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How even is the Michigan-Ohio State contest? Texas-Oklahoma? The Dash gives its verdict on seven historic matchups.

Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college football, where UTEP is a runaway freight train at 5–1:

MORE DASH:

One-Loss Contenders | USC's Market | Quality QB Depth

FOURTH QUARTER: HOW CLOSE ARE THE BEST RIVALRIES?

The subtitle for this quarter: In Praise of Red River, which always delivers. When appraising the top rivalries in the sport, it’s surprising how many of them have tilted hard in one direction over the last decade—and how few close games there have been. But the annual Big 12 tussle between the Longhorns and Sooners is the glorious, messy, dramatic exception.

It has become the game most likely to be labeled “drunk” on social media, and that’s not due to the fans in the stands. (Though they are, indeed, very drunk.) That’s due to the wild turns of events that happen with regularity in that rivalry, this past Saturday certainly being no exception. (When a fox suddenly runs across the field of the Cotton Bowl at the Texas State Fair, pretty much in downtown Dallas, you know it’s gotten strange.)

The Dash looked at the past decade of results for 18 top rivalry games, examining them for evenness and the regularity of close games. A rundown of the results:

Oklahoma-Texas (31). Number of one-score games in the last 10: eight. Average margin of victory: 7.5 points. Who won: Oklahoma seven, Texas three. This is by far the closest in terms of score, though not the most even in terms of who wins. But the only meeting in the last nine that wasn’t a one-score game was the 2018 Big 12 championship game in Jerry World. If they’re playing at the Cotton Bowl, expect drama.

Alabama-Auburn (32). Number of one-score games in the last 10: two. Average margin of victory: 20.3. Who won: Alabama seven, Auburn three. This is what Nick Saban does to rivalries: he smashes them. Although when the Tigers win the Iron Bowl, it tends to be in off-the-rails fashion. (See: Six, Kick.)

Michigan-Ohio State (33). Number of one-score games in the last 10: four. Average margin of victory: 15.1. Who won: Ohio State nine, Michigan one. The Buckeyes have not only won eight straight, but most of them have not been close. Alas, this is a storied rivalry in search of renewed competitiveness and national relevance. Maybe this year?

Army-Navy (34). Number of one-score games in the last 10; seven. Average margin of victory: 9.9. Who won: Navy 6, Army 4. After Red River, this is the closest game on average—partly because it’s usually low scoring. (The fact that Oklahoma and Texas routinely play close shootouts is another reason why it has been so ridiculously entertaining.) Navy had owned the rivalry for a long spell until Army’s recent revival under Jeff Monken evened things out.

Notre Dame-USC (35). Number of one-score games in the last 10: four. Average margin of victory: 14.1. Who won: Notre Dame seven, USC three. It’s pretty clear which program found its coach and which one has been searching. When Clay Helton and the Trojans lost by 35 in South Bend in 2017, that should have been a sign—but then USC wallpapered over that by winning its next five games, including the Pac-12 championship game. USC’s last win in the series was 2016.

Georgia-Florida (36). Number of one-score games in the last 10: four. Average margin of victory: 14.8. Who won: Georgia six, Florida four. This has been a rivalry in threes: The Gators won three straight from 2008 to '10; the Bulldogs won the next three from 2011 to '13; then back from Florida from 2014 to '16; then back to Georgia from 2017 to '19. If the Gators started a new three-year winning streak last season, it will come as a sizable shock at the end of this month.

Mississippi-Mississippi State (37). Number of one-score games in the last 10: four. Average margin of victory: 12.7. Who won: Ole Miss five, Mississippi State five. This is the only dead-even rivalry of the 18 The Dash looked at. And, of course, that five-five split has been heavily flavored by bizarrely entertaining occurrences. The Egg Bowl will forever be the weirdest vicious rivalry in the sport.

COACH WHO EARNED HIS COMP CAR THIS WEEK

Josh Heupel (38), Tennessee. The Dash had low expectations for Heupel in his first year coaching the Volunteers, but they have clicked in a dazzling way since the calendar flipped to October. In their last two games, against SEC East opponents Missouri and South Carolina, Tennessee has scored 107 points—a whopping 56 of them in the first quarter. The Vols are throwing haymakers right off the opening bell, rolling up 444 yards of offense in those two opening quarters alone. (They lead the nation in rushing yards per game in October, at 352.5.) If it can continue this roll, Tennessee could blow up some big hopes for its next four opponents: Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky and Georgia.

COACH WHO SHOULD TAKE THE BUS TO WORK

Mack Brown (39), North Carolina. A season the began in the Top Ten is now a 3–3 slog after a second annual upset loss to Florida State. (If Mike Norvell has done anything well in Tallahassee, it’s beating North Carolina.) The Tar Heels were minus-three turnover margin in losses to Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech, then committed 12 penalties for 110 yards against the Seminoles. An offensive line that has allowed 23 sacks—most in the ACC—has often left star quarterback Sam Howell running for his life.

POINT AFTER

When hungry and thirsty in the perpetually underrated town of Des Moines, The Dash always recommends a visit to the mid-American classic bar, El Bait Shop (40). Do not deny yourself the bacon-wrapped tater tots, and take full advantage of the excellent beer selection. (The Singlespeed Victory Dance IPA did not disappoint.) The clientele is always interesting and the staff is always friendly. Check it out and thank The Dash later.

MORE DASH: One-Loss Contenders | USC's Market | Quality QB Depth

Caleb Williams isn't the only backup quarterback who is making a difference in his team's season.

Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college football (antacids sold separately at Louisville, where the last four games—two wins, two losses—have all gone down to the wire):

MORE DASH:

One-Loss Contenders | USC's Market

THIRD QUARTER: HOW GOOD IS YOUR BACKUP QUARTERBACK?

In a world of immediately eligible transfers, talented quarterbacks are less likely than ever to stick around if they aren’t starting. Which makes it harder than ever to have depth at that most critical position—a position where injuries are not at all uncommon.

After what befell Penn State (21) Saturday, it’s clear how important quarterback depth can be. When Sean Clifford was injured, the Nittany Lions were sunk at Iowa. Ta’Quan Roberson may end up being a fine college QB, but he wasn’t ready for that admittedly very difficult spot. The guy who had been Penn State’s No. 2 QB, Will Levis, is now the toast of Kentucky, where he is starting for the undefeated Wildcats and doing strange things with food.

A look at nine good situations when it comes to quarterback depth:

Caleb Williams (22), Oklahoma. Touted freshman came off the bench and saved the Sooners from defeat against arch-rival Texas, throwing for 212 yards and two touchdowns and running for 88 and another score. Down 28–7, Oklahoma got an injection of life when Williams took off on a sizzling, 66-yard touchdown run. In the fourth quarter, he also had a breathtaking bomb to Marvin Mims, who made a spectacular catch for a 52-yard TD. The young man is ready. Right now.

(The attendant question that accompanies his arrival as QB1: Did Williams just send erstwhile starter Spencer Rattler (23) into the transfer portal? Speculation already has been humming about where Rattler will play in 2022, provided he doesn’t turn pro—which would seem unwise, given what he’s put on tape. Even though he hasn’t lived up to the pre-college hype, Rattler would be an in-demand transfer.)

Stetson Bennett IV (24), Georgia. He’s played a lot of football for the Bulldogs, throwing 244 passes in three seasons. While Bennett struggled at times last year when thrust into a starting role, he’s been really good when pressed into service by injury to JT Daniels. Bennett’s efficiency rating is a robust 206.56, way up from 2020. He might have played his best game Saturday at Auburn, throwing for 231 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Most importantly, the team and coaching staff have faith in Bennett to get the job done and avoid catastrophes.

Tyler Buchner and Drew Pyne (25), Notre Dame. With the Fighting Irish trailing Virginia Tech 10–0 Saturday, Buchner came in and led two touchdown drives, showcasing his dual-threat dynamism. Third-stringer Pyne played well in relief of injured starter (and Wisconsin transfer) Jack Coan when the Fighting Irish beat the Badgers in late September. Brian Kelly has a long history of dabbling in backup QB managing to get the desired results, and he could spend the second half of this season doing exactly that.

At Michigan State (26), Anthony Russo was the transfer from Temple that a lot of people assumed would win the job. But Payton Thorne has merely been the second-most efficient quarterback in the Big Ten to date. Thorne had some good performances late in the Spartans’ 2–5 season last year, then beat out Russo in a close competition. He’s been impossible to get out of the starting lineup since. Thorne is on pace to break the school’s single-season efficiency record.

Baylor Romney (27), BYU. Starter Jaren Hall missed two games after being injured against Arizona State, and Romney ably picked up the slack in wins over South Florida and Utah State. He was a combined 35 of 44 for nearly 500 yards in those two games, with four touchdowns and no interceptions. Romney was knocked out of the Utah State victory with a concussion and Hall returned to the starting lineup in the loss to Boise State. The Cougars could have a QB conundrum—perhaps even a controversy—heading into a big game at Baylor Saturday.

Zach Calzada (28), Texas A&M. His first few weeks replacing injured Haynes King sure weren’t pretty, and after the Aggies offense flailed in consecutive losses to Arkansas and Mississippi State, Calzada had a legion of critics. But he won them over in a big way in the huge upset of Alabama Saturday night, throwing for 285 yards and three touchdowns. After A&M lost a lead it had held virtually all night, falling behind 38–31 with five minutes remaining, Calzada led two scoring drives to rip the game back away from the Crimson Tide. He completed 6 of 8 passes on those final two possessions and had a key run as well.

Casey Thompson (29), Texas. First-year Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian went with Hudson Card as his season-opening starter, and that proved to be the wrong choice after two games. Thompson took over from there and has been productive, throwing for more than 1,000 yards and 14 touchdowns on the season. He had five TD passes and 388 yards against Oklahoma, but the Texas defense couldn’t hold up its end of the bargain in another Red River thriller.

(Both Red River combatants could see benched Week 1 starters on the move after this season, if Rattler and Card opt to look elsewhere for playing time.)

San Diego State (30) is undefeated while playing two quarterbacks this season. Neither Jordon Brookshire nor Lucas Johnson has lit it up passing—they have combined to throw for just 585 yards in five games, with four touchdowns and two interceptions—but they’ve been effective runners (184 yards and four TDs) while directing Brady Hoke’s ground-and-pound offense. 

MORE DASH: One-Loss Contenders | USC's Market

A video of Texas A&M kicker Seth Small's family watching him kick the game-winning field goal against Alabama is sure to give you chills.

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If you thought the build-up to Seth Small's game-winning field goal against Alabama on Saturday had plenty of drama, a video of the Texas A&M kicker's family watching the game's final moment is sure to bring about chills.

With two seconds left and the game tied at 38, Small knocked down the biggest kick of the college football season from 28 yards to make Texas A&M the first unranked team in 14 years to beat Alabama—and Small's family was front and center.

In the video, Small's wife can be seen encouraging the senior kicker while she holds the hand of his mother, who appears to be praying. The anticipation only builds as you watch the family's eyes follow the kick to a hushed stadium.

As the kick goes through, Small's mother breaks down in tears, having never opened her eyes even as the crowd erupts when the kick sails through the uprights. After being overwhelmed with emotion herself, Small's wife proceeds to hop the wall and rush the field with the rest of the 12th Man.   

After the game, Small said in his postgame press conference that the kick ranked as the "third best moment of my life"—right after marrying his wife over the summer. The kicker also joked that he knows exactly what to get Jimbo Fisher after hitting game-winning field goals on the coach's last two birthdays. 

“I didn’t know what to get him, so we thought as a team that we should get a win for him," Small said.

With the win, the Aggies moved up to No. 21 in the latest AP Top 25 while Alabama dropped to fifth after the defending champion saw its 19-game winning streak come to an end.

More College Football Coverage:

• No. 1 Alabama Stunned by Unranked Texas A&M
• College Football World Reacts to A&M's Upset of Alabama
• Iowa Uses Fourth Quarter Comeback to Top Penn State
• Oklahoma Benches Rattler, Shocks Texas in Huge Comeback Win

A memorable weekend led to some juicy changes in SI’s hypothetical postseason. Welcome, Kentucky!

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This is a weekly Sports Illustrated series using the current college football standings to create an imaginary 12-team playoff bracket based on the model proposed this summer by CFP executives. In case you’ve forgotten, the 12-team model features (1) the six highest-ranked conference champions and (2) the next six highest-ranked teams. The four highest-ranked conference champions get byes to the second round (independents are not eligible to receive a bye—sorry, Notre Dame).

There is a new top seed in our 12-team Fake Playoff. Bow down to the Georgia Bulldogs and kiss their rings (if they won any recently, we would!). That’s a low blow from the unbiased Fake Selection Committee. But hey, Bulldogs, maybe this is the year!

You’ve got to agree with the committee here: After Alabama’s stunning weekend loss, Georgia has looked like the best team by a fairly healthy margin. Ah, but have no fear, Crimson Tide—you’re comfortably in the 12-team playoff despite the defeat. In fact, a whopping three teams in our playoff lost their last game, something that won’t sit well with fan bases outside of Bama (loss to A&M), Penn State (Iowa) and Oregon (Stanford). The Ducks squeak in as one of our six required conference champions.

You may see a new team in the field: Kentucky. The Wildcats find themselves in the 8–9 game (sound familiar, Cats fans?). Big Blue Nation would be disappointed with an 8–9 Big Dance matchup, but in the football playoff? They’d take it every time.

Enough already. To the playoff, we go!

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1. Georgia (SEC champion)
2. Iowa (Big Ten champion)
3. Cincinnati (AAC champion)
4. Oklahoma (Big 12 champion)

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5. Michigan (Big Ten at-large)
12. Wake Forest (ACC champion)

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6. Alabama (SEC at-large)
11. Ohio State (Big Ten at-large)

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7. Michigan State (Big Ten at-large)
10. Oregon (Pac-12 champion)

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8. Kentucky (SEC at-large)
9. Penn State (Big Ten at-large)

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The 8–9 game: After four weeks of creating this Fake Playoff, we have realized that one of the most difficult choices for the committee each year will likely be who hosts the 8–9 game. In this case, we chose the Wildcats, mostly because the Nittany Lions are just coming off a loss. And like the current CFP selection committee, we, too, are taking injuries into account. PSU QB Sean Clifford went down during the game, never returned, and the Lions flopped. But on a normal basis, the margin between the two teams is likely to be close. That presents a difficult and significant decision in granting home field.

Bama-Buckeyes in T-town: What’s the get-in price of an Alabama–Ohio State playoff game in Tuscaloosa? It’s probably around $300, but maybe a lot more. These one-loss football titans would be clashing for the right to meet … Cincinnati in a quarterfinal. If we thought the ticket price of Bama-OSU was high, imagine Cincinnati and the Buckeyes tangling with a trip to the semifinal on the line.

Last in: The final at-large team into the field is the Buckeyes. The committee spent many hours wrestling over such a move. Why? The decision gives the Big Ten five—five—of the 12 teams in the playoff field. That’s a lot, and creates what is sure to be at least one or two rematches along the way (Michigan State–Iowa or Ohio State–Iowa in the quarterfinals, for instance). But it also leaves out teams that feel just as deserving as the Buckeyes—who, you’ll recall, lost on their own field to an Oregon team that recently dropped a game to Stanford. For example, there’s Ole Miss, with its only loss at Alabama. There’s undefeated Oklahoma State. There’s Notre Dame, whose only loss came to the No. 3 seed. And there are at least two undefeated Group of 5 champions in Coastal Carolina and San Diego State. The nod, for now, goes to the Buckeyes.

More College Football Coverage:

• Which One-Loss Teams Are Still Playoff Contenders?
• Texas A&M's Bama Upset Disrupts National Landscape
• Oklahoma's Counter Unlocks Dangerous Rushing Offense

Eli Gold went silent when the Crimson Tide lost

1. Every local announcer in every sport is a homer. Obviously, though, there are different levels of being a homer, and Alabama radio broadcaster Eli Gold seems to be at the highest one.

Gold decided not to call Texas A&M’s game-winning field goal that gave the Aggies a 41–38 victory over the Crimson Tide on Saturday night. He finished a thought that ended with the words “what happens” right before the play, and then he went silent as the kick took place.

To make matters worse, Gold’s first words after the 28-yard field goal were about a potential fine Texas A&M would have to pay because fans stormed the field.

Gold tried to explain his bizarre approach to AL.com, telling the outlet, “That’s part of what makes radio the medium that it is. It’s the sound. There is no picture. I just know [to do it] justice—as huge as a moment as it was—I said to myself, ‘You know what? Just let the crowd tell the story.’

“And I think the fans would understand if they heard crickets or nothing, then I was gonna jump right in, but if they heard that massive roar, they would’ve known the Aggies would’ve kicked the game-winning field goal.”

First off, if you’re calling a potential game-winning field goal on radio, it’s your duty to let listeners know about the snap, hold and kick. It’s not just about “It’s good” or “It’s no good” on the radio. Imagine being in your car listening and getting NO details on the single biggest play of the week in college football. You can do this on TV, not radio. On radio, you’re just leaving your listeners completely in the dark.

Secondly, it’s hard to believe this was a planned out move instead of just salty behavior when the only thought Gold had about the top team in the nation losing to an unranked opponent in Nick Saban’s first loss to one of his former assistant coaches in Jimbo Fisher was about how much money Texas A&M would have to pay because Aggies fans ran onto the field.

Lastly, the country was already thrilled to see Alabama go down. Something tells me Gold’s no-call made the Crimson Tide’s loss even sweeter.

2. Sometimes in life, things work out beautifully. That was the case at 4:25 p.m. on Sunday when Kevin Harlan was in the booth for the wild Browns-Chargers game. 

This was the right man for the right job, and here were some of his most memorable calls from the 47–42 shootout.

3. This was by far the best moment of Drew Brees’s young broadcasting career. 

The correct answer to Brees’s important questions are simple: strawberry or even raspberry jelly only. Grape jelly is gross. And all the sandwiches should be cut diagonally. Only bad people cut a sandwich down the middle.

4. The single best clip from Sunday's NFL action came from Bengals kickers Evan McPherson, who celebrated a missed field goal. The moment McPherson realizes his kick sailed wide left at the end of the video below is priceless.

5. The fine line between fan and fanatic ...

6. The latest SI Media Podcast features a conversation with Good Morning Football’s Kyle Brandt. 

Brandt takes us behind the scenes of his audition with Peyton and Eli Manning for the host role of their Monday Night Football telecast. Brandt also talks about the void left by Nate Burleson, who left Good Morning Football for CBS This Morning, how he and Peter Schrager put together GMFB’s “Wall Streeters” bit, why he doesn’t think Good Will Hunting holds up, the most prolific sports movie actor and much more.

Following the conversation with Brandt, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins the podcast for the weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. The big topic discussed this week is The Many Saints of Newark.

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Stitcher.

You can also watch the SI Media Podcast on YouTube.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: If you missed it over the weekend, Kim Kardashian’s Saturday Night Live monologue was actually very, very good thanks to the show’s writers.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Stitcher. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.

USC might not end up alone among big programs looking for a coach, but are enough desirable candidates emerging?

Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college football, where the victory drought for 2020 New York Times national champion Connecticut continues:

MORE DASH:

One-Loss Contenders

SECOND QUARTER: WHERE HAVE ALL THE HOT JOB CANDIDATES GONE?

When the USC job opened half a lifetime ago (or maybe it was Sept. 13), the candidate list had a look to it that might no longer apply. While James Franklin and Luke Fickell remain viable and attractive—although not necessarily getable—the list below them has changed for the worse from a USC perspective. And now if you factor in an increasingly likely LSU opening, plus the continuing prospect of turnover at Nebraska, it’s fair to wonder who would be worth the megamillions that will be paid for those positions. A Dash roll call:

Matt Campbell (11), Iowa State. His Cyclones began the season in the top 10 and now are unranked after losses to Iowa and Baylor. The wins are all low-impact: FCS Northern Iowa by six, a blowout of winless UNLV and a blowout of hopeless Kansas. Credit Campbell with raising the program to a point of consistent winning, not easy at Iowa State—if he has a fifth straight winning season, it will be the first time the school has done it since the 1920s. But the brass-tacks fact is that the Clones have not risen to meet higher expectations. What was supposed to be the best season in school history might fall well short of that mark. (Not to mention the fact that Campbell doesn’t necessarily translate well to the West Coast or the South, which limits his marketability.)

Tony Elliott (12), Clemson offensive coordinator. Hard to imagine a sharper U-turn for an assistant’s prospects for landing a head-coaching job. In August, Elliott was in demand after years of being extremely choosy about which jobs he might pursue. In October, he’s under fire from Clemson fans for the puny Tigers offense. In Year 1 After Trevor, Clemson is 125th nationally against FBS competition in scoring offense and 123rd in total offense. That’s a tough sell.

P.J. Fleck (13), Minnesota. You lose to Bowling Green—winner of 13 of its last 56 games before waltzing into Minneapolis on Sept. 25—you pay the marketability price. Taking nothing away from the 11–2 season of 2019, but Fleck’s Minnesota record other than that annus mirabilis is 18–19.

Jonathan Smith (14), Oregon State. He was very much the Flavor of the Week after beating USC and Washington in consecutive games and taking the Beavers to the top of the Pac-12 North at 4–1. But let’s remember: USC is terrible, and Washington is dysfunctional on offense, and Smith followed up that twin killing by losing to Washington State. Until Smith has a winning season—he’s 13–24 in his fourth year—it’s a bit premature to put him on the USC wish list.

Also: can we talk about Lane Kiffin (15)? Word has circulated that he could be on LSU’s radar if/when Ed Orgeron completes his stunning post-2019 flameout. But other than drumming up attention, Kiffin’s résumé remains short on substance. If LSU wants to get excited about a guy with a one-point home win over Arkansas and beating up on Louisville in the season opener, The Dash suspects Alabama would be perfectly fine with that.

FIVE RISERS

Jimbo Fisher (16), Texas A&M. Hey, look who’s back. Last week the $90 million man was being (rightly) skewered for an offensive dud of a 3–2 season. This week he’s back to being a hero in College Station—and a person of interest in Baton Rouge—after doing the hardest thing in college football: beating Alabama. If the purple-and-gold school with the Saban Complex wants to pay Fisher $10 million a year to try to beat the Tide, go for it.

Mark Stoops (17), Kentucky. The last coach who started a season 6–0 in Lexington was a Mr. Paul Bryant, in 1950. If Stoops can’t parlay that into a pile of cash or a different job, he’s not trying hard enough. While Stoops may be grazing the ceiling of what he can do at Kentucky, it still might be preferable to trying to resurrect the faded glory of Nebraska. He’s not a fit at USC. Could LSU take an interest?

Sonny Dykes (18), SMU. He’s won 26 of his last 32 at SMU, including all six this season. Dykes is as Texas as frontage roads and lizard-skin boots. He’s tried the West Coast and Pac-12 once, and that won’t happen again. But if LSU opens and gets to a second tier of candidates, Dykes could wiggle his way into the conversation. LSU got a taste of pyrotechnic offense in 2019, and it tasted good. (Granted, a Dykes hire would require athletic director Scott Woodward to go against his own tendencies, which is to hire big names at staggering prices.)

Jamey Chadwell (19), Coastal Carolina. He might not be ready for USC or LSU or Nebraska, but as the dominoes fall somebody has to take a serious run at the guy who has won 17 of his last 18 games. The Chanticleers employ a creative option offense and a banzai blitz defense that is fun to watch. They have been killing teams this season but lack the schedule to gain College Football Playoff traction. Potential added bonus: Would Chadwell take ace quarterback Grayson McCall with him somewhere else?

Also: Is Dave Clawson (20) right where he should be? The Wake Forest coach is not a product of the traditional football machinery, attending academically prestigious Williams College and doing most of his coaching outside the high end of FBS. Not to say that he couldn’t succeed in a lot of places, but Wake is a very good fit—albeit a difficult job. Wouldn’t blame him for looking elsewhere, but he can afford to be selective in search of a place that would suit his outlook and strengths.

MORE DASH: One-Loss Contenders

Hurricanes freshman quarterback Tyler Van Dyke will start for Miami going forward.

Miami (Fla.) coach Manny Diaz announced on his weekly radio show Monday that quarterback D'Eriq King will have season-ending shoulder surgery. 

Freshman Tyler Van Dyke will start for Miami going forward, Diaz said. 

King injured his shoulder against Michigan State on Sept. 11 and stayed in the game in a 38–17 Miami loss. The signal-caller missed Miami's last two games, a win over Central Connecticut State and a loss to Virginia. 

The former Houston quarterback transferred to Miami after four seasons and has a history of significant injuries. His first season with the Hurricanes ended with a torn ACL in last year's Cheez-It Bowl against Oklahoma State. The team went on to lose 37–34. 

Before that, King suffered a non-contact knee injury in 2018 that ended his season with the Cougars after 11 games. 

Van Dyke will start for the Hurricanes when the team travels face North Carolina. This season, he has completed 25 of 41 pass attempts for 473 yards and four touchdowns, three of which came against Central Connecticut. 

Miami is 2–3 on the season. Kickoff against North Carolina is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET.

More College Football Coverage: 

Georgia Takes No. 1 Spot, New-Look Top Four in AP PollNo. 1 Alabama Stunned by Unranked Texas A&MCollege Football World Reacts to A&M's Upset of Alabama

There are plenty of pathways for teams like Alabama and Penn State to reach the playoff. The Dash examines and ranks six programs on their chances.

Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college football (“One Small kick for Seth, one giant leap for Aggiekind” T-shirts sold separately in College Station):

FIRST QUARTER: DOWN GOES ‘BAMA, AND OTHERS WILL FOLLOW

For the first time since 2014, the power trio of Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson all have lost before mid-October. But here’s the thing: both the Crimson Tide and Buckeyes still made the College Football Playoff that season, with Ohio State winning it all. So the sky is not falling in Tuscaloosa or Columbus (Clemson is another matter; wear a hard hat if you’re on campus).

Fact is, there are plenty of pathways for one-loss teams to still reach the playoff because the remaining field of unbeatens will be weeding itself out. There are 13 left, and eight of them play each other at some point: Kentucky at Georgia Saturday; Michigan at Michigan State Oct. 30; SMU at Cincinnati Nov. 20; and Oklahoma at Oklahoma State Nov. 27. The winners obviously will enhance their playoff resumes, and the losers could still be in the mix as well. (Some of those teams will probably lose before those games are played.)

Of the other five, only two are in Power 5 conferences and in realistic consideration for the playoff if they run the table: Wake Forest and Iowa. The Demon Deacons are a pleasant surprise story, with their first 6-0 record since 1944—a time when the student body was 100 percent white and 79 percent male, and the college was actually located in Wake Forest and not Winston-Salem, some 100 miles away. But the Demon Deacons have won their last two games by field goals at the end against mediocre competition; their time is coming. Iowa, with its

formidable belief in the fundamental tenets of the game, could go deep into this season without a loss, but it’s hard to see the Hawkeyes going 13–0. Maybe 12–0, but that 13th could be the hard part.

Outside of the unbeatens, here is how The Dash would order the current one-loss teams in terms of playoff viability:

Alabama (1). How bad is the loss: three points at the gun on the road in front of 100,000 fans isn’t terrible, but Texas A&M was an unranked, two-loss team going into the game. How good are the victories: beating Mississippi by three touchdowns is strong; surviving at Florida is pretty strong.

Even with the loss, the Crimson Tide (5–1) control their own destiny in the SEC West—win out, and they’re going to Atlanta for the Southeastern Conference championship game. The hard part is what would happen if they get there, likely needing to beat Georgia to make the playoff. It’s possible that a two-loss Alabama team could still get in if they play the Bulldogs close, but for now that is definitely the hard way. The Tide has proven to be a shaky road team thus far, especially defensively. (Remaining road games: at Mississippi State Saturday and at Auburn Nov. 27.) If Alabama gets to 11–1, it still could be outside the top four—but beating Georgia could ultimately be the best win any team has on its playoff resume.

Penn State (2). How bad is the loss: three points on the road against a top-five team is hardly enough to knock a team out of contention. Then factor in the injury to quarterback Sean Clifford, who left the game with the Nittany Lions leading 17–3. That’s a huge mitigating factor. How good are the victories: beating Auburn is good; beating Wisconsin and Indiana is OK.

Ultimately, the Big Ten East will sort itself out between Oct. 30 and Nov. 27, when the four teams at the top of that division all play each other. But if Penn State can get through the slate 11–1 and head into a potential rematch with Iowa in the Big Ten title game, the opportunity is there. Of course, it’s also impossible to see the Nittany Lions doing that if Clifford is out for any of the key games left on the schedule. They might be able to beat Illinois without him after an open date to bring backup Ta’Quan Roberson up to speed following his painful outing at Iowa, but that’s about it.

Oregon (3). How bad is the loss: of the teams on this list, the Ducks lost to the weakest team in Stanford (3–3). But they also had a boatload of circumstances that must be taken into consideration: offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead missed the game with an illness; leading rusher C.J. Verdell left the game in the third quarter with an injury; and Stanford tied the game on an untimed down at the end of regulation after a controversial penalty in the end zone. How good are the victories: beating Ohio State in the Horseshoe while shorthanded defensively, in a game where Oregon was clearly the better team that day, is the best win any team has had this season.

Unfortunately for the Ducks, the remaining schedule doesn’t offer a lot of quality-win opportunity. Every remaining regular-season opponent has lost at least twice. It’s possible that one-loss Oregon and one-loss Arizona State meet up in the Pac-12 championship game, which would help the winner’s resume. But the Ducks also are dealing with so many injuries that they might not be able to get there at 11–1. And a two-loss Pac-12 team definitely isn’t going to the playoff.

Ohio State (4). How bad is the loss: the Buckeyes were beaten by a good team in Oregon, but did so at home and never led in the game. Their best argument for downplaying the result is that it was the second week of the season with a young team still figuring itself out. How good are the victories: routing Maryland made a statement, but we’ll see if it still holds up later in the season (the Terrapins have a habit of collapsing as the year goes along); beating Minnesota isn’t bad.

Like the rest of its loaded division, Ohio State’s heavy lifting lies ahead. If the Buckeyes keep up their offensive onslaught of recent weeks, they will be tough to beat. Should they get through Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State and Iowa at 12–1, they’re in great shape—unless they’re still boxed out by Oregon. Ohio State fans should root for the Ducks’s demise to free themselves of that potential roadblock to the playoff.

Baylor (5). How bad is the loss: good opponent, bad performance. It was a double-digit defeat on the road against a currently unbeaten team (Oklahoma State), in a game the Bears trailed for the final 55 minutes. We’ll see how good the Cowboys end up being. How good are the victories: beating Iowa State is the signature win to date, and it’s not exactly a flag-planter at this point. Baylor has done nothing of note on the road.

The Bears (5–1) do have some opportunities ahead, and they’re all in Waco. The next two games are against ranked opponents (BYU and Texas), and Oklahoma comes to town Nov. 13. And there is the possibility of another big game in the Big 12 title game. But Baylor is a fringe playoff contender until it can prove otherwise by stacking up some other quality wins.

Notre Dame (6). How bad is the loss: losing by 11 at home will leave a mark, but the opponent was undefeated Cincinnati. As noted above with Baylor, that’s a good-opponent, bad-performance defeat. How good are the victories: not very. The Fighting Irish have a trio of three-point wins over mediocre teams that were pulled out at the end, plus bigger margins of victory against Big Ten disappointment Wisconsin and Big Ten mid-pack team Purdue.

It’s hard to find a path for Notre Dame to get to the playoff at 11–1. A schedule that appeared to have some juicy matchups before the season has fallen apart, with Wisconsin, North Carolina and USC all tanking. If your best argument is losing to a really good team, that isn’t much. And even against middling competition, it’s hard to see this Irish team going the rest of the way with only one loss.

FOUR FOR THE PLAYOFF

How The Dash would set the bracket if today were Selection Sunday:

Orange Bowl: top seed Georgia (7) vs. fourth seed Michigan (8).

The Bulldogs (6–0) have been the best team in the nation all season, but there now is no arguing it with Alabama’s comeuppance in College Station. Georgia continued to roll with Stetson Bennett at quarterback in place of injured JT Daniels, but mostly it rolled at Auburn behind its ridiculous defense. Auburn’s long running play of the game: nine yards. Georgia is allowing 5.5 points per game, with nobody else in the nation holding opponents to single digits.

Next for Georgia: Kentucky between the hedges Saturday in a big one.

The Wolverines (6–0) are the new arrival in the bracket, after their closest scrape of the season at Nebraska. Michigan was pushed on the road by the Cornhuskers, but produced a late turnover and then converted the winning field goal. Jim Harbaugh’s offense is becoming more versatile, with some big moments in the passing game and the advancement of Hassan Haskins as second weapon in the running game alongside Blake Corum.

Next for Michigan: Northwestern at home Oct. 23.

Cotton Bowl: second seed Iowa (9) against third seed Cincinnati (10).

The Hawkeyes (6–0) did what they do so well Saturday, beating Penn State with takeaways and field position and knocking the Nittany Lions’s quarterback out of the game. Quarterback Spencer Petras overcame an awful start to the game to deliver a huge touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, and Iowa eked just enough out of its running game to keep the Nittany Lions defense honest and set up that TD pass. The postgame field storm was one for the memory banks for all involved.

Next for Iowa: Purdue at home Saturday.

The Bearcats (5–0) did what good teams do, dominating an inferior opponent and allowing no hopes of an upset. In crushing Temple 52–3, Cincinnati ran for a season-high 279 yards, with Jerome Ford having his best day as a Bearcat (149 rushing yards, two touchdowns). Cincinnati also racked up a season-high six sacks against the Owls.

Next for Cincinnati: Central Florida at home Saturday, in what looked like a big game before the injury to Golden Knights quarterback Dillon Gabriel.

Dropped out: Penn State.

Also considered: Michigan State, Oklahoma, Alabama, Oregon, Penn State, Ohio State, Oklahoma State.

The Sooners' run game got churning in the later stages of their comeback win over Texas in large part to their effective use of the counter play.

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Oklahoma has had a difficult go of it on offense this season compared to their high standards. While the benching of Spencer Rattler during the Red River Rivalry win for the second season in a row grabs the headlines, the offensive line’s lack of production has left a lot to be desired and is another reason for their struggles. The Sooners lost star center Creed Humphrey to the NFL Draft, and had something of a center competition going in the early part of the season which Andrew Raym seems to have won.

That’s why, if you’re an Oklahoma fan, seeing the Sooners' run game get going by playing the hits against Texas should be a promising step in the right direction to the tune of 355 sack-adjusted yards at 9.1 yards per carry.

Oklahoma is no stranger to a staple running play called counter. It’s their bread and butter run with deep roots as the slobberknocking key to successful ground attacks with both Nebraska and the Washington Football Team back in the 70s and 80s.

It was on display on Kennedy Brooks’s long run initially ruled a fumble before being overturned.

The play is simple, and classically executed with a pulling guard and a fullback, while Oklahoma often runs what’s referred to as G/T Counter (the G/T stands for guard and tackle) which involves two linemen pulling from the backside of the formation to the front.

In Rattler’s absence, the Sooners ran a tweaked version. When Caleb Williams came into the game, Oklahoma’s run game got an added dimension of the quarterback as a running threat, starting with his 66-yard touchdown on fourth-and-1. But simply the running threat of Williams combined with Brooks’s skill and window dressing came together on top of Oklahoma’s counter base to make magic for the Sooners.

Oklahoma brings Drake Stoops in motion, which is one piece to the puzzle. They also had Brayden Willis (No. 9) in at tight end to run what we can call G/Y Counter.

They then snapped the ball directly to Brooks, who faked a pitch to Williams for all that movement to occur in front so blocks could get in place. All Brooks had to do was run to paydirt.

The result? The two biggest plays of the game. Oklahoma’s go-ahead score as well as its game winner.

The plays are carbon copies of each other, but Texas was powerless to stop them. The problem? Eye discipline.

“The direct snap, they did a nice job,” Texas head coach Sarkisian told reporters after the game. “They had kind of a little window dressing with the motion. We lost our eyes a little bit at linebacker with the motion. The timing is a little bit different from a traditional counter play. … I don’t think it was necessarily a surprise that it was coming. We just didn’t fit the run right, and then he had the explosiveness to crease it and find the end zone.”

Texas may want to close their eyes when they watch the film of this game. A Red River Showdown for the ages could have gone their way.

More College Football Coverage:

• Can These Coaches Get Back in Good Graces?
• Wild Red River Showdown Sets Up NIL Impact for Rattler, Williams
• Iowa's Triumph Over Penn State Was Vintage Kirk Ferentz Football
• SI Top 10: Texas A&M's Alabama Upset Disrupts College Football Landscape

Alabama fell to No. 5 after their upset loss to now-No. 21 Texas A&M, while Iowa jumped to No. 2.

One of the best weeks of college football in recent memory resulted in a shakeup for this week's AP Top 25 Poll. Georgia is the new top dog after former No. 1 team Alabama was on the wrong side of major upset this week and Cincinnati joins the top four. 

The Tide were shocked by the unranked Aggies 41–38 after a 28-yard field goal with no time remaining. The loss flipped college football on its head and Georgia took the No. 1 spot unanimously after beating Auburn 34–10. Alabama fell to No. 5.

Iowa also moved to the No. 2 spot thanks to their win over Penn State on Saturday. The Nittany Lions dropped to No. 7 after they lost quarterback Sean Clifford in the first half of the game and eventually lost 23–20. 

Cincinnati, the country's top-ranked non-Power 5 team, moved to No. 3 to join the College Football Playoff picture. Oklahoma joined them as well when they jumped to No. 4 after their thrilling comeback win against Texas on Saturday. 

Kentucky is off to one of the best starts in program history, sitting at 6–0 for the first time since 1950, and was rewarded with the No. 11 spot. The Wildcats will visit the top-ranked Bulldogs this week in an epic SEC clash.  

AP Top 25 

1. Georgia
2. Iowa
3. Cincinnati 
4. Oklahoma
5. Alabama
6. Ohio State
7. Penn State 
8. Michigan 
9. Oregon
10. Michigan State
11. Kentucky
12. Oklahoma State
13. Ole Miss 
14. Notre Dame
15. Coastal Carolina
16. Wake Forest
17. Arkansas
18. Arizona State
19. Brigham Young
20. Florida
21. Texas A&M
22. North Carolina State
23. SMU
24. San Diego State
25. Texas

Others receiving votes: Auburn 106, Clemson 63, Baylor 62, UTSA 22, Mississippi State 7, Kansas State 3, Air Force 2, Appalachian State 2, Pittsburgh 1

More College Football Coverage:

• No. 1 Alabama Stunned by Unranked Texas A&M
• College Football World Reacts to A&M's Upset of Alabama
• Iowa Uses Fourth Quarter Comeback to Top Penn State
• Oklahoma Benches Rattler, Shocks Texas in Huge Comeback Win

Alabama falls in rankings after its loss in College Station. Plus, where do Iowa and Penn State land following their matchup?

Earlier this week at his radio show, Alabama coach Nick Saban was describing his team’s clash in College Station, Texas, against Texas A&M.

“This is a little bit of a trap game for us,” he said, in a somewhat stunning piece of honesty.

It made sense. This had all the makings of a typical “trap game,” one in which a highly-ranked, streaking squad faced a downtrodden, unranked opponent. The No. 1-ranked Crimson Tide, fresh off a

beatdown of Ole Miss in a hyped affair last week, was playing a two-loss Aggies team that had last lost at home to Mississippi State.

It was a quintessential trap game.

And in Aggieland, it will live forever as just that: The Trap Game.

Texas A&M violently shook the landscape of the Top 10 as well as all of college football on Saturday, slaying the top-ranked Tide, 41–38, in a stunning upset at Kyle Field. What’s more, the Aggies (4–2) did it with a backup quarterback. QB Zach Calzada threw for 285 yards and three scores, the defense smothered the Tide in the first half, special teams returned a kickoff for a touchdown and kicker Seth Small booted a 28-yard field goal as time expired.

Small’s kick ended plenty of streaks. Saban, for the first time in his coaching career, lost to a former assistant coach. He’s now 24–1. Alabama lost to an unranked team for the first time in 100 consecutive games. And an AP No. 1-ranked team lost to an unranked foe for the first time since 2008.

“Everyone needs to remember how they feel and not forget it,” Saban remarked after the game.

The Trap Game capped an eventful day of football and helped remake our Top 10. Oklahoma needed a wild comeback led by its backup true freshman quarterback to beat Texas. Lane Kiffin’s Rebels barely survived the Bounce Back Bowl against Arkansas, 52–51, after the Hogs failed on a potential game-winning 2-point play.

Unbeatens BYU and Penn State fell. SMU, UTSA and Wake Forest, both undefeated still, survived. Michigan State continued its season-opening jaunt, and Kentucky—Kentucky!—is 6–0.

To the Top 10, we go…

1. Georgia (6–0)

Last game: beat Auburn 34–10
Next game: vs. Kentucky

The Oldest Rivalry in the Deep South, as Auburn-Georgia is known, often produces some wild and crazy upsets. Not so much this year. The Bulldogs not only fired up that five-star defense of theirs, but Stetson Bennett, not a law firm but a backup quarterback, threw for 231 yards and ran for another 44, scoring two touchdowns.

2. Iowa (6–0)

Last game: beat Penn State 23–20
Next game: vs. Purdue

Kirk Ferentz did his best Kirk Ferentz and Iowa punted its way to a comeback victory in the most Ferentizian of ways. The Hawkeyes played mean defense (and got four turnovers), won the field position battle and hogged the ball for 10 more minutes than the Nittany Lions.

3. Cincinnati (6–0)

Last game: beat Temple 52–3
Next game: vs. UCF

The Bearcats handled the excitement of last week’s road win at Notre Dame quite well, crushing the Owls in a way you’d expect any CFP contender to. Temple had 11 drives that ended in seven punts, two failed fourth downs, an interception and a 55-field goal that hit the crossbar and bounced in. So what we’re saying is, Luke Fickell’s defense played well. And so did the offense (UC had 542 yards).

4. Oklahoma (6–0)

Last game: beat Texas 55–48
Next game: vs. TCU

In one of the most memorable chapters of the Red River Rivalry, the Sooners stunned Texas by storming back from massive deficits behind, of all people, a true freshman quarterback. Caleb Williams replaced Spencer Rattler, a preseason Heisman Trophy favorite, and led OU to what seemed like an improbable victory. Oklahoma trailed 28–7 in the first quarter, 35–17 in the second quarter and 41–23 with less than three minutes left in the third quarter. Coach Lincoln Riley’s team scored 25 unanswered points in a nine-minute span beginning with 1:04 left in the third, roaring to a win on a 33-yard touchdown jaunt from tailback Kennedy Brooks with three seconds left.

5. Michigan (6–0)

Last game: beat Nebraska 32–29
Next game: vs. Northwestern on Oct. 23

Speaking of trap games, here’s one where the trapper, the Huskers, failed to secure the trappee, the Wolverines. Nebraska used a 22-point third-quarter to soar back into this one, but kicker Jake Moody made field goals of 31 yards (to tie) and 39 yards (to win). The first field goal came after a Nebraska go-ahead touchdown and the latter came after a lost fumble from NU quarterback Adrian Martinez.

6. Alabama (5–1)

Last game: lost to Texas A&M 41–38
Next game: at Mississippi State

God bless the good people of Starkville, who will be hosting next weekend angry Nick Saban and his ticked-off Tide. Despite what you want to believe, Alabama still has an obvious path to the College Football Playoff. But it doesn’t happen, of course, without winning out. That includes beating presumed SEC East champion Georgia in the championship game in December.

7. Penn State (5–1)

Last game: lost to Iowa 23–20
Next game: vs. Illinois on Oct. 23

In a true insult-to-injury situation, the Nittany Lions lost quarterback Sean Clifford during this affair in Kinnick Stadium. With its starter out, Penn State could move the ball little, and the Hawkeyes stormed back for a field-storming win. Penn State’s road to the CFP took a major detour. Still left on the schedules are opponents named Ohio State and Michigan.

8. Michigan State (6–0)

Last game: beat Rutgers 31–13
Next game: at Indiana

Mel Tucker, in his second season at the helm, has taken the Spartans from Big Ten basement dweller to legitimate conference title contender. His running back, Kenneth Walker, ran for 233 yards on Greg Schiano’s guys. Sparty’s defense continued its assault on opposing offenses. The unit has allowed more than 21 points just once this year.

9. Kentucky (6–0)

Last game: Beat LSU 42–21
Next game: at Georgia

The Wildcats are 6–0 for the first time since 1950. Who’d a thunk that a mid-October meeting between Kentucky and Georgia would settle things in the SEC East. Yet, here we are. The titanic clash arrives next weekend in Athens. Coach Mark Stoops is a defensive whiz whose team has given up 10, 28, 23, 10, 13 and 21 points in six games this season.

10. Coastal Carolina (6–0)

Last game: Beat Arkansas State 52–20
Next game: at App State on Oct. 20

QB Grayson McCall and the Chanticleers might not crack the four-team playoff, but coach Jamey Chadwell has his squad rolling to a second straight double-digit win season. Coastal’s offense, a spread triple option attack, is fun to watch and is confounding its competition. The Chants have scored at least 49 points in five of six games. 

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The Hawkeyes' coach is the guru of fundamental football, and this 2021 team has been as good as any at executing that.

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IOWA CITY, Iowa — When they build the Kirk Ferentz Museum of Fundamental Football here—in a drab but sensible building, at the corner of Straight and Narrow—they should devote an entire wing to Iowa’s 23–20 victory over Penn State Saturday. This was a Louvre-quality exhibition of every basic building block that has made Ferentz a Hall of Fame coach.

A display on field position is mandatory. Put Tory Taylor’s five punts that pinned the Nittany Lions inside their own 15-yard line—three inside the five—on an endless video loop. Taylor has an NIL deal for shirts that read, “punting is winning,” and boy did the Australian choose the right program for launching that clothing line. The student section was chanting “MVP” at the punter during this game, and let’s just say you don’t hear that on a fall Saturday anywhere but here.

In an era where coaches often feel compelled to go for fourth downs on opponents’ side of midfield, Ferentz sets his square jaw and sends out the kicking team. Over and over. He’s been doing this for 23 years now, and it keeps working, so he keeps doing it. Then he watches his punter lob sand wedges into the sky that his gunners will cover, and the opposition will be stuck in a hole.

There must also be a display on ball security. You can put this quote from Ferentz on the wall in gold lettering: “I’m a bad stat guy and I always have been, because I really don’t care too much about them. Except turnovers, takeaways.” Iowa is the ball-hawkingest team in America, taking it away from Penn State four times Saturday and raising its season total to 20. The Hawkeyes now have 16 interceptions in six games, by far the most in the nation. They are plus-15 overall in turnover margin, a massive advantage in the statistical category that most directly impacts winning and losing.

Penn State’s first play of the game was a pass, and Iowa intercepted it to set up a field goal. Penn State’s third drive of the game ended on an Iowa interception of a deep ball in the end zone. A third Penn State possession of the first half ended in a pick. And then the Hawkeyes iced the game with a fourth interception in the final minutes. Cornerback Matt Hankins, who had that last pick, said the secondary is calling itself the “Dough Boys.” Why? “The ball is the money.”

Devote plenty of museum space to the virtues of defense as well. When Iowa isn’t taking the ball away, it is simply stuffing opposing offenses. Penn State’s 20 points are the most the Hawkeyes have allowed in a game this season. They came into Saturday second in the nation in scoring D at 11.6 points per game. They surrendered just 287 total yards, the Nittany Lions’ fewest in a game since November 2019. “Nobody really cares about defense these days,” Ferentz said, sounding every bit of his 66 years of age. “… If you’re playing defense, you’ve got a shot. I don’t care what sport it is.”

It was a defensive play that turned this game around, a hit by linebacker Jack Campbell on Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford early in the second quarter. (“Good clean hit, good aggressive play,” Ferentz noted.) Armed with a pass-intensive game plan, Clifford led the Nittany Lions on three scoring drives in their first five possessions, staking them to a 17–3 lead. But the last of those drives ended with Clifford getting up gingerly after that hit, going to the locker room for evaluation and never returning to action.

At that point, Penn State had thrown for 146 yards and Clifford had run three times for 36 yards and a touchdown. Without him, the Lions’ offense melted down completely under backup QB Ta’Quan Roberson. It was a horror show. Roberson threw for just 34 yards on 21 attempts, and Penn State scored just three points on its final 10 possessions.

Save some space in the museum for penalties. Iowa is on its way to a 14th straight season of drawing fewer flags on itself than on its opponents. Saturday, Penn State’s collective nervous breakdown after Roberson took over at quarterback led to eight false start penalties. Credit the berserk Kinnick Stadium crowd for increasing the pressure that offense was clearly feeling. “That’s the loudest noise I’ve ever heard in my life,” said Iowa defensive tackle Logan Lee.

While those false starts are only five-yard penalties, they continually put the Lions behind the chains and that mattered given the challenges faced after Clifford exited the game. In every possession in which Penn State committed a false start, the drive ended without points. Iowa, meanwhile, had just three penalties for 27 yards until Hankins was called for unsportsmanlike conduct after celebrating his game-sealing interception.

And leave some room on a wall for an exhibit honoring the running game. Ferentz believes in the power of the handoff, even as game turns more toward passing. He believes in handoffs when they are unproductive for long stretches of time—as they were Saturday. Tyler Goodson got a season-high 25 carries that only went for 88 yards, but Iowa’s eternal commitment to the run made Penn State commit to stopping it. And that opened up the pass play that won the game for the Hawkeyes.

Trailing 20–16, Iowa’s patient adherence to field-position football led to a Penn State punt that was caught on the Nittany Lions’ 43-yard line. On first down, quarterback Spencer Petras faked a handoff to Goodson, which sucked in the underneath layer of the defense. As Petras rolled right, receiver Nico Ragaini released out of the slot and broke his route sharply to the left sideline. Petras pulled up and delivered a strike, and Ragaini dove for the pylon for the touchdown.

“We worked on it all week,” Petras said. “We kept it in the back pocket for a big moment. We got it called at the right time.”

Put all that stuff in the Penn State 2021 Wing of the Ferentz Museum of Fundamental Football. And copy the lighted words that are in the tunnel outside the Hawkeyes locker room: “Tough” on one wall and “Smart” on the other. Building-block stuff.

Now here’s what you won’t see in the museum, but it’s a factor in just about every special season a team has ever had: luck. If Clifford doesn’t get injured, it’s highly likely that Iowa loses this game—and perhaps loses it handily. But a team can make its own luck, and putting hard hits on the opposing quarterback is part of that.

Still: Petras is functional, not great. He started this game completing one of his first nine passes. If Iowa gets into a game where its opponent can actually score, it will have trouble matching points. It may be a while before that happens—like the regular-season finale against Nebraska, or the Big Ten championship game—but it will happen eventually.

This Iowa team looks a fair amount like the 2015 team, a low-frills/low-thrills bunch that somehow navigated through the regular season 12–0 before losing a dramatic Big Ten title game to Michigan State. Those Hawkeyes weren’t exposed until they arrived at the Rose Bowl and were obliterated by Stanford and Christian McCaffrey, 45–16, in a game that was not as close as the score.

Could this team get that far by simply excelling at the old-school basics? Maybe. And there could be a similar comeuppance if it does. But for now, the Hawkeyes are perfectly content to excel at the basics while their opponents self destruct. Ferentz, guru of fundamental football, is having a blast getting the most out of what he’s got—like the word “Iowa” itself, which gets three syllables out of four letters.

More College Football Coverage:

• Rattler, Williams and the NIL Impact of Red River Thriller
• Franklin: Booing Injuries Isn't Right for College Football
• Great Moments of Gridiron Disrespect

An already wild college football season saw its most stunning result yet with Texas A&M's upset of the top-ranked Crimson Tide. Twitter had a lot to say about it.

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After 14 years and 100 games, it finally happened: Alabama has lost to an unranked team.

The No. 1-ranked Crimson Tide were stunned on Saturday night, losing to Texas A&M 41-38 in the most shocking upset of what's been a wild start to the college football season. The Aggies led, 31-17, midway through the third quarter before the Tide rattled off 21 straight points to take a 38-31 lead with five minutes remaining. Texas A&M tied the game two minutes later, then won on a 28-yard field goal by Seth Small on the final play of the game.

Alabama had won its previous 100 games against unranked teams. Its last loss to a team ranked outside the top 25 was on Nov. 17, 2007, when the Crimson Tide lost to Louisiana-Monroe in what was Nick Saban's first season at the school. Saban had also been 24–0 when coaching against one of his former assistants. The Tide had won 19 games in a row prior to this loss.

Unsurprisingly, the college football world had plenty to say about Texas A&M's historic upset. Check out the best of the bunch below:

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Alabama lost for the first time to an unranked team since Nov. 17, 2007, when it fell to UL Monroe.

For the first time in 101 games, Alabama has lost to an unranked team. Texas A&M

shocked No. 1 Alabama on Saturday night in a thriller on a game-winning field goal as time expired.

Aggies fans stormed Kyle Field as soon as the ball sailed through the uprights, making the final score 41–38. It is Alabama's first loss since 2019, ending its 19-game winning streak, and it's coach Nick Saban's first loss to a former assistant coach in Jimbo Fisher.

Alabama went into halftime down 24–10 against Texas A&M. Under Saban, the largest halftime deficit Alabama has overcome is 13 points back in the 2018 national championship game against Georgia. The team hadn't lost to an unranked team since Nov. 17, 2007, when it fell to UL Monroe, snapping what had been a 100-game winning streak against unranked foes.

Alabama started their comeback attempt with a blocked punt in the third quarter and recovered it for a touchdown to make it a one-score game. But the Aggies immediately answered by returning the ensuing kickoff with a 96-yard return from Devon Achane to make it 31–17 after the kick for the extra point. 

The high-octane third quarter continued with a 29-yard touchdown catch by wide receiver Jameson Williams from Bryce Young to once again bring the Tide within reach. Alabama then made a field goal with just under nine minutes to go in the fourth quarter to make it a 31–30 game. 

Later in the game, Williams found himself wide open and scored another touchdown to take the lead at 38–31 after he also caught a pass to complete the two-point conversion.

But the Aggies answered with a pass to Ainias Smith for a 25-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Zach Calzada, who was injured on the play, to tie it at 38. Texas A&M stopped Alabama on the next drive and even though Calzada was helped off the field, he returned on the ensuing drive to lead the Aggies down the field for the 28-yard field goal that sealed the win in dramatic fashion. 

More College Football:

• Iowa Uses Fourth Quarter Comeback to Top Penn State
• Ole Miss Gets Its Popcorn After Epic Shootout Win Over Arkansas
• Oklahoma Benches Rattler, Shocks Texas in Huge Comeback Win
• Fox Runs Onto Field at Cotton Bowl During Red River Showdown

The No. 3 Hawkeyes scored 13 unanswered points after falling behind 20–10 late in the third quarter to beat No. 4 Penn State 23–20.

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For most of the night, it seemed as though Iowa's offense would be unable to support another standout performance by the Hawkeyes' defense. Then, the fourth quarter started, and the tides turned.

No. 3 Iowa rallied late to outlast No. 4 Penn State, 23–20, to remain undefeated and seize control as the Big Ten's top-ranked team. The Hawkeyes finished the game with 13 unanswered points and forced four turnovers, knocking out Penn State starting quarterback Sean Clifford in the process.

Penn State was held scoreless on its last six possessions, including five in the fourth quarter. Over those six possessions, the Nittany Lions managed just 19 total yards on 25 plays, with three punts, two turnovers on downs and one interception.

After his injury, Clifford was replaced by sophomore Ta'Quan Roberson, who finished the game 7-for-21 for 34 yards and two interceptions.

Iowa quarterback Spencer Petras went 17-for-31 for 195 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Tyler Goodson rushed for 88 yards on 25 carries, while Nico Ragaini led the Hawkeyes through the air with four catches for 73 yards and the go-ahead score with under seven minutes to play.

It was the Iowa defense that won the day for the Hawkeyes. Four different Iowa defenders had interceptions, and the Hawkeyes held Penn State to just 287 yards of total offense. Iowa improves to 6–0 for the first time since 2015.

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Moss made a highlight-worthy interception late in the second quarter against Penn State before suffering an apparent knee injury while celebrating with teammates.

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No. 3 Iowa's defense came to play in Saturday's heavyweight matchup against No. 4 Penn State. The Hawkeyes entered the game leading the nation in turnovers caused and turnover margin, and picked off Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford twice times in the first half before the Nittany Lions star went down with an injury. The third interception of the day, off Penn State backup Ta'Quan Roberson, came at a cost.

Senior cornerback Riley Moss made a diving grab to snag his fourth interception of the season late in the second quarter, but suffered an apparent knee injury after getting up to celebrate with his teammates. Moss remained on the ground for several minutes before being helped off the field by team trainers.

Moss has played in 25 career games for the Hawkeyes, and has 10 career interceptions. He began the 2021 season with a marquee performance against Indiana, intercepting two passes and returning both for touchdowns.

More NCAA Coverage:

• Fox Runs Onto Field at Cotton Bowl During Red River Showdown
• Forde: Sean Clifford Has Penn State Ready for Its Moment
• College Football Week 6 Picks
• Northern Colorado Assistant Injures Fan by Throwing Clipboard Into Crowd

Spencer Rattler may have lost his starting job to Caleb Williams, and in the NIL era, that has added implications.

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Those within the name, image and likeness industry knew this was coming. But even they couldn’t have expected this.

A college football quarterback, dubbed as a future NFL first-round pick and Heisman Trophy favorite, rakes in thousands of dollars in endorsement and commercial deals only to spiral into oblivion during the actual season.

Three months into the NIL era, here we are. Oklahoma QB Spencer Rattler, the recipient of high preseason praise and an estimated $200,000 in NIL ventures, was benched for a true freshman. Forget about the first round and the Heisman—Rattler appears to have, in all likelihood, lost his starting job.

Now what happens?

“He still has a great name for advertising,” jokes one industry source. “Can’t take that away from him.”

Behind Rattler’s replacement, rookie Caleb Williams, the Sooners stunned Texas, 55–48, storming back from massive deficits to win one of the most memorable chapters of the Red River Rivalry. Oklahoma trailed 28–7 in the first quarter, 35–17 in the second quarter and 41–23 with less than three minutes left in the third quarter. Coach Lincoln Riley’s team scored 25 unanswered points in a nine-minute span beginning with 1:04 left in the third, roaring to a win on a 33-yard touchdown jaunt from tailback Kennedy Brooks with three seconds left.

It was wacky. It was wild. It was weird.

And for NIL purposes, it presents one of the first quandaries for companies who poured money into the expectations and predictions of college-aged kids. NIL industry sources believe Rattler’s NIL endeavors are in the low six figures, around $200,000. He created his own logo and has a website to sell his own personalized merchandise.

He’s got a trading car deal, signed an endorsement contract with Louisiana-based chicken restaurant Raising Cane's and was given two vehicles by a local Oklahoma automotive group after he threw for five scores against Western Carolina. The length and terms of the contracts will determine future payouts. Those are not made public. 

“Hope he pays his taxes on those two cars,” joked another source within the NIL industry.

While Rattler’s star fades, another rises. Williams, a Washington, D.C. native, threw for 212 yards, ran for 88 and scored three touchdowns. He’s ahead in the NIL game, described by some as a savvy social media “influencer.” In fact, he’s got his own YouTube channel.

“He’s already an influencer,” says one NIL executive. “Now he is about to be a player.”

But his coach is, at least right now, standing in the way of him seeking publicity in the media.

Riley denied a request from ESPN to interview Williams after the game, something reported by sideline reporter Holly Rowe, who even approached the quarterback to deliver him the news: You can’t talk.

It is somewhat normal for major college coaches to deny true freshmen to speak to reporters. However, in the NIL era, it’s a move that can be seen as a coach hurting his player’s potential exposure and future financial ventures.

In college sports, players have more power than ever.

“So what if player does interview despite coach edict?” asks one NIL expert.

Halfway through the second quarter of Saturday’s game, after having already run for a 66-yard TD in a brief first-quarter appearance, Williams trotted onto the field to replace a guy who was projected as the Heisman favorite before the season began. The Sooners were down 35–17. They then outscored the Longhorns 31–6 to set up a wild final few minutes.

Texas QB Casey Thompson tossed a 31-yard touchdown to tie it at 48 with one minute, 20 seconds left. Williams then marched the Sooners down the field on completions of nine, 10 and 11 yards, capping it with a handoff to Brooks for the game-winner.

He celebrated with teammates and high-fived coaches—the new rising star of the NIL era. 

What happens to Rattler? That’s the wrong question, NIL experts say. 

“What happens for Caleb Williams?” one asks.

More College Football Coverage:

• Takeaways From Oklahoma's Miraculous Comeback
• Casey Thompson's Long Wait to Be Texas's QB
• Great Moments of Gridiron Disrespect