What happened Saturday in college football: Final scores and 3 big things
The presumed College Football Playoff favorites tended to struggle, while a pair of teams in the second tier threatened to move on up. And new coaches also did pretty well! Full scores and more below.
Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
That in and of itself isn’t anything new. There are always big questions in the top 10. But now we know what they are.
Defending national champion Florida State isn’t invincible, with Jameis Winston’s myopic ball distribution and two turnovers compounding a defensive stand that saw the Seminoles give up more yardage (364) than they did in 11 of 13 games during 2013’s title run. The good news is that FSU still left Tallahassee and beat an Oklahoma State team (37-31) of proven recent pedigree, and that Winston’s final line totaled 370 yards and the best run of his career:
No. 2 Alabama showed its defensive weakness from 2013 didn't just go away. West Virginia's 6'3 Kevin White finished with nine catches for 143 yards in Bama's 33-23 win, suggesting big receivers in high-octane offenses are just going to continue to be problems for the Tide for the foreseeable future. At least Bama doesn't face very many of those ... other than its division's towering receiving corps at Ole Miss and Texas A&M.
And quarterback Blake Sims was out of sync with his receivers, with several of their attempted connections leaving onlookers to wonder whether new offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin was just sketching out ideas on the fly. Sims finished with respectable totals, and the Bama rushing game is as horrifying as ever, but misfires will cost more against defenses better than West Virginia's upgraded group.
No. 5 Ohio State looked suspect against Navy in a 34-17 win, but everyone looks suspect against disciplined and frustrating Navy. That said, the Buckeyes’ novice offensive line is an even bigger issue than we’d thought. A front that had new quarterback JT Barrett in constant pressure for at least a half and produced few explosive rushes against the much smaller Midshipmen is in trouble against front sevens like Virginia Tech’s and Michigan State’s if it doesn’t fortify.
Barrett managed 50 yards rushing despite harassment. Rob Carr, Getty
And some of No. 7 UCLA’s hangups along the offensive line and elsewhere in a 28-20 win at Virginia can be forgiven. That was essentially a 9 a.m. PT kickoff for the Bruins, and West Coast teams traveling across the country tend to suffer physical consequences. And it should be noted that the Cavaliers’ defense is quite talented, despite their 2013 record.
But still. A Bruins team with Pac-12 South title aspirations, Playoff hype, and Heisman buzz for quarterback Brett Hundley managed only seven offensive points against a team that went 0-8 in the ACC last year. UCLA's defense actually outscored Virginia's offense, so no worries there, but averaging 3.0 yards a rush means the Bruin OL has to improve in a hurry before facing fronts like Texas', Washington's, and Stanford's.
2. The SEC East now has one favorite. The West is a melee.
Maybe the SEC East won’t be such a tight race after all. Combine Georgia’s 45-21 win over Clemson with South Carolina’s blowout loss to Texas A&M and Missouri’s uninspired victory over South Dakota State, and the Bulldogs are looking pretty solid as the favorites in the division.
Everyone will be talking about Todd Gurley, and rightly so. The running back ran for 198 yards, returned a kickoff another 100, and set a school game record in all-purpose yardage (Herschel Walker played there, you know), scoring four total touchdowns and looking unstoppable.
The sideline is clearly the only thing preventing Todd Gurley from running for 800 yards tonight.
— Spencer Hall (@edsbs) August 31, 2014 But despite all of Gurley’s various accomplishments in the game, we already knew he was something special.
What we didn't know was Georgia's defense could shut out Clemson for an entire half of football. This game was tied 21-21 at halftime, but then the Bulldogs' defense swarmed on Cole Stoudt and the Tigers' backfield. We expected Georgia's linebacking unit to be one of the best in the nation, but the defensive line repeatedly got through Clemson's front unit, holding the Tigers to 2.3 yards per carry and producing five sacks.
LSU survived half a Wisconsin rushing onslaught before clamping down. Bob Levey, Getty
Georgia was Saturday’s biggest star, but LSU put together one heck of a comeback to take down the Badgers in Houston. Trailing 24-7 midway through the third quarter, the Tigers scored 21 straight points to throw themselves firmly into the SEC West race. Texas A&M and Auburn cruised to conference victories while Alabama is Alabama, but the Tigers have made it known that they’ll be involved in that battle.
It wasn't all roses for LSU. They fell behind 24-7 in the first place, struggling to contain the Badgers' running game. Wisconsin averaged 6.9 yards per carry, but the Badgers' switch from Melvin Gordon to Corey Clement proved a fruitful one for LSU -- Gordon averaged 8.8 yards per carry compared to Clement's 3.0.
LSU absolutely dominated on the defensive end late in the game. The Badgers had just nine plays go for positive yardage after the start of the third quarter.
Converted Wisconsin safety Tanner McEvoy had an awful time against the LSU secondary, completing eight of 24 passes for 50 yards and two interceptions. Anthony Jennings didn't have consistent success completing passes for the Tigers, connecting on just nine of 21 attempts, but he made them count -- his 238 passing yards gave him an average of 11.3 yards per attempt, aided by two lengthy touchdown throws.
LSU has a tough road to the Playoff, but we’ve seen Les Miles do this too many times to doubt him any more.
3. Your new head coach is off to a great start!
Your team got a new coach in the offseason, and guess what -- he’s going to be absolutely great!
James Franklin went overseas and won his Penn State debut against a strong UCF squad with a last-second field goal. Yes, he enjoyed it:
Charlie Strong’s Texas squad romped over North Texas 38-7, holding the Mean Green to 3-of-17 passing with four picks, the worst passing line I have ever heard of. He even got a Gatorade bath! For beating North Texas!
USC romped in its first game under Steve Sarkisian, overcoming all the craziness of the Josh Shaw and Anthony Brown sagas to put away a decent Mountain West squad by nearly 40 points. His successor at Washington, Chris Petersen, recovered from an early deficit at Hawaii to pull out the win.
And the wins came down the line. Wyoming’s Craig Bohl got a W in his first game since leaving FCS powerhouse North Dakota State, and his successor took down another FBS team, Iowa State. UAB demolished Troy in Bill Clark’s first game, winning 48-10. Arkansas State seemed not to skip a beat after losing Bryan Harsin to Boise State, polishing off FCS Montana State 37-10. Even Eastern Michigan won. Even Eastern Michigan won! Georgia Southern looked pretty great in Willie Fritz’s first game, despite losing: NC State needed a 14-point fourth-quarter rally to keep the Eagles from winning their second straight against a power conference team.
On the one hand, you should cherish your coach’s first one. But on the other, he is going to win so many games that you probably will forget about this one. (Unless you are a Miami Redhawks, UMass, or Florida Atlantic fan, in which case nothing has changed. Also, new head coaches didn’t fare quite so well on Thursday or Friday. Stop being such a downer.)
Saturday’s scores
No. 1 Florida State 37, Oklahoma State 31 | Recap
No. 2 Alabama 33, West Virginia 23 | Recap
No. 3 Oregon 62, South Dakota 13 | Recap
No. 4 Oklahoma 48, Louisiana Tech 16 | Recap
No. 5 Ohio State 34, Navy 17 | Recap
No. 6 Auburn 45, Arkansas 21 | Recap
No. 7 UCLA 28, Virginia 20 | Recap
No. 11 Stanford 45, UC Davis 0
No. 12 Georgia 45, No. 16 Clemson 21 | Recap
No. 13 LSU 28, No. 14 Wisconsin 24 | Recap
No. 15 USC 52, Fresno State 13 | Recap
No. 17 Notre Dame 48, Rice 17 | Recap
No. 20 Kansas State 55, Stephen F. Austin 16
No. 22 Nebraska 55, Florida Atlantic 7 | Recap
No. 23 North Carolina 56, Liberty 29 | Recap
No. 24 Missouri 38, South Dakota State 18 | Recap
No. 25 Washington 17, Hawaii 16 | Recap
Air Force 44, Nicholls State 10 | Recap
Arkansas State 37, Montana State 10
Ball State 30, Colgate 10 | Recap
Bethune-Cookman 14, FIU 12 | Recap
Boston College 30, UMass 7 | Recap
Buffalo 38, Duquesne 28 | Recap
Cal 31, Northwestern 24 | WOOOOO
Duke 52, Elon 13
East Carolina 52, North Carolina Central 7
Eastern Michigan 31, Morgan State 28 | Recap
Georgia Tech 38, Wofford 19 | Postgame yellin'
Indiana 28, Indiana State 10 | Celebrations
Illinois 28, Youngstown State 17 | Recap
Iowa 31, Northern Iowa, 23 | Recap
Kentucky 59, UT-Martin 14 | Recap
Louisiana-Lafayette 45, Southern 6
Marshall 42, Miami (Ohio 27) | Recap
Maryland 52, James Madison 7 | Recap
Memphis 63, Austin Peay 0
Michigan 52, Appalachian State 14 | Recap
Middle Tennessee 61, Savannah State 7
Mississippi State 49, Southern Miss 0 | Notes
NC State 24, Georgia Southern 23 | Recap
Nevada 28, Southern Utah 19 | Recap
North Dakota State 34, Iowa State 14 | STOP PLAYING NORTH DAKOTA STATE
Ohio 17, Kent State 14 | Recap
Old Dominion 41, Hampton 28
Oregon State 29, Portland State 14 | Recap
Penn State 26, UCF 24 | Recap
Pittsburgh 62, Delaware 0 | Recap
Purdue 43, Western Michigan 34 | Recap
San Diego State 38, Northern Arizona 7 | Recap
TCU 48, Samford 14 | Recap
Texas 38, North Texas 7 | Recap
Texas State 65, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 0 | Recap
Texas Tech 42, Central Arkansas 35 | Recap
Toledo 54, New Hampshire 20 | Recap
UAB 48, Troy 10
USF 36, Western Carolina 31 | Recap
UTEP 31, New Mexico 24 | Recap
Virginia Tech 34, William & Mary 9 | Recap
Wyoming 17, Montana 12
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