Week 4 Stock Report: Cameron Ward introduces himself to the nation, it's getting bleak at Virginia Tech

All the marquee matchups. All the ranked-on-ranked games. All the build-up. And Week 4 still delivered in spades. College football is awesome.

Each Monday, I take note of whose stock — be it team, head coach, player, assistant, unit, Heisman candidacy, preseason narrative, etc. — is trending upward, whose is down and whose is holding.

Here’s the Week 4 Stock Report:

📈STOCK UP: Cameron Ward

Washington State’s quarterback has dazzled early in his second season in Pullman. If not for the transcendent play of Pac-12 contemporaries Caleb Williams and Michael Penix, Cameron Ward would be mentioned as one the most fun QBs in the nation. 

He torched a quality Oregon State defense on Saturday, throwing for 404 yards and four touchdowns on 82% passing to lead the Cougars to a 4-0 start — the program’s best since 2017. 

It took a season for Ward, a transfer from FCS Incarnate Ward, to adjust to Power 5 competition (just 6.5 yards per attempt, 64% completion), but the 6-2, 220-pound Texan has been nearly flawless in 2023. 

He has 16 total touchdowns, nearly 1,400 yards passing, zero turnovers and a pair of upset wins over Wisconsin and Oregon State. If the Cougars pick off a couple more Pac-12 favorites like Oregon and rival Washington, then Ward will find himself at the center of the Heisman Trophy conversation.

📉STOCK DOWN: Late game coaching decisions by Clemson and Notre Dame

Both Notre Dame and Clemson squandered Top 10 upsets thanks to some calamitous coaching decisions late in their games. 

Dabo Swinney and the Tigers blew it against Florida State, undone by clock mismanagement, wasted timeouts and purposely relying on a kicker who was set to start a Wall Street gig in the coming weeks. It’s always 20:20 hindsight to question play-calling, but when Swinney is screaming, “ONE YARD!” At quarterback Cade Kubnik, who misread an RPO, it’s hard not to say, “Well Dabo, why didn’t you have Garrett Riley just dial up a designed run so the decision was out of your young QB’s hands?”

Swinney took ownership for all the mistakes postgame, but the errors were still self-inflicted and totally unnecessary for a coach who’s won two national titles. The margins have shrunk on Clemson, and even though the Tigers went toe-to-toe with a more complete team, they lost to the ‘Noles because their coaches got in the away. 

Similarly, the Irish traded blows with Ohio State for four quarters only to turtle up on the final drive of the game. 

Coming out of a timeout and having just 10 men on the field on — at that point — the most critical play of the game was a colossal error of coaching mismanagement. Only, the Irish got away with it, as Kyle McCord threw an incomplete pass to Marvin Harrison Jr. to set up 4th-and-goal for the final play. 

That fact that Marcus Freeman took the mulligan and went full Animal House — “Thank you, sir. May I have another.” — is inexcusable. Much has been made about Notre Dame having 10 men on the field again for the final play of the game, but I think even more context is warranted to showcase how badly the Irish botched it.

Marcus Freeman’s explanation that he didn’t want a possible penalty is coaching malpractice considering the circumstances. 

“We were trying to get a fourth D-line man on the field, and I told him just stay off because we can’t afford a penalty,” Freeman said after the game. “We couldn’t afford a penalty there.”

The Irish sacrificed less than half a yard vs. an 11th defender in the box. Make that math make sense. His excuse about a penalty is void when you consider that Ohio State substituted on the very play. The Buckeyes took out TreVeyon Henderson for Chip Traynaum, which means Notre Dame could’ve run another defender on the field and the officials would’ve had to stand over the ball until the Irish were set. 

That’s an indefensible decision by Freeman. Who knows how the rest of Notre Dame’s 2023 season will go, but that was a moment folks may point to in the future and say, “We knew then.”

STOCK HOLDING: Alabama’s offense

The Crimson Tide’s quarterback situation is settled. Jalen Milroe is clearly Nick Saban’s best option, but it’s far too premature to declare that Alabama “found something” in the second half against Ole Miss. 

Its offensive line did play much better after a shaky first half (four sacks and nine tackles for loss allowed, none after halftime), but outside of one 20-yard scamper, Milroe was largely ineffective with his legs and his inability to consistently hit intermediate and short throws is going to be a problem for Alabama in the red zone the rest of the season unless that gets fixed.  For the game, the Crimson Tide had to settle for three field goals inside the 20, and couldn’t punch it in from the 1-yard line when Milroe threw a terrible INT.  

📈STOCK UP: Coaches picking fights with octogenarians

Ryan Day and Jake Dickert had two of the biggest wins of the weekend and they spent their postgame press conferences picking fights with a couple of 80-somethings who said silly things on TV. 

In a sport that’s at its best when it’s weird and stupid, I’m all for it because we got served some Grade-A chestiness on Saturday. 

Dickert’s beef with ESPN’s Lee Corso was probably misguided because it seems like Washington’s State head misunderstood (or misheard?) the joke Corso actually said. Dickert defending his Cougars’ program amid the collapse of the Pac-12 is understandable, too. 

So let’s focus on Ryan Day, whose comments were far funnier. 

Ryan Day was fired up after the Buckeyes' big win 😤 @OhioStateFB pic.twitter.com/RPdO0j7G5X

— ESPN (@espn) September 24, 2023

After holding on to beat Notre Dame, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day cut a WWE promo on 86-year-old Lou Holtz after the former Irish head coach had the audacity to go on Pat McAfee’s show and pick Notre Dame to beat the Buckeyes and say his teams lose to more physical teams. 

Here’s what Lou Holtz said on @PatMcAfeeShow that Ryan Day angrily referred to after Ohio St. beat Notre Dame: pic.twitter.com/r1Ju4pwl00

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 24, 2023

This was basically a no-lies-told statement by Holtz, and it clearly peeved Day because it held some truth! The Buckeyes have been soft against Michigan the last two seasons. They answered the bell against Georgia, but ultimately faltered down the stretch of that game, too. 

Ohio State proved tough enough against Notre Dame, but even with all of Day’s postgame chestiness — which again, I’m all here for because this college football is an entertainment product and he definitely delivered on that — we still don’t know quite how “physical” the Buckeyes are. 

If Day was so unnerved by Holtz’s comments, why was Ohio State throwing the ball on 4th-and-inches in the second quarter? Why did the Buckeyes run a jet sweep to a receiver on 4th-and-1 in the fourth quarter? They got the yard they needed most on the final play of the game, so perhaps all is for naught. 

I’m just hoping we get more college football coaches picking fights with 80-year-olds the rest of the season. 

Know who else is 86? Former Ohio State head coach John Cooper — who is essentially Ryan Day’s Voldemort when it comes to former Buckeyes coaches. Here’s praying Cooper pops off about OSU later this fall eliciting another Ryan Day rant. 

📉STOCK DOWN: Virginia Tech

Last week in this space, we featured the rottenness happening in Stillwater, and somehow it got nastier for Oklahoma State on Saturday (34-27 loss to Iowa State). 

Well, are folks paying attention to what’s happening in Blacksburg? The Brent Pry era is off to a bleak, bleak start at Virginia Tech.

Yes, the Hokies were underdogs Saturday, but they still went to Marshall and allowed over 200 yards rushing to a Sun Belt team, losing 24-17 to move to 1-3 in non-conference play to start the 2023 season. Virginia Tech went 3-8 in Year 1 under Pry — with one of the wins coming against Wofford.

For the second straight season the Hokies have one of the worst offenses in the nation (120th in yards per play, 105th in scoring). They’re undisciplined (second-straight game with at least 70 penalty yards) and not overly talented. 

Pry inherited a tough situation, and ESPN recently reported that there was more going on behind the scenes during the Justin Fuente regime than many knew about, but a 2-10 season in Year 2 looks awful possible. That’s bleak for a once very proud program.