College Football: Week 4 Results

We had a couple of more upsets in week 4, so you can expect more changes in the polls this week. Not in the top five, but, with #8 LSU losing to an unranked Mississippi State expect lots of movement from there on down. Much of the movement will be determined by the size of victory for most of the teams until you get to #18 Missouri, losers to Indiana; #20 Kansas State losers to #5 Auburn; #22 Clemson losers (in OT) to #1 Florida State; and, though not ranked in the AP Poll, North Carolina and Virginia Tech both lost and should fade from the Coaches Poll and CBSSports.com top 25.

(Ranks on the left are those of the AP/Coaches Top 25/CBSSPORTS.COM 128 Polls as reported by CBSSports.com. NR = Not Ranked)

1/1/3 Florida State (3-0) The Seminoles, playing without Jameis Winston who was suspended for acting like a 19 year-old idiot, edged the #22 Clemson Tigers (1-2) 23-17 in OT. Sean Maguire, out of Sparta, NJ, QBed FSU and, while not great, did enough. Maguire went 21 of 39 for 305 yards and one TD but also threw two INTs. Clemson was geared up for FSU to run the ball and held the Seminoles to just 13 yards on 27 carries. THIRTEEN!? Included in that 13 yards was Karlos Williams 12 yard run in overtime for the win. And Mario Pender’s 1 yard run for a TD in the third quarter. (Maguire’s minus 46 yards didn’t help.)

2/3/1 Oregon (4-0) The Ducks had a surprisingly close game but managed to prevail over the Washington State Cougars (1-3) 38-31. Marcus Mariota and Connor Halliday traded blows on offense with Mariota completing 21 of 25 for 329 for 5 TDs while Halliday went 43 of 63 for 436 yards but only 4 TDs and that latter number proved to be the difference. That and the fact that Mariota had 58 net yards rushing…despite being sacked seven times!

3/2/4 Alabama (4-0) The Crimson Tide doubled up on the Florida Gators (2-1) 42-21. Blake Sims threw for 445 yards and four touchdowns. Amari Cooper caught three TD passes (two from Sims and one from Jake Coker) and finished the night with 10 catches for 201 yards. Derrick Henry rushed for 111 yards and a TD. Keneau Neal returned a fumble 49 yards for a TD to briefly give the Gators a 14-7 lead in the first quarter but it was pretty much all Alabama after that.

4/4/6 Oklahoma (4-0) The Sooners beat the West Virginia Mountaineers (2-2) 45-33. Sooners won on the road thanks to the hard running of Samaje Perine who rushed 34 times for 242 yards and four TDs. Alex Ross returned a kickoff late in the second period 100 yards for a Sooners’ TD a 24-24 halftime. WVU’s Clint Trickett completed 25 of 41 attempts for 376 yards and two TDs, both in the first.

5/5/5 Auburn (3-0) The Tigers beat the #19 Kansas State Wildcats (2-1) 20-14 on Thursday night. “…if the Wildcats can avoid mistakes.” They couldn’t. Two INTs, one lost fumble and three missed field goals by the Wildcats made this an early Christmas for Auburn.

6/7/7 Texas A&M (4-0) The Aggies romped over the SMU Mustangs (0-3) 58-6. Kenny Hill completed 16 of 22 passes for 265 yards with two TDs and threw his first career interception. He then sat for the second half allowing Kyle Allen to complete 8 of 15 for 130 yards and a TD.

7/6/9 Baylor (3-0) The Bears had the weekend off.

8/8/11 LSU (3-1) The Tigers fell to the Mississippi State Bulldogs (4-0) 34-28. LSU outscored the Bulldogs 19-3 in the fourth quarter, but it was too little too late. Josh Robinson rushed 16 timed for 197 yards and a TD for Mississippi State as the Bulldogs jumped out to a 17-3 halftime lead that undoubtedly shocked the LSU fans. Anielle Hunter returned a fumble 25 yards for LSU’s only TD in the third quarter but that was quickly offset by a Dak Prescott 56 yard TD run and a 74-yard pass from Prescott to Jameon Lewis. Making it 31-10 at the end of three periods.

9/9/10 Notre Dame (3-0) The Fighting Irish were idle this weekend.

10/12/16 Ole Miss (3-0) The Rebels took the weekend off.

11/11/14 Michigan State (2-1) The Spartans routed the Eagles of Eastern Michigan (1-3) 73-14. Michigan State out gained the Eagles 320 yards to 1 in the first half and to just five first downs for the game. The Spartans ran the ball 60 times for 336 yards. Delton Williams carried the ball 10 times for 103 yards and  three TDs…two of them in the fourth quarter…one an 80 yard run…when MSU kept the ball on the ground. Connor Cook tossed two TD passes and ran for a third…in the first quarter.

12/10/13 UCLA (3-0) The Bruins are idle this weekend.

13/14/2 Georgia (2-1) The Bulldogs shutout the Troy Trojans (0-4) 66-0. Sony Michel rushed for 155 yards and three TDs on just 10 carries for the Bulldogs. Isaiah McKenzie returned a punt 52 yards for a TD. Michael Bennett caught two TD passes and Faton Bauta rushed for two late scores.

14/16/22 South Carolina (3-1) The Gamecocks outscored the Vanderbilt Commodores (1-3) 48-34. Darrius Sims returned the opening kickoff 91 yards for Vandy and the Commodores lead 14-0 at the end of the first period. South Carolina scored 24 unanswered points including a 53-yard interception return by Brison Williams. Then Sims did it again, returning a kickoff 100 yards for a Vandy TD.  Oh, and along the way, Dylan Thompson threw for three TDs and ran for a fourth for South Carolina.

15/13/18 Arizona State (3-0) The Sun Devils were idle this week.

16/15/15 Stanford (2-1) The Cardinal did not be playing this weekend.

17/21/8 Southern California (2-1) The Trojans were also idle this weekend.

18/19/NR Missouri (3-1) The Tigers were upset by Indiana Hoosiers (2-1) 31-27. The Hoosiers’ D'Angelo Roberts scored on a 3-yard touchdown run with 22 seconds remaining. Tevin Coleman rushed 19 times gaining 132 yards for Indiana. Maty Mauk completed 28 of 47 for 326 yards and two TDs but saw his Tigers tackled for a loss 11 times by a swarming Indiana defense.

19/17/NR Wisconsin (2-1) The Badgers routed the Bowling Green Falcons (2-2) 68-17. Melvin Gordon rushed for 253 yards and five (5) TDs on just 13 carries for the Badgers. Tanner McEvoy, 11 carries for 158 yards; Corey Clement, 16carries for 111 yards; and Dare Ogunbowale, 14 carries for 94 yards helped Wisconsin set a Big Ten record with 644 yards rushing.

20/20/17 Kansas State (2-1) The Wildcats fell to the #5 Auburn Tigers (3-0) on Thursday night 20-14. Wildcats made too many mistakes and missed three FGs. More above.

21/23/20 Brigham Young (4-0) The Cougars came back from a 16-13 halftime deficit to beat the Virginia Cavaliers (2-2) 41-33. Taysom Hill threw for two TDs and ran for a third and Adam Hine returned a kickoff 99 yards for BYU’s final score.

22/24/21 Clemson (1-2) The Tigers were edged by the #1 Florida State Seminoles (3-0) 23-17 in OT. More above.

23/18/23 Ohio State (2-1) The Buckeyes had this weekend off.

24/22/24 Nebraska (3-0) The Cornhuskers beat the Miami Hurricanes (2-2) 41-31. Ameer Abdullah ran 35 times for 229 yards and two TDs. He also caught a 3-yard pass from Tommy Armstrong for a TD. Armstrong also rushed for 96 yards on 13 carries as the Huskers rushed for 343 yards. Josh Mitchell returned a fumble 57 yards for a TD.

25/NR/NR Oklahoma State (2-1) The Cowboys had the weekend off.

NR/25/NR North Carolina (2-1) The Tar Heels got keel hauled by the East Carolina Pirates (3-1) 70-41. The Pirates led 14-13 at the end of the first period and never looked back. Zeek Bigger had a 46 yard interception return for the Pirates. Shane Carden completed 30 of 48 attempts for 438 yards and four TDs and also ran for a fifth. Breon Allen rushed 18 times for 211 yards and two TDs.

NR/NR/12 Virginia Tech (2-2) The Hokies fell to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (4-0) 27-24. Harrison Butker kicked a 24-yard field goal with no time remaining to complete a Yellow Jackets’ comeback. Justin Thomas ran for one TD and threw for another and Paul Davis returned an interception 41 yards for a Georgia Tech TD. It was one of three INTs by the Hokies.

NR/NR/19 Louisville (3-1) The Cardinals beat the Florida International University Golden Panthers (1-3) 34-3. Gerod Holliman returned an interception 32 yards for a touchdown and James Quick caught TD passes of 74 and 37 yards all in the second quarter as the Cardinals exploded to a 28-0 lead over FIU.

NR/NR/25 Marshall (4-0) The Thundering Herd trampled the Akron Zips (1-2) 48-17. Remi Watson rushed for 124 yards on just 9 carries including an 80-yard TD run, Rakeem Cato ran for two TDs and threw for a third.

My Rutgers Scarlet Knights (3-1) held on to defeat the Navy Midshipmen (2-2) 31-24. Justin Goodwin, who started the year on the defensive side of the ball and made an INT in game one against Washington State, rushed the ball 26 times for the Scarlet Knights gaining 104 yards and scoring a TD…after Paul James had carried 7 times for 96 yards and a TD in the first period and a half before being injured. Desmond Peoples carried 19 times for 82 yards and Gary Nova ran three times for three yards and two TDs as Rutgers rushed 56 times for 284 yards. Navy managed just 171 yards on the ground well below their season’s average. Then again, they were behind much of the game and were forced to pass. While Gary Nova (RU) was 11 of 14 for 151 yards and no TDs and, more importantly, no INTs, Keenan Reynolds (USNA), who rushed for two TDs, was 12 of 22 for 231 yards. 

BTW for all those who hate the Big 10, they won all the games they played this week...except for Michigan. Michigan lost to 3-0 Utah.The conference went 12-1 this week (Ohio State was idle) including upsets over #18 Missouri by Indiana.