Making Sense of College Football's Crazy, Confusing 1st Month
There have been dramatic, unforeseen upsets. There have been Hail Marys—stressing the plural. Heartbreak has been dealt in industrial-sized Solo cups without hesitation. There have been games decided by fingertips and deflected passes.
While one month falls short of defining an entire year, the first four weeks of the 2015 college football season have given us plenty to sift through. And Week 4, in a lot of ways, carried a handful of notable developments a step further.
There were great individual performances, starting, of course, with LSU running back Leonard Fournette, who is approaching new levels of absurdity. One particular conference stayed true to form—tossing aside the assigned script and instead choosing to make it up as it went. The Big 12 doesn't have time for all that.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
One khaki-driven head coach appears to have things moving forward earlier than anticipated. Hype continued to dwindle for others. And yes, on cue, there were more dramatic upsets and thrilling finishes.
Watch as much football as you can, because it all breezes by too fast. Here is what we’ve learned since the season began.
Leonard Fournette Is Not of This Planet
In three games this year, Leonard Fournette has produced a season’s worth of highlights—a full catalog of bulldozing, supercharged runs that put all previously acknowledged laws of physics to the test.
A 230-pound man is not supposed to move his weight this freely. He makes the rest of us look bad.
“He fits in very comfortably with some of the elite running backs that we’ve had here,” LSU head coach Les Miles said before the team’s game against Syracuse this week. “Considering we’ve played two games in this season, I will let Leonard Fournette define who he is.”
Against Syracuse in Week 4, he did it again. Despite having an 87-yard touchdown called back due to an illegal formation penalty, Fournette still ran for 244 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries in LSU's 34-24 win. On the season, he has run for 631 yards and eight touchdowns—doing so while averaging 8.6 yards per carry.
LSU is by no means perfect. The passing game needs work; the defense is still a work in progress. But with Fournette seemingly altering an opponent’s entire game plan and mindset, the Tigers will have a chance each week.
Heismans aren’t handed out in September or October—although if they were, we would toss it to him without an ounce of hesitation. If he stays healthy, he has a wonderful chance to finally turn the quarterback-heavy award on its side.
Bigger than any Heisman, however, is what he’s doing every week. When he’s playing, cancel all plans and make sure to tune in. He’s worth it. Every carry is an event.
The Big 12 Is Glorious, Entertaining Madness
On a Saturday billed as the Pac-12’s showcase, the Big 12 managed to steal the spotlight in the strangest ways.
Texas and Oklahoma State played in a wild, mistake-filled game that was ultimately decided when the Longhorns were unable to execute a late punt. No, really. That’s how it happened. The miscue resulted in a game-winning 40-yard field goal for the Pokes with 10 seconds to play.
Oh, these last few weeks have been something else for Texas fans. They might have other words to describe them, though.
Elsewhere, TCU and Texas Tech combined to score 107 points in 60 minutes. If that wasn’t enough, the Horned Frogs needed a miraculous, tipped-ball touchdown to secure the 55-52 win on fourth down with less than a minute left.
Oh, but before it was sealed, Texas Tech nearly did the unthinkable on its final play in regulation.
What if...
Not to be outdone, Baylor quarterback Seth Russell completed 12 passes against Rice. Those 12 completions resulted in 277 yards and six touchdowns. Not bad.
Baylor won the game 70-17, looking every bit the bully of the Big 12.
The games, overall, have been spectacular. Not always well-played, but endlessly entertaining with odd twists and turns along the way. And beneath Baylor and TCU—the preseason favorites still chugging right along—are capable programs with the potential to derail a season in a given week.
Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech and West Virginia are going to make statements at some point. Some already have. And these teams will likely do it through a sea of points and unanticipated weirdness.
It is the most watchable conference in college football right now from a sheer entertainment standpoint, and it’s really not all that close.
Jim Harbaugh Is Cooking, and Michigan Is Ahead of Schedule
Michigan’s opening loss against Utah was disappointing. It wasn’t a dud—the Wolverines put forth a solid effort—but it was not the college return many were expecting for one Jim Harbaugh.
Since then, Harbaugh’s team has excelled against established competition. Best of all, it seems to be improving by the day.
Against BYU in Week 4, this progress was evident. Michigan outgained BYU in total yardage 448-105. BYU quarterback Tanner Mangum—as good as he has been—completed fewer than half of his throws (12-of-28) for a total of 55 yards.
The Wolverines looked far more in sync on offense, and the end result was a 31-0 victory in Ann Arbor. It was one of the more dominant performances of the weekend. It was also, in some ways, expected. In the past three games, Michigan has allowed a total of 14 points.
“This is really good for us and good for football,” Harbaugh told reporters following the game. “It looked good. Attitude of gratitude about that and the way our team plays and the way they prepare.”
If the offense can just be good—not great, but slightly above average—Michigan will blow past all previous expectations for 2015, most of which were reserved. Michigan State and Ohio State are still to come, although the Wolverines get both of those games at home.
A national championship won’t happen this year. But Michigan, for the first time in a long time, has become a team that opponents don't want to play.
The Death of the SEC All-Hype Team(s)
For the better part of the offseason, we talked about Tennessee. We talked about Arkansas. We told you why Auburn—behind quarterback Jeremy Johnson—would run through the conference and compete for a College Football Playoff spot. Media members tend to do this, as you know.
While there are plenty of games to be played and momentum to be seized, I feel confident in saying these three teams—now with seven losses between them—are going to fall short of meeting enormous expectations.
They have endured far different journeys. The Vols, after a crushing loss against Florida in Week 4, are a few plays away from being undefeated. Arkansas, meanwhile, has been unable to seize opportunities in a variety of ways. The loss to Texas A&M in Week 4 is likely the toughest to stomach.
And Auburn, plain and simple, has been the most disappointing team in the nation. Perhaps most shocking of all is how little the offense has been able to accomplish. If I told you back in May that the Tigers would not score a touchdown against Mississippi State in Week 4, what would your reaction have been?
Yes, the hype machine is unpredictable. Sometime it delivers the goods. Other times, in the instance of the SEC, it drove us into a ditch in the middle of the night and left us without food or cellphone service.
And Yes, Most of All, We Still Know Very Little
The team that fell just short of winning a national championship this past January gave up 62 points at home Saturday night. Of all of this season’s most shocking performances, Utah’s 62-20 thrashing of Oregon, in its own building, is likely the one that will linger longest.
It was a reminder that every season, no matter how defined something might appear, will likely take a turn at some point. That is not a theme limited to the Ducks.
Ohio State, Baylor and TCU—all popular selections to crash the College Football Playoff—have all looked vulnerable at some points. But they have stayed alive. Others aren’t nearly as lucky. On the opposite end, Ole Miss and UCLA suddenly look like terrifying teams to deal with through four games.
There's no need to overreact. Not yet, at least.
Thankfully, the sample size will increase. The games will continue to ramp up. The major turns are still to come. Results will be served in even larger doses, giving us plenty more information to draw from.
That’s a good thing—a really, really good thing. Because if the first month of the season taught us anything, it’s that we still have so much to learn.
Unless noted otherwise, all quotes obtained firsthand.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
