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Week-4 brought some noise to fill up the hype meter on the college griddy. Michigan welcomed USC to the B1G, gettin' back on track in the best of ways; Georgia barely beat Kentucky at home; and the Vols continued its droppin' down of top-25 statements, powered by rising freshman signal caller Nico Iamaleava and a nasty-nasty defense. The bar has officially been raised with last week droppin' down a light teaser; now the comp' really starts to heat up as this weekend brings us Georgia versus Alabama along with some other gems. Gotcha with that, some blitz, and some other notable headlines. Lets rock.
Welcome to the Big House... and the B1G conference, Southern Cal'. Smash mouth football, baby! Wolverines get on track in a huge way by slayin' the Trojans to keep its CFP hopes alive. A win not only needed to keep hopes strong, but a win that was needed for the morale and confidence of the Michigan locker-room and coaching staff. Coach Moore dug into his Harbaugh notebook to lean on the rushing attack and Michigan's haunted defense to get the dub. Alex Orji may throw like Davis Warren (bad), but his presence was all that was needed for the O to get cookin' in the Big House.
Michigan had the right guy under center this time in a top-25 showdown. Orji's ability to run had the USC defense guessing all night long; which broke open the gates for the Wolverine running-backs to finally cause some damage to control the game and break the Trojan front down by game's end. Michigan ran for 290 on the ground between mostly Mullings-Edwards-Orji, makin' up for 90% of its total offense. You bet your tail I need to drop my new favorite snippet courtesy of Brent Key:
The rushing attack was great, no doubt, but the best note from the win is the team coming back in the final two minutes and change, to win it in the final seconds after USC took a 24-20 lead. The winning drive was money, and showed the grit and stones that the defending champion still possess. Michigan only went 4/15 converting on third-down across the game; they had two of the four on the final drive including this unreal effort by Mullings that put the Big House into a damn frenzy:
video via @CBS Sports-College Football//X
Wolverines game-winning score was cashed in on a 4th-and-goal on top of it (3/3 on 4th in game). Now that is how you get things back on track. Battled through adversity to get the job done against a good-good team. The win was more than needed for a team that looked to be close to diving off the deep end. Michigan has one more home game to handle (5 straight to start a season is ridic) before finally facing road environment. Lets see if Michigan can build of this USC win, or if its just a quick get off.
We have some real-nasty QB play going on across the nation. To the point that 5-stars who are starting; have their team wondering if they should be benched. Both the 2022 & 2023 recruiting class top-15 QB recruits continue to look rough as some even raise flags of panic. Klubnik and Allar are still considered meh as top cats from '22, with the '23 leaders of Arch Manning and Nico Iamaleava lookin' like the real deal holyfields. The rest of the top-15s respectfully? Hot garbage in regards to the ones who currently have starting roles.
Oklahoma benched 5-star Jackson Arnold in the middle of the game against Tennessee (and moving forward into WK-5); Texas A&M is considering benching 3rd-ranked Conner Weigman ('22); and the entire '23 class starters look weak outside of Nico, Arch, and Pitt's Eli Holstein. Avery Johnson is holding Kansas State back at times, while Aidan Chiles is doing the same for Michigan State... to a higher degree.
Chiles should be treading some water in regards to his play puttin' him on the bench. Chiles is athletic with strong playmaking ability, but his decision making and execution is killer bad. The turnovers from him alone are costing the Spartans; Sparty played good in all facets at Boston College as a team. They lost that game because of Chiles. Nothing to banter. It's actually facts. Chiles was awful, throwing three interceptions, two in BC territory. Chiles has now thrown 7 picks on the campaign, tying him with KU's Jalon Daniels (7) for the 2nd-most in the nation. The playmaking ability is there; but the turnovers have to stop and STAT. It's trench warfare time. Spartans run up a TOUGH schedj for the remainder of the year with Ohio State and Oregon up next. If Chiles plays like he did against BC, the Spartans will be slaughtered in both those games. Time to step up or get benched.
Kansas State is likely nowhere near thinking about benching Avery Johnson, nor should they be, BYU was just one game, but the cat needs to step up from his performance last week as the Wildcats are slated for another top-25 showdown this week against OK State. Then the 'Cats travel to Boulder; where the eyes will be tuning in (the Deion way). If K-State wants to cash in on its potential to stick around in the top-25, then they need Johnson to step up his game.
Illinois Ready For Next Step?:
Illinois won a banger in 'Braska for a huge dub over the Cornhuskers to claim its second top-25 win, as well as superiority atop the B1G going into the meat of the season schedule. It was a HUGE win for Illinois. Great game watch on top of it. Fighting Illini had its mission; and left with goal accomplished. Illinois joins Tennessee as the only two programs with a pair of top-25 dubs (both 2-0). Luke Altmyer logged in the best game of his season to push the offense as the defense did its dance late to cause havoc on Dylan Raiola to seal the win. Are the Illini ready for the next step?
Nebraska is a good team, with a real difficult environment, but that is just the rightful first for Illinois. Next up? Happy Valley to take on 9th-ranked Penn State. Intensify the narrative! Do we think the Illini are ready? It's time to find out. I am high on the Illini; think they should be ranked at 10 going into the Penn State game. This weekend will show us how for-real they really are. Consecutive wins at Nebraska and at Penn State would be MASSIVE.
LSU Loses Star Linebacker To ACL Injury:
LSU received some devastating news that star linebacker Harold Perkins Jr. tore his ACL and will miss the remainder of the season. Just a brutal pill for the Tigers, who look to have things back in forward motion after the opening season loss to USC. Next man up, of course, but man does losing Perkins hurt the middle of that defense. HPJ is arguably the most dynamic player on that defense as he is one of the more dynamic defensive players in all of College Football. Hopefully he heals well; I have him graded high to transfer over to the next level nicely. Hopefully he returns next season and won't declare for this next draft.
Chef Add Some Spice Please:
Clemson and Stanford each used strong WK-4 wins to spice up the WK-5 matchup between the two. Both teams started '24 with tough losses. Stanford lost a heartbreaker to TCU while Clemson got broke down and beaten by Georgia. Now they each ride 2-game winning streaks to get the their train moving forward. Good for them, and good for fans hoping the WK-5 intra-conference matchup will bring some noise.
I love the CFP expansion. In the past, Clemson and Stanford would feel gutted by the one loss so early into the season. Not anymore, especially with them being in the ACC. This game coming up is far more important than those losses. Should be a solid game with each team knowing they need the conference win. Spicy Spicy.
Losing Of Wits:
Mack Brown is going through it this week. I would be too if my team got smoked in our own backyard 50-70 by a school that transitioned to the FBS just two years ago. James Madison pulled off its best victory in school history both in score and opp. Tar Heels got dismantled. Faced a 53-21 halftime deficit, and just got whooped up and down.
North Carolina really let JMU put up 53 points on its head in the first-half... at home. It was so bad that Mack Brown went on a rant that left folk thinkin' he was going to Vontae Davis and walk out on the season, ha. Brown says he is staying, but is very "disappointed". Well, I'd say the Tar Heel fans are quite disappointed, Mack. Things are beginning to go downhill ever since NC lost Max Johnson in the Minnesota game. Defense looks to be a lost cause, and Mack Brown doesn't seem interested in altering the energy. Interested or not, the Tar Heels are fine considering the ACC, but they need to forget about all the BS and move forward. It's all conference games to the finish line. 'Heels are 0-0 going into Duke. The season is not gone.
WK-5 Slate Has The Stove Hot:
This weekend should bring the noise! The stove is hot as we get a slobber-knocker between Alabama/Georgia; several B1G clashes headlined by Illinois invading Happy Valley; and some real good unranked wars with the shiniest being Coach Prime and the Buffs rollin' into Orlando against UCF in what should be an absolute banger of a contest. Lets be real with it; every Colorado game is turning into primetime telly, rather you like them or not. The games are pure and utter noise. Last week was no different.
Colorado in a close game is turning into a weekly want for football fans. The Baylor/Colorado game last week was a great watch, with an ELECTRIC finish. Shedeur Sanders being a big part of that as he put his cape on late to spark some heroics. Just as you thought all was done for the Buffs after a dropped Hail-Mary attempt, Shedeur threw a second dot to find LaJohntay Wester for an overtime forcing highlight at the horn:
video via CFBonFOX//X
I swear it's damn near every game with Colorado. Gotta love it. Buffs may have more thrills up their sleeves as they face Central Florida in an afternoon slobber. Harvey and Jefferson look to lead the Knights to a huge home win; I expect the game to be noisy. I am also super pumped for the Illinois and Penn State game. Hopefully it stays true to paper and is a nail-biter. Altmyer and Allar should have a solid duel. Bama and Georgia? Can we ask for anymore in September? I'd be shocked if that game is one sided. Georgia looks for some revenge after losing to Bama in last year's SEC title game... well, and revenge from the last eight meetings prior to that. Georgia has lost 8 of 9 against Bama and are only 4-8 since 2000. Dawgs gotta be hungry for some elephant.
That's gotta be a slobber-knocker, right!? Don't tease us with a potential early season classic and have it turn to dust. We need the noise to deliver! That's going to come down to Carson Beck and Jalen Milroe. Beck was solid in the season opener against Clemson, but did not look good last week in the near loss to Kentucky. UGA needs him to step his game up against Milroe, who has been rock solid this season, and was great in the SEC title game over the Dawgs last season. Milroe looks to create his Heisman resume this Saturday.
Big time week of games. Noise awaits! By Monday, I will have a legitimate first of the season Heisman Watch to roll-out. Hopefully the guys I am staring at on the whiteboard stick. Make it a little easier on me fellas; stay consistent! On your way out peep my updated CFB Power Ranks & Top-25 list if you haven't already seen them on X:
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