Week 4 Overreactions: Mack Brown should've resigned, USC missed opportunity, QB misgivings at Oklahoma and Kansas State

The first day of fall has come and gone, and after four games for most teams, things are starting to crystalize for the 2024 season. 

Here are some Week 4 overreactions.

Mack Brown should’ve followed through with his resignation, retirement 

One of our nation’s Founding Fathers hung 70 points on North Carolina, and after being humiliated at home by James Madison, perhaps Mack Brown will finally realize that Father Time is truly undefeated. 

JMU 70. UNC 50.

That’s not a typo. Nor a hoops score in early November. 

The Tar Heels allowed the Dukes to roll up 53 points (a UNC program-worst) in the first half, giving up a pick-six, a blocked punt scoop-and-score and five touchdowns by quarterback Alonza Barnett III. 

It’s way past time for one the more distinguished figures in college football to hang it up, and yet the 73-year-old Hall of Fame head coach reportedly teased quitting in an emotional message to his team, only to clarify that his comments were simply a suggestion he would walk away if he couldn’t fix things.

Brown should’ve actually followed through with it, and gracefully resigned and retired after that showing from his team. 

He hasn’t had the answer to “fix” UNC’s terrible defense for six years now. The Tar Heels are on their third different coordinator since 2019, and second in three seasons (the Gene Chizik disaster and now the Geoff Collins calamity). 

There’s no NFL quarterback to bail Mack Brown out anymore, though. Omarion Hampton can rush for 140 yards and three touchdowns and it doesn’t matter. The defense, which allowed eight plays over 20 yards, remains baby-blue Charmin soft. 

James Madison believed in a strong central government. Mack Brown still believes that — despite being “100 percent at fault” — he is the right coach to lead North Carolina into the future. 

In 2024, that’s an abuse of power. Gracefully exit stage left, coach.

USC blew a chance to make a major playoff statement 

D’Anton Lynn’s defense had bowed up against Michigan in the second half. The Trojans had allowed just 20 yards after halftime and were two minutes away from positioning themselves for a real chance to contend for the Big Ten Championship. A win in the Big House — against the reigning national champion Wolverines — would give Lincoln Riley & Co., a second-statement victory before the end of September. 

And then they blew it. 

At the worst possible time, USC’s prior tackling woes reared their ugly head, as Michigan tailback Kalel Mullings ran through corner John Humphreys and safety Kamari Ramsey for a 63-yard gain to set up his eventual one-yard plunge for the winning touchdown. 

If USC manages to get Mullings on the ground at the 40ish-yard line, they win the game.

Alex Orji didn’t stand a chance passing Michigan to victory (32 yards on 12 attempts!), but the Wolverines never had to tempt such fate because Mullings donned a Superman cape and won the game himself. 

When the Trojans rewatch the film from Saturday’s game they’ll be kicking themselves — because there was plenty to like. They got punched in the mouth early, but shook off a couple of brutal jabs to rally from a 14-0 deficit. Miller Moss threw a back-breaking pick-six, only to turn around and throw a pair of touchdown passes (including one on 3rd-and-16) the next two series. Lynn’s defense rallied to the ball really well in the second half. 

But it wasn’t enough because the Trojans made a late, grave mistake. We’ll find out how costly those missed tackles might’ve been later this fall. 

All of USC’s goals — a Big Ten title, a playoff berth — remain achievable. But the missed opportunity at Michigan simply makes the road a whole lot harder. 

Are Oklahoma and Kansas State having misgivings about their offseason QB decisions?

At the end of the 2023 season, a pair of programs made purposeful decisions to move on from a pair of veteran quarterbacks in favor of hot-shot 5-star freshman. 

Welcome to the new age of quarterback economics. 

Dillion Gabriel led the Big 12 in nearly every passing statistic in 2023 but was told, ‘Thank you for your services, the exit is this way,’ as Brent Venables moved on to the Jackson Arnold era. 

Or so he thought. 

The volatility with quarterbacks, even ones extremely talented, is high, and Arnold has been so turnover-prone through four games in 2024 that Venables actually made the shocking decision to bench the former top recruit against Tennessee on Saturday. 

In five career starts, Arnold has nine turnovers, and his carelessness with the football (like fumbling inside the 5-yard line one play after OU’s defense recorded a key takeaway) was going to cost the Sooners a winnable game at some point. 

This is the danger of ushering in a youth movement because basic math: Years (Arnold has three seasons of eligibility remaining, while Gabriel has one) + NIL deals = require coaches to do so. 

What if Gabriel was on this OU team instead of Oregon? Sure, the Sooners have major OL problems and a beat up wideout room, but they have a legitimate Top 15 defense that presented Tennessee plenty of problems Saturday.

But they never had a chance to win the game because their quarterback play was so bad. Would that have been the case if Gabriel were behind center?

Well, Kansas State woke up Sunday asking itself a similar question: Did they make a mistake pushing out Will Howard so the Avery Johnson Show could get started?

Johnson had been just so-so the first three weeks of the season, and then Sunshine self-immolated at BYU on Saturday night. A 6-3 game late in the second quarter turned into a 31-6 deficit early in the third quarter after the sophomore threw two horrible interceptions, took a delay of game out of a timeout and got stopped on multiple fourth downs.

Both Johnson and Arnold have tremendous upside, and they raise the ceilings for Oklahoma and Kansas State, but their floors are mistakably lower than that of Gabriel and Howard — and we saw that first-hand for both programs Saturday night. 

Oklahoma is now dealing with a midseason quarterback controversy no one saw coming, while Kansas State must find a way to rediscover Johnson’s swagger and confidence.

Perhaps having a wily vet at quarterback isn’t so bad after all?