Editor’s note: College football is nothing without its fans, and its fans are nothing without their passion. In an attempt to capture that unique intensity and Overreactability, we’ve asked washed-up sports editor and Southerner Bremen Keasey to give us a weekly breakdown of college football happenings around the country like only a true fan could.
Last weekend of college football wasn’t just a fever dream. Nope, Wisconsin really beat Michigan 35-14 and at one point was up 28-0. While I could write an epic poem that recreates Homer’s The Iliad with all the incredible emotions I’m feeling, there was other college football that went on. And that’s my job (I'm also pretty sure my editors would hate me if I turned in a column that spanned books). Genius.
Dawgs walk the Fighting Irish
As someone from Atlanta, I know about our state’s very painful sports history even though I haven’t always actively participated in it. When I moved to Georgia I was 9, and I tried to love the Bulldogs for a moment. This was when they had Knoshon Moreno at running back, Matt Stafford as QB and two great receivers in Mohammed Massaquoi and AJ Green. I soon changed my mind though, as nine-year olds love to do, and kept to rooting for other teams while maintaining a somewhat love-hate relationship with the Dawgs.
But when they kicked off against the No. 7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish down in The Classic City, I was ready for those Dawgs to run all over the Irish, screaming curses at my TV, calling the Irish soft and barking.
And while UGA won on the narrow scoreline of 23-17 and the game was a little bit dull, I’m still feeling the mood to scream out the most obnoxious Georgia cheers.
While the packed house Between the Hedges certainly felt and looked like a college crowd, the play on the field was more like an NFL game with teams playing cagey and not going for many big plays. One of the greatest living Georgians, Rodrigo Blankenship, hit two field goals in the third quarter to give UGA the lead while captain checkdown Jake Fromm finally threw the ball down the field for a 15-yard touchdown in the fourth to give the Dawgs a lead they wouldn’t give up.
Sure, the game might’ve been boring, and it wasn’t the boat racing against the Irish I was hoping for, but the UGA crowd still brought it. That crowd noise helped make Notre Dame commit six false start penalties, which is even funnier when you remember that two years ago, UGA traveled to South Bend and took over the stadium.
I guess Notre Dame isn’t as prestigious as people think.
PITT Happens
Last week in this very column, I eviscerated Pitt Panthers’ head coach Pat Narduzzi’s decision making down the stretch of the Penn State game. It was too conservative, stupid and might’ve cost his team a chance at the win.
So of course this week, he calls a “Philly Special” type play in the final seconds to win against No. 15 UCF. And it works for a 35-34 upset win for Pitt.
Of course, that’s not the whole story, and it’s not all on Narduzzi’s shoulders. Quarterback Kenny Pickett had to catch a tricky pass, and the rest of the team had to execute, but that call was gutsy.
Also, you gotta wonder how Pitt, who jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the second quarter, found itself down 34-28 late at home, but a win is a win, and a play like that is college football at its best.
It’s not crazy if it works
Ok, I know I just said that Pitt play call was “college football at its best,” but I’m just kidding. The best thing this weekend was a fake kneel.
Yup, a fake kneel down.
For those who don’t know much about football, one, this must be the most confusing column in the world, and two, that’s normally what teams do to let time run out near the end of the half or the game. It’s basically the symbol of stopping everything and saying “we’re done here.” When the Tulane Green Wave lined up with 21 seconds left and a score of 31-31 against a more talented Houston Cougars, it seemed like they were getting ready to see what overtime would bring as they lined up to kneel.
Instead of kneeling, however, head coach Willy Fritz dialed up a fake kneel run that led to an 18-yard gain and put Tulane in a position for at least a chance for a field goal. Then, as if the football gods were rewarding this gutsy play call, quarterback Justin McMillan connected with Jalen McCleskey for a 53-yard touchdown into triple coverage to give Tulane the winning touchdown as they won 38-31.
That play completed a 21-point comeback for the Green Wave over Houston, which is crazy by itself. It’s even crazier when you consider just last year, the Green Wave was mostly an option-based team and McMillan had three touchdowns — all of which were downfield bombs, by the way — that it almost makes perfect sense.
It’s like when you start watching a telenovela. At first, you have that skepticism in the show. “She can’t possibly have an evil twin,” you think to yourself. That’s the most basic, dumb trope in the whole of telenovelas. But then, as the evil twin somehow pulled a switcheroo with the other twin, took over their life, and used some medicine made the other person unable to move or speak because of the manipulation by their mother, you’re like, “Oh my god, this now makes total sense.”
Anyways, shoutout to Tulane football and shoutout to Jane the Virgin.
The Pac-12 doesn’t have to make sense y’all. Whatever
In Georgia, we have a joke about our piss poor showing in state-by-state rankings. 49th in education? 49th in poverty? 48th in literacy? “Thank god for Mississippi.”
In some ways, when the various power conferences struggle in big-time games, for the past three or four years at least, they can look to the Pac-12’s struggles for relevancy and think “Thank god for the Pac-12.”
But you know what we’re not gonna do today? We’re not gonna disparage the Pac-12, a beautiful nightmare of a conference that loves to sabotage its own teams when most of the American public is asleep.
Because if you were asleep, you would’ve missed a 67-63 barn burner between UCLA and No. 19 Washington State that combined for over 1,000 passing yards, and the previously-winless Bruins picked up an upset win on the road against the Cougars.
I turned this game on when I got back from the bars, and was cackling laughing one moment and in stupefied silence the next.
Wazzu’s quarterback Anthony Gordon had nine passing touchdowns. AND HE LOST.
67 points might be more points than Wisconsin’s basketball team will score in a game all year!
And before we forget, on Friday night, USC upset No. 10 Utah 30-23 with their third-string quarterback leading the way and looking basically untouchable.
After quarterback Kedon Clovis — who was already only playing because previous starter JT Daniels tore his ACL in the first game — was knocked out of the game after a brutal hit from 335-pound defensive tackle Leki Fotu, on came Matt Fink for the Trojans. Fink then went 21-for-30 passing with 351 yard and three touchdowns as he led the victory for USC.
The Pac-12 was at maxium Pac-12 this weekend, and I will be hearing no complaints at this time.
