5 Big Things Week Three College Football: Only One Tiger, Coach Watch in Cali, Turmoil in Tally and more

By: Chad Wilson – Editor – GridironStuds Blog
Twitter: @GridironStuds

We are through the third week of the college football season already.  Week three usually provides us with the clearest picture early on as to who will be the teams to watch in terms of the college football playoff.  Sometimes we get some surprises down the road as teams start to gel later on,  particularly those teams with new coaches or new starters at quarterback.  In this week’s 5 Big Things,  I’ll take a look at some things that have become clear and some others that have become rather cloudy.

1 Only One Tiger Wears the Stripes

There was a lot of Auburn hype coming into their annual battle with the LSU Tigers and it’s understandable.  Auburn was coming off of a pretty good season and has returned with some stability at their quarterback position.  With that said,  I was concerned coming into this matchup that there was a little too much hype around Auburn signal caller Jarrett Stidham.  In this matchup with LSU,  Joe Burrow was the best quarterback on the field.  Burrow’s LSU offensive line was vastly underrated and not enough credit was given for their performance versus Miami in their opener.  For the most part in this game,  Burrow was Irish Spring clean in the pocket and delivered the ball where it needed to be.  LSU did not pile up the stats offensively in this game but what they showed me vs. Auburn,  as they did vs. Miami,  is that they can get the big plays when they need them.  Derrick Dillion’s 71 yard TD reception changed the script for this game the way a Scooby Doo mystery does when The Gang rips the bad guy’s mask off at the end.

Auburn’s weaknesses lie in the trenches.  While they are not getting poor play up front,  it is not spectacular and that is what good Gus Malzhan Auburn teams have thrived on.  Stidham often found himself in a pocket reminiscent of train car during rush our in Tokyo.  While he was only sacked once,  he often was hurried and  Stidham struggled with accuracy particularly on deep balls.  Auburn had zero explosive plays in their passing game and the rushing game is not good enough yet to overcome that in big games. On the other side of the line,  there was no pass rush for Auburn.  Auburn only recored one sack and this was similar to their other big game vs. Washington in which they only sacked Jake Browning twice.  It’s something to pay attention to for these Tigers going forward.

2 Gonna Need More Than A Wrench in Tally

I am not even clear what Florida State fans expected coming into this 2018 season but what is clear is that this isn’t it.  Right now the 2018 season is a male dancer knocking on the hotel door for bachelor party.  One struggle game could be an anomaly,  two struggle games is a slow start,  three games is a trend.  Look around college football and you will see slow starts for several new coaches.  However,  there is something more sinister about Florida State’s.  With each passing game,  it’s getting worse.  I am sure a win vs. Syracuse was expected.  This game wasn’t even close.  Willie Taggert’s “lethal simplicity” offense has been arsenic for the Seminole hopeful.  Syracuse held Florida St. to 240 total yards and nine first downs.  Nine!  If Florida St.’s third down conversions were currency rates on an overseas trip,  I’d be calling the American Embassy.  This week the Tribe went 1-12 on this most crucial down.  The story is the same each week for FSU,  short on fundamentals and long on lack of discipline.  This week Florida St. was penalized 11 times,  a number that has increased each week.

All eyes are on Florida St.’s matchup vs. Northern Illinois this week.  Should they fail to get a much needed W or struggle mightily to get it,  I am not sure that there is another scalp on the schedule for these indians. A this point, all four wheels will assuredly be off the bus at this program.

3 Coach Watch in So Cal

While I wasn’t sure what to expect from Florida State last week,  I was one who expected a win for USC in their matchup vs. Texas.  Color me disappointed.  I looked past USC’s two clunkers to open the season and figured they were well educated for a solid performance vs. Tom Herman’s Longhorns.  Late Friday Night,  both the Trojans and I were in the corner wearing a dunce cap.  I am not sure why I looked beyond the particular struggles USC had in their first two games because they came bursting to life vs. Texas.  I can’t not remember the last time a USC Trojans football team ever failed to rush for a single yard in a game.  This Trojan team had minus five.  I alluded to the lack of a star running back for USC in my column last week and that is more clear now than ever before.  To compound this,  USC seems more built for 7-on-7 than they are a real live college football season with helmets and shoulder pads.

Texas is not ready to set the Lone Star State ablaze but I will give them credit for seizing the moment.  This win may give them a little false sense of security but for now,  it’s a win for Tom Herman against a marquee name in college football.  Texas came out of the halftime locker room a different team and put the USC season in perspective with 21 unanswered points.  A youthful JT Daniels was forced to the air 48 times vs. Texas and unlike what’s inside of a bottle of Coke,  that’s not a winning formula.  Texas may be getting a dark return to reality this week versus TCU but for now,  they can party like it’s 2000 and five.

4 No Urban,  No Problem

When Urban Meyer’s three game suspension was announced before the college football season,  the only game Buckeye fans thought might be a problem was last week’s showdown in Ft. Worth vs. TCU.  After crucifying their first two opponents,  some of the anxiety about this Horned Frog meeting may have dissipated.  Nevertheless,  any Buckeye fan that tells you they weren’t a little queasy right before kick-off needs to find a pew in church this Sunday.  It’s ok though,  Ohio St. brought the Tums to Texas.  After a first half struggle,  Ohio St. did what all strong teams do and that is come out of the halftime locker room with action.  The Buckeyes used a 20-14 third quarter to set themselves up for the kill shot in the fourth and win this matchup by double digits.  I would be negligent if I did not point out the solid coaching job that Gary Patterson did in this contest.  Obviously mismatched in the trenches for this game,  Patterson and his staff schemed up ways to neutralize it on both ends.  On offense,  the fast pace neutralized the Buckeye pass rush and run stopping penetration.  Defensively,  their well timed blitzes screwed up blocking assignments and limited Ohio St.’s offensive effectiveness.  In the end,  Ohio St. had too much talent and as I noted before,  made some solid adjustments to secure the 40-28 win.  Now Meyer returns and the murderous onslaught of opponents continues with Tulsa this week.

5 All Hail the Evil Empire

Early Saturday evening,  eyebrows were raised all across the South when Mississippi opened the game up vs. Bama with a 75 yard touchdown pass.  Ten seconds into the game and the Rebels had sent their message.  For the next 59:50 of the game,  Alabama was telling them we heard you loud and clear.  Clearly passing the hearing test,  Alabama closed out the next two series with explosive plays of their own with a 43 yard TD run by Damien Harris and a 79 yard bomb from Tua to Jerry Jeudy.  Bama did in their game vs. Ole Miss what they’ve been doing in college football for the last decade.  Whatever its you’re doing,  we’re going to do it better.  At this point Alabama is Amazon and others are fighting to at least be Groupon.   In his 12th year on the job,  Nick Saban may be producing his best team yet.  Saturday Night just gave me visions of 2001 in Miami watching the Hurricanes.  It’s not just beating people,  it’s who they are beating and how they are beating them.  Other marquee programs are pedaling hard to put up the required amount of feel good points vs. FCS programs.  Alabama is making conference foes contemplate applying for a different league.  The Rebels were the third straight opponent to get stripped of their clothing on a busy street by the Crimson Tide.  They were also the second power 5 conference team to be left with two hands covering their exposed junk while everyone was watching.

When I’ve made mention of Saban’s dominance at Alabama on Twitter,  the common response is to infer that Saban is cheating and buys talent.  Come on,  don’t be so short sighted.  If Saban is indeed cheating,  I can guarantee you that he’s not alone and what should be clear to everyone else is that he does everything thing better than everyone else.  How does he do this?  He simply works harder at it.  We always hear Saban talking about focus and he lives it.  It seems his every waking moment is on improving his entire program and whether or not they are already the best has no consequence.  Yeah folks,  it is what it is.  I know,  it makes you want to vomit but keep in mind,  it took Saban some 30 years to get here.  Try to give your current coach more than three months to find some answers.

Some Other Things Not As Big

In their first real test of the season,  Wisconsin went down 24-21 at home to BYU.  We realize that Wisconsin has been a darling for media folks for a few seasons but there may have been a bit of a facade.  No one has risen in the coaching ranks faster than Wisconsin DC Jim Leonhard.  Three years into his college coaching career and he’s highly sought after and appearing on top coach lists.  We should all rise that fast through the corporate structure.  It’s year three and the talented athletes of the last staff are filtering out.  What will both Leonhard and head coach Paul Chryst’s bunch bring to the table?  An abrupt summer exit of three defensive players right before the first game may reveal a roach in the kitchen.  We’ll see what kind of dishes the Badgers put on the table in coming weeks,  maybe that roach was really a piece of burnt toast lying in the corner or maybe it’s a roach with wings.  All eyes on deck.

All the talk about rough starts has centered around Willie Taggert at Florida St. but there’s something stuck on Chip Kelly’s shoe in Westwood, California and folks it’s not a piece of tape.  Like Florida St.,  UCLA’s performances have declined through the first three weeks.  Saturday produced a warm pile of the good stuff when Fresno St. of a conference not on the level of the Pac-12 dismantled the Bruins 38-14 in the Rose Bowl.  As if that wasn’t enough,  starting quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson’s father took to Twitter to mention somethings that are better left only in one’s head.

Is this a house on fire?  Who knows but at the very least it’s faulty wiring and if the right moves aren’t made soon,  the red trucks are going to have to pull up.  Give Florida St. credit.  Despite how bad things have looked early on,  there have not been any public blow ups along these lines.  UCLA and FSU may have only one win between them but they have definitely become must watch TV this season.

There are currently 13 black head coaches in FBS.  On Saturday I asked my Twitter followers who they thought has done the best out of the current group.  The majority of the answers were either David Shaw at Stanford or James Franklin at Penn St.  While I certainly can’t argue with those responses,  I don’t think we should forget about Kevin Sumlin.  Sumlin just earned his first win at Arizona on Saturday Night and since there is a recency bias,  he did not get any votes in my Twitter question.  However,  let’s not forget that Sumlin came in and took the Houston Cougars to places they’d never been before.  Sumlin’s 13-1 mark in 2011 was and still remains the best record in the school’s history.  In 2012,  Sumlin equaled the second best record in Texas A&M’s 116 year school history when he went 11-2.  We also should not forget that he defeated all-mighty Alabama.  In fact,  Sumlin changed the way Nick Saban thought about offense (this was after Nick tried to change the rules but forget about that).  Sumlin has done it at two different schools and has only suffered one losing season as a head coach.  He followed that one losing season up with the best season Houston has ever had.  Furthermore,  Sumlin was in the mix every year in the toughest division in college football (SEC West) while fighting for recruits in a state where everyone is born to be a Longhorn.  Shaw and Franklin deserve praise but let’s not forget ole Kev.

 

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