Another big week on the college gridiron, jam-packed with some astounding results has given me plenty of villainy options this week. Here’s the worst of that bunch.
Notre Dame: The loss to Duke in South Bend was history-making bad. The way their defence is playing will have head coach Brian Kelley very nervous and it’ll have much-maligned defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder ducking for cover yet again this week.
The Irish defence gave up 35 or more points for the fifth time in six games, stretching back to last season. Their top-ten ranking to start the season looks more ridiculous as the losses start piling up.
Les Miles: You can argue that the seat the Mad Hatter occupies in Baton Rouge has never been hotter. LSU’s 18-13 loss to a bad Auburn squad means another week of hot takes on sports radio across Louisiana, and even Miles’ most ardent supporters – those who saved him from being sacked a season ago – but be shaking their head and wondering what the heck is going on. One or two more losses like that, and Miles’ position will just about be untenable.
Northern Illinois: It’s been a sudden and dramatic free-fall from the high-flying Jordan Lynch era, and for the first time since 1998, the Huskies are 0-3 to start the season. On Saturday they lost to FCS opponent Western Illinois 28-23.
Head coach Rod Carey is in some trouble after this, and may not have a job in three weeks’ time. The Huskies have Ball State, Central Michigan and Michigan upcoming. Hard to see a win anywhere there, the way the once-powerful Huskies are playing now.
Florida: Their offense dried up in the second half and their defence turned into a unit about as useful as a chocolate teapot. It’s like the entire team believed that, up 21-0 on Tennessee, they’d done more than enough to notch another win against a Vols team who hadn’t beaten them since 2004. We all know how that turned out. A brutal loss.
UCLA: Speaking of brutal losses, what turned out to be a game-winning touchdown drive for Stanford should have begun at the 15-yard line, were it not for a kick-catch interference call that moved the football out to the thirty – an absolute coach killer. From there, the Cardinal marched it down the field and won the game.
Then, with precious seconds left to try and gain enough yards to make a field goal attempt to send the game to overtime, quarterback Josh Rosen held onto the football too long, was sacked, stripped of the football and Stanford took it the over way for a breathing-room touchdown. Jim Mora won’t be happy this week.
Pitt’s pass defence: Understatement of the weekend here, but the Panthers back end looks bad. They gave up a whopping 453 yards to North Carolina quarterback Mitch Trubisky, 208 of those yards going to receiver Ryan Switzer. This mess a week after the Panthers let Oklahoma State’s Mason Rudolph throw for 540 yards himself. Pat Narduzzi, a guy who presided over a very stingy Michigan State pass defence for so many years, must be horrified. They were an absolute mess out there.
Georgia: I figured the Bulldogs might lose to the Rebels this week, but to be absolutely pounded by an Ole Miss squad who had a 45-0 lead midway through the fourth quarter before Georgia managed to score two late touchdowns to make the score-line seem not quite so brutal. Anyone who watched the game, however, knows.
This was a beat-down in the best sense of the word. I think we all went a little too early on freshman quarterback Jacob Eason. Georgia were horribly uncompetitive, and if that’s a sign of things to come in Kirby Smart’s debut season as head man at Athens, it could be a long campaign.
Cal’s defence: Imagine if the Golden Bears were as good defensively as they are on offense? They’d be damn near unstoppable. Instead, the Bears are shocking on the other side of the football, giving up thirty-one fourth quarter points to undo all the good work of the Davis Webb-led offense, and Cal slumped to 2-2 on the year with a 51-41 loss.
USC: Another week, another dispiriting loss. The emergence of talented freshman quarterback Sam Darnold was overshadowed by yet more curious play calling on both sides of the football. Clay Helton is increasingly looking like a guy way out of his depth, and evidence to that end mounts with every loss. The question going forward is will LA-based journalists need to start staking out airport runways?
Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets suffered a 26-7 loss to Clemson on Thursday night, in a game where the scoreboard definitely flattered Paul Johnson’s men. Nothing they tried worked against a Clemson defence that finally seems to have emerged from the malaise of indifferent early-season performances. The Tigers held Tech to -1 rushing yards in the first quarter and didn’t look back. Johnson has a lot of work to do.
Michigan State: after such a strong showing on the road against Notre Dame last weekend, the Spartans seemed ready to compete strongly for both a Big Ten title and a national playoff appearance. At least, they were before they stunk up the joint on Saturday afternoon, throttled by a rampant Wisconsin 30-6. Now, it’s all out the window. I can’t remember the last time MSU played this badly, especially not at home. This loss will sting a lot.
Mark Helfrich: Another week, more questionable play calling from Oregon’s head coach, and another brutal loss. Nebraska late last week, Colorado this week. A third consecutive non-sell-out Autzen Stadium crowd – an unthinkable prospect, just a few years ago – watched the Ducks lose their second consecutive regular season game, something that hasn’t happened since 2007. We used to see Oregon smash through teams like Colorado.
Yes, the Buffs are on the way up, but the Ducks are on the way down, too. The Chip Kelly era feels a long time ago now, doesn’t it? Helfrich is in some trouble. Not Clay Helton-type trouble yet, but, man, he’s getting there quickly.
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