TWIF Notes 9/21/26

Welcome Back!

What a fantastic weekend of games! We had a few routs, but there were quite a few close contests and even some upsets. Plus an unbelievable ending.

Here are my thoughts from Week 3.

1. Texas Tech may very well repeat s Big 12 champions, but it won't be in as dominating a fashion as it was last year. Houston jumped out in front, fell behind, then nearly tied the game on a 2-point conversion, falling just short in a 28-26 loss. Unfortunately for us as viewers, the Cougars are likely the toughest team the Red Raiders will face all season, though they do face Arizona on Oct 31. Here are TT's remaining Big 12 games: at Colorado, Ariz State, at Cincinnati, Arizona, WVU, at Oklahoma State, at Baylor, and TCU. Do you see any major challenges there? It would take a huge upset (or 2) for the Red Raiders not to make the Big 12 CG.

2. Georgia won easily, 45-17, and was never really challenged against Arkansas, but it was sort of a weird game. The Dawgs had 254 yards rushing, but it all seemed "feast or famine." Every run was either 10+ yards, or for no gain/short loss. There were almost no runs of 2-7 yards. The Bulldogs host Oklahoma next, while the Razorbacks welcome G6 upstart Tulsa to Fayetteville. Arkansas remains the only SEC team without an FBS win. According to ESPN, UGA is the 1st team ever to be 3-0 for a 12th straight season, or at least since the poll era started in 1936. I did not research every team's season for the last 90 years to confirm or deny this...

3. The Big Ten has firmly established that any of their teams would thoroughly dominate the MAC this year, as they are 10-1 against the G6 conference. The Big Ten also joined the SEC with a victory against teams from every conference, and even has a win against Independent UConn (though they are 0-2 against Independent Notre Dame). The ACC has no wins against the SEC (0-5) or the Pac 12 (0-0), while the Big 12 is 0-0 vs CUSA. No conference has a loss against all of the others.

4. Clemson defeated North Carolina 28-20 using a theme that was prevalent for the day: fall behind, then come back to win. The Tigers fell behind 17-3, and trailed 17-6 at the half, then dominated the 2nd half to relieve some of the pressure on HC Dabo Swinney. 

5. Texas State took down North Texas by a score of 49-35 to get their 1st win of the season and drop the Mean Green to 1-2. The Bobcats have one more game against a team from Texas, meaning they will have played 4 in a row in their home state. 

6. I have been watching football for more than 50 years, but I have never seen a game end like what happened in Nashville. NC State jumped out to a 17-0 lead and led 17-7 at the half. The Commodores got within 31-28 and had the ball with a chance to take the lead, but QB Jared Curtis threw an INT at the 1-yard line with less than 2 minutes remaining. All the Wolfpack had to do was run out the clock. After 3 running plays, 2 of them followed by the final 2 Vandy timeouts, it was 4th down with 6 seconds left on the clock. NCSU did the right thing and eschewed the punt, fearing it could be blocked or returned for a TD and instead opted to give the 'Dores a meaningless 2 points and the safety. Except that's not what happened. Instead of just falling on the ball, and then sending a free kick from the 20, QB CJ Bailey ran around in the end zone to eat up the clock, and then was hit hard and fumbled, with Vandy recovering for the 35-31 win. That was only lead the Commodores had all day. Just unbelievable.

7. Toledo scored 2 TDs in a span of less than 15 seconds to tie Temple in regulation with 54 seconds on the clock thanks to a recovered onside kick, and then stopped the Owls' 2-point attempt in OT to hang on for the comeback win. That's yet another way to lose a heartbreaker.

8. Kentucky used 3 takeaways to stun Texas A&M 31-21 in College Station. This gives new HC Will Stein his 1st FBS win as a HC, and his 1st SEC win. The Aggies are left wondering if their season is over almost before it began, as they travel to LSU next week, followed by later road games to Alabama, South Carolina, and Oklahoma, and home games versus Tennessee and Texas.

9. Alabama fell behind 14-3 (are you picking up on the theme?) before storming back to win 50-36 over FSU. It's a bit concerning that the Tide has struggled early against both Kentucky and the Seminoles, but the offense appears plenty explosive as they have scored 48, 45, and 50 in their 3 games.

10. USC also has a high scoring offense, but the defense has allowed 65 points the last 2 weeks, including in their 42-35 win over a Rutgers team that was held to 21 points by both UMass and Boston College. And with Oregon coming to town this week, the Trojans need to find some answers on the defensive side of the ball.

11. Louisville has to be considered the favorite to face Miami in the ACC CG at the end of the season after their 41-31 victory over SMU on Saturday. The Cardinals simply have to avoid being upset, which is always easier said than done. The good news is that they now own the tiebreaker over the Mustangs, and so can sustain a loss and still be in the CG. The other good news is that unless a surprise contender pops up (like Duke and UVA last year), the Cards have one of the easier conference schedules remaining, as a home game against perpetually mediocre Pitt seems to be their toughest remaining contest.

12. Cincinnati (say it with me) fell behind early, trailing rival Miami, Oh 28-7 at the half before coming back to win 35-31. The Bearcats scored the final 14 points, including the winning TD with 1:29 remaining to claim the Victory Bell in The Battle for the Bell.

13. UMass is 3-0 for the 1st time at the FBS level, but 2 of their wins are against FCS teams. They were last at 3-0 in 2007. The bad news is that only 1 of the FCS wins counts toward bowl eligibility, so in the eyes of the bowls, they are only 2-0, so they still need 4 wins to reach their 1st bowl since the 1972 Boardwalk Bowl against UC Davis.

14. Mississippi State downed South Carolina by a 41-34 score, overcoming (again) a large deficit in the 1st half as they trailed by scores of 16-0 and 23-14. The Bulldogs may be the surprise team in the SEC, along with Kentucky, and it's a shame they won't play the Wildcats this season, unless they both make the SEC CG.

15. ULM was unable to come back from a 31-13 deficit against FCS SE La as they lost 38-35. This was the 6th FCS win against FBS teams this season.

16. Florida defeated Auburn 44-39 in Jordan-Hare Stadium, it's first win there since 1999, but the game wasn't as close as the score indicates. The Tigers scored a TD with 24 seconds left to make the margin closer, but the Gators led for a large portion of the game.

17. Georgia State played UCF tough for a half, as the Panthers led 24-17 at halftime, and were tied 27-27 with the Knights with less than a minute remaining in the 3rd quarter, but UCF outscored GSU 17-3 the rest of the way. The Panthers may actually be coming out of their 2-year nightmare.

18. CUSA actually went 5-4 in OOC games, quintupling their wins against FBS teams. They now have wins against teams from the MWC, the MAC, and the SBC.

19. We actually had a game that lived up to the hype as Ole Miss topped LSU 32-24 in LSU HC Lane Kiffin's return to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. The Tigers (say it with me again) fell behind big early, trailing 17-0 and then 24-7 at the half, but came back to tie the game at 24 early in the 4th quarter, but the Rebels scored a TD with 6:14 remaining, then intercepted a pass in the last minute to seal the victory. The Bayou Bengals host Texas A&M this week while Ole Miss must travel to the Swamp to take on a Florida team that is also 3-0 and coming off a big win.

20. Oklahoma really struggled against New Mexico, eking out a 14-6 win. The Sooner defense looks impregnable, but that offense leaves much to be desired. However, we must give some props to the Lobos, as that is a quality team, and with UNLV's early struggles, UNM looks to be the clear favorite in the Mountain West.

21. Another surprise team this year could be West Virginia, which beat Virginia 38-27 in Charlotte. The Mountaineers are 3-0 with Oklahoma State next, while the Cavaliers drop to 2-1with Delaware on deck.

22. Northwestern crushed Colorado 41-7, which has me rethinking what I thought about both of those teams. The same goes for Virginia Tech's 35-26 win over Maryland. Either VT and NW are better than expected, or CU and Maryland is worse. Or all of it could be true.

23. North Dakota State is 4-0 in its 1st season at the FBS level. Has any team ever started this well in their transition year?

24. 132 of 138 teams played this past weekend, 3 fewer than last week. These are the teams that were off: Army, UNLV, Navy, Air Force, Hawaii, and New Mexico State.

That's it for this week! Come back tomorrow for my updated Power Rankings!

Until next time, may you and your loved ones be blessed!