Daily briefing: On Hendon Hooker and the Vols, Caleb Williams and Matt Campbell vs. Iowa
Ivan Maisel’s “Daily Briefing” for On3:
Pitt-Tennessee has a lot of storylines
You can measure how far No. 24 Tennessee has come under coach Josh Heupel by their home-and-home with No. 17 Pitt. The Panthers beat the Vols 41-34 last season in Knoxville, a loss that nonetheless set Tennessee on its path toward a surprising 7-6 record. Hendon Hooker entered the game at quarterback in the second quarter, when Joe Milton got hurt. Try getting Hooker out of the lineup now. A young Vols team failed to score the tying touchdown on consecutive trips into Pitt territory in the fourth quarter, including a failed fourth-and-1 from Pitt’s 3. A more confident Tennessee hits the road this week. And Pitt, the defending ACC champs, proved in the Backyard Brawl that it still knows how to win a close game. Will the Pitt fans bring it against Tennessee? West Virginia committed five false starts and two delay-of-game penalties last week.
The do-it-all Caleb Williams
When asked this week to assess USC quarterback Caleb Williams, who travels to Stanford Stadium on Saturday, Cardinal coach David Shaw hesitated. Then he went there. “I don’t want it to be taken the wrong way, in that people always talk about the athleticism of the Black quarterback, right?” Shaw said. “But the combination of his athleticism and his arm strength – it’s rare that he can run away from you, he can run over you, but he can also stand in the pocket and make the big-time NFL throws. It’s that combination of his athleticism and his decision-making. There’s really not much that he’s not able to do.” Williams, obviously comfortable in coach Lincoln Riley’s offense, made a stunning Trojans debut against Rice (19-of-22 for 249 yards and two touchdowns, 68 rushing yards) in a 66-14 rout.
Can Matt Campbell beat Iowa?
One game into his seventh season, Matt Campbell already is second in Iowa State history with 43 victories. The fans set attendance records last season at Jack Trice Stadium. The Cyclones have finished with a winning record in Big 12 play for five consecutive seasons. They have beaten 10 ranked teams in that time. In other words, the fans love Campbell. But they do have one, small, teeny request. Would it be possible to beat Iowa? Campbell is 0-5 against Kirk Ferentz and the Hawkeyes, including an overtime loss in 2017 and a one-point loss in 2019. Iowa appears vulnerable, which you would say about any team that scored seven points the hard way and gained 166 yards of total offense against FCS South Dakota State. We all know how good the Iowa defense is, but if Iowa State doesn’t win this one, Campbell’s in-state losing streak will begin to cast a long shadow over a showy career.