It's going to be Alabama-Georgia in the title game again!
Ohio State's offense is overrated!
Anthony Richardson for the Heisman!
Fire Scott Satterfield! Jeff Scott, Ken Niumatalolo, Karl Dorrell and Scott Frost, too!
It's easy to overreact one week into a given college football season. (It's also fun.) We wait so long for a first impression in this sport, and when we get it, we're off to the races.
Even if we know that everything we saw in Week 1 of the 2022 season is only so true, and that we have a lot of plot twists to come over the next three months, we still just got a lot of partial answers to the questions we've been asking for the past eight months. Let's talk about some of those answers ... and how confident they should make us about given teams throughout FBS.
Did Georgia and Alabama show us any potential flaws or undoings?
No. 3 Georgia 49, No. 11 Oregon 3
No. 1 Alabama 55, Utah State 0
This past offseason, when I was writing about potential obstacles for Georgia in its title defense, I had to work mainly with abstractions. Despite what the Dawgs were losing from the depth chart, it was hard to even pretend to worry about the depth chart. The defense still returned maybe its best overall player (tackle Jalen Carter), plus proven stars in linebacker Nolan Smith and cornerback Kelee Ringo. The offense returned quarterback Stetson Bennett and six other starters.
The best I could do for a Georgia concern was the proverbial title hangover. Since the beginning of time, countless teams in every sport have suffered a letdown after finally reaching the promised land.
Our first impression of the 2022 Dawgs: They're even better hungover. Yikes. They absolutely trucked 11th-ranked Oregon, scoring touchdowns on each of their first seven drives and allowing just a field goal. Defending national runner-up Alabama, meanwhile, did basically the same thing against Utah State, scoring on its first nine drives and not allowing the Aggies to top 100 total yards until the fourth quarter.
It feels pretty safe to say that what we saw in a small sample on Saturday is what we'll see for most of this season. This is Alabama and Georgia we're talking about, the two most proven recruiting powers in the country and teams that have met in the national title game twice in the past five years. Tide coach Nick Saban is likely the greatest college football coach ever, and Georgia coach Kirby Smart has replicated Saban's warship better than any other former assistant. But did we get any sense of weakness from these two?
Maybe. But probably not.
For Georgia, the defense really wasn't as sharp as we're used to seeing. Oregon drove at least 35 yards on four of nine possessions -- compare that to two of 11 for Clemson in last season's opener -- and after sacking Bo Nix nine times in three games when he was Auburn's starting quarterback, the Dawgs didn't record a single sack of Nix on Saturday.
Georgia was flawless in terms of big-play prevention, and the offense was varied and absolutely ridiculous. Again, the Dawgs just beat a top-15 team by 46. But the defense isn't completely tuned in from an efficiency standpoint. It's probably only a matter of time, but we'll see if someone can take advantage of that.
Efficiency also was an issue -- or at least, not a total strength -- for the Bama offense. Tide running backs averaged 6.6 yards per carry, but that average drops to 4.6 if you take out a single chunk play from Jahmyr Gibbs. For the game, Bama's success rate was 54%; that's very good, but it ranks only 22nd in the country despite the fact that the Tide played a team that gave up 20 points to UConn (mostly using its backup QB) last week. Quarterback Bryce Young catches up to the chains as well as anyone, and there were more than enough big plays to go around: four rushes of at least 22 yards and seven passes of at least 16. Gibbs is as fast as advertised, and freshman receivers Kobe Prentice, Isaiah Bond and Kendrick Law combined for nine catches and 105 yards right out of the gate. But if Bama trips up anytime soon, it will likely be because the offense fell behind schedule and suffered some miscues.
(The Tide probably won't trip up anytime soon.)
Confidence meter: 9 out of 10. These were the two best teams in the country last year, and you have to squint to find any reason to think things will turn out any different this season.
How confident should we be in Ohio State's and USC's defenses?
No. 2 Ohio State 21, No. 5 Notre Dame 10
No. 14 USC 66, Rice 14
Calen Bullock hauls in an interception and returns it 93 yards to the crib to extend the Trojans' lead.
Two new defensive coordinators entered 2022 with a particular amount of pressure. Former Oklahoma State DC Jim Knowles took over at Ohio State, tasked with rediscovering the physicality and general meanness that last year's Buckeyes D lacked; meanwhile, Alex Grinch followed Lincoln Riley from Oklahoma to USC and took over a defense that allowed 37 points per game over the last seven games of 2021.
Ohio State came into the season with an offense that was expected to be the best in FBS, while USC's attack is supposed to improve by leaps and bounds with the addition of not only Riley but also quarterback Caleb Williams, Biletnikoff winner Jordan Addison and others. But both defenses are unproven to a degree. They got very different tests in Week 1.
For USC, everything about Saturday's win over Rice was encouraging but inconclusive. After a woeful start on defense -- Rice drove at least 63 yards in three of its first four drives and scored twice -- the Trojans found stability, allowing just 62 second-half yards, finishing with four sacks and four interceptions and taking three of those INTs back for touchdowns. If the second half is indicative of what's to come, USC has top-10 potential. But we'll have to wait and see on that one.
Ohio State's win over a potentially excellent Notre Dame squad was inconclusive in different ways. The offense was surprisingly stolid, losing star receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the first quarter and scoring just once in seven possessions before buckling down and embarking on two long scoring drives to seal the win. Quarterback C.J. Stroud averaged just 6.2 yards per dropback (he averaged 9.5 last season), but Ohio State luckily has a great running game to lean on -- TreVeyon Henderson and Miyan Williams: 29 carries for 175 yards.
In the end, the Buckeyes' defense saved the day. After allowing a 54-yard pass from Tyler Buchner to Lorenzo Styles on the game's first play, Ohio State allowed only 199 yards (4.2 per play) the rest of the way. Notre Dame backs gained just 58 yards on 19 carries, and after a solid first half for Buchner, Ohio State recorded as many sacks (two) as completions allowed in the second.
Confidence meter: 8 out of 10 for Ohio State, 6 out of 10 for USC. Ohio State's offense gets a mulligan -- it's been too good for too long, and Smith-Njigba isn't expected to be out long term -- and if or when it finds its rhythm, the defense might be good enough for the Buckeyes to make a CFP run. We'll have to wait a bit longer for a real impression of USC (next week against Stanford, maybe?), but the Trojans certainly looked the part in the second half.
Is J.J. McCarthy QB1 at Michigan?
No. 8 Michigan 51, Colorado State 7
We should thank coach Jim Harbaugh for giving us a reason to remain interested in the Michigan-Colorado State game well after it was clear it wouldn't be much of a game. His either unique (if you're nice) or ill-advised (if you're not) decision to start two different quarterbacks in the Wolverines' first two games, as a sort of Royal Rumble for QB1, meant that we were grading incumbent Cade McNamara (starter No. 1) throughout the first half.
McNamara did ... fine, I guess. He threw a 61-yard touchdown pass to Roman Wilson five minutes in, but it was a short pass and a long run. He led five first-half scoring drives, but three ended in field goals (the red zone was a problem for the McNamara offense for much of 2021 too). He was 9-for-18 for 136 yards, a touchdown and no picks, but when J.J. McCarthy (starter No. 2 next week against Hawai'i) entered the game with the Wolverines up 30-0 in the second half, he proceeded to go 4-for-4 for 30 yards and rush three times for 50 yards and a touchdown. Michigan scored TDs on both of his drives before he gave way to third-stringer Alan Bowman.
It's probably not a good sign for McNamara that, in his own start, he ended up getting outshined a bit. I wrote in Friday's preview column that if the competition was still tied heading into the season, that probably meant the challenger (McCarthy) was actually ahead of the champ (McNamara). Safe to say, I still feel that way.
Confidence meter: 7 out of 10. It's been the consensus for a while that McCarthy has more upside than McNamara, so if he's ready to take over, that might say good things about Michigan's upside as well.
Is Florida State good now?
It's jarring to step back and observe FSU's downfall from afar. After going 27-1 with Jameis Winston at quarterback in 2013-14, the Seminoles first slipped to 20-6 in 2015-16, then 7-6 in 2017, Jimbo Fisher's last season in charge. Willie Taggart took over for two years, and the Noles went 11-14. Mike Norvell came to town in 2020 and went just 8-13 in his first two seasons. He got a third year, however, and he's taking advantage of it.
The Seminoles defense took a solid step forward in 2021, and while it lost end Jermaine Johnson to the NFL, Norvell added two transfers -- Albany's Jared Verse and UCF's Tatum Bethune -- who combined for 10 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks and a blocked field goal in FSU's Monday night win over LSU in New Orleans. He also gave leading returning receiver Ontaria Wilson a trio of transfer receivers (Oregon's Mycah Pittman, Arizona State's Johnny Wilson and Illinois' Deuce Spann) who combined for eight catches and 111 yards in the same game.
The portal additions combined with quarterback Jordan Travis and a massively improved offensive line (thanks in part to OL coach Alex Atkins) to create a deeper and more interesting FSU two-deep. Travis is an excellent scrambler and improving passer -- he went 20-for-32 for 260 yards and two scores against LSU -- and the Noles controlled large portions of their Monday night affair against Brian Kelly's Tigers. They almost let everything slip away, losing a fumble at the LSU 1 with 1:20 left and allowing the Tigers to drive 99 yards to cut the lead to one. But Shyheim Brown blocked LSU's PAT, rendering all the late drama moot. It was an incredible game and an incredible win, and FSU's 2-0 start (they womped Duquesne in Week 0) has put them in excellent shape to reach a bowl for the first time since 2019.
But what's the ceiling here? A nice 7-5 rebound year? Something more? We'll learn more soon enough. Before Clemson comes to town on October 15, the Noles will have hosted Boston College and Wake Forest and played at Louisville and NC State. None of those teams looked invincible in Week 1.
Confidence meter: 7 out of 10. Simply reaching a bowl is a lovely step forward, but FSU has talent and confidence, and few opponents on the 2022 schedule appear out of reach.
Is the old Oklahoma State back (and is that a good thing)?
No. 12 Oklahoma State 58, Central Michigan 44
OSU has recorded two AP top-10 finishes in Mike Gundy's time as head coach. The first came in 2011, when the Pokes went 12-1 with an offense that ranked first in the nation, per SP+, and a defense that ranked 48th. A decade later, they went 12-2 with a defense that ranked fourth and an offense that ranked 53rd.
We saw an incredible role reversal last year as the Cowboys' receiving corps fell victim to a series of injuries and Gundy found he could rely more on Jim Knowles' incredible defense. They became an old-school, defense-and-power-rushing team, and it worked. But Knowles is gone, as is almost all of the defensive back seven. The receiving corps is healthy and experienced, and damned if OSU didn't look like the old OSU again. After completing just five passes of 40 or more yards in 2021, the Cowboys had four on Thursday night alone against Central Michigan. Veteran Spencer Sanders threw for 406 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 57 yards and two more scores, and the Cowboys led 44-15 at halftime.
Of course, while a ton of CMU's production came in garbage time, the Chips also gained 265 yards (5.9 per play) in the first half, driving into OSU territory on four occasions. This game ended up confirming all of one's optimistic and pessimistic assumptions about this year's Cowboys. They still have a dynamite defensive line (they made 13 tackles for loss, and CMU's star running back Lew Nichols III averaged 2.8 yards per carry), but that probably won't be the last time their remodeled secondary gets lit up. But on the bright side, they might have an offense that can keep up in track meets again.
Confidence meter: 6 out of 10. The Pokes damn near made the CFP last year, and that's probably not going to happen in 2022, but we kind of already knew that.
Are Devin Leary and NC State overrated?
No. 13 NC State 21, East Carolina 20
Like many nerds, I have to curb my own contrarian tendencies at times. No one likes a well-actually'er. (This is something I've really tried to get across, usually in vain, to my 11-year-old daughter.)
I therefore kept some of my doubts about Devin Leary and the NC State offense in check. Instead of boldly calling Leary overrated and aggressively tapping the brakes on burgeoning hype this offseason, I more diplomatically wrote in my ACC Atlantic preview that, "For all of Leary's hype, he still ranked only 30th in Total QBR -- good but not elite -- and the Wolfpack's nibbling offense ranked only 80th in passing success rate." His 66% completion rate in 2021 was lovely, but it came in part from 234 passes thrown within five yards of the line of scrimmage. Look only at passes thrown further than that, and his QBR ranking fell into the 40s.
Leary still had something to prove, in other words, and in NC State's 2022 debut, he was all over the map. He started 1-for-4, then completed eight of 10 balls for 98 yards and a touchdown. He went 2-for-his-next-7, then 5-for-7 for 70 yards. And with ECU charging back from a 21-7 halftime deficit, he completed one of his last five passes for 3 yards and threw a devastating interception that set up what should have been the game-tying touchdown (had ECU not missed the PAT). Leary was outdueled by ECU's Holton Ahlers, and NC State, scoreless in the second half, was lucky to survive.
Now, this is a strange in-state rivalry game, and surviving is what matters most. With games against Charleston Southern and UConn in the coming weeks (along with a tricky visit from Texas Tech), Leary could still establish a nice rhythm before the meat of the season begins with an Oct. 1 trip to Clemson. Maybe my well-actually urges will still be proved false, but they weren't on Saturday.
Confidence meter: 4 out of 10. NC State enjoyed its highest preseason poll ranking ever this year (13th) and has hopes for its first top-10 finish. The Wolfpack were not a top-10 team in Week 1.
Is Iowa's offense going to be a complete mess again?
We've danced this dance before. If Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz trusts his defense and special teams to win a game on their own, he's going to keep things as vanilla as humanly possible on offense. He doesn't mind a rock fight, and his Hawkeyes have won plenty of them through the years. Meanwhile, South Dakota State is one of the best, most physical teams in FCS. Just last year, the Jackrabbits thumped Colorado State by 19 three weeks before Iowa beat CSU by 10.
Acknowledging all of that, there is still no excuse for what we saw on Saturday in Iowa City.
The last time Iowa ranked in even the top 50 in offensive SP+ was 2011. (Ferentz's son Brian has been in charge of the offense since 2017. It feels relevant to mention that.) In that span, Wisconsin, another defense-and-manball team from the Big Ten West, has ranked in the top 50 six times. Minnesota did it in 2019, and even Northwestern has had a top-50 offense since 2011. Northwestern!
In 2021, for the fourth time in five years, (a) Iowa's leading rusher averaged less than 5 yards per carry, and (b) its quarterback produced a Total QBR rating under 70. (Spencer Petras' ghastly 49.2 QBR ranked 105th in FBS.) Iowa lost four of its last eight, scoring a total of 34 points in the losses.
On Saturday, Iowa rusher Leshon Williams averaged 3.0 yards per carry, the Hawkeyes averaged 2.7 yards per play as a team, and Petras continued his regression, going just 11-for-25 for 109 yards, an interception and two sacks. (It also feels relevant to note that Brian Ferentz took over as quarterbacks coach this season.)
In fact, the Hawkeyes' seven points were flattering to the offense, which got outscored by its own defense 4-3. Punter Tory Taylor was amazing once again, and the defense was rarely threatened. But even if SDSU knew what plays Iowa was calling -- hell, even if the Jackrabbits knew the snap count -- the Hawkeyes should have been able to generate more than 2.7 yards per play.
Confidence meter: 2 out of 10. Plenty of teams have figured out how to establish a physical offensive identity and actually score points. If things don't improve quickly, the Hawkeyes will waste another elite and exciting defense this fall.
Will Sean Clifford ever not be an enigma?
Anthony Richardson has the crowd on its feet as he finds pay dirt to give the Gators the lead in the fourth quarter.
It feels like every Penn State game is the full Sean Clifford Experience. He rips off some great throws and astute scrambles, then throws some of the least accurate passes you'll ever see. If the Nittany Lions lose, he's both the primary reason and the primary reason they almost didn't. If Penn State wins, it's the same story.
This was all true in PSU's 35-31 win at Purdue on Thursday night. Penn State's defense had its ups and downs in Manny Diaz's debut as coordinator, allowing four long drives but dominating in the fourth quarter (2.6 yards per play, no offensive points). But Clifford again became the story for all reasons good and bad.
He threw touchdown passes of 12 and 67 yards and rushed for another score as the Nittany Lions took a 21-10 halftime lead, but he missed most of the third quarter due to what coach James Franklin characterized as cramping issues. When Clifford returned, it was a full-on roller coaster. He misfired on four of five passes, then completed three straight, including a go-ahead touchdown to KeAndre Lambert-Smith. He threw an egregiously poor ball that Chris Jefferson picked off and returned for a touchdown, then failed to complete four of his next six passes as Purdue nearly ran out the clock. (Had Purdue been actually trying to work the clock, it might have worked.)
Then, given one more chance with just over two minutes remaining, Clifford was perfect, going 6-for-7 and throwing a beautiful 10-yard game winner to Keyvone Lee with 57 seconds left.
The Penn State run game still appears to be problematic -- PSU backs: 26 carries for just 83 yards -- so it's safe to say Clifford will have a lot on his shoulders again in 2022. And I have no idea if that's a good or bad thing.
Confidence meter: 5 out of 10. Clifford could lead the Nittany Lions to another top-10 finish or get demoted in two weeks. Neither would surprise me.
Is Boise State falling apart at a horrible time (or is Oregon State pretty darn good)?
Oregon State 34, Boise State 17
Timing matters in conference realignment. If Utah, which had attended just two bowls in its history before 1992, hadn't become a Mountain West power in the 2000s, a Pac-12 bid in the 2010s probably wouldn't have come to fruition. Realignment isn't only about football power -- hello, Rutgers -- but there's no question that being on a high ebb makes a school more attractive when conferences are looking around.
We don't yet know how things will play out in the current round of realignment as the Pac-12 loses USC and UCLA, attempts to keep Oregon and Washington and battles the Big 12 for both revenue and potential sniping opportunities. There is a chance, however, that the conference might look to add at least two Mountain West programs at some point in the not-too-distant future. Boise State, so steady and overlooked for so long, could be on the cusp of a long-awaited power conference invitation soon, but if the Broncos suddenly stink at football, that would dampen the odds a bit. And wow, did they stink on Saturday night, at least for a while.
In a span of five first-half pass attempts, Broncos quarterback Hank Bachmeier threw two interceptions and lost a sack-and-strip fumble, and Oregon State took a 17-0 lead 20 minutes into the game. Things evened out from there, but OSU cruised 34-17. The game lent credence to the idea that the Beavers might be a sleeper challenger in the Pac-12 North, but it also cast doubt on a Boise State team that is now just 7-6 under Andy Avalos.
A former BSU linebacker and defensive coordinator, Avalos seemed like a no-brainer hire to replace Auburn-bound Bryan Harsin, and things could still work out just fine. But they aren't at the moment, and this wouldn't be a great time to find out what Boise's floor is.
Confidence meter: 5 out of 10. BSU has a chance to get right with road trips to New Mexico and UTEP and a visit from UT Martin. Aside from Air Force, no one else in the MWC has inspired huge confidence, so maybe this hand-wringing is pointless. But if the Broncos lose in Albuquerque next week ...
So JMU's going to be just fine in FBS, huh?
James Madison 44, Middle Tennessee 7
It was hard to get a read on how James Madison might fare in its first season at the FBS level. The Dukes were as FBS-ready as any FCS program could be, but they lost a ton of stars from last year's team, and plenty of former FCS powers have required at least a bit of a breaking-in period before thriving. (Other FCS powers have collapsed immediately. Looking at you, UMass.)
JMU was a 6-point favorite over MTSU at home on Saturday evening, and while SP+ was a bit less confident (JMU by 3.6), it still favored the Dukes to win a tight one. But the game was tight for only a quarter. Two touchdown passes from Todd Centeio to Reggie Brown opened the scoring in the second quarter, then three from Centeio to Kris Thornton turned the game into a rout.
JMU outgained the Blue Raiders by an obscene 548-119. Centeio threw six touchdown passes while rushing for nearly as many yards (110) as the entire MTSU team generated.
The Sun Belt East could be the best division in the Group of 5 this year, and JMU has plenty of stiff tests to come, starting with a Week 4 trip to Appalachian State. But ... wow. I think the Dukes are ready for the challenge.
Confidence meter: 10 out of 10! Unbeaten all-time at the FBS level! (OK, probably more like a 7 out of 10.)
Week 1's biggest overachievers and underachievers
Who else trumped expectations by a good amount this weekend? Let's go to the numbers. Here are the offenses that overachieved their projected scores (per SP+) the most. (Consequently, here are the defenses that underachieved the most as well.)
1. Appalachian State (vs. North Carolina): +32.5 (28.5 projected points, 61 actual points)
2. North Carolina (vs. App State): +31.5 (31.5 projected, 63 actual)
3. Central Michigan (vs. Oklahoma State): +25.8 (18.2 projected, 44 actual)
4. USC (vs. Rice): +24.1 (41.9 projected, 66 actual)
5. Arizona (vs. San Diego State): +23.2 (14.8 projected, 38 actual)
We'll get to the wonderful nonsense that was App-UNC below, but let's give a shoutout to Arizona. The five best bets I laid out in Friday's column went a rock-solid 3-1-1 overall, but the lone loss came in San Diego, where the Wildcats got up early on SDSU and cruised.
The impact of transfers was mixed throughout the country, but some key Arizona newcomers clicked: Jayden de Laura (formerly of Washington State) was at his gunslinging best, throwing for 299 yards and four scores, while D.J. Williams (Florida State) rushed for 88 yards and a score and big-play receiver Jacob Cowing (UTEP) caught eight balls for 152 yards and three scores. San Diego State looked hapless, and we'll find out how much of that was on the Aztecs and how much was because of Arizona, but this was a wonderful step forward for an Arizona program that had bottomed out of late.
Here are the offenses that underachieved projections (and the defenses that overachieved) the most.
1. Iowa (vs. South Dakota State): -25.9 (32.9 projected points, seven actual points)
2. Temple (vs. Duke): -25.4 (25.4 projected, zero actual)
3. Louisville (vs. Syracuse): -22.5 (29.5 projected, seven actual)
4. Navy (vs. Delaware): -22.1 (29.1 projected, seven actual)
5. MTSU (vs. JMU): -19.2 (26.2 projected, seven actual)
Any list that didn't start with Iowa would have seemed sketchy, but let's focus on Louisville. We might soon find out that Syracuse is on its way to a nice rebound season: The defense jumped from 97th to 54th in defensive SP+ last season and returned quite a bit of experience, and coach Dino Babers brought in former Virginia tag team Robert Anae (coordinator) and Jason Beck (QBs coach) to fix Garrett Shrader and the Orange's offense. For all we know, it worked.
But we've seen far too much potential from quarterback Malik Cunningham and the Louisville offense to accept a performance like this. Cunningham threw two interceptions and took three sacks, and while the Cardinals did average 6.2 yards per play and drive into Orange territory on five of nine drives -- more often than not, they turn that into far more than seven points -- the glitches were still damning.
Confidence meter: 4 out of 10. The Cardinals' next two opponents (UCF and Florida State) were both projected higher than Syracuse this year. The Syracuse game might end up a reality check or might end up a harbinger of doom.
Who won the Heisman this week?
Appalachian State fails the two-point conversion and falls 63-61 to North Carolina.
We're going to attempt an experiment this season: What happens if I award the Heisman every single week of the season and dole out weekly points, F1-style (in this case, 10 points for first place, 9 for second, etc.)? How will this Heisman race play out, and how different will the result be from the actual Heisman voting? Let's find out!
1. Stetson Bennett, Georgia (25-for-31 for 368 yards and two TDs vs. Oregon)
2. Spencer Sanders, Oklahoma State (28-for-41 for 406 yards and four TDs, plus 57 rushing yards and two TDs against CMU)
3. Bryce Young, Alabama (18-for-28 for 195 yards and five TDs, plus 100 rushing yards and one TD against Utah State)
4. Drake Maye, North Carolina (24-for-36 for 352 yards and four TDs, plus 76 rushing yards and one TD against Appalachian State)
5. Anthony Richardson, Florida (17-for-24 for 168 yards, plus 106 rushing yards and three TDs against Utah)
6. Caleb Williams, USC (19-for-22 for 249 yards and two TDs, plus 68 rushing yards against Rice)
7. Tory Taylor, Iowa (10 punts, seven downed inside the 20, 47.9 average in a puntfest against South Dakota State)
8. Braelon Allen, Wisconsin (14 carries for 148 yards and two TDs -- including a 96-yarder -- against Illinois State)
9. Jacoby Windmon, Michigan State (four sacks against Western Michigan)
10. Todd Centeio, James Madison (21-for-33 for 287 yards and six TDs, plus 110 rushing yards against MTSU)
We'll update the running point total each week.
My 10 favorite games of the weekend (so far)
(No, Iowa-South Dakota State didn't make the list.)
1. North Carolina 63, Appalachian State 61
5. No. 17 Pitt 38, West Virginia 31
8. No. 13 NC State 21, East Carolina 20
9. No. 19 Arkansas 31, No. 23 Cincinnati 24
10. D2: No. 5 Grand Valley State 25, No. 3 Colorado Mines 22
Words can only go so far to describe a game in which UNC (a) took a 20-point lead into the fourth quarter, (b) scored 22 points in the final 10 minutes and (c) still nearly lost.
Since 2000, only seven FBS teams had scored at least 40 points in a quarter, and in every instance it was a heavily favored team doing so over a cupcake -- Rutgers vs. Norfolk State (2007), Georgia vs. New Mexico State (2011), Boston College vs. Howard (2015), Middle Tennessee vs. Charlotte (2015), Miami vs. FAMU (2016), Ohio State vs. Miami (Ohio) (2019), BYU vs. UMass (2019). In all but one of those instances, the 40-point explosion came in the first half. No one had done it in the fourth quarter until App State.
Down 41-21, the Mountaineers scored, recovered a fumble, then scored again in three plays. UNC used a 71-yard pass to go back up 49-35, and App drove 77 yards in seven plays to make it 49-42. UNC punted, and Chase Brice found Camerun Peoples for a 38-yard score. The game was tied with four minutes left, but we weren't even in fifth gear yet. Drake Maye and D.J. Jones connected for 42 yards and the go-ahead score for UNC, but Brice found Dashaun Davis for a 28-yard score with 31 seconds left. App went for 2 points and the win, but Brice's lob sailed over a wide-open Davis' head.
App's onside kick attempt bounced right into Bryson Nesbit's hands, and he misguidedly returned it for a touchdown and a 63-55 lead, and two Brice-to-Kaedin Robinson passes put App right back in the end zone. But Brice was stuffed short of the end zone on another 2-point attempt, and UNC somehow survived.
Let's put it this way: If this game isn't in the top 10 of my year-end Top 100 Games of the Season list, this will have been one hell of a season.