2024 College Football: Week 4 Takeaways
College football is starting to hit its stride, and our opinions about the teams are beginning to solidify. Despite that, you never really know what will happen. The top Group of 5 (6?) teams in the AP and Coaches polls, (23) Northern Illinois and Memphis, respectively, both lost in upsets. (11) USC fell to (18) Michigan, who had been struggling so much that they made a QB change. Finally, 6 games made it to OT or later, providing us with several fantastic finishes starting as early as Friday. Never be complacent, or you’ll miss out! Let’s see what we can learn from this slate of games in my week 4 takeaways.
Battle of Ranked Teams Leads to OT Win For (24) Illinois
We actually had 3 matchups this week in which both teams were ranked (as opposed to 6 this time last year). However, this one between (24) Illinois and (22) Nebraska had the closest pair of rankings, and the game lived up to that projected level of competitiveness. Both teams started out hot, with both QBs dealing. Illinois’ Luke Altmyer (21/27, 215 yards, 4 TDs) played arguably his best game, while Nebraska’s savior Dylan Raiola (23/35, 284 yards, 3 TDs, INT) threw 3 TDs for the first time in his college career. However, a couple of early turnovers had chances to change the momentum.
Illinois lost an early fumble, which Nebraska converted into a TD off the short field. The Cornhuskers had a brutal play in the second quarter. Raiola threw a deep pass to the end zone, and top WR Isaiah Neyor (4/90/2) seemed to have a TD catch, as ruled on the field. Unfortunately, replay showed that he lost possession before reaching the ground, and CB Torrie Cox Jr somehow ripped it away. The ruling was overturned, and Cox had himself an INT. Illinois subsequently turned the ball over on downs though, and Neyor got his TD on a tough catch to take a 17-10 lead before the half.
The 3rd quarter began with two punts, followed by 3 consecutive TDs. The third, which tied the game for Illinois at 24, was my favorite. I love when big men catch TDs, and lineman Brandon Henderson snagged a 6-yard score off of play action. I don’t know why, but those are just so fun. The play got uglier after that; Altmyer lost a fumble on a strip sack by DB Ceyair Wright. Nebraska then had a chance to take a 27-24 lead with 2:59 to go, but K John Hohl missed a 39-yard FG. With neither offense able to do anything more, the game went to OT, where Illinois went on offense first.
The Fighting Illini scored a TD in just two plays. Their mini drive was surgical. Nebraska, on the other hand, fell apart. Raiola took two consecutive sacks from Alec Bryant and Dennis Briggs Jr (who had two total). They were huge, ugly sacks, and the Cornhuskers faced 3rd and 42. A 13-yard pass didn’t help much, and Raiola took a 3rd sack from Dylan Rosiek, sealing a 31-24 loss. Nebraska is much better this year than they’ve been in a while, so they can hold their heads high. At this point though, Illinois may just be for real. This is a signature win for HC Bret Bielema, and we’ll see if they can build on it from here.
WSU Claims Victory in 2OT Game-of-the-Year Contender
To start with the obvious based on the 54-52 final score, avert your eyes if you like any defense beyond the occasional turnover. In a possible Pac-12 preview, San Jose State and Washington State gave us an incredibly fun game (SJSU is not one of the 4 Mountain West teams currently slated to switch conferences but could be at a later time). Who would’ve expected a game played at 10:00 PM ET on a Friday night on The CW Network would be the best of the week? This was a game full of big plays and insane scoring, but look a level deeper and you’ll also see that it was a game of runs.
WSU raced to an early 21-10 lead in the second quarter, but SJSU went on a 28-3 run with 4 consecutive TD drives to go up 38-24 through 3 quarters. Things finally settled down a bit until the Cougars marched on another quick TD drive. They were unable to tie the game though, as K Dean Janikowski (no relation to Sebastian) missed the subsequent PAT. Spartans QB Emmett Brown (35/54, 375 yards, 4 TDs, 2 INTs, rush TD) threw an INT on the next drive, giving Washington State a short field for an easy TD (their 2-point attempt failed). Thus, WSU scored 19 unanswered points to lead 43-38 with 4:56 left and finish our final major run.
Two punts later, the Spartans had one chance to take retake the lead. They drove quickly to the WSU 20, where they stalled out. Facing 4th and 10, Brown rolled left and hit WR TreyShun Hurry (3/66/1) on an end zone prayer. With a 2-point conversion to slot receiver Nick Nash (16/152/2), the Spartans’ 46-43 lead with 26 seconds left felt safe. It wasn’t. WSU QB John Mateer (26/46, 390 yards, 4 TDs, 2 INTs; 11/111/1 rushing) hit WR Kyle Williams (8/138/1) on a deep bomb, setting up a 52-yard FG attempt. Janikowski found his redemption, tying the game at 46 and sending us to OT. San Jose State started with the ball, and things got wild.
A botched snap forced Brown to throw the ball away, and on the very next play, he threw an INT on a pass forced into traffic. For some odd reason, instead of running the ball and kicking an FG, Washington State threw as well. Because this game did not want to end, Mateer was naturally picked off. In 2OT, the Cougars scored quickly and converted their 2-point attempt after a review. The Spartans responded with a TD on an out route to Nash (they loved that play all night). A strip sack on their 2-point attempt kept SJSU from forcing 3OT, and WSU celebrated. If any games end up topping this one, I’ll be both shocked and ecstatic.
(7) Missouri Survives Vanderbilt in Yet Another 2OT Finish
No top-10 teams were upset this week, but one had a very close call. In our third significant OT game of the week, Missouri got all they could handle from unranked Vanderbilt. Normally the laughing stock of the SEC, the Commodores look like a different team this year with QB Diego Pavia (14/23, 178 yards, 2 TDs; 17/84 rushing), who transferred this offseason from New Mexico State. His running has really opened up the passing game, and he is being careful with the ball (0 INTs thus far). Vanderbilt won just 2 games all of last year, and they are already at that mark in 2024. They just came up a little bit short against a top-10 opponent.
As the stats show, the Missouri offense was just fine. QB Brady Cook (23/37, 226 yards, 2 TDs) and projected top WR Luther Burden III (6/76/2) were in sync, and RB Nate Noel (24/199) was a true workhorse back. The Tigers also committed 0 turnovers. Their normally stout defense showed cracks for the second consecutive week. Last week against Boston College, Missouri also trailed before coming back to win. BC is a decent team, but I worry about what will happen when the Tigers face the big boys in the heart of their SEC schedule. Luckily, they dodge Texas and Georgia unless they reach the conference championship game.
This game finished regulation at 20-20, but either team could have claimed the win. Both kickers missed FGs in the 4th quarter, though the attempts came from 46 and 50 yards. In OT, each team scored a TD with ease. Vanderbilt’s unpredictably came on a Pavia pass, while Missouri’s naturally went to Burden. During the second extra period, Missouri managed a field goal to conclude an adventurous day for K Blake Craig (3/6 on the day). When Vanderbilt got their turn, WR Junior Sherill, who had 0 catches prior to that point, committed OPI to break up an INT and then caught a 17-yard pass on the next play.
While Sherrill saved the game and enabled the Commodores to attempt a 31-yard FG, he wasn’t the team’s kicker. With rain starting to pour, K Brock Taylor shanked the FG try, and Missouri escaped 30-27. That had to be a disappointing ending for Vanderbilt, as this would’ve been their best win in years. They can still proudly say that they are likely the best Vanderbilt squad in multiple seasons. The Tigers know they got away with one; you could see it on the face of HC Eli Drinkwitz following the missed kick. He is well aware that he needs to engineer some improvements if his team is to remain in the top 10 for long.
Defense Remains the Achilles’ Heel for North Carolina
UNC came into the week 3-0, but we know they aren’t at full strength. Everyone is focused on their QB situation, with Max Johnson out for the season. Alas, their perennial issue is still their biggest weakness. I’m talking about the Tarheel defense, which never gets stops when they need them. To be sure, North Carolina has QB concerns. Jacolby Criswell threw two INTs against James Madison this week. Still, UNC scored 50 points in the game. That should be enough to beat anyone. Just one problem: the Tarheels gave up 70 points in their own house. That’s right: SJSU/WSU was not the highest-scoring game this week.
Losing by 3 scores when you post a 50-burger is really hard to do. In fairness, JMU scored once on a pick six and again on a blocked punt. They were also the beneficiaries of 5 UNC turnovers. If we say that 14 points should not be charged to the defense, that still equates to 56 points that they ARE responsible for. North Carolina made JMU QB Alonza Barnett (22/34, 388 yards, 5 TDs; 13/99/2 rushing), a passer with accuracy issues, look like a superstar. They surrendered 223 rushing yards and 611 total yards. I like how the Dukes play, but they are still a Group of 5 team in only its third FBS season.
This performance by the Tarheels was so poor that HC Mack Brown actually had to say that he’s not retiring as a result of it. He did, however, tell his team that he would step aside if he cannot fix their problems. At this point, who is responsible? Brown had better defenses back at Texas, but his DCs are quality coordinators. He fired Gene Chizik and replaced him with former Ga. Tech coach Geoff Collins, who had defensive success as recently as 2022. That means the blame falls to the players, as well as Brown himself for recruiting them. Until the talent on that side of the ball improves, this team will remain an also-ran.
WR Dorian Singer Makes Insane Catch for (12) Utah; Draftable?
One game had an equal ranking difference to that of the Illinois-Nebraska game above: (12) Utah versus (14) Oklahoma State. However, Utah was without injured QB Cam Rising, so I didn’t expect a fantastic game. I was right, but it was actually Utah who won in a closer-than-it-looked 22-19 game (they led 22-3 with 6 minutes remaining). RB Micah Bernard (25/182) and the defense mostly carried QB Isaac Wilson (17/29, 207 yards, TD, 2 INTs, 41 rushing yards), who didn’t play great football. I bring this game up because of WR Dorian Singer (7/95), the game’s leading receiver who happened to make the season’s best catch to date:
I say “to date” in case anything else crazy happens the rest of the season, but this is probably already the catch of the year. Your eyes are not deceiving you: Singer pinned the ball to the back of his helmet, held it there with one hand, and maintained possession with an iron grip through the ground and a rollover. The ruling on the field was an incomplete pass, so the referees actually saw enough to overturn the result. Given the enormity of the situation, David Tyree’s Super Bowl helmet catch may still be better. Still, this was exceptional, requiring both elite strength and superhuman concentration.
As I always do when I see a player do something special, I checked my notes to see what draft information I had on Singer. Unfortunately, he isn’t considered a very strong prospect at this stage. He had a great 66-catch, 1105-yard season at Arizona in 2022 but did nearly nothing with USC in 2023. In fact, he is almost at his 2023 production through just 4 games this season. Singer isn’t a large receiver, so it worries me that he had separation issues last year. However, he looks much better in that regard right now. Currently, he grades out as a day-3 pick, but a catch like the one above might put some more eyeballs on him.