Football - Week 4 Recap

09/23/2024

This weekend was one of the best so far this season!

Thursday night gave us yet another South Alabama blowout.  With their consistency over the last two weeks, could we be about to witness a massive LSU upset on Saturday?

Friday night was, perhaps, the greatest Friday night in College Football history!  Illinois upset the hot Nebraska Cornhuskers in overtime.  Stanford with a comeback, walk off field goal to beat Syracuse on the road.  The late game saw San Jose State nearly shock Washington State, but a late, 22-point 4th quarter rally sent the game to overtime, where the Cougars took the victory.

Saturday morning brought one of my favorite editions of College Gameday ever!  The early window was easily the least impressive of the weekend.  Ohio State's schedule still looks like they're in preseason.  Tulane won a close game against Louisiana.  West Virginia proved that Daniels and Kansas are on their back to their normal ways.  On the other hand, Army's destruction of Rice suggest they may be a strong force in the American conference.  Indiana also showed their strength by crushing Charlotte on their way to an intriguing 4-0 start.  Clemson took down NC State in convincing fashion, confusing everyone as to whether or not they are an ACC contender.  The most exciting early game was easily James Madison's 70-50 win over North Carolina!  Who needs defense when you score 70 points!?

The middle window is where the action really got going.  Notre Dame showed signs of weakness early against Miami (OH) before recapturing their mojo.  Auburn proved that it matters little who they start at quarterback, they are probably going to lose.  Utah put on a show and held off the late Oklahoma State comeback.  Buffalo ended the Northern Illinois hype train and, speaking of quickly dying hype trains, Virginia Tech saw their second loss of the season, this time to Rutgers and at home.  Arizona State also lost their first game of the season against Texas Tech.  The two most exciting games of the second window were USC's introduction to the Big Ten in their loss to Michigan and Missouri's second overtime scare against a surprisingly strong looking Vanderbilt.  It's also worth noting that LSU blanked UCLA in the second half to cruise to 3-1.

In the late window, Bowling Green showed that may be they should not be underrated.  Despite losing to Texas A&M, they've showed strength against strong opposition twice now this season.  Florida State finally won a game against Cal, but it was so unconvincing, it left me wondering "Does that win really count, though?" The headliner for the night was Tennessee and Oklahoma.  The Vols took a little while to get going, but that second half performance showed they will be hard for anyone to beat all year long.  The most exciting end of a game so far this season was definitely Colorado's hail mary game-tying touchdown as time expired against Baylor.  They went on to win in overtime to move to 3-1.  Oregon State looked good against Purdue, who have now been humbled a second time.  Finally, the surprise of the night was BYU absolutely decimating Kansas State to announce their presence on the list of Big 12 contenders for the year.

Overall, this week had some of the most exciting games of football all year long.  The playoff race is starting to take shape, the number of undefeated teams shrinks, as always, but at the end of the day, most of the major favorites won out.