Week four of college football was the weekend that we were going to learn a lot, and boy did we. Some teams continued to prove they are legit, some showed that they are not, and some players showed they belong in the conversation as best at their position. Let’s take a look around the country at just a few of the things we learned this weekend.
Colin Simmons is the Best Defensive Player in the Country
Texas at Tennessee was the Colin Simmons show, and we are all better for getting to watch such a dominant performance. The Texas defense as a whole dominated. They held Tennessee to just 10 points, less than 100 yards rushing, 12 TFL, and 10 Sacks. Of those 10 sacks, Colin Simmons had 5 just himself. That doesn’t account for the 1 that was taken back because of a penalty, or the amount of QB hurries he was responsible for. It is rare to see a defensive player have this dominant of a performance. If Colin Simmons wasn’t at the top of everyone’s draft board for Edge Rushers, then he’s gotta be now.
Tennessee Has a Good Defense
I said we were going to learn exactly who Tennessee is as a team this weekend. Well I learned that special teams is pretty good. I also learned that the offensive line is not good. The most important thing I learned though was that this defense is leaps and bounds better than last season. We all knew it would be better, we just didn’t know how much better. Well I think we have our answer. Now the Texas offense isn’t the most explosive offense out there, but they are better than what they showed vs this Tennessee defense. The Vols came away from that game with 6 Sacks, 10 TFL, 1 Int, and held Texas to 20 points and 262 yards of offense. Everyone has their opinions on Arch Manning and whether or not head actually good. Regardless of your thoughts and feelings, this game would’ve been over by halftime with last year’s defense. If Tennessee can just get the offensive line/offense figured out, then watch out for Tennessee.
USC: Same Team, Different Year
We’ll get to Oregon in a second. Before we do that, we need to talk about USC. This season was/is playoff or bust for Lincoln Riley. We were told all off-season that this year is different and the defense would be better. Against Rutgers that did not look like it was the case, but one could make the argument that they were looking ahead to Oregon. After they lost to Oregon, it’s officially official. This USC team is the exact same team that we see Lincoln Riley trot out year after year. Even going all the way back to his Oklahoma days. At this point, I will never let myself believe that he’s fixed the defense. The season is still early and there’s still time to turn it around, but it’s not looking great. If USC does. It make the playoff, is Lincoln Riley fired? I believe his buyout is around the $70 million range. That could be a little to pricey, but as long as he’s the HC, don’t ever expect anything other than a great offense paired with a bad defense.
Oregon Got Up Off the Mat
After Oregon struggled vs Boise State and lost to Oklahoma State, many were wondering what path Oregon takes moving forward. Do they follow the Alabama path from last season, or do they follow the Penn State path from last season? After beating USC 41-27, I think it’s safe to say they are headed down the Alabama path. Even with Dante Moore leaving the game from a dirty hit, the offense did not miss a beat with Dylan Raiola coming in. Even though the defense allowed 27 points and over 400 yards of offense, that’s pretty good considering how elite USC’s offense can be. One problem with the defense is that their elite d-line had yet to show up this season. They showed up on Saturday showing more life than we’d seen so far. Koi Perich and the secondary still have some work to do, but Oregon pulled themselves up off the mat and showed they still have fight.
Florida is Back
The Florida Gators look like a damn good team. So far the hiring of Jon Sumrall looks like a home run, but I’d argue the hiring of Buster Faulkner was even bigger. This Gator offense is electric. Through 4 games they are 2nd in scoring, 11th in rushing, and 5th in total offense. Just to show how much improved they are, this was Florida’s rankings last season: 111th in scoring, 91st in rushing, and 104th in total offense. A complete night and day difference. Now they have yet to play any elite defenses and their own defense is a little suspect. Regardless, Florida is in a much better spot now with Sumrall at the helm and Faulkner calling the offense.
Mississippi State is the Real Deal
I’m not going to sit here and claim that Mississippi State is going to compete for the SEC Title. They are not there yet. They are however, leaps and bounds better than they have been in recent memory. This is a program that was in a dark place for a handful of years, and it’s been a long rebuild. Over the last few seasons we’ve seen glimpses of what the offense could be, but the defense had been horrendous. Now the Mississippi State offense has a true Heisman contender at QB, a legit RB1, and a few solid pass catchers. On top of the offense finally working consistently, this defense is no longer the 2nd worst defense in the SEC. Again, I am not claiming that Mississippi State is a SEC Title contender, but they are not the easy win they used to be.
Mike Locksley’s and Shane Beamer’s Future
It’s over. There is no coming back from this weekend. Both coaches sealed their fates. Maryland loses at home to UCLA 54-3. South Carolina lost on the road at Alabama 49-18.
There are people who think that UCLA is this years Indiana. I think we need to pump the brakes on that, but they are a good team. I did not think they were good enough to go across the country and beat Maryland 54-3. The Terrapins showed absolutely no fight on either side of the ball. The offense turned the ball over 5 times. A couple of which were returned for touchdowns. The defense just allowed the UCLA offense to do whatever it pleased. Just a poor effort all around. The fact that Mike Locksley was still the head coach going into the season was absolutely mind boggling. It makes you wonder if Maryland can afford his already affordable buyout.
South Carolina was a little bit of a different story. They put up a little more of a fight than Maryland. Keyword is little. I’m not even going to talk about the play on the field. Instead I’m going to focus on Dylan Stewart. Headed into the season he was regarded as a potential 1st round draft pick. After this weekend? Maybe not. He had an all time meltdown punching Alabama players, refusing to sub out of the game, and blatantly ignoring multiple coaches trying to talk to him. There’s a video out there of Shane Beamer yelling at him, and he just walks right past him without a care in the world. Shane Beamer has lost the locker room. There is absolutely no recovering from that.
Behind Miami, the ACC is Wide Open
After Louisville beat SMU, everyone dubbed Louisville as the favorite to make the ACC Championship game. I was in that group as well. Turns out that you probably shouldn’t make those assumptions after just 3 weeks. Louisville lost this weekend 30-27. Louisville was always going to lose an ACC game this season, but to have it happen this quickly to Wake Forest was not something I expected.
Every team in the ACC, outside of maybe Miami, looks beatable. Clemson’s offense has looked shaky so far this season. Duke heavily relies on Nate Sheppard on offense which is probably not sustainable. Pitt is 4-0 and has their first real test this weekend against Virginia Tech. Speaking of, Virginia Tech let Maryland stick around a little too long. They also had to come from behind against Boston College, albeit in the midst of a rainstorm. Virginia got run off the field by West Virginia. It’s still only week 4 and we have a lot of season left, but almost every team at the top looks beatable.
This is just a glimpse at what we learned this weekend. I didn’t even get into the fact that Wisconsin might have a very good defense, that we are witnessing greatness with Jeremiah Smith, or that Georgia Tech could be one of the worst teams in the country. There is still so much that we will learn over the next couple weeks. What is your biggest takeaway from this last weekend?
