delayed. Thankfully, one day after the madness of Election Day, we’ll get a full slate of MAC football on Wednesday, Nov. 4.

We have Eastern Michigan at Kent State and Western Michigan at Akron at 6 p.m. ET. Then, a tripleheader at 7 p.m. ET featuring Buffalo at Northern Illinois, Ohio at Central Michigan and Ball State at Miami (OH).

Lastly, we’ll get Bowling Green at Toledo for our MAC nightcap with kick scheduled for 8 p.m. ET. With the exception of Ball State at Miami (OH) on CBSSN, all games will be on the ESPN family of networks.

Heisman hierarchy

Lawrence missing the game vs. Boston College and next week’s game vs. Notre Dame leaves the Heisman Trophy race wide open heading into November.

Fields has a chance to make up for starting late and Alabama’s Mac Jones could be the first quarterback to win the Heisman for the Crimson Tide.

1. Mac Jones, Alabama, QB
2. Trevor Lawrence, Clemson, QB
3. Justin Fields, Ohio State, QB
4. Najee Harris, Alabama, RB
5. Zach Wilson, BYU, QB

College Football Playoff picture

We have three dominant teams in college football and then one pretty good team rounding out the No. 4 spot. Next week’s showdown between Georgia and Florida will tell us if either is a legit threat to Alabama’s crown. The Big 12 is six feet under and I’m already writing off the Pac-12 for a playoff bid.

1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Ohio State
4. Notre Dame

First two out: Georgia, Cincinnati

Luke Fickell’s Cincinnati Bearcats look as good as any Group of Five team we’ve seen since UCF went undefeated in 2017 and enraged Twitter by claiming a national title. If Clemson sweeps Notre Dame, there’s a chance we see Cincinnati make history as the first team outside the Power 5 to make the playoff. That said, I think the committee would still take a two-loss Georgia or Florida or a 7-1 Pac-12 team over an undefeated Cincinnati.

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