College Football Weekend Recap: Nov 7, 2020

Each week we will have our recap of the weekend that was in college football. A quick look at the teams who impressed, the players who starred, some takeaway and final thoughts. A few big games and a few upsets highlighted the day. Here is our recap of the weekend that was in college football.

Clemson vs Notre Dame Takeaways

Notre Dame beat Clemson in a double overtime thriller over the weekend 47 – 40. Clemson was without starting quarterback Trevor Lawrence and star defensive tackle Tyler Davis but should have both back for the likely rematch in the ACC title game.

Notre Dame needed this win to prove they could win against college football’s elite. Before Saturday, they had played Alabama once this decade and lost, they had played Ohio State once this decade and lost, they had played Georgia twice this decade and lost both times, they had played Clemson twice this decade and lost both times. Some of those games were close, other weren’t but Notre Dame wasn’t looking for moral victories or to show they were close, they needed to win one and prove they belong among the best in the sport. With a win on Saturday, the Irish cleared a major hurdle in terms of perception and the confidence the team has playing against the top teams going forward. It is likely these two teams will play again in the ACC title game and the way things are going across the country even if Notre Dame lost that game they could qualify for the College Football Playoff. Knowing they have beaten one of the perennial playoff contenders will be a big confidence boost in the Playoff.

Notre Dame was determined to shutdown the Clemson running game on Saturday night. The defense executed to perfection holding Travis Etienne to 28 yards on 18 carries, a mere 1.6 yards per carry average. For an added bonus, linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah forced and recovered a second quarter fumble against Etienne and ran it back for a touchdown. The defense was focused on the run game and gave up over 400 passing yards but that was a trade Notre Dame was ready to make to stop Clemson’s best offensive weapon in Etienne. It will be interesting to see if Notre Dame is as aggressive against the run with Lawrence at quarterback as they were on Saturday night.

Clemson may have lost the game, but are still in good position to make the College Football Playoff if they win out. The team was playing without their best player in quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who is arguably the best player in the country and without their best defensive player, Tyler Davis. In addition to Davis, the defense was also without linebackers James Skalski and Mike Jones. Despite not having four starters, including their best offensive and defensive player, Clemson took Notre Dame to overtime and nearly won the game. That’s a great statement about the depth of Clemson’s roster and the young talent the Tigers are developing going forward.

Notre Dame won round one, but Clemson should have Lawrence, Davis and the linebackers back in time for the rematch in the ACC title game. It will be interesting to see how round two plays out with both teams at full strength.

Teams That Impressed

BYU

BYU doesn’t have a lot of marquee games on the schedule this year because their schedule had to be reworked after teams switched to conference only schedules. Boise State was thought to be the toughest game on BYU’s slate, but they made quick work of the Broncos on Saturday night in a 51 – 17 win.

The offense scored early then took a little time to find it’s rhythm, once they did it was unstoppable. The Cougars marched up and down the field at will in the second half, scoring 35 points in a quarter and a half. The usual suspects were at it again for BYU, quarterback Zach Wilson led the way completing 22 of 28 passes for 360 yards with 3 touchdowns and a rushing touchdown as well. He got the ball to his big play receivers, Gunner Romney and Dax Milne who had 133 and 99 receiving yards, respectively. The Cougars were balanced on offense, running the ball effectively with Tyler Allgeier (123 yards and 2 TD) and Lopini Katoa (66 yards and 1 TD). Boise State could do little to slow down the Cougars balanced offensive attack that gained 8.8 yards per play in the game. The BYU offense has been impressive all season, but the dominating performance against a good Boise State team is a definite resume booster.

Defensively the Cougars have been very strong as well. Boise State was supposed to provide a big test, but were without starting quarterback Hank Bachmeier. That alone would not have slowed down the Boise State offense much, since Jack Sears has proven he is a capable replacement at the position. Unfortunately, Sears was injured early in the game and Boise State played the rest of the game with their third and fourth string quarterback. BYU dominated, holding the Broncos to 14 first downs and just 61 rushing yards. The Broncos had three points in the first three quarters of the game, scoring two late touchdowns when the game was already decided to get to 17. It would have been nice to see BYU take on Boise State with one of the top two quarterbacks healthy for the entire game, but the Cougars defense did what they needed to and continued their strong play in 2020.

BYU is 8 – 0 after this game and has two contests remaining on the schedule. North Alabama is an FCS opponent and then the final game of the season with San Diego State, who should provide a decent test. The Cougars are close to an undefeated regular season and have positioned themselves as well as they could have for a New Year’s Six Bowl and a possible playoff invite.

Florida

Florida’s high powered offense put on a show in a rivalry game against Georgia and led the Gators to a convincing win. Georgia was without a few key contributors on defense, but the bottom line is barring something crazy, Florida will represent the SEC East in the SEC title game.

The Gators did not get off to a good start on Saturday. Georgia scored on their first play from scrimmage on a 75 yard touchdown run, then quickly forced a three and out on defense. Six plays and 61 yards later, the Bulldogs had a 14 – 0 lead and had captured the early momentum. With Georgia’s vaunted defense and strong offensive play early it looked like Florida was in trouble early. With the way Georgia has dominated in the SEC East the last several seasons, the way things had begun it looked like more of the same in 2020. The Gators did not let the first ten plays of the game define it, outscoring Georgia 38 – 7 the rest of the half. That turnaround is a credit to the fight this Florida team has and the culture that Head Coach Dan Mullen is instilling in his program. Plenty of teams can win games when things go well, few can take an early punch and bounce back strong like Florida did on Saturday.

Florida’s offense dominated a shorthanded but talented Georgia defense. Florida scored 44 points behind the strength of their passing game, led by quarterback Kyle Trask. After taking over for Felipe Franks last year, Trask got better as the season progressed and cemented himself as the leader of the Gators offense. That progress continued into 2020 where Trask has been on of the best quarterbacks in the country. On Saturday he was particularly sharp, completing 30 of 43 passes for 474 yards and 4 touchdowns with 1 interception. Trask completed passes to ten different receivers and threw touchdowns to four different receivers, spreading the ball around and exposing the weaknesses in Georgia’s pass defense. Florida’s offense has been one of the best passing attacks in the country this year, Kyle Trask is a big reason for that success this season and against the Bulldogs.

Florida is on top of the SEC East standing and barring a collapse down the stretch will be playing in the SEC Championship game in 2020. The Gators got a big win that builds confidence in a team that is clearly rising under Head Coach Dan Mullen.

Stars From The Weekend

QB – D’Eriq King, Miami

King was magnificent Friday night, in a game where his team needed every ounce of magic King could provide. He led Miami to a come from behind 44 – 41 win over NC State, throwing the go ahead touchdown pass with 2:43 left in the fourth quarter. King was effective throwing the deep ball downfield, was accurate in the middle of the field and used his uncanny running ability to pick up big gains with his legs. The result was an impressive performance that saw King complete 31 of 41 passes for 430 yards and 5 touchdowns without an interception, and run for 105 yards on 15 carries. This is only the third time in ACC history a quarterback has passed for over 400 yards and run for over 100 yards in the same game. King didn’t just pad his stats either, he made plays his team needed to win in a tight game, making history in the process.

RB – Mohamed Ibrahim, Minnesota

The Gophers picked up a much needed victory against Illinois Saturday. As he has been all season, Mohamed Ibrahim was a workhorse in the Minnesota backfield. In 2019, he shared time with Rodney Smith and Shannon Brooks but has been the primary ball carrier in 2020. After impressive performances in the first two games of the season, Ibrahim had his best game Saturday against Illinois, carrying the ball 30 times for 224 yards and 4 touchdowns, while also catching 2 passes for another 31 yards. Ibrahim is a powerful runner who has the burst and speed to break off long runs, but this season he has also been showing good patience waiting for his holes to materialize. On Saturday, he was able to make big runs between the tackles and he was able to get around the corner. Ibrahim was physical, running through contact and punishing would be tacklers. Through three games, Ibrahim looks like the best running back in the Big Ten in 2020.

TE – Sean Dykes, Memphis

Memphis played a closer than expected game against South Florida but squeaked out a 34 – 33 win. Dykes was excellent as a pass catching tight end for the Tigers, leading the team with 7 catches for 147 yards and 2 touchdowns. Dykes was a big part of Memphis’ comeback effort, catching both of his touchdowns after the Tigers had fallen behind by two scores in the second half and helping the team close the gap and pull out the win. Dykes has been a mismatch for defenses at the tight end position, showing the athletic ability to create separation but also the toughness to make plays when he is covered. Saturdays game was another in a series of impressive outings in 2020 for Dykes.

S – Nick Cross, Maryland

Maryland pulled off a huge upset win over Penn State and Nick Cross was everywhere for the defense. Cross led the team with 8 tackles, recorded a sack, forced a fumble, intercepted a pass and had 2 other pass breakups. Cross filled up the stat sheet in just about every category, leading the defense in an impressive performance that saw Penn State score just 19 points. He made a huge play on Penn State’s opening possession of the second half, with Maryland up 28 – 7, Penn State had the ball and faced a 3rd and 1 at their own 45, Cross blitzed and chased down quarterback Sean Clifford for the sack and fumble forced, Maryland recovered and returned the fumble for a touchdown to stretch the lead out to 35 – 7 effectively ending any hopes Penn State had of a comeback. Cross’ interception came with less than five minutes left in the game, he rolled over the top and ranged to the sideline to intercept the pass and help Maryland secure the win.

LB – Chris Bergin, Northwestern

Northwestern is undefeated three games into the season and could be considered the favorite to win the Big Ten West. The Wildcats have won behind their strong defense that has held all three opponents to 20 points or less. This week it was Chris Bergin who led a strong defensive effort that held Nebraska to just 13 points. Bergin made 11 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, an interception, and 2 pass breakups against the Huskers. His interception was a critical one but also a result of some good fortune. With Northwestern leading 21 – 13, Nebraska drove to the Northwestern four yard line, Nebraska attempted a play-action pass, but the ball hit the helmet of one of the linemen and popped into the air, Bergin alertly intercepted the pass ending Nebraska’s best chance to comeback. Interestingly it was the second pass that was intercepted after hitting a helmet in this game. Bergin was a force for the Wildcats all day making life difficult for the Huskers’ offense.

Indiana Announces Itself As A Contender

Indiana came into the 2020 season riding the momentum of a successful 2019 campaign and returning several key players from that team. They pulled out an improbable win against Penn State but had less than half the yardage Penn State had in that game. The next week Indiana beat an improving Rutgers team, but there were still plenty of questions about whether or not Indiana was a contender in the Big Ten East. Indiana went into the Michigan game a three point underdog, but after thoroughly dominating the Wolverines on Saturday, emerged as the number one contender to Ohio State in the Big Ten East.

Offensively, Indiana passed the ball for big plays throughout the game, totaling 342 passing yards and 3 touchdowns through the air. The Hoosiers protected quarterback Michael Penix, not allowing a sack all game and giving him the time to find his receivers in favorable match-ups against the Michigan secondary. Indiana’s run game was unspectacular but managed to grind out 118 yards and 2 touchdowns, giving the offense some semblance of balance. Defensively, the Hoosiers stuffed the Wolverines running attack, holding them to 13 yards on 18 carries, forcing Michigan to be one dimensional on offense. Despite giving up 344 passing yards, Indiana intercepted two passes and sacked Joe Milton three times, disrupting the offense enough to hold Michigan to just 21 points.

With the win, Indiana effectively eliminated Michigan from the Big Ten East race. Rutgers, Penn State and Michigan State all have two or more losses and are effectively out of contention as well. Leaving a 2 – 1 Maryland team, who beat Penn State this weekend but also lost 45 – 3 to Northwestern two weeks ago, and the defending conference champions, Ohio State. The Hoosiers are tied at the top of the standings with Ohio State and have already beaten Michigan and Penn State, if they can find a way to beat Ohio State on November 21st they would effectively clinch the Big Ten East title for the first time since the divisions were created. Tom Allen and company have done an excellent job building the program to be in this position in 2020.

PAC 12 Musings

The Pac 12 season began on Saturday but with a limited slate of games after two games were cancelled due to Covid protocols. The four games that were played featured two interesting matchups between teams that could compete and two games between programs that are still trying to become conference contenders.

Arizona State was in position to pull off a big win against USC despite being outgained 556 – 392 by the Trojans. Arizona State led 27 – 14 with 4:28 left in the fourth quarter and USC taking possession at their own 20 yard line with one timeout remaining. USC was able to march down the field, score a touchdown, recover an onside kick, then score another touchdown in just 3:08 of game time. The Trojans pulled ahead and held on for the improbable comeback win. Despite the win, the bottom line is that USC has to play better over the course of the game to be the program fans and administration expect. Over the past several seasons the Trojans have lost too many games to teams they should beat, and Saturday was dangerously close to being another example of this trend. With Utah revamping a lot of their team and missing games early, USC should win the PAC 12 South this year, anything less would be a disappointing result for the Trojans.

Oregon is the preseason favorite to win the PAC 12 this year despite breaking in a new quarterback and having several key players opt out in 2020. They won comfortably on Saturday 35 – 14 against Stanford. While it wasn’t a pretty win, it was a step in the right direction for a team replacing a first round pick at quarterback and finding out they will be without a generational left tackle and three starters from their secondary. The team will undoubtedly improve as the players stepping into those key roles gain experience, winning while that is happening is a credit to the talent Oregon has on the roster. The Ducks should get better every week and the schedule is favorable with the toughest tests coming the last two weeks of the season. The Ducks should be rolling by then and ready to win another PAC 12 title.

UCLA lost to Colorado and the walls could be closing in on Chip Kelly who won just seven games in his first two seasons with the program. Perhaps the Covid shortened season will buy him an extra year, but a third straight losing season will be a tough pill to swallow for the program. Colorado is not setup for success this season, with a new coaching staff, a limited spring practice and an intermittent preseason camp, but the team was able to get a season opening win against UCLA. Karl Dorrell has a built in excuse if his team does not play well this season, but they were ready to go in their season opener and got the win. This is a positive sign for Dorrell’s future in Boulder.

The PAC 12 has the shortest season of the power five conferences, for any chance to make the playoff the teams will need to be impressive every week. So far only Oregon has played well enough to be in consideration for a playoff spot.

Big 12 Web Of Possibilities

The Big 12 is as competitive a conference as there is right now. Five teams have a legitimate shot to qualify for the conference championship game. Iowa State and Oklahoma State lead the way and will be in as long as they win out. Both still have tough games remaining on the schedule.

Oklahoma State plays at Oklahoma November 21st, then closes the season with three winnable games against Texas Tech, TCU and Baylor. The Cowboys already hold the head to head tie breaker with Iowa State and Kansas State, if they can add Oklahoma they will be in excellent shape even if they do slip up once down the stretch.

Iowa State finishes their season with Kansas State, Texas and West Virginia. None of the three games will be easy and the first two will determine head to head tiebreakers, the Cyclones control their own destiny, but their path is a difficult one to finish the season.

The three two loss teams, Oklahoma, Kansas State and Texas all have to win out to qualify at this point.

Oklahoma finishes the season with Oklahoma State, West Virginia and Baylor. Obviously, Oklahoma State is the toughest game remaining, but West Virginia is no pushover either. If they win out, they would hold the head to head tie breaker against Oklahoma State but they have already lost to Iowa State and Kansas State so they need some help.

Texas plays Kansas then finishes the season with Iowa State and Kansas State, if the Longhorns win all three games, they would need Oklahoma State to beat Oklahoma and they are in, otherwise things could get messy with multiple team tiebreakers.

Kansas State will play Iowa State, Baylor and Texas, they hold a head to head tiebreaker against Oklahoma so if they win out they will be in regardless of what everyone else does. They cannot however afford to lose any of these three games either.

It’s an intricate web of outcomes in the Big 12 that will determine the conference championship game and should be an an entertaining watch all the way through.

Closing Stats

• BYU averaged 8.8 yards per play against Boise State.

• Minnesota ran for 325 yards on 47 carries against Illinois (6.9 yards per carry).

• Minnesota converted 8 of 10 third down attempts against Illinois.

• Indiana held Michigan to 13 rushing yards on 18 carries (0.7 yards per carry).

• North Carolina ran for 338 yards on 47 carries against Duke (7.2 yards per carry).

• Texas allowed just 43 rushing yards on 26 carries against West Virginia (1.7 yards per carry).

• Maryland recorded 7 sacks against Penn State.

• Oklahoma recorded 9 sacks against Kansas.

• Florida held Georgia to 112 yards passing on 29 attempts (3.9 yards per attempt).

• Kansas State held Oklahoma State to 108 passing yards on 23 attempts (4.7 yards per attempt).

• Pittsburgh had 7 sacks and 14 tackles for loss against Florida State.

• Texas A&M held South Carolina to 9 first downs.

• Texas A&M held South Carolina to 150 yards of offense and 2.8 yards per play.

• Arkansas held Tennessee to 107 passing yards on 21 attempts (5.1 yards per attempt).

• Notre Dame held Clemson to 34 rushing yards on 33 carries (1 yard per carry).

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