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          College football Week 4 recap: Early-season surprising stars team

          Quarterback Kurtis Rourke, a transfer from Ohio, has been nearly perfect during Indiana's undefeated start. James Black/Icon Sportswire
          • Bill ConnellySep 22, 2024, 06:30 PM ET
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              Bill Connelly is a writer for ESPN. He covers college football, soccer and tennis. He has been at ESPN since 2019.
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          Tennessee's James Pearce Jr. has half a sack. Oklahoma State's Ollie Gordon II is averaging 3.5 yards per carry. Missouri's Luther Burden III is on pace for about 850 receiving yards. Georgia's Carson Beck is 12th in Total QBR -- good, but not "best player in the country?" good.

          These players' teams are a combined 17-2, mind you; they haven't been epic disappointments by any means. But four weeks into the 2024 college football season, a lot of the players we thought would be the best in the country haven't really found fifth gear.

          The great thing about college football, though? There is always a new batch of stars ready to break through. This season has not lacked in the Great Performances category even if those performances didn't come from whom we thought they would.

          So as we look back on a wacky Week 4, let's take a look at the biggest surprise stars of the year. For both offense and defense, let's name a starting 22. (Anyone who wasn't in our preseason top 100 players list qualifies. That disqualifies a few of the season's biggest stars to date, such as No. 25 Ashton Jeanty and No. 56 Cam Ward.)

          Jump to a section:
          Unexpected stars | Surprising results
          Heisman of week | 10 favorite games

          The 2024 'surprise stars' offense

          QUARTERBACK

          Kurtis Rourke, Indiana. I don't want to alarm anybody, but Indiana -- the Indiana that has won more than eight games in a season just twice and hasn't done so since the Beatles were still together -- now has, per SP+, a 55% chance of finishing the regular season 9-3 or better. And while Curt Cignetti's army of James Madison transfers has played a huge role in that, another newcomer has played an even larger role.

          Rourke, of the Ohio Football Rourkes (his brother Nathan is a former CFL star and current Atlanta Falcons backup), transferred from Ohio and has become an immediate hit during the Hoosiers' 4-0 start. He is currently fourth in Total QBR and is on pace for 4,000 passing yards. The schedule is about to get more difficult, but Rourke, who threw for 258 yards and one TD (and rushed for another score) in IU's 52-14 win over Charlotte on Saturday, has been just about perfect so far.

          Backup: Cade Klubnik, Clemson. Granted, there may be signs that both Appalachian State and NC State, Klubnik's two 2024 victims, are absolutely awful this season. But he and the Tigers have still responded brilliantly to their Week 1 dud against Georgia. In the past two weeks, he has completed 40 of 50 passes for 587 yards and eight touchdowns, plus 75 non-sack rushing yards and three more scores. Clemson scored 125 combined points on the Mountaineers and Wolfpack, and Klubnik has quickly begun using both his legs and a downfield passing game to his benefit.

          Backup: Drew Allar, Penn State. We heard so much about Allar's blue-chip arm heading into 2023, his first season as PSU's starting QB, but we barely ever actually saw him use it amid a sea of checkdowns and safe passes.

          This year? He's using it.

          Allar ranks fifth in Total QBR through four weeks. He needed only 21 passes to gain 309 yards with three scores in a romp over lowly Kent State on Saturday. How he performs against Illinois' dynamite pass defense this coming week will tell a lot, but so far Allar's partnership with new coordinator Andy Kotelnicki has been a beautiful thing.

          Backup: John Mateer, Washington State. You cannot take your eyes off a Washington State game. Both Mateer and wild finishes demand you keep watching them at all times. After a second straight wild win -- this one a Friday night overtime victory over San Jose State -- the Cougs are 4-0 and, per SP+, have a 7% chance of reaching 12-0. Only 11 teams have better odds.

          Mateer isn't immune from misfires; he threw two interceptions and took three sacks against SJSU on Friday night. But it's the price you pay for superior swashbuckling. He also threw for 390 yards and four scores while leading Wazzu in rushing with 127 non-sack yards and another TD. He's 14th in Total QBR, 15th in passing yards and, among QBs, first in non-sack rushing yards. He does everything.

          RUNNING BACK

          Kaleb Johnson, Iowa. I am once again trying not to alarm people, but ... Iowa is up to 88th in offensive SP+! Don't laugh: The Hawkeyes were 129th last season. This is a massive improvement, and it hasn't come from the passing game. (Cade McNamara: currently 113th in Total QBR behind benched players such as Michigan's Davis Warren and Oklahoma's Jackson Arnold.) Nope, it's just come from the fact that, when Iowa runs the ball, it goes a long way. Johnson leads the nation with 685 yards and carried the Hawkeyes to a 31-14 win over rival Minnesota on Saturday evening thanks to a 21-carry, 206-yard, 3-touchdown performance. He has been one of the most efficient and explosive backs in the country thus far.

          Backups: Ja'Quinden Jackson, Arkansas; Kyle Monangai, Rutgers; Dylan Sampson, Tennessee; Cam Skattebo, Arizona State.

          WIDE RECEIVER

          Nick Nash, San José State. Despite Friday night's gut-wrenching loss to Washington State, San Jose State has been a delightful surprise, overachieving against projections in four games while starting 3-1 in head coach Ken Niumatalolo's first season. The running game hasn't really been there, but that doesn't matter much when you've got the nation's leading receiver. Nash has 637 yards, and he's carrying a massive load: In the past two games he has caught 33 balls for 377 yards and five scores. He had 58 career catches in three years heading into 2024; he has 50 this season.

          Tai Felton, Maryland. Over the past couple of decades, Maryland has sent star WRs such as Stefon Diggs, D.J. Moore, Torrey Smith and Darrius Heyward Bey to the NFL, so it's not entirely surprising that the Terps might have another star pass catcher on their hands. Felton enjoyed a breakout season in 2023, catching 48 balls for 723 yards and six scores. One-third of the way through 2024, he has almost topped that: Following his 14-catch, 157-yard performance against Villanova on Saturday, he's got 41 receptions for 604 yards and five scores.

          Ja'Corey Brooks, Louisville. Remember him? Louisville is 3-0 and up to 12th in SP+ following a 31-19 win over Georgia Tech, and Brooks -- hero of the 2021 Iron Bowl while wearing a different shade of red -- is coming up bigger in every game. He caught four passes for 125 yards against the Yellow Jackets, and his 57-yard touchdown in the third quarter gave the Cardinals a lead they wouldn't relinquish. A strange, start-and-stop career could end with a 1,300-yard season.

          Backups: Andrew Armstrong, Arkansas; Jack Bech, TCU; Jaylin Noel, Iowa State; Devonte Ross, Troy; Ryan Williams, Alabama.

          TIGHT END

          Brant Kuithe, Utah. Granted, Kuithe would have absolutely been in our preseason top 100 had he not missed 23 straight games with injury in 2022 and 2023. He somehow has picked up where he left off, however, gaining at least 68 receiving yards in three of four games. With starting QB Cam Rising out in a huge Big 12 road game against Oklahoma State, he caught four passes from freshman Isaac Wilson, including a 45-yard touchdown that put the Utes up 22-3 in the fourth quarter of a 22-19 win. Kuithe also did a little bit of moonlighting as a Wildcat QB in the first half.

          play
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          Utah's Brant Kuithe scores a rushing TD

          Brant Kuithe powers into the end zone to give Utah a 10-3 lead.

          Find yourself a seventh-year tight end who can do it all.

          Backups: Harold Fannin Jr., Bowling Green; Tyler Warren, Penn State.

          OFFENSIVE LINE

          LT Hollin Pierce, Rutgers. Heading into Rutgers' Week 4 win over Virginia Tech, the Scarlet Knights' starting offensive line had been credited with zero combined blown run blocks in two games. And from his left tackle position, Pierce, the 6-foot-8, 344-pound senior (and former walk-on) from Trenton, New Jersey, had allowed zero sacks or pressures too. The going got a bit tougher for running back Kyle Monangai and his line against the Hokies, but they gutted out a 26-23 win all the same.

          LG Kamaar Bell, South Carolina. South Carolina coach Shane Beamer upgraded his lines by a good amount through the transfer portal, and Bell, who began his career at Auburn before spending three seasons at Florida Atlantic, has been a rock. In the Gamecocks' walloping of Kentucky and near upset of LSU, he attempted 50 pass blocks and allowed zero pressures, and he attempted 56 run blocks and was credited with zero blown blocks.

          C Zach Carpenter, Miami. Hey, speaking of upgraded lines, Miami has suffered run stops at or behind the line on just 7.8% of its rushes this season. That ranks first in the country. The Hurricanes have converted 100% of their short-yardage rushing attempts too, also first, and they're top 20 in pressure rate allowed (19.2%) as well. This line has been dynamite, and it starts with nearly flawless play from Carpenter, a two-year starter at Indiana who elected to spend his senior season in a warmer climate.

          RG Miles Frazier, LSU. Expectations were high for LSU's offensive line, but that was primarily because of tackles Will Campbell and Emery Jones Jr. But Frazier might have been the best of the bunch so far. A 6-5, 325-pound three-year starter, he has been virtually perfect, with zero blown blocks in his first three games (a run that includes tight games against USC and South Carolina).

          RT Connor Finucane, Army. Guess who's 2-0 in AAC play in its first year back in a conference since 2004? Guess who now has the second-best odds of winning the AAC, per SP+? Jeff Monken's Army Black Knights! They romped over Rice 37-14 on Saturday, and their offensive execution has been nearly flawless: They're second nationally in rushing yards per game, third in rushing success rate and fifth in stuff rate allowed, and heading into Saturday's game they had not been credited with either a blown run block or pressure allowed. You cannot disrupt this offense, especially on the right side, where the hulking Finucane, a fourth-year starter, lurks.

          Backups: Tyler Doty, Buffalo; Tyler Needham, Rutgers; Xavier Truss, Georgia

          The 2024 'surprise stars' defense

          EDGE RUSHERS

          Kyle Kennard, South Carolina. A Georgia Tech transfer from Atlanta, Kennard has been credited with 7.5 tackles this season. All of them have been for a loss, including 5.5 sacks. He also has forced two fumbles and been in on three run stops. The additions of Kennard and blue-chip freshman Dylan Stewart have been transformative. The Gamecocks didn't have a pass rush, and poof, now they have one of the best in the country. And despite already being two games into SEC play, they've allowed just 17.0 points per game after allowing 26.3 last season.

          Tyler Baron, Miami. Yet another impact transfer. A four-year contributor for Tennessee, Baron averaged 4.2 sacks among 8.8 TFLs over the previous three seasons. He was a known entity, but we didn't necessarily know that he had another gear into which he could shift. In just three games with the Canes, Baron already has 4.5 sacks among seven TFLs; he didn't have to do much in The U's 50-15 win over South Florida on Saturday (he was in on three tackles, 0.5 for loss), but he has been absolute dynamite for a defense that has risen from 34th to 21st in defensive SP+ since the start of the season.

          Backups: Ben Bell, Texas State; Van Fillinger, Utah; Gabe Jacas, Illinois; Que Robinson, Alabama; J-Rock Swain, Jacksonville State; Bradyn Swinson, LSU; Wesley Williams, Duke

          INTERIOR LINE

          T.J. Jackson, West Virginia. A bit of a tweener at 6-foot-1, 282 pounds, Jackson has been phenomenal since joining the Mountaineers from Troy this offseason. In Saturday's comeback win over Kansas, the two-time All-Sun Belt honoree was in on six tackles with 1.5 TFLs and a sack; that came after a brilliant four-TFL, 1.5-sack performance against rival Pitt last week. He has been in on eight havoc plays (TFLs, passes defensed, forced fumbles), most in the nation among defensive tackles.

          TJ Bush Jr., Liberty. Two years ago, Bush was the Virginia 6A state defensive player of the year. Last year he was a Freshman All-American. And this year, only four players have been involved in more havoc plays than Bush has. He has been involved in six sacks, and he has broken up three passes for a Liberty defense that needs a few Bush clones to deploy. Despite playing against four offenses ranked 109th or worse in offensive SP+, the Flames are 51st in points allowed per drive and 48th in success rate allowed; just imagine where they'd be without him.

          Backups: Gracen Halton, Oklahoma; Kevin Pointer, Wake Forest; Ty Robinson, Nebraska.

          INSIDE LINEBACKER

          Shaun Dolac, Buffalo. A former walk-on from the Lance Leipold days, Dolac was second nationally in tackles in 2022 before missing most of last season with injury. He has not missed a beat. In Saturday's 23-20 upset of Northern Illinois, he was almost literally everywhere: He made 19 tackles (15 solo) with 4.5 TFLs, a pass breakup and a 53-yard interception return as NIU was driving to take the lead midway through the fourth quarter.

          It's rare to find a tackling-machine linebacker who is also one of the best defensive playmakers in the sport. Dolac checks both of those boxes and then some.

          Trenilyas Tatum, Georgia Tech. Only two players can claim at least 5 pass pressures, 6 run stops and 7.5 TFLs thus far: Tatum and T.J. Jackson. Tatum was a rather well-regarded recruit from the Geoff Collins days, and while the Yellow Jackets' secondary has performed dismally thus far, Tatum's contributions have helped Tech create one of the nation's better September run defenses.

          Backups: Jordan Cobbs, San Jose State; Chandler Martin, Memphis; Francisco Mauigoa, Miami; Xander Mueller, Northwestern.

          DEFENSIVE BACK

          DB Al'zillion Hamilton, Fresno State. Heading into Saturday's win over New Mexico, Hamilton had been targeted 10 times by opposing quarterbacks and had allowed just three completions for 35 yards. Against the Lobos, he picked off his first pass of the season, broke up his sixth and seventh and recorded 1.5 tackles for loss just for grins. The 5-11, 186-pound junior from Hayward, California, became a sturdy starter last season and appears to have raised his game significantly for the second straight year. And if his Bulldogs can beat UNLV on Saturday, they'll be Boise State's primary competition in the hunt for the Mountain West title.

          CB/Nickel Xavier Scott, Illinois. He's second in the nation in interceptions (three), one of which he took to the house for a pick-six. He rushed the passer once on a blitz and recorded a sack. He has forced a pair of fumbles. He made a big first-down run stop in the fourth quarter against Nebraska. Scott is a dynamite outside linebacker in a cornerback's body, and he can play wherever he's asked: Heading into the Nebraska game, he had recorded 54% of his snaps at slot corner, 38% at cornerback and even 8% at linebacker.

          S Jalen Catalon, UNLV. A sixth-year senior who started for Barry Odom's first Arkansas defense in 2020, Catalon was a role player for Texas' CFP team last fall but rejoined Odom in Las Vegas this offseason. He has been just about perfect during UNLV's unbeaten start. He has picked off three passes, including one during the Rebels' Week 3 upset of Kansas, he has missed only one tackle despite always being isolated in space, and he has allowed a QBR of just 6.8 as primary coverage guy. The Rebels are 3-0 for the first time since Randall Cunningham was their QB, and a transformed defense has been responsible for a lot of their success.

          S Keon Sabb, Alabama. One of my biggest concerns for Alabama heading into 2024 was the fact that the secondary was getting almost completely rebuilt. Only two Tide DBs who saw the field at all last year returned. But you'd never know it. The Crimson Tide are currently first in passing success rate allowed and first in yards allowed per dropback, and Sabb, a part-time starter on Michigan's 2023 national title team, has been a major reason. Bouncing between safety and slot corner, he has allowed just a 4.6 QBR in coverage with two interceptions and 3.5 tackles at or behind the line (including two run stops). He fits coordinator Kane Wommack's defense like a glove.

          NB Jakob Robinson, BYU. After three straight years of regression, BYU's defense has perked up in a major way in 2024, jumping from 94th in defensive SP+ in 2023 to 38th early in 2024. The Cougars' pass defense -- 13th in passing success rate allowed, 10th in yards per dropback, 28th in interception rate -- is the driving factor, and Robinson is either first or tied for first on the team in havoc plays (7), interceptions (1), breakups (3), and forced fumbles and recovered fumbles (1 each). Opponents targeted him 13 times in the first three weeks, but he allowed only four completions for 20 yards in that span, and he was second on the team in tackles and forced a fumble in the upset of Kansas State. He's a do-it-all presence for what is quickly becoming a do-it-all secondary.

          Backups: Trey Amos, Ole Miss; Zion Childress, Kentucky; Cam Stone, Hawai'i; Nohl Williams, California.

          The five most surprising results

          Here are the five results that were furthest away from their respective SP+ projections. Call them either surprises or bad projections, I guess.

          1. BYU 38, Kansas State 9 (projection: K-State by 9.8). At one point in the third quarter in Provo, Utah, Kansas State had gained 264 yards to BYU's 162; the Wildcats were losing 31-6. In less than six minutes, BYU went on a 28-0 run driven by a fumble return score, two interceptions and a glorious, 90-yard Parker Kingston punt return. K-State imploded, and BYU moved to 4-0 by taking full advantage.

          2. South Alabama 48, Appalachian State 14 (projection: App by 3.8). In their first two games, Major Applewhite's USA Jags underachieved versus SP+ projections by a combined 30.1 points. In the past two weeks, they've overachieved by 81.5. They've scored 135 points in two games. (Meanwhile, App has now gotten absolutely crushed twice in three weeks. Not great.)

          3. Jacksonville State 44, Southern Miss 7 (projection: JSU by 1.9). JSU has pulled a mini-South Alabama, underachieving by 28.0 points in two weeks, then overachieving by 38.7 in the next two. The Gamecocks' offense is figuring things out in a hurry.

          4. UConn 48, Florida Atlantic 14 (projection: FAU by 0.4). Since a Week 1 pasting by Maryland, UConn has overachieved against projections by nearly four touchdowns per game. The Huskies' running game is smoking hot.

          5. James Madison 70, North Carolina 50 (projection: UNC by 11.3). SEVENTY. SEVENTY POINTS. This actually leads us nicely into the next section.

          Who won the Heisman this week?

          I am once again awarding the Heisman every single week of the season and doling out weekly points, F1-style (in this case, 10 points for first place, 9 for second, and so on). How will this Heisman race play out, and how different will the result be from the actual Heisman voting?

          Here is this week's Heisman top 10:

          1. Alonza Barnett III, James Madison (22-for-34 passing for 388 yards and 5 touchdowns, plus 110 rushing yards and 2 TDs against North Carolina).

          2. Blake Horvath, Navy (9-for-12 passing for 192 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus 224 rushing yards and 4 TDs against Memphis)

          3. Shedeur Sanders, Colorado (25-for-41 passing for 341 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus 78 rushing yards and a touchdown against Baylor)

          4. Kalel Mullings, Michigan (17 carries for 159 yards and two touchdowns against USC)

          5. Cam Ward, Miami (24-for-34 passing for 404 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT, plus 43 rushing yards against South Florida)

          6. Travis Hunter, Colorado (7 catches for 130 yards, plus 3 tackles and a game-clinching forced fumble against Baylor)

          7. Tre Harris, Ole Miss (11 catches for 225 yards and 2 touchdowns against Georgia Southern)

          8. Jordan Cobbs, San José State (8 tackles, 3 TFLs, 2 sacks and a 55-yard interception return against Washington State)

          9. Kaleb Johnson, Iowa (21 carries for 206 yards and 3 touchdowns against Minnesota)

          10. Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss (22-for-31 passing for 382 yards, 4 TDs and an INT, plus 36 rushing yards against Georgia Southern)

          At one point early in the second quarter against UNC, James Madison had benefited from a blocked punt touchdown return, a 50-yard field goal and a couple of long bombs, but the Dukes led by only a 25-21 margin. I was concerned because it felt like they had shot off all their fireworks but barely led. Then Barnett kept finding more fireworks. After scoring just 13 points in a tight, dire win over Gardner-Webb, Barnett & Co. put together one of the most impressive offensive performances you'll ever see from a Group of 5 team.

          It took something of Barnett's caliber to keep Blake Horvath from getting the 10 first-place points this week. After nearly upsetting Memphis last year, Navy did the deed -- and put a massive dent in the Tigers' CFP hopes -- with an almost perfect option-QB performance. Horvath was FBS' leading rusher for Week 4 and, oh yeah, gained 192 yards in 12 throws.

          Barnett and Horvath absolutely had to take the top two spots even though bigger names -- Shedeur Sanders pulling off maybe his most clutch performance, Kalel Mullings carrying tacklers to a Michigan win, Cam Ward and Jaxson Dart doing Ward and Dart things again -- were also very good.

          Honorable mention:

          • Drew Allar, Penn State (17-for-21 passing for 309 yards and 3 touchdowns, plus 28 rushing yards and one TD against Kent State)

          • Robby Ashford, South Carolina (15-for-21 passing for 243 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus 157 rushing yards and 1 TD against Akron)

          • Micah Bernard, Utah (25 carries for 182 yards against Oklahoma State)

          • Bryson Daily, Army (6-for-9 passing for 107 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus 145 rushing yards and 3 TDs against Rice)

          • Tyler Huff, Jacksonville State (14-for-16 passing for 236 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT, plus 85 rushing yards and 1 TD against Southern Miss)

          • Nate Noel, Missouri (24 carries for 199 yards against Vanderbilt)

          • Patrick Payton, Florida State (5 tackles, 3.5 TFLs and 3 sacks against California)

          • Devonte Ross, Troy (11 catches for 229 yards and 3 touchdowns against Florida A&M)

          • Josaiah Stewart, Michigan (4 tackles, 3 TFLs, 2 sacks and a forced fumble against USC)

          And a special shoutout to BYU's Parker Kingston, who didn't make the list but did do this:

          LaVell Edwards Stadium was absolutely hopping Saturday night.

          Through four weeks, here are your points leaders:

          1. Cam Ward, Miami (19)
          2. Ashton Jeanty, Boise State (15)
          3. Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss (14)
          4T. Alonza Barnett III, James Madison (10)
          4T. Travis Hunter, Colorado (10)
          4T. Cade Klubnik, Clemson (10)
          4T. Arch Manning, Texas (10)
          8T. Antario Brown, Northern Illinois (9)
          8T. Dillon Gabriel, Oregon (9)
          8T. Blake Horvath, Navy (9)
          8T. Miller Moss, USC (9)

          Dart should probably get bonus points for having made the list in all four weeks. Ward has done it three times, while Jeanty, Hunter and Alabama's Jalen Milroe have done it twice. I guess in one more week we can award the vaunted September Heisman!

          My 10 favorite games of the weekend

          If I hadn't already played the "just build the entire column out of the favorite games list" card two weeks ago, I might have had to do it this week. I couldn't fit even a sliver of the worthy games into this list.

          1. Colorado 38, Baylor 31 (OT). Through 58 minutes, the story of this game was quarterback Sawyer Robertson and Baylor's revival. Behind the lanky redshirt freshman (who threw for 148 yards and rushed for 82 more, 45 on a touchdown run), the Bears led for most of the last three quarters, and Robertson's second TD pass and a fierce pass rush had them on the brink of a win. But then the last drive happened. Sanders took his seventh and eighth sacks of the evening and faced a second-and-24 from the Colorado 31 with less than a minute left. Then he completed two passes, converted a fourth down with his legs and threw a perfect pass to Will Sheppard for a shocking touchdown with eight seconds left ... but Sheppard dropped it.

          No worries! Sanders did the exact same damn thing to LaJohntay Wester as time expired.

          Colorado quickly scored in OT, and as Baylor was about to tie things up, Travis Hunter forced a Dominic Richardson fumble into the end zone. Somehow Colorado is 1-0 in Big 12 play. Unreal.

          2. No. 18 Michigan 27, No. 11 USC 24. It took something as wild as Colorado-Baylor to keep this one out of the top spot. Fourteen Alex Orji pass attempts netted just 22 yards, but Michigan's decision to double down on manball paid off. Kalel Mullings and Donovan Edwards combined to rush for 233 yards and three TDs, and Mullings' burly 63-yard run set up his second-most impressive carry: a 2-yard, no-skipping-leg-days touchdown with 37 seconds left.

          3-5. Washington State 54, San José State 52 (2OT); No. 24 Illinois 31, No. 22 Nebraska 24 (OT); Stanford 26, Syracuse 24. We were so impossibly spoiled this week. Before Saturday even began, we had already seen a trio of Friday night classics. First, Stanford won its inaugural ACC game despite Syracuse rallying from a 10-point second-half deficit behind a couple of huge plays by Orange quarterback Kyle McCord. But on fourth-and-9 with 37 seconds left, Ashton Daniels linked up with Elic Ayomanor for 27 yards to set up Emmet Kenney's 39-yard winning field goal.

          From there, we flipped over to Illinois-Nebraska, where a back-and-forth encounter looked like it was trending toward Nebraska. But Dylan Raiola just missed a wide-open touchdown pass with three minutes left, John Hohl missed a go-ahead field goal, Illinois won just about every play in OT, and Nebraska figured out yet another new way to lose a close game.

          And then there was the nutty nightcap in Pullman, Washington. San José State outscored Wazzu 21-0 in the third quarter to take a 38-24 lead heading into the fourth, but the Cougars responded with a three-touchdown run of their own to storm back. Emmett Brown and TreyShun Hurry connected for a go-ahead Spartans score with 26 seconds left, but Dean Janikowski's 52-yard field goal at the buzzer sent it to OT. Both teams threw interceptions in the first OT, but after a Wazzu TD and 2-point conversion, SJSU scored in response but couldn't convert the 2-pointer. In a normal week, this would have been No. 1.

          6. Western Kentucky 26, Toledo 21. While the final stages of Baylor-Colorado were unfolding, this ridiculous sequence was as well.

          7. West Virginia 32, Kansas 28. Before the exhausting Saturday evening session, we got this one in the early window. (Well, early-ish. It kicked off at noon Eastern but didn't finish until 5:41 because of a weather delay.) Luke Grimm's 32-yard touchdown run gave Kansas a 28-17 lead with 5:39 left, but West Virginia quickly scored, forced a three-and-out and drove 67 yards for the winning TD, a 15-yard pass from Garrett Greene to Rodney Gallagher III.

          8. No. 7 Missouri 30, Vanderbilt 27 (2OT). And then there was this one! It gets a point deduction because of five combined missed field goals (and because this Mizzou alum was not enjoying himself late), but after the teams traded touchdowns in the first overtime, Mizzou's Blake Craig avoided the yips by hitting a 37-yard field goal. Vandy's Brock Taylor badly hooked a 31-yarder with a thunderstorm rolling toward Columbia, Missouri, and somehow the Tigers made it to 4-0.

          9. Monmouth 45, Florida International 42. The second game at freshly renamed Pitbull Stadium didn't turn out so well for the home team. FIU led 14-0 within 10 minutes, but a 28-7 Monmouth run gave the Hawks a fourth-quarter advantage. FIU tied it up, but a Michael Calton Jr. field goal put Monmouth ahead, and as leading FIU receiver Eric Rivers was charging into the end zone for the go-ahead score, Deuce Lee forced and recovered a fumble instead.

          10. Division II/FCS: Clark Atlanta 38, Bethune-Cookman 37. I'm giving short shrift to the smaller schools this week, but I like to think we will always find space for "True freshman kicker nails 55-yard field goal at the buzzer to score an interdivision upset."

          What a week.