College football fans were treated to a great couple of days on Friday and Saturday nights.
The Miami Hurricanes picked up a dramatic and controversial win over Virginia Tech, Rutgers wowed the home crowd in New Jersey with a victory over Washington, Kentucky upset Ole Miss, and Georgia and Alabama played an instant classic.
Those were just a handful of amazing matchups that took place.
After the dust cleared, there were clear winners and losers of the week.
Winners
Donald Trump: The former president and current Republican presidential candidate got a taste of SEC football on Saturday night as he took in Alabama vs. Georgia. Trump was greeted with “USA” chants and talked to OutKick’s Clay Travis about his experience at the stadium among other things.
UNLV: After quarterback Matthew Sluka decided to leave the Rebels football program after a dispute over NIL money, UNLV didn’t lose a step on offense. Hajj-Malik Williams had a fantastic game, helping the Rebels destroy Fresno State on Saturday afternoon. It seems like UNLV has moved on, and they’ve got themselves a QB that’s ready to lead them the rest of the way.
Indiana: Head coach Curt Cignetti has himself a squad, now sitting at 5-0 on the season after beating Maryland on Saturday, 42-28. The Hoosiers have a great chance at staying undefeated before a matchup with Ohio State next month. The Indiana offense is rolling, out-scoring opponents by almost 27 points per game. Watch out, this team could cause some problems in the Big Ten for the rest of the season.
Alabama: What can you say about the game on Saturday against Georgia that hasn’t already been mentioned numerous times? Jalen Milroe punished the Bulldogs defense in the first half and came up clutch late in the game with a touchdown pass to Ryan Williams that turned out to be the game-winning score. This was a massive win for Kalen DeBoer as he led Alabama to another win over Georgia with Nick Saban watching from the sidelines. If they play like this, the Crimson Tide will be making a run in the college football playoffs in December.
Monmouth: The Hawks are back on the winners list for the second consecutive week after routing the Fordham Rams in a 63-21 beatdown. Saturday’s win marked Monmouth’s third straight win and set a program record for points scored in a half (49), topping the previous record set in 2005. It also set a program record for points scored in a quarter (35), beating the previous mark set in 1998. Running back Sone Ntoh led the offense with 136 rushing yards and five touchdowns. The Hawks have now scored at least 42 points in their last seven wins.
Notre Dame: Just when everyone thought their CFP hopes were over due to their tough loss against Northern Illinois, they’re pulling themselves back in after yesterday’s win against No. 15 Louisville. They’re probably not a threat, but maybe they can win out and sneak into a playoff game.
Travis Hunter: Hunter has become a legitimate Heisman candidate as he’s helped lead Colorado to a surprising 4-1 start, and Deion Sanders and company are proving they can contend for an expanded playoff spot. There is no player in college football, and really not even in the NFL, who provides the impact Hunter does. It’s more appropriate to compare his impact to that of Shohei Ohtani than any active football player, college or pro.
Boise State: With a dominant win over unbeaten Washington State, Boise State has proven it belongs in the AP Top 25, and it is likely to stay there over at least the next two games with winnable matchups against Utah State and Hawaii. Then it has another prove-it game against UNLV. Running back Ashton Jeanty has four career games with over 200 yards rushing, which is tied for a Boise State school record. Jeanty currently leads the nation in rushing yards per game with an average of 195.33.
Ryan Williams: If you didn’t know about the 17-year-old phenom for the Crimson Tide entering this weekend, there’s no way you haven’t heard him name after what he was able to do in the win over Georgia.Williams is simply a star, catching just six passes for 1777 yards and a touchdown, a score that included an acrobatic catch, followed by a nifty spin move that saw two Bulldogs defenders hitting each other as he streaked down the right sideline.He’s not even 18 years old yet, but Williams is making noise as a true freshman star as he’s leading the country with yards per reception (28.9).
Kentucky: Perhaps the biggest upset of the week is the Wildcats taking down No. 5 Ole Miss, and it came after getting blown out by South Carolina and just losing to Georgia two weeks ago as well.The 20-17 came after Kentucky went 83 yards in just six plays as they trailed 17-13. Then, the Wildcats were able to get a huge stop on Jaxson Dart’s offense with the Rebels. This is just the win the Wildcats needed, as they have a tough schedule with Vanderbilt, Florida and Auburn moving forward before the No. 1 offense in the country, Tennessee, is on the schedule next month.
Jalen Milroe: Kirk Herbstreit said it best during the Alabama-Georgia broadcast: There are SEC-caliber players on the field, and the Crimson Tide quarterback was simply having his way running and throwing all over them.Milroe is a frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy and it shows why after what he was able to do against the Bulldogs. He threw for 374 yards, ran for 117 yards and was responsible for four total touchdowns against a team that didn’t allow a single touchdown through three weeks to start the season.Because of his efforts, the Crimson Tide are now the No. 1 team on the AP Top 25 rankings.
Losers
Tim Walz: The Minnesota governor and one half of the Harris-Walz ticket took in Michigan’s victory over Minnesota over the weekend. Unfortunately, the Golden Gophers couldn’t pick up the upset victory. But to add insult to injury, Walz was booed by some fans at the stadium. He shared a suit with Beto O’Rourke.
Replay officials: How replay review overturned Virginia Tech’s walk-off Hail Mary touchdown is quite unbelievable. It took way too long to make the call on the field (Miami began celebrating and then had to stop), and just about everyone was surprised at the final ruling. An incredible college football moment was snatched from us.
UCF: All of that hype coming into the game against Colorado was gone by halftime. The Gus Malzahn offense fell apart, and Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter took full advantage of a broken Knights offense. Also, Travis Hunter should be in the Heisman Trophy conversation, but that’s a story for another day.
Ole Miss: So much for blowing out competitive competition. Kentucky stormed into Oxford and ripped out the hearts of Rebel fans, along with head coach Lane Kiffin. The loss to the Wildcats doesn’t hurt the playoff chances for the Rebels, but if they continue to play like this, they will catch a few more losses before the regular season ends. Good day to be Kentucky, but a worse day for Ole Miss.
Hugh Freeze: Auburn is in a free fall after losing once again, this time to Oklahoma in Michael Hawkins Jr.’s first start at quarterback after replacing Jackson Arnold. The Sooners were down 21-10 in the fourth quarter but forced a few turnovers with a pick-six from Payton Thorne. Now the Tigers are in a tailspin, and I don’t know how they recover. This was another bad look for the Tigers, especially since Oklahoma was without five wide receivers. Things are getting bad on the Plains and for Hugh Freeze.
Florida State: A week removed from their first win of the season, the Seminoles were back in the loss column after a brutal 42-16 loss to SMU. Florida State opened in the preseason top 10, but after Saturday, the Seminoles hardly look like contenders in the ACC. For the third time in coach Mike Norvell’s five seasons, Florida State has lost three of its first four games.
Carson Beck: Sure, Beck amassed 400 yards, but that’s awfully skewed due to trailing all game (339 in second half). You cannot turn the ball over four times against Alabama and expect to win. These big games is where draft stock goes up and down, especially for someone like Beck who could be among the first-round talent in next year’s draft class. But this game isn’t one to add to the highlight tape, as Beck wasn’t on his best game.
Washington: For years, Rutgers had been the “pledging” program of the Big Ten as one of the conference’s more recent additions, paying its dues with less revenue sharing, overmatched by opponents and a basement-dwelling record. But now, Washington is a newcomer in the Big 10 and, even though it’s the national runner-up, losing the first conference game against a historically weak program like Rutgers has to be embarrassing for first-year head coach Jed Fisch and doesn’t set a promising tone about the program’s future in the conference.
North Carolina: Mack Brown is officially on the hot seat, as the Tar Heels were unable to take down its rival, Duke, after getting demolished by James Madison a week ago.It was a much closer game this time around, but UNC was on the losing end of the 21-20 finish. When you have to respond to rumors that you might be stepping down after a blowout, things are definitely not going well.Brown could very well be in his last season leading the Tar Heels if things don’t start going in their favor soon.
Payton Thorne: The Tigers had all the momentum on their side at home against the Oklahoma Sooners, but that all changed in the fourth quarter when Thorne, the country’s leader in interceptions, threw a pick-six that changed the course of the game.Through four games, Thorne, the fifth-year senior, has six interceptions to 10 touchdowns and the Tigers are now 2-3 and 0-2 in conference play with Georgia looking for it’s get-right game against Auburn this week.Things are not looking good for Thorne and the Tigers right now
The Fox News Digital Sports college football winners and losers were compiled by the Fox News Digital Sports staff and the OutKick.com staff.
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