Week four was not great for the Big 12, with two of its ranked teams suffering surprise losses. Oklahoma & Texas both lost to non-ranked opponents and suddenly the conference looks wide open. At the top Georgia was far from impressive against Kent State, and no 4 Michigan also made hard work of beating Maryland.

The big shock of the night was in Miami where the admittedly below-strength Hurricanes were humbled by C-USA Middle Tennessee. The U’s are unlikely to get back into the rankings any time soon with that on their resume.

Otherwise, the top 25 results pretty much went as expected, even if a few teams got a bit of a scare. Oregon scraped past Washington State to maintain their recovery, while USC made hard work of beating Oregon State. Still, a win is a win no matter how close.

Making A Statement

Penn State continued to impress, taking care of Central Michigan with the minimum of fuss. They did let the Chippewas hang with them early but then put 9 unanswered points up to cruise away. Sean Clifford had another solid game with 3TDs and another on the ground. He may figure in the Heisman conversation by year-end if he keeps this up.

Ohio State made it a good night for the ranked Big Ten teams beating Wisconsin with some ease to open conference play. Ok the Badgers are no longer ranked but hanging 52 points on them is no mean feat. They have scored 174 points in their last three games!

Not Too Impressive

Oregon made hard work of beating Washington State and had the Cougars not had a fourth Quarter collapse the teams could easily have switched places. Once Washington State gets a running game they will be very hard to beat.

Staying in the PAC 12 we were far from impressed by the much vaunted USC offense. Trojans QB Caleb Williams had a poor game only completing 16 of 36 passes, however, at least he didn’t turn the ball over. Oregon State turned the ball over four times but it still took a last-gasp TD to keep USC unbeaten. The Beavers are much improved this year and can count themselves a tad unlucky.

Anyway, the top 25 teams’ results are below – Only Oklahoma State was not involved.

AP Top 25 Results For Week Four

Kent State 22 @ 1 Georgia 39

Maryland 27 @ 4 Michigan 34

5 Clemson 51 @ 21 Wake Forest 45 (2OT)

20 Florida 33 @ 11 Tennessee 38

Central Michigan 14 @ 14 Penn State 33

15 Oregon 44 @ Washington State 41

Tulsa 27 @ 16 Ole Miss 35

17 Baylor 31 @ Iowa State 24

22 Texas 34 @ Texas Tech 37 (OT)

Rhode Island 24 @ 24 Pittsburgh 45

Middle Tennessee 45 @ 25 Miami 31

2 Alabama 55 Vanderbilt 3

Wisconsin 21 @ 3 Ohio State 52

Kansas State 41 @ 6 Oklahoma 34

7 USC 17 @ Oregon State 14

Northern Illinois 23 @ 8 Kentucky 31

10 Arkansas 21 @ 23 Texas A&M 23

UConn 10 @ 12 NC State 41

13 Utah 34 @ Arizona State 13

Stanford 22 @ 18 Washington 40

Wyoming 24 @ 19 BYU 38

Entertaining Game of the Week

Plenty to choose from this week and there a quite a few we would happily rewatch. However, as they say, “there can be only one” and for us (drum roll) it’s…

Oregon 44 @ Washington State 41

Over a thousand yards of offense and deep into the fourth quarter before the game was decided. Even when the Ducks ran back a pick-six to go two scores up at the death there was still a twist in the tail. Bo Nix had a big night throwing for 428 yards and 3TDs while the Ducks’ defense successfully stifled the admittedly anaemic Washington State running game. WSU led with less than four minutes to go but without a ground game, they can’t manage the clock.

 

Honourable mention goes to the all-rankled ACC clash between Wake Forest & Clemson which was finally deceide in double OT. It was a classic shootout with not a single turnover, although Clemson did try and shoot themselves in the foot by giving away 120 yards in penalties.

 

Performance of the Week

Middle Tennessee 45 @ Miami 31

Ok, the Hurricanes may not be the programme of old, however, they are still a respected ACC team were ranked 25 last week and went into the game 25.5 point favourites. So for C-USA team to go there and hang 45 points on them is impressive. This was no fluke as MTSU had 507 yards of offense & they led 38-17 early in the fourth quarter.

It was a good week for CUSA as our honourable mention goes to UTEP, who ground out an impressive 27-10 win over Boise State. Boise was one of the early season favourites for the Mountain West title and was 15.5 point favourites in this one.

One You Might Have Missed

James Madison 32 @ Appalachian State 28

As we mentioned Kansas hadn’t started a season 2-0 since 2011 and now low and behold they are 3-0 thanks to an excellent win at Houston, who big things were expected of pre-season. The Jayhawks have not won this many games since 2009 and haven’t been to a bowl game since 2008. They are already halfway to eligibility.

So ends week four which sees the SEC tighten its grip on the top 10. Still, the big Ten is looking strong and Ohio State might just be the best team in College football at this stage. We doubt the voters will agree though.

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