College Football Weekend Recap: Sep 19, 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. The week was marred by several postponements but the season is fighting forward. Here is our recap of the weekend that was in college football.

Teams That Impressed

Notre Dame

Notre Dame was a big favorite Saturday giving anywhere from 22 to 27 points depending on when you took the bet. They were coming off a win that was not overly impressive against Duke in their opener but the Fighting Irish thoroughly dominated South Florida en route to a 52 – 0 victory.

Notre Dame is the only team in the country with all five of their starting offensive linemen ranked among the top 25 at either tackle or on the interior. The line was dominant against South Florida opening up running lanes for the Notre Dame backs at will. Notre Dame opened up a 35 – 0 lead at halftime and added on another 17 points in the second half for a 52 – 0 victory. The Fighting Irish ran for 281 yards on 6.2 yards per carry and 6 rushing touchdowns for the game. They had three different running backs run for over 60 yards and four different players had at least one rushing touchdown in the game. South Florida could not slow down the Notre Dame running game and did not record a sack in the game either as the Irish offensive line lived up to their reputation and dominated the game.

Notre Dame’s defense was without star safety Kyle Hamilton who is ranked among the best safeties in the country, but was able to shutdown the South Florida offense with ease. It was easy to see the Bulls offense was overwhelmed by the Notre Dame defense. South Florida played three quarterbacks in the game but all three were relatively ineffective. Notre Dame was able to get in the backfield constantly and made 11 tackles for loss in the game. Notre Dame’s defense was able to disrupt the run game, pressure the quarterback and play good coverage downfield. South Florida was never in this game and never found a rhythm on offense. The competition has not been great so far this season but Notre Dame has only allowed 13 points in two games this season.

Notre Dame dominated on Saturday, showing progress from their season opening win against Duke. The schedule gets tougher later in the season but the Irish have time to continue to progress as a team. Next weeks matchup with Wake Forest should be another comfortable win for the Fighting Irish and allow the team to build momentum early in the season.

Boston College

Jeff Hafley made his head coaching debut and his first game at Boston College was a resounding success. The Eagles made plays on offense, and played strong defense leading to a 26 – 6 victory over conference foe Duke. Boston College played well and identified several key cogs on their football team in 2020.

Boston College never trailed in the game, though the lead was only 7 – 6 at halftime. They made some big plays on both sides of the ball and pulled away in the second half for a 26 – 6 win. The first step to success in football is almost always finding a quality quarterback. This was the first start of Notre Dame transfer Phil Jurkovec’s career and it was a major success. Jurkovec passed for 300 yards averaging 13 yards per attempt, while throwing two touchdowns and one interception. He was efficient and made big time throws downfield. Boston College was also able to identify a big time threat at receiver in Zay Flowers. We expected Flowers to be a breakthrough player in his second season with the team and he started the season off with a bang, catching five passes for 162 yards including a 61 yard touchdown. The strong performances in the opener by Jurkovec and Flowers are a good sign going forward for the Boston College offense in 2020.

Defense is what Jeff Hafley is known for, he was excellent in his only season as Ohio State’s defensive coordinator in 2019, and his unit performed in his debut at Boston College. The pass defense was stifling, limiting Duke Quarterback Chase Brice to 5.2 yards per attempt for the game while intercepting 2 passes. The turnovers were not limited to interceptions as Boston College also recovered three Duke fumbles in the game as well. The defense was fast to the football and opportunistic when they got there. The defense was incredible in the redzone, not allowing a single Duke score in three trips into the redzone. Duke was not great offensively in their opener against Notre Dame, but Boston College held them to even less points this weekend. It was a successful season opener to build on for the Eagles defense.

Boston College was well coached and opportunistic on their way to a sound 26 – 6 win. The offense made big plays and started to form an identity, while the defense forced key turnovers and dominated the Blue Devils. There is a long way to go in the season, but Boston College and Jeff Hafley are out of the gates on the right foot.

Stars From The Weekend

RB – Ulysses Bentley IV, SMU

During SMU’s opener Bentley saw some playing time and showed a lot of promise, we tweeted that he could be SMU’s best RB. On Saturday, Bentley announced himself to the college football world. Bentley was fantastic against North Texas, carrying the ball 19 times for 227 yards and 3 Touchdowns, he also added a 21 yards catch giving him 248 yards from scrimmage for the game. Bentley averaged 12 yards per carry and 12.4 yards every time he touched the ball. He showed the vision to find the hole, explosiveness to burst through it quickly, and the speed to run away from defenders. The redshirt freshman still has plenty of developing to do (he ran into a blocker on the 21 yards screen pass or it would have been a bigger play) and he should get stronger as he matures. The thought of Bentley getting better as he plays more is an exciting one for fans and a scary one for opponents.

LB – Payton Wilson, NC State

Wilson was a star LB recruit in the 2019 recruiting class and started his sophomore season off with a bang Saturday night. He collected 10 tackles for the game and was constantly in the Wake Forest backfield picking up 4 tackles for loss, including 1 sack. He was one of the few bright spots on a defense that allowed five touchdowns Saturday night (Wake Forest had one defensive touchdown as well). Wilson was able to chase down ball carriers all over the field, and made several plays in the backfield to try and slowdown the Demon Deacons offense. He did get caught inside a few times on plays bounced to the outside but he had a strong performance overall that he should be able to grow from.

TE, Brevin Jordan, Miami

Miami was in the prime-time slot against Louisville Saturday night and had several players star in a 47 -34 win on the road. We chose to highlight Jordan here, as much for what he did that doesn’t show up in the box score as for his prolific stats in the game. Jordan was excellent as a receiver all night making 7 catches for 120 yards and 1 touchdown in the game. He was effective in the flats and gained a lot of yards after the catch, including one play where he hurdled a defender and ran down to the two yard line. Jordan is effective as a downfield receiver and got open deep for a touchdown late in the game as well. Beyond his accolades as a receiver, Jordan has improved significantly as a blocker and had several good blocks to help open up lanes in the running game and on the perimeter. He did many little things well Saturday night, including an onside kick recovery late in the game. Jordan is one of the best tight ends in the country already and is making his claim for the top spot early this season.

QB – Dillon Gabriel, UCF

UCF had a big win against Georgia Tech on the road pulling away for a 49 – 21 victory. Dillon Gabriel was on his “A” game this week and the offense made big plays throughout the game. Personally, Gabriel set career highs with 417 passing yards and 27 completions and tied a career high with 4 TD. He spread the ball around to seven different receivers, with three of them going over 90 yards a piece for the game. Gabriel reminded us he is a good runner at the quarterback position, adding 30 yards on the ground as well. Gabriel was in control of the offense from start to finish in the season opener. He had a good season in 2019 but a few bad games marred his otherwise strong season, Gabriel will look to keep the strong play going in 2020 as he looks to lead UCF to an AAC title.

Other Takeaways From The Weekend

Louisiana came off an impressive victory over Iowa State last weekend and started off slow against Georgia State. The Ragin Cajuns fell behind 14 – 0 and the score remained that way late into the second quarter. Louisiana appeared to be suffering a letdown after a big win, but Billy Napier and his staff have emphasized a winning culture during his tenure and that culture would shine through Saturday afternoon. Louisiana cut the lead to 14 – 7 going into the half, then tying it at 21 going into the fourth quarter. They took a 28 – 21 lead during the quarter but were pushed to overtime where they finally secured the 34 – 31 win on an Elijah Mitchell (16 car 164 yds 2 TD) touchdown run. A lot of teams lose focus after a big win and stumble the next week, Louisiana was able to regain their balance and pull out a big win despite the slow start. When things are going well, football can seem so easy but the mark of a good team is the ability to right the ship when things don’t go well. Louisiana confirmed they are a good team with the come from behind win over Georgia State.

Pittsburgh had a strong defensive performance in their season opener, but we didn’t know how much credit to give them against FCS opponent Austin Peay. The Panthers backed up that outing with another strong defensive showing against Syracuse. Sure, Syracuse is not a great offensive team but after two games of shutting down the opposition it’s time to take notice of the job Pat Narduzzi’s bunch is doing on defense. Against Syracuse, the Panthers allowed only 120 passing yards, with 69 of them coming on one play. The run defense was equally stout holding the Orange to just 51 rushing yards for the game. Pitt was able to get in the backfield and disrupt the Syracuse offense, racking up 8 tackles for loss on the game. Star safety, Paris Ford picked up his second interception of the season in just his second game. The Panthers defense was stifling for the second week in a row with a big test coming from the Louisville offense next week.

Navy had a tough opener against BYU losing 55 – 3 and it looked like more of the same at halftime against Tulane, with the Midshipmen trailing 24 – 0. But after six quarters of lackluster football, Navy showed the fight and character we have come to expect from this team. They rallied and chipped away at the Tulane lead over the course of the second half with two touchdowns, a safety, another touchdown and a two point conversion to tie the game. Then as time expired Navy kicked in the game winning field goal to finish a remarkable comeback. After being outscored 24 – 0 in the first half and 79 -3 over the first six quarters of the season, Navy rallied for 27 unanswered points in the second quarter and gutted out an unlikely victory.

Marshall had an impressive win in their opener against Eastern Kentucky led by a big performance from quarterback Grant Wells. We expected Wells to face a much tougher challenge this weekend against Appalachian State in his second start. Wells started slow and made some freshman mistakes, but his team had his back. Brenden Knox ran for 138 yards and led the way on offense while the defense was excellent holding Appalachian State to 7 points and just 96 rushing yards on 33 carries. Marshall was able to pull out a 17 – 7 win their young quarterback showed that he had the composure to make some big plays even when things were not going his way, including a long throw to Xavier Gaines in the third quarter. He followed that pass up with a touchdown run that gave his team the ten point lead. Quarterbacks have to find ways to lead their team to a win when they are not playing their best, and Wells showed he can do that on Saturday, but we would prefer he go back to putting up big numbers going forward.

Closing Stats

• Miami averaged 8.1 yards per play against Louisville.

• Louisville held the ball for 38:01 against Miami.

• Wake Forest had 32 first downs against NC State.

• UCF gained 660 yards of offense on 92 plays against Georgia Tech.

• Notre Dame allowed only 3.7 yards per play against USF.

• Notre Dame held South Florida to 2 third down conversions in 15 attempts.

• Oklahoma State did not allow a third down conversion in 11 attempts against Tulsa.

• Troy intercepted three passes and had 6 pass breakups against Middle Tennessee State.

• Tulsa made 14 tackles for loss against Oklahoma State.

• UCF and Boston College both forced 3 fumbles against Georgia Tech and Duke respectively.

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