College football is unpredictable and delightful, which is why we live for what happens on Saturdays. And the fourth Saturday of the 2024 season did not disappoint, from a thrilling finish at the Big House to the craziest safety I’ve ever seen at Lane Stadium. (Seriously. You have to see it to believe it.)
Each Sunday, I’ll publish my biggest takeaways from the college football weekend. I’ll highlight the most interesting storylines, track College Football Playoff contenders and specifically shout out individual and team performances that deserve the spotlight.
Here are my top takeaways from Week 4:
1. Realignment has given us some monster matchups.
On Saturday alone, we got Michigan-USC, Oklahoma-Tennessee and Utah-Oklahoma State — three top 25 showdowns that double as conference games. These are the kinds of matchups we used to see every once in a while, if the schools were willing to play each other … a decade from now. And while there are obvious drawbacks to the latest round of realignment — increased travel, the loss of regional rivalries, etc. — what we saw on Saturday was the reason everyone made the choices they did. Big brands clashed in Ann Arbor, with Michigan and USC battling back and forth in the Trojans’ Big Ten debut. Tennessee and Oklahoma met in the Sooners’ first SEC game, one that Oklahoma might like to forget but a result that the Vols will surely use to boost a potential CFP-caliber resume. And Utah and Oklahoma State duked it out in a game that should have big implications in the Big 12 race.
2. Michigan seems content to win without really throwing the ball.
I don’t think this is a great strategy if you want to win meaningful college football games on a regular basis. But this is what Michigan is comfortable doing with its personnel, and there aren’t a lot of other options for this team at this point. Quarterback Alex Orji, making his first career start, completed 7-of-12 passes for a total of 32 yards in the Wolverines’ wild win over USC at home. Michigan’s 32 passing yards today were its fewest in any game since Oct. 31, 1987. And Sherrone Moore was happy with it! He said he loved winning this way — a sentiment I do genuinely believe. And Michigan may be able to win most games with a reliable run game (led by Kalel Mullings, who is clearly the top running back) and a stingy defense. But I don’t think the Wolverines will sniff a Big Ten championship game or the College Football Playoff without any semblance of a passing attack.
3. USC deserves some credit, though.
The Trojans are definitely better than they were last year on the defensive side of the ball. They are more sound and disciplined, and they can actually tackle in space now. They played really well in the second half against Michigan … until the final minutes when they gave up a 63-yard run by Mullings that helped set up the eventual game-winning touchdown (also by Mullings). Despite that lapse and the loss, I still come away from that game encouraged by USC’s fortitude. The Trojans looked completely overmatched along both the offensive and defensive lines in the first half — we all made the same “Welcome to the Big Ten” jokes — but they came out of halftime and basically shut down Michigan’s offense … well, until the very end.
4. Oklahoma is not going to enjoy its inaugural season in the SEC.
Texas will be fine in its first year in the new league. The Sooners might not be, as evidenced by a brutal loss to Tennessee at home on Saturday. Oklahoma has a good enough defense, courtesy of Brent Venables. But the offense is a mess, and it’s never a good sign if you have to bench your starting quarterback before the end of the first half of an important game. I just do not have confidence in either sophomore Jackson Arnold or true freshman Michael Hawkins Jr. to win a lot of SEC games with this offense. Can the offensive line hold up? Can this team sustain drives? Or do the Sooners simply wish they were back in the Big 12?
5. Reports of Clemson’s demise may have been premature.
One of the great joys and greatest risks of the early part of the college football season is the fact that it is very easy to overreact to a small sample size. And we (as a collective college football-watching community) did that when we wrote off Clemson after its Week 1 blowout loss to Georgia. While I do believe the Tigers are no longer in the uppermost echelon of college football — where the ‘Dawgs reside — I do think this is a team capable of contending for an ACC title or, at the very least, a CFP at-large bid. Dabo Swinney and his players seem to agree, because they are taking out all of their frustration on us (the collective college football-watching community) in their latest games. Poor North Carolina State got the worst of it this weekend in a 59-35 loss. But Appalachian State felt it two weeks ago, too, in a 46-point loss. And, hey, maybe Clemson does have a point here. There’s a prolific offense in there somewhere, and maybe that Week 1 result was more a testament to Georgia than it was a death blow to Clemson.
6. James Madison joins in the Group of Five fun.
The Dukes beat North Carolina, 70-50, in a football game. It’s important to clarify that because it sounds like a basketball score. But … no. JMU scored on offense, on defense and on special teams. Quarterback Alonza Barnett accounted for nearly 500 total yards of offense and seven touchdowns. It was, quite literally, the most points the Dukes have ever scored against an FBS opponent. And it was a disastrous day for North Carolina, whose head coach was so upset and emotional afterward that he had to clarify that he wasn’t about to resign. The win is a significant feather in the cap for both JMU and its conference in the first year of the 12-team Playoff, which guarantees access for the highest-ranked G5 champion. Other leagues had had their moments in the sun — from the MAC to the Mountain West and the AAC — and now the Sun Belt gets its time to shine.
7. Colorado remains must-see TV.
On any given play, Buffs quarterback Shedeur Sanders might be sacked ... or he might throw a long touchdown pass. You really never know with that offensive line! For a team that is not very good and will not factor into its conference race in a meaningful way, Colorado is somehow incredibly mesmerizing. Though the Buffs trailed Baylor by a touchdown late, I couldn’t help but tune in to see Sanders and/or two-way star Travis Hunter in action to see what they were capable of. Sanders threw a would-be game-tying touchdown that was dropped before throwing a Hail Mary that tied the game and sent it to overtime — where the Buffs won it. I think I’ll watch every Colorado game, even if there are no real stakes, for the rest of the season. I wouldn’t want to miss any unbelievable-yet-somehow-possible moments.
8. Utah has cemented itself as the top contender in the Big 12 — with or without Cam Rising.
The Utes are a quintessential Kyle Whittingham team. They’re physical. They control the game. They can win with or without starting quarterback Cam Rising, who warmed up but didn’t play due to a hand injury. And that’s why I picked them in the preseason to win the Big 12 in their first season in the league — and why that belief hasn’t wavered, even with Rising’s injury. Utah still has Brant Kuithe, who scored two touchdowns in a relatively low-scoring affair, and a freshman quarterback who can do just enough to offset his own mistakes and keep his team in the game. Now, this is a conference that has a lot of teams that seem capable of beating each other in any given week, so I might regret this. But for now, with so much left to see out of Iowa State, Kansas State and others, I’d give the Utes the edge.
9. Arch Manning is still learning, and that’s OK.
Obviously, we all hope that Quinn Ewers comes back sooner rather than later — and that he comes back fully healthy. But this really isn’t a bad time to be out, as Texas faced UL Monroe this weekend and opens SEC play against a bad Mississippi State team next week. It’s actually a pretty great time to break in new starting quarterback Arch Manning. Against the Warhawks, Manning threw for 258 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions in a 51-3 win. One of those picks came early, and the other one came when the game’s outcome wasn’t in doubt. But they’re still good learning opportunities for a young quarterback with a very famous last name. The redshirt freshman completed 15 of his 29 pass attempts, and he received a lot of help from both the Longhorn defense and its run game. Which is totally fine! A first start does not need to be a masterpiece. And Texas coach Steve Sarkisian has said that it’s Ewers’ job when he comes back anyway.
10. Can Georgia-Alabama just kick off already?
No offense to Oklahoma-Tennessee (which turned out to be a bit of a yawner), but we’ve been waiting for a marquee SEC showdown, and we’ll finally get one next Saturday as the ‘Dawgs travel to Tuscaloosa to take on the Crimson Tide. It’ll be both a great look at Alabama under Kalen DeBoer and a post-Kentucky evaluation of Georgia as a national title contender. Of course, in the 12-team CFP era, this is not necessarily a game that eliminates the loser from Playoff contention. But it’s still going to be important within the conference race. It’s still going to lead to plenty of #takes. And it’s still going to be the best possible way to understand two of the best teams in the country.