College Football Odyssey

The team with the weirdest results to date?  Notre Dame beyond any shadow of a doubt.

The Golden Domers have 2 impressive wins away from South Bend.  The Fighting Irish handed North Carolina its only loss in Chapel Hill and looked good in beating BYU, 28-2o, in Sin City (Major irony that the Mormons play the Catholics in Las Vegas.  The Odyssey loved it).

Notre Dame’s defense also got rave reviews in its opener.  The Irish slowed down the unstoppable, Ohio State’s prolific offense, holding the Buckeyes to 21 points, a truly impressive feat.

But when Notre Dame plays in front of its Leprechaun and its supporters in South Bend?  The stadium might need a fumigation!

10 games have been played where a favorite of at least 16 points has been upset.  Notre Dame has been a victim in 2 of those shockers.  Marshall came to South Bend and upset Notre Dame.  Perhaps a massive hangover from the Ohio State game provided some explanation.

Last Saturday’s upset 16-14 loss to Stanford was equally troubling.  Notre Dame scored all of 14 points against a suspect defense.  How many other FBS teams have Marshall and Stanford beaten in 2022?  A big fat ZERO.

Notre Dame’s 3rd home game was against a so-so Cal team that could not beat a winless Colorado team last Saturday.  The Irish got behind, rallied and then had to sweat a bobbled Hail Mary to ensure victory.

First-year Coach, 36-year-old Marcus Freeman, has had a learning curve.  His head coaching baptism in the Fiesta Bowl was brutal.  Oklahoma State mounted its biggest comeback in school history, rallying from a 21-point deficit to win 37-35.  Freeman’s record to date: 3-4.  The former defensive coordinator may not be able to fix Notre Dame’s offensive inconsistencies in 2022.

However, judging Freeman prematurely may prove a mistake.  In July, he secured a QB commitment that shook the earth in Ann Arbor.  CJ Carr, a standout from Saline, Michigan, made himself the jewel of Notre Dame’s 2024 signing class.  Carr is the grandson of Lloyd Carr.  What on earth is going on??  Signficant NIL promises? Freeman charm?  Lloyd Carr angst toward his former employer?

However, the Odyssey would strongly advise Freeman to improve his stock so he can see the fruits of his recruiting coups.

Saturday, at roughly 7:15PM EDT (4:15 PDT), was college football’s most amazing point in time in 17 years to THE day.

Consider:  Alabama had been foiled in their attempt to break a 49-49 tie when Will Reichard’s 50-yard field goal try sailed wide right.  With only 15 seconds left, overtime seemed imminent at raucous Neyland Stadium.  Except overtime never happened.  The incredible Hendon Hooker threw a couple of quick darts down the field to set Chase McGrath up for a 40-yard knuckleball, game winner that barely cleared the upright.  A sea of orange descended upon the field as the SEC fined Tennessee $100,000 that Volunteer nation was more than happy to pay.

Alas, you might not have seen the last few seconds of this SEC thriller if you were glued into the TCU- Oklahoma State double overtime thriller in another battle of unbeatens.  In Fort Worth, the Horned Frogs had been swimming upstream all afternoon, fighting back from a 17-point deficit to force overtime.  As in Knoxville, incredible QB play resulted in a 43-40 triumph for TCU.

Meanwhile, another double overtime thriller was going on in East Lansing between two wounded teams fighting to salvage some pride.  Thanks to Jayden Reed, the Spartans narrowly averted their 5th straight setback for their $95 million dollar coach.  The stellar wide receiver THREW a 25-yard TD pass to start off the first overtime.  Wisconsin equalized.  A terrific catch on a 27-yard throw from Payton Thorne to the stellar wide receiver in the 2nd OT was the walkoff decider.

If that was somehow not enough, ESPN+ was streaming another thriller.  The 4th quarter of the James Madison game at Georgia Southern proved stellar.  An undefeated and ranked James Madison squad had overcome both 4 turnovers and  a 37-28 deficit, to grab a 38-37 lead with 2:28 to play  Way too much time to leave Eagles’ QB, Kyle Van Trease, who had been on fire all game. Van Trease promptly lead Georgia Southern down the field for the deciding TD as he wound up with an incredible 578 yards passing against a proud Dukes’ defense.   If you love passing, you were totally infatuated with this game as JMU quarterback, Todd Centeio, threw for 468 yards (albeit with 3 picks).

I flashed back to October 15, 2005.  Gameday was at South Bend to see if Notre Dame could derail a USC juggernaut that had won 27 straight.  The Irish almost did.  The legendary Bush Push propelled Matt Leinart into the endzone with 3 seconds left to give USC a spinetingling 34-31 victory.  Notre Dame faithful still lament that the Bush Push an illegal action in 2005.  No flag, just massive heartbreak.

At virtually the same time, Michigan’s Chad Henne threw a 10-yard TD pass on the game’s final play at the Big House to give the Wolverines a 27-25 thriller over an undefeated Penn State team. (Penn State should give up playing in Ann Arbor on any October 15 after their 41-17 faceplant on Saturday).

A third 2005 thriller was simultaneously playing out.  Like TCU last Saturday, West Virginia had overcome a 17-point deficit to force overcome.  Riding behind Steve Slaton’s 6 TD’s, the Mountaineers survived, 46-44, in triple overtime.  Rich Rodriguez had become a God in Morgantown.  Regrettably, he now knows that he should have stayed put in John Denver country.  Wisdom is sometimes attained only through great pain.

Saturday’s games resulted in no fewer than 5 field stormings:  Tennessee, Syracuse, TCU, Colorado (the Buffs actually won a game in yet another overtime thriller) and Utah.

The Odyssey cannot wait for the next October 15 that falls on a Saturday!

Consider 3 top games of Week 7:

Alabama at Tennessee

Penn State at Michigan

Oklahoma State at TCU

Undoubtedly, 3 terrific battles of undefeateds.   These tilts overshadow a mammoth FCS game:  #2 South Dakota State travels to Fargo to take on #1 North Dakota State. Not nearly enough attention is being paid to the 113th edition of the Dakota Marker game.  North Dakota State leads the series, 63-44-5.

Both sport a narrow loss on the road.  South Dakota State lost to Iowa, 7-3,  NDSU looked impressive in a  31-28 loss  at Arizona.  The SDSU defense and the NDSU offense showed to be at high levels in their FBS losses.  Something will have to give at Fargo.  The Jackrabbit defense only allows 12.2 points and 57.5 rushing yards per game.

SDSU will be tested by a terrific and experienced North Dakota State rushing attack led by a seasoned offensive line and uber-efficient quarterback, Cam Miller.  Uber strengths collide!  One other Bison element of their rushing offense makes the Odyssey smile.  In Tucson,  on the Sunday morning after NDSU’s loss to Arizona, the Odyssey happened to be at the breakfast bar with 2 men wearing NDSU gear.  Turns out that these two men turned out to be the father and the brother of NDSU running back,  TaMerik Williams.  They lamented the fact that Williams only had 4 carries.  Clearly, the lack of carries was not correlated to the lack of production as Williams gained 53 yards on those 4 totes.

The family was quite frustrated at their perceived underutilization of Williams.  For the Williams’ family, “It’s The Same Old Song.”  He had transferred from SMU’s pass-happy offense to get more action.   Patience finally paid off.  The family must have been absolutely beaming after North Dakota State’ 31-26 win at Indiana State on Saturday.  Tamerik’s line: a career-high 145 rushing yards and 3 TD’s.  While the Odyssey is appalled at some aspects of the “instaportal,”  some players blossom at a new school.  Perhaps the most extreme example of 2022 portal ecstasy belongs to Purdue’s Charlie Jones.  Perhaps Jones saw Iowa’s pass-challenged offense and said, “I’m outa here, gotta get to a school and a QB who can throw the ball.” Jones has 50 catches in Purdue’s first 6 games place him among the country’s most prolific pass catchers.  Jones had 38 grabs in his previous 3 seasons in Iowa City.

North Dakota State lost twice to the Jackrabbits in 2021.  If the game was played at Brookings or a neutral site, we would think that SDSU could triumph for the 3rd straight time.   However, the game is in Fargo.  Regardless, an annual subscription for $69.99 gets you a year’s worth of ESPN+.  A bargain!  The Odyssey will be tuned in at 2:30 PM, Fargo time!

Saturday, the Odyssey travelled to East Lansing.  The locals were hoping that their last 6 nightmares against Ohio State would abate.  Rich donors were doing everything in their power to do so as they threw $95 million dollars at Mel Tucker in hopes of an exorcism.

Did the Spartans still have PTSD syndrome after their horrific visit to Columbus in 2021 when the Big 10 title was still in their grasp (a 56-7 beatdown that was not as close as it sounds)?  For a fleeting moment, Michigan State had hope.  After Ohio State breezed down the field for a 7-0 lead, Sparty faithful had to be thinking, “oh, no, here we go again.”  Then C.J. Stroud did the unthinkable.  One of the brightest of OSU’s 50 or so superstars, Stroud threw a pass out into the left flat where no Buckeye receiver was in the same zip code.  However, Charles Brantley was.  Spartan Stadium erupted as Brantley waltzed 32 yards into the end zone.  7-7.  Ecstasy!!  For Brantley, a compensating gift given that he had the torture duty of often having to cover Marvin Harrison Jr.

The ongoing  problem for Sparty:  Ohio State still had their 50 superstars after the pick 6.  OSU still had an offensive line that gave Stroud ample time to find his talented targets.  Harrison Jr. again showed his dad that he might just be better than pops with an insanely great catch in the end zone which rendered the pass interference call against Brantley superfluous.

Nor did MSU’s defensive line hold up against the Buckeyes.  Payton Thorne was often running for his life.  Thorne did get bailed out on his one TD pass:  Jayden Reed made a spectacular catch in the end zone while a Buckeye DB was doing everything but tackling Reed.

Stroud again threw for 6 TD passes against Sparty, the first QB in Big 10 history to do so twice against a conference foe.  His snazzy line was 21/26/1/362.  Note that he threw for more TDs than incompletions.  And all without the incomparable Jackson Smith Njigba.

Mel Tucker’s 3 MSU squads have now been outscored by Ohio State, 157-39.  Perhaps recent alarming trends in inflation might explain why $95 million does not seem to buy as much as it used to.

We were bemused by the comments from long-time columnist of MSU football, Graham Couch.  Despite being outgained 614-202, a headline in Sunday’s Detroit Free Press: “Score was ugly, but MSU kept dignity.”    Hmmmm.

22 days ago, MSU was ranked #11.  Now sporting a 2-4 mark, what is the near-term future like in East Lansing?  Given that Wisconsin, Michigan, Penn State and Illinois are still on the schedule, that future looks a lot like 4-8.

While mid-Michigan weather will never remind one of Key West, the weather gods seemed to be making an editorial comment.  With cold temps, atypical of October 8th,  and a brisk wind that drove the Odyssey to cover after half time, was the weather making a strong statement as to MSU’s performance?

Graham Couch had the benefit of covering the game from a warm press box.  As the Odyssey is a mere blog, we did expect a rejection for our press box application.  Expectations met!  Maybe the cold weather affected our judgement.  We apologize for not blogging more but we have an imperative job to do which precludes more analysis.  We have to find the nearest Webster’s dictionary and look up the definition of “dignity.”

Before the season, the Odyssey circled October 8 as a marquee day in college football. After the off-season, NIL “War of Words” between Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher, who could not salivate over Texas A&M’s visit to Tuscaloosa?  The only salivation is coming from the Alabama defense at the prospect of entertaining a hapless A&M offense.

In Fisher’s 5th year at AM, Jimbo was looking to topple the GOAT, Nick Saban, for the 2nd straight year. A&M’s recruiting machine hit a new height this year as their incoming class was lauded as the best ever. Was the GOAT going to get a message from the Aggies that his best days were in the rear view mirror?

As if A&M needed more momentum, Alabama’s Heisman winner, Bryce Young, has a shoulder issue which makes him doubtful. If you had been told 6 weeks ago that Young was a likely no-go this Saturday, you could not fathom that A&M would be a 24-point dog. Beset by major issues at both the offensive line and at QB, nobody thinks the Aggies have a prayer against a potentially vengeful Saban.

The second marquee game rated to be Ohio State at Michigan State. OOPS! The Buckeyes have more than lived up to their end of the bargain. No Jackson Smith-Njigba? No TreVeyan Henderson? No Problem!! Henderson is expected to reemerge in East Lansing but does it really matter when his backup, Miyan Williams, goes off for 5 touchdowns last Saturday and is averaging 7.8 yards per carry? OSU’s soft defense of recent years appears to have been repaired by new DC Jim Knowles. All systems GO for a national championship.

To say that Michigan State has not lived up to their end of the bargain is as big an understatement as saying that the Auburn donors are not entirely happy with Bryan Harsin. The 2-3 Spartans looked dreadful against Washington and Minnesota. Last Saturday’s loss at Maryland showed slight improvement but hardly satisfying given the $95 million dollars that was bequeathed to Mel Tucker. With inflation, we observe that $95 million does not seem to buy nearly what it used to. The Buckeyes are a 26-point favorite to administer the 4th straight defeat to Sparty. The Odyssey will be in attendance and fully expect to see MSU’s pass defense torched again. We will be surprised if the Buckeyes do not get to 50. MSU’s shocking 11-2 record last year makes one reflect as to just how valuable Kenneth Walker III was.

Last, it is hard to tarnish the fantastic Red River Rivalry at the Texas State Fair.  However, Oklahoma and Texas are certainly trying.  Is Brett Venables really a defensive coach?  After Kansas State and TCU torched the Sooners for 96 points and 1,100+ yards the past two Saturdays, one has to wonder.  Texas has had quite a pulse but still sports two heartbreaking losses.  How many times do these two powers come into this game with 4 combined losses?  The Odyssey guesses almost never. 

Is all lost for Saturday? HARDLY!! Gameday makes its maiden voyage to Lawrence, Kansas for a matchup of highly improbable unbeatens as TCU visits. Who is not in love with the Cinderella story of KU?

Consider 2 Mountain West tilts this weekend:

Fresno State at Boise State.

5 weeks ago, this game would have been considered the marquee game on the season’s conference slate.  Boise’s last non-conference game was a 27-10 clunker at UTEP which triggered the firing of the offensive coordinator and the transfer of their starting QB, Hank Bachmeier. Boise went into El Paso as a 16-point favorite.

Fresno State was even more heavily favored last Saturday at woeful Connecticut.  Neither 3,000 miles of jet lag or the absence of star QB, Jake Haener, can fully explain their 19-14 faceplant against a team that had not had an FBS victory since 2019.

While neither has yet suffered a loss in conference play, Saturday’s victor will not have great reason to pound their chest.

UNLV at San Jose State

Last year, the Rebels went 2-10 but it was a deceptive 2-10 with promise for the future as Marcus Arroyo’s squad lost 6 games by 8 points or less.  Through the first month, UNLV has been the class of the Mountain West with its only blemish a 20-14 loss at Cal.

After an opening scare against Portland State, San Jose State has impressed in its next 3 games.  Last week, the Spartans travelled to 7,260 feet and throttled Wyoming, 33-16.  San Jose’s only loss was a very respectable 24-16 defeat at Auburn.  We expect Brian Brennan to be in contention for one of the Power 5 jobs that have opened up.  Rare is the Group of 5 team that has a kick ass defensive line.

Maybe Fresno State will reemerge once Haener gets healthy.  Maybe Boise’s dual threat QB, Taylen Green, will be the tonic  the Broncos badly need (Early returns were quite positive in the Broncos’ 38-13 rout of toothless San Diego State last Friday).  But if you are interested in the Mountain West game this weekend that features the teams that have been playing the best, do not look toward potato country.  Do you know the way to San Jose?   As Gomer Pyle often said, “Surprise, surprise.”

The Odyssey is amazed at the strength in the Big 12.  In most leagues, (including you, SEC!), mediocre and poor teams abound.

The Big 12 has seemingly achieved the impossible:  the league’s 10 teams are all good.  Not one clunker in the bunch.  Who foresaw that perennial doormat, Kansas, would turn into an offensive juggernaut with the incredible Jalon Daniels at QB?

Consider the 4 other teams that were picked for also-ran status in 2022:

West Virginia went to Blacksburg last week and destroyed Virginia Tech.

Texas Tech may never again see the hated Longhorns in Lubbock.  If so, what a spectacular goodbye the Red Raiders gave the Longhorns.  For all we know, their fans in West Texas may still be on the field celebrating.

TCU was supposed to be in transition with a new coach, Sonny Dykes, and a questionable defense.  The Horned Frogs are still undefeated and grabbed back the Iron Skillet from SMU last Saturday.

Iowa State was supposed to be in a mini-rebuild after a historic exodus of talent in 2021.  The Cyclones have gone into Iowa City and dealt the hated Hawkeyes their only 2022 loss.

Both SEC turncoats, Texas and Oklahoma, lost last weekend.  Could the Texas team that came within a whisker of beating Alabama wind up with 4-6 conference losses?

How crazy good is the conference?  To date, there have been 4 conference games.  The underdog has won each game!  Should the Odyssey dream that Kansas could laugh at recent history and actually make a run at the Big 12 championship?

Maybe we are dreaming.  But even during waking hours, we cannot wait to see how the conference race shakes out.  Potential insanity!!

The sharp descent in quality among Mountain West teams has been both shocking and alarming.

Consider the conference’s two flagship programs, Boise State and San Diego State:

Friday, Boise was embarrassed in El Paso, 27-10, to UTEP.  While Boise was down as many as 7 starters, UTEP is hardly a juggernaut (as evidenced by their 27-10 loss to New Mexico 6 days earlier).  A “one off” due to an unlucky injury glut?:  NOPE! The Broncos were coming off their worst record in decades with a 7-5 mark behind an untested first-year coach in Andy Avalos.  Multi-year starter, Hank Bachmeier, has regressed due, in part, to an inept offensive line. Avalos announced the firing of offensive coordinator, Tim Plough, after the Broncos’ pitiful output of 177 yards.   Will recycling ancient Boise head coach, Dirk Koetter, as the offensive coordinator be the salvation in Idaho?  Doubtful.

San Diego State did pull off a last-ditch drive to beat Toledo, 17-14.  However, Toledo’s QB, Dequan Finn, was hurt early in the game so the victory was slightly tainted.  San Diego had massive 3rd down conversion woes against a team that gave up 77 points to Ohio State.  Thankfully, Braxton Burmeister’s legs enabled the Aztecs to score the game-winning drive.  Regrettably, the speedy Burmeister lacks throwing ability – a desirable quality for a QB to have.

The Aztecs’ offense has looked inept all year as their decade-long search for a quality QB continues.  Brady Hoke seems content to coach 20th century football in the 21st century.  Don Coryell is certainly rolling around in his grave. Watching the Aztecs offense is usually a painful experience for San Diegans.

Upstart 2021 conference champion, Utah State, laid the biggest egg, getting embarrassed 35-7 by Weber State.  Another Big Sky program, Sacramento State took Colorado State to the woodshed, 41-10, in Fort Collins.

Air Force looked to be the class of the conference until a mass virus was a key element in their 17-14 upset loss at Wyoming.  The same Wyoming that get belted at perennial Big 10-also ran, Illinois.

Hawaii probably is the worst of the 131 FCS teams in the aftermath of the Todd Graham debacle.    In their game against Las Cruces against New Mexico State yesterday, the dormant Aggie offense rushed for 268 yards — in the FIRST half — en route to 35 points before halftime.

The Mountain West does appear cursed in 2022.  In the conference’s showcase game last week at the Coliseum, Fresno State’s star QB, Jake Haener, was injured and missed most of the 45-17 loss to USC.

With such mass ineptitude, is all lost?  If you ask UNLV, they might say no.  With their win at Utah State, the perennial cellar dwellers look good and might be able to take advantage of the terrible football.

La Creme de la Creme of basketball schools definitely include:

Duke

Kansas

Kentucky

North Carolina

Indiana

UCLA

Syracuse

Their cumulative record in 2022 football to date:  21-0!!

For Duke and Kansas to be on this list is extremely surprising.  The predicted win total for each school was 2.5 wins.  For those “over” bettors, to have a season win ticket be a lock before the end of Summer is great fun (a third “2.5 win” team, Vanderbilt has also already won the “over” with its 3-1 start).

For Duke and Kansas, stellar QB play has been critical.  Duke’s Riley Leonard, a Sophomore from Fairhope, Alabama, has completed 73% of his passes while new coach Mike Elko has the Duke D playing well beyond expectations.

Weirdly, Kansas is fortunate to have one of three excellent QBs with both the last name of Daniels and first name starting with J.  With all due respect to the excellent starts from West Virginia’s JT Daniels and LSU’s Jayden Daniels, KU’s Jalon Daniels has been the best of the Daniels to date.  A dangerous dual threat, Daniels has powered the usually comatose Jayhawks to impressive road wins at West Virginia and Houston.  Daniels’ scintillating start has helped propel Coach Lance Leipold to the forefront of attractive candidates for other coaching openings, particularly Nebraska.

While Leipold would be a home run hire for the Huskers, the Odyssey would love to see him stick around in Lawrence and try to do what was impossible for others post-Mark Mangino.

Congrats to fans of these schools who do not have to wait for Winter to get stoked about their school.

For those of you who get to bed at a reasonable hour, the Odyssey hopes that you taped last night’s North Dakota State-Arizona contest.  The Bison thundered into Tucson with their horde of fans and 7 FCS championships since 2011.  Their intent was to bludgeon Arizona to death with a power running game behind a big, talented offensive line.

The recipe almost worked to the tune of 283 yards rushing.  How often does an FCS team look to be superior in the trenches to a quality FBS team?  What ensued was a back-and-forth affair with Arizona winning 31-28 on a  77-yard TD drive with less than 5 minutes to go.

NDSU’s unquestioned excellence in the trenches could not fully compensate for the excellence of Wildcat QB Jayden De Laura.  The Washington State transfer was the difference, using both his arm and his elusive scrambling ability to keep UA afloat.  De Laura’s excellence made the Odyssey wonder about the number of quality QB’s who prep in Hawaii.  During the last decade, if you took a ratio of excellent college QBs to that state’s land mass, we have little doubt that the Aloha State would come out as #1.

Fourth down conversions figured prominently in the affair.  Midway in the fourth quarter, clinging to a 28-24 lead, the Bison elected to go for it on a 4th and 2 from the UA 22.  Stopped.   The Wildcats took over and mounted the game-winning TD drive, converting their own 4th and 1 in the process.  DeLaura hooked up with another insta-portal transfer, former UTEP wide receiver Jacob Cowing, for the 22-yard game winner.

NDSU might ruefully look back to a sequence of plays in the 2nd quarter.  Arizona surprisingly refused to punt on 4th and 2 from its own 33.  Stuffed!  The Bison quickly marched down to the Wildcat 5, 2nd and goal.  The Bison QB, Cam Miller, not nearly as mobile as De Laura, went back to pass and scrambled to his right and was strip sacked.  Arizona gratefully covered the loose ball.

Arizona is a prime candidate as the most improved team in 2021.  The Wildcats have morphed from a 1-win team to a dangerous out.  For those who want to call NDSU a very good FCS team, PLEASE!  Drop the FCS qualifier.  The Bison is a very good and very well coached squad.

For the Odyssey,  we could not help but be nostalgic.  Our last visit to Tucson to watch the Wildcats play was in the Chuck Cecil era in 1986.  An undefeated Arizona State team arrived in town with the coveted Rose Bowl invite already secured.  In the 4th quarter, with ASU threatening to score in a taut affair, Cecil picked off a throw from Jeff Van Raaphorst, 5 yards deep in his end zone.  105 yards later, Cecil’s heroics sent the hometown fans into the highest degree of ecstasy that the Odyssey had never seen before or since.  The Wildcat upset over their bitter rival was punctuated by some Sun Devil players getting pelted with roses and rose petals as they left the field.

The Odyssey is deeply thankful to the Arizona athletic department having the courage to schedule North Dakota State.  NDSU had been dodged like the plague since 2016 by FBS squads (although the Bison did have a 2020 game at Oregon that was a COVID scrape).  No wonder as North Dakota State had won its last 6 games against FBS squads, its last FBS loss coming in 2009 at Iowa State.

So, one more round of deeply profound thanks to UA for hosting a fantastic game on a perfect desert night.