The third week of the college football season couldn’t have come as more of a shocker to fans.
One of the most important topics this week is what Lamar Jackson has done for the Louisville Cardinals. The team has had its ups and downs throughout the years but has never been higher than what they are right now thanks to Jackson.
The Heisman hopeful tore up the No. 2-seeded Florida State Seminoles with 146 rushing yards, 216 passing yards and five total touchdowns, leading the unknown Louisville Cardinals to a 63-20 win over a national championship contender.
At the moment, Jackson is my pick to win the Heisman over my other finalists, who are Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey, Michigan defensive back/wide receiver Jabrill Peppers and Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett.
Although they lost a tough one, the Seminoles still have hope at a national championship. Two powerhouse teams lost this opportunity by losing their second game in three weeks.
Oklahoma fell to 1-2 after getting manhandled by Ohio State, 45-24.
Notre Dame also lost its chances of making the College Football Playoff after losing to Michigan State, 36-28.
Notre Dame has been excelling throughout the years but can never seal the deal. The Irish wouldn’t be in the position they’re in right now if they knew how to finish a game strong. Both of their losses were by a single touchdown, including this week’s game and the week one thriller against Notre Dame, which ended in a 50-47 double overtime defeat.
The game of the week was FCS powerhouse North Dakota State knocking off No. 13 Iowa with a score of 23-21.
This game left all viewers asking one question: Why do managers schedule NDSU? The Bison, after Saturday’s win, have been six for six against FBS teams since 2010. They’ve received votes to be in the AP top 25 polls. With all of the points added up, they currently sit at 27th. With this in mind, why would you schedule them? It makes no sense to me.
Week three brought many topics of discussion, including the controversial plays and calls that were made.
Oregon fought tough but came up three points short in a 35-32 loss to Nebraska. The loss will cause Oregon to be knocked out of the top 25. That wasn’t the major headline, though. Oregon missed four two-point conversions… FOUR! If the Ducks had only opted to kick the extra points, they would have won the game by a point.
I guess I don’t fully understand the importance of a two-point conversion. Oregon scored its first two-point conversion after its first touchdown. That’s an extra point the team scored, so why would the Ducks need to try four more times? Even if Nebraska had matched Oregon, touchdown for touchdown, the Ducks still would have held a one-point lead.
I blame Oregon’s head coach, Mark Helfrich, for making such decisions against a good team like Nebraska.
Another move many players make in which I can’t find any positives is dropping the football before they cross the goal line. I don’t see any good in dropping the ball as you cross the line. If you score a touchdown, wouldn’t the best thing to do be hold onto ball, celebrate and then give the ball to the official?
This happened twice over the weekend. It was called in one game and should have been called in the second.
It happened first in the Ohio State-Oklahoma game, when the Buckeyes were holding a commanding 14-0 lead and dominating the Sooners in every way possible. Joe Mixon sparked the Sooners with an electrifying 97-yard kick return touchdown. The replay officials missed the call, but on video Mixon appeared to drop the ball at least one-yard early.
The second controversy came into play when California’s Vic Enwere broke a long run through the Texas Longhorns’ secondary and took it for six, or so he thought. The touchdown would have given the Golden Bears a 14-point lead over the No. 11-ranked Longhorns. Enwere dropped the ball just before crossing the goal line. As he and his team were celebrating, the Longhorns looked confused. After a delayed reaction, the Longhorns realized the mistake and picked up the ball. The touchdown was called back, but California was granted the ball at the one-yard line due to the lack of “immediate continuing action,” as required by the NCAA’s football rulebook. Because Texas didn’t pick up the ball right away, the Longhorns weren’t granted possession.
This rule is stupid. I don’t see any good reason to enforce it. Even if Texas did pick the ball up three seconds after it was dropped, the Longhorns had possession of the ball at that time. It’s a tough rule for me to understand and a tough loss that the Longhorns suffered.
Comebacks were a huge topic of discussion from the weekend. We saw two important ones over the weekend that could have shaken up the top 25 polls.
No. 1-ranked Alabama escaped defeat over Ole Miss, 48-43, ending a two-year drought of losing to the Rebels. Ole Miss has now lost two games, officially eliminating them from the playoff.
No. 4 Michigan also survived an upset over Colorado. Down almost two touchdowns in the entire first half, the Wolverines prevailed 45-28 after a second-half boost.
As I said last week, anything can happen in college football. Georgia State almost took down the Wisconsin Badgers, winning the game with just under five minutes left. The Panthers couldn’t hold on and lost a tough one to the Badgers.
Week four looks to be another big one with many interesting games scheduled. For this week, I recommend Penn State vs. Michigan, UCLA vs. Stanford, and Wisconsin vs. Michigan State.
I also recommend watching Lousville’s Jackson against Marshall this week. He’s on track for video game-like numbers this season and it’ll be interesting to see if he keeps it up.
