College football Week 4 takeaways: Everybody stinks except Alabama and Georgia
There hasn’t been this much parity in college football since 2007 when no one wanted to be No. 1, but Alabama and Georgia remain in a class unto themselves.
One of the many reasons college football is the greatest sport is because you can have a schedule that looks like it’s the perfect weekend to catch up on some errands and you get absolute chaos.
That was Week 4.
The best games on paper were Notre Dame vs. Wisconsin from Soldier Field and Texas A&M vs. Arkansas. Beyond that, there wasn’t much that was going to be appointment TV, unless you’re a sicko, which if you’re reading this, you likely have been diagnosed with the incurable college football sickness years ago.
Notre Dame and Wisconsin started off as rough as most offenses do at Soldier Field. It ended up rather one-sided with the Fighting Irish making life miserable for Badgers quarterback Graham Mertz. It was Mertz that Wisconsin coaches chose over Jack Coan who ended up transferring to Notre Dame. Coan left the game with an injury not believed to be serious, but he had to be feeling great to win the revenge game.
What followed was absolute chaos in the afternoon slate.
Arkansas is Texas state champs
Two weeks after taking Texas to the woodshed, Arkansas remained undefeated against teams from the Lone Star State with a convincing win against No. 7 Texas A&M. Sam Pittman is easy to root for and the Hogs straight-up bullied the Aggies defense all afternoon in the Southwest Classic. Arkansas awaits Georgia, where Pittman previously worked as an assistant, next week. If Arkansas can beat this Georgia team, just give Pittman the Coach of the Year Award at midfield after the game.
What’s wrong with Clemson?
Clemson is out of the College Football Playoff and it’s not even October. Dabo Swinney’s team has made the playoff each year since 2014 but that streak is over after the Tigers suffered their second loss of the season. Losing to NC State in double overtime sunk Clemson who lost to Georgia in the season opener. It’s not surprising a team that lost Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne to the NFL would have some hiccups on offense, but the unit led by coordinator Tony Elliott has been a disaster.
Quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei hasn’t looked in sync all season and one of the preseason Heisman candidates and 2023 No. 1 pick candidate needs to figure things out to keep his job the rest of the year. Adding injury to insult, freshman running back Will Shipley suffered what looked like an ugly knee injury late in the game that could keep him sidelined for perhaps the rest of the year. Clemson hasn’t had two losses in the regular season since 2014 when they went 10-3. Is Clemson even going to win the ACC at this rate?
Iowa survives, Iowa State falls, Auburn escapes
Around 4 p.m. CT was the witching hour with halftime approaching and Texas A&M, Iowa, Iowa State, Clemson and Auburn were all losing or tied at halftime. The only ranked team that was winning, besides Arkansas who was playing Texas A&M, was Michigan against Rutgers.
Iowa ended up winning against Colorado State but may drop from its No. 5 rankings.
Iowa State didn’t get the two-point conversion to force overtime against Baylor and lost.
Clemson lost in double overtime.
Texas A&M lost.
Auburn needed TJ Finley to come off the bench for Bo Nix to save the Tigers from embarrassment against Georgia State. Auburn paid them $1.25 for the game and almost had to pony that up to take an L.
Michigan had to sweat out a win against Rutgers, the same team they needed three overtimes last year to beat.
What an afternoon.
Alabama, Georgia are the only constants in college football
After Week 3, I wrote if there are any superteams in college football. Alabama showed some vulnerabilities and there were some questions about Georgia’s offense. Welp, consider those questions to be fully addressed.
The only great teams in college football this year are Alabama and Georgia. No one else is in the conversation.
Oklahoma, Penn State, Oregon, etc. You all have flaws and all would get run in a playoff game against either of the two perennial SEC powers.
So let’s just get on with it and have Alabama and Georgia play a best-of-seven series to determine the national champion.
Seriously.
Let’s get on with the formality of the rest of the regular season.
You, me and anyone else that’s watched a game this year knows it’s inevitable. One game for these titans won’t be enough to settle this score so let’s do what baseball, basketball and hockey to in their postseasons and have a best-of-seven.
The first to win four games is the national champion.
Just think about how awesome that would be for the viewers. And I don’t want to hear any nonsense about how people wouldn’t watch two SEC teams play. Ratings for college football are through the roof this year. People love football. More importantly, people love great football teams and there are not two better than Alabama and Georgia.
Ohio State’s quarterback quandary
C.J. Stroud hadn’t even started a game and he was in the top-five preseason Heisman candidates. He may not leave September assured of starting another game for Ohio State. Ryan Day sat Stroud against Akron to rest his ailing shoulder in favor of Kyle McCord and he may not get his job back. The transfer portal rumors are already scorching hot that Stroud may leave Ohio State if he doesn’t reclaim his job. McCord looked more than ready to take the job and run with it when Big Ten play begins next week for the Buckeyes.
If Day starts McCord next week, expect Stroud to start exploring his options, which could include UCLA and USC. The Ranco Cucamonga native could get a fresh start out west in his native California. Beyond this year, with top prospect Quinn Ewers enrolling early this year, he may not be assured of a job next year even if he gets the job back from McCord. This is a good problem for Ohio State to have so many good quarterbacks.
College Football Playoff rankings if the season ended today
- Alabama
- Georgia
- Oregon
- Penn State
Heisman Trophy rankings after Week 4
- Matt Corral, Ole Miss, QB
- Bryce Young, Alabama, QB
- Kenneth Walker III, Michigan State, RB
- Blake Corum, Michigan, RB
- Jake Haener, Fresno State, QB
dark. Next. 30 forgotten NCAA football stars: Where are they now?
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.