Biggest Takeaways from CFB Week Four

With the Oregon Ducks on bye I had a chance to take in most of the biggest games in college football this week. We got ranked matchups, upsets, and blowout wins that feel like they set the tone for the rest of the season.

Today I’ll give some of my biggest takeaways and impressions from week four of college football and see how they affect the Ducks, if at all.

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Michigan Back or USC Weak?

The first big game of the day featured defending national champion and future Oregon opponent Michigan taking on Big Ten Conference and west coast rival USC. Fans were treated to a close, back-and-forth game that eventually saw the Wolverines pull out a 27-24 victory.

Where it had looked to be separating itself from the Big Ten’s middle class, USC now seems less clearly above the conference’s mid-tier teams. We saw Texas march into Ann Arbor two weeks ago and get a dominant win so it’s not as if Michigan is an elite team this season.

With that said, a red-hot USC team lost pretty much exclusively to Michigan’s run game as the Wolverines passed a grand total of 12 times yesterday compared to 45 rush attempts. This raised questions for me as to how much the interior of USC’s defense has really improved.

With the evident lack of a passing game for Michigan, USC should’ve been able to stack the box and take away the run game for its opponent. They managed the first of those, but certainly not the second.

While quarterback Miller Moss was reasonably effective, Michigan absolutely kept this game ‘in the phone booth’ so to speak and showed that USC’s offense can be limited by the right style and caliber of defense. Oregon’s week 10 trip to Ann Arbor looks a lot dicier having seen this.

Tennessee Outclasses Oklahoma on the Road

I thought this shaped up to be an early contender for game of the year in Norman. While Tennessee was the higher-ranked team previously, a road trip to a hostile environment with a redshirt freshman in Nico Iamaleava at the helm left room for doubt.

Not much to see here. Tennessee’s defense had another dominant performance, forcing Oklahoma into just three first-half points and benching starting quarterback Jackson Arnold.

I actually do respect the quality of this Oklahoma team, but there were clearly talent and schematic differences between these two and Tennessee proved to be the more ready outfit. While I think someone other than the Volunteers gets the SEC’s auto-bid and first round playoff bye, Oregon could potentially find itself in a first-round, home stadium matchup with Tennessee down the line.

Utah Asserts Itself in the Big 12 Conference

It would’ve been easy for Utah to fall victim to circumstance in its matchup against Oklahoma State this weekend. Quarterback Cam Rising was ruled out for the game earlier in the week and the Utes were facing a trip to unfamiliar Stillwater, OK to take on the No. 14 Cowboys.

Instead, Utah imposed its style of ball, grinding the run with running back Micah Bernard and stifling Doak Walker Award winner Ollie Gordon on its way to a 22-19 win.

If the Utes could ever get Rising healthy for an extended stretch of games, I have a tough time seeing any Big 12 team beating them.

Is this a BYU year?

It seems like every five years or so, BYU makes its way into the national conversation with a couple of standout early-season wins. This seems to be one of those years.

The Cougars boat-raced visiting Kansas State 38-9 and moved to 4-0 on the year Saturday which will give way to a road test against Baylor next week and a home matchup against Arizona the following weekend.

If BYU starts the season 6-0, they’ll be in great position to make an appearance in the Big 12 championship game, potentially against in-state rival Utah. Wouldn’t that be fun?

They Just Keep Getting Away With It

This Colorado team has a flair for the dramatic, both off the field and on. With headlines constantly swirling about coach Deion Sanders, quarterback Shedeur Sanders, and the team’s culture, the Buffaloes find ways to win games they probably shouldn’t.

After struggling throughout the night, Colorado survived a North Dakota State hail mary attempt by five yards before this week’s hail mary sent the game to overtime where the Buffaloes once again found a way to win. All I can say is I hope Colorado fans enjoy it while it lasts.

Sanders was sacked eight times, bringing him to 15 on the year. With as reliant as the Buffaloes are on his arm and the increasing sturdiness of upcoming defenses they’ll play, they needs to protect Sanders better and get rid of the ball faster if they hope to keep him upright for the remainder of the year.

Additionally, wide receiver and cornerback Travis Hunter logged another game over 100 snaps and was once again dominant, catching seven passes for 130 yards and forcing the game winning fumble recovery that gave Colorado the win. As good as he is and as high as I am on him come draft season, I don’t think there’s any way this is sustainable.

We saw Hunter get banged up early last year and it’s hard to imagine that not happening again if he continues to play as much as he has. Not only is he going to get fatigued over the course of the year, being on the field more puts a player in position to get hurt more often.

If either of these two missed time, Colorado would be nearly dead in the water against any conference opponent.

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