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What’s next for Tennessee, Alabama and Clemson after Week 10 woes? Saturday Takeaways

By Alabama Digital News 0


Five takeaways and much more from Week 10 in college football, an epic Saturday for the sport that delivered the fall of the No. 1, No. 4 and No. 6 teams in the initial College Football Playoff rankings. Let’s start there.

What’s next for Tennessee, Clemson, Alabama

Georgia will humble you in a hurry. It’s always fascinating when you watch them line up against really good teams and go prove they’re bigger, stronger, faster, better. They did to start this season against Oregon, and they did it again on Saturday in a 27-13 triumph over Tennessee.

The No. 1 Vols endured a miserable afternoon in so many ways against a Bulldog team that will go 15-0 if it keeps playing at this level. This game was epitomized not by Georgia’s big plays and fast start in the first half but by the punishment inflicted in the physical, rain-soaked second half when Hendon Hooker was sacked four times in a span of six plays, when his offensive line kept getting flagged for false starts and when the Georgia defense just kept firing away.

Tennessee wasn’t ready for this level of pressure, but who would be?

Hooker, the Heisman frontrunner, and the No. 1 offense in college football didn’t score a touchdown until four minutes remained in the fourth quarter. Those late points didn’t mean anything for the battle, but they just might help the Vols in the College Football Playoff war.

That two-score margin could make a difference down the road when the selection committee sorts the one-loss teams one last time. A respectable outcome against Georgia wasn’t just important from a general perception standpoint but matters much more specifically: What if it comes down to Tennessee vs. Oregon for the final Playoff spot? The Vols are now hoping to take the path of 2016 Ohio State and 2017 Alabama and get into the field without a conference title. What helps immensely is a 40-13 win at LSU that suddenly looks like one of the most impressive performances of 2022. For this team, 11-1 looks achievable even if a trip to Atlanta does not. Will it be enough?

A one-loss Clemson is not going to be taken as seriously going forward, fair or not. The skepticism this team generated during its 8-0 start was validated in a dramatic way by Notre Dame’s 35-14 rout in South Bend. Calling this one inevitable feels a bit too far, but it sure wasn’t shocking. Dabo Swinney called it what it was — an “ass-kicking” — and one of the most disappointing days of his 14-year tenure as head coach. The Tigers’ quarterback play was rough, with 4.7 yards per attempt on 40 passes and two game-changing interceptions, and the run defense struggled badly. But the truly surprising thing was seeing this team getting bullied by an Irish squad with three losses.

Swinney pointed to Clemson’s November loss to Pitt in 2016 as a reminder that it’s not over yet, and the Tigers had already clinched the ACC Atlantic before this game even kicked off thanks to Syracuse’s loss to Pitt. A 12-1 ACC champ is still in the CFP conversation, no question. Still, you can’t really say with a straight face that this team is reminiscent of the 2016 group that went all the way, and it’s hard to see its resume earning a lot of love from the committee.

And then there’s Alabama, 7-2 for the first time since 2010. Coincidentally, that’s also the last time the Crimson Tide lost in Baton Rouge. Bryce Young has put the cape on and tried to will his team to victory so many times this season. You can build a credible Heisman case around his fourth-quarter heroics in close games and argue nobody’s better. Jayden Daniels was just a little bit better on Saturday night in an unbelievable 32-31 overtime win. And just like that, LSU controls the SEC West with head-to-head wins over both Bama and Ole Miss.

Pay no attention to those cynical jerks who jokingly tell you they wouldn’t put it past the CFP committee to still love Alabama based on the quality of its losses. No, that’s a wrap. Nick Saban’s team can’t reasonably expect enough chaos to occur to put a top-four ranking within reach. The Tide haven’t been consistent enough to deserve that. It’s going to be a fascinating offseason in Tuscaloosa. Saban has some big decisions to make on his coordinators, his next quarterback and whatever else he needs to get this team back on top.

Brian Kelly: Culture fit!

As Brian Kelly promised his LSU team they were going to enjoy many more nights like Saturday night, senior defensive lineman Ali Gaye couldn’t help but interrupt.

“Hey, this is why you came here,” Gaye said.

“Hell yes,” Kelly replied.

If you chuckled at the accent attempt, if you winced at the dorky dancing, if you wrote them off after the Florida State loss … well, guess what? Kelly got the last laugh this weekend. His team has come such a long way from that mistake-filled Monday night in Week 1. They didn’t quite look like a team that belonged in the CFP top 10 when those first rankings came out Tuesday night. They do now.

As the Vols can attest, a win over Alabama can really do wonders for buy-in and belief. If anyone wasn’t sold on what Kelly is capable of accomplishing in Baton Rouge, his team has offered up compelling evidence in its toughest SEC West battles. As my colleague David Ubben wisely put it on Saturday night: Every winner is a cultural fit. I’ll admit I was as baffled by Kelly’s job change as anyone. But this first team of his is a testament to his excellence, a well-coached and resilient group that keeps improving.

His staff used the portal to patch up the roster for 2022, and they have a top-five recruiting class coming together for 2023. It’s only going to get better from here. And if they can take care of business, an SEC West title in Year 1 injects an awful lot of momentum into their blueprint. (By the way: If you got LSU winning the West at +4000, you are my hero.)

While Kelly was celebrating his first win over Saban, his successor was enjoying his own signature Year 1 victory. It’s been a bumpy ride at times this season, but Notre Dame fans are undoubtedly all-in on the Marcus Freeman era after what they witnessed this weekend.

Get ready for TCU-Texas

For most other teams in the top 25, this was one of those survive-and-advance type of Saturdays. Michigan trailed Rutgers 17-14 at halftime. Ohio State won an ugly 21-7 game at Northwestern. USC and UCLA were in one-score games late in the fourth quarter. And TCU just kept doing what TCU does.

The Horned Frogs faced a second-half deficit for the fourth time in Big 12 play and figured out a way to get the job done in a 34-24 win over Texas Tech. The Horned Frogs were missing Quentin Johnston and didn’t score an offensive touchdown until early in the fourth quarter but finally got rolling from there with a 21-point fourth quarter to move to 9-0. They should be one of the big beneficiaries of the chaos of Week 10 and move up a few spots from No. 7 in the initial CFP rankings. Their most recent two games, at West Virginia and against Tech, looked like they had trap potential and played out that way. TCU got through them unscathed. Now it’s time for the showdown lots of folks have had circled on their calendars.

TCU at Texas. Sonny Dykes on one sideline, Gary Patterson helping out on the other. Under Patterson’s leadership, TCU has won four of its last five in Austin. Now Patterson is wearing burnt orange and has a chance to aid the Horns in spoiling the Horned Frogs’ perfect season. It’s gonna get weird, isn’t it?

Texas taking a big step forward on Saturday really elevates this next one. Its 34-27 road win at Kansas State was hard-earned and much-needed. After rolling to a 31-10 lead with a dominant first half, Steve Sarkisian’s team nearly let the Wildcats come all the way back. His defense stepped up when it mattered the most, grabbing a takeaway to clinch the win and bowl eligibility.

There’s now a three-way tie for second place in the Big 12 between Texas, K-State and Baylor. At this point, it seems likely that one of those three will end up in the Big 12 title game. The Longhorns control their own destiny now. With rivals Texas and Baylor up next, we’re about to see TCU get its greatest tests yet.

One hundred and forty points

SMU 77, Houston 63. The highest-scoring game in regulation in college football history. In case the final score doesn’t give this away, the game was completely ridiculous.

These two offenses combined for 16 drives in the first half, and 13 resulted in touchdowns. The Mustangs dropped a whopping 56 points on Houston before halftime. I honestly wondered for a second whether Rhett Lashlee and his staff would just keep going and try to hit 100. Why not? This may have been the last SMU-Houston game for a long time. These two teams have played almost every year since 2005. They don’t have any games on the nonconference schedule after Houston joins the Big 12. SMU, as you might recall, was not invited to the Big 12. If there were ever a game for a coach to say, “Let’s just do it and be legends,” this game was a sensible choice.

Sadly, SMU’s scoring streak ended after nine consecutive touchdowns with a three-and-out drive in the third quarter. There just weren’t enough possessions to get this game close to triple digits. Houston did threaten to rally late, cutting the deficit to two scores and recovering an onside kick with 3:35 remaining. Who wouldn’t want to see overtime in a 77-77 game, right? But SMU corner Jahari Rogers shut that dream down with an interception in the end zone to halt the Cougars’ final scoring attempt.

Houston’s Clayton Tune threw for 527 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions and rushed for 111 yards and another TD. SMU’s Tanner Mordecai threw an AAC-record nine passing TDs and rushed for another. The offenses combined for 1,352 yards, 154 plays, 91 passes, 65 completions, 65 first downs and only three sacks allowed. And you might not see another game like it in a long time, which only makes this more bittersweet.

Don’t sleep on North Carolina

One team worth keeping an eye on as we progress through November: North Carolina.

The No. 17 Tar Heels held off Virginia for a 31-28 win, their fifth in a row in conference play. Mack Brown’s team is still flying under the radar a little bit but is figuring out how to win on the road (5-0 this year) and knows how to win close ballgames (5-0 in games decided by one-score margins). Drake Maye added to his resume as one of the best quarterbacks in the country on Saturday with 293 passing yards, 71 rushing yards, three touchdowns and no turnovers. The redshirt freshman is now up to 35 total touchdowns and just three interceptions through nine games.

The Heels are now 8-1 with that lone loss coming to Notre Dame back on Sept. 24. They have one more road game left against Wake Forest — who will likely fall out of the Top 25 after losing on Saturday — followed by meetings with Georgia Tech and NC State. That’s not the toughest slate to get to 11-1. Given how well Maye is playing, why can’t they be the team that knocks off Clemson in the ACC championship? And where would that get them in the CFP discussion?

The Jayhawks are going bowling: Kansas was 5-0 and one of the surprise feel-good stories of this college football season. When they lost quarterback Jalon Daniels to an injury, three losses ensued. They just needed to steal one more in Big 12 play to reach six wins, and their big moment arrived Saturday with a 37-16 stunner against No. 18 Oklahoma State. That win snapped a 45-game losing streak to AP Top 25 opponents and will snap the longest bowl drought among all Power 5 programs.

Lance Leipold has achieved something remarkable in Year 2 in getting this program bowl eligible for the first time since 2008 and inspiring serious optimism for Jayhawk football and its future. He should be up for all of the Coach of the Year honors in December.

The Hurricanes … might not: Mario Cristobal’s debut season at Miami hit another rough low point on Saturday with a 45-3 home loss to Florida State. Quarterback Tyler Van Dyke re-aggravated an injury to his throwing shoulder and the offense never got much going, getting outgained 456-188. That’s a huge one for Mike Norvell and his rebuild, a win that clinches the Seminoles’ first bowl trip since 2019. Miami, the No. 16 team in the preseason AP poll, now needs to win two of its last three — at Georgia Tech, at Clemson, Pitt — to get to six wins.

Oregon gets tricky: When you’re 7-1 and you’re taking on a 1-7 foe, you better figure out a way to keep your players engaged and avoid boredom or a sluggish performance. Oregon offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham did a lovely job with that in a 49-10 road win at Colorado. Here’s how the Ducks scored their first three touchdowns. The first was a touchdown pass to freshman offensive lineman Josh Conerly Jr.

Then the Ducks gave running back Bucky Irving a chance to throw a touchdown pass to Bo Nix.

Early in the second quarter, they sent in linebacker Noah Sewell to play fullback and finish a drive with a one-yard score. Because why not?

Strangest call: Alabama-LSU gave us some odd ones, but they didn’t compare to the officiating decision that swung Kentucky’s 21-17 win at Missouri. In the final three minutes, Kentucky punter Colin Goodfellow had a deep snap sail over his head. He chased down the ball at the 4-yard line, grabbed it and — instead of taking a safety — turned and booted it just as he was getting tackled. Officials penalized Missouri’s Will Norris for roughing the punter and gave the Wildcats a first down. Goodfellow was injured on the play and had to be carted off, but his quick thinking saved the day. Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz was understandably outraged by the ruling. “How a guy can still be a protected punter 50 yards down the field and how our guy is supposed to know he can’t tackle him is beyond me,” he said.

Best punch: Kansas State’s Ekow Boye-Doe had one of the best strips you’ll see all season on a huge fourth-down run by Texas’ Roschon Johnson.

Best hurdle: UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson scrambles, leaps, lands and picks up another 20 yards on this one. He’s pretty darn good. The Bruins defeated Arizona State 50-36 to move to 8-1 on the year.

Best catch: Louisiana Tech receiver Tre Harris had two impressive one-handed grabs in a row in a 40-24 win over Middle Tennessee. Be sure to watch the second one.

You’re going to have to slow down the video of this catch by Penn State tight end Brenton Strange and see how he made this one in a 45-14 win at Indiana. Great throw right over the defender’s shoulder.

Best pick: Solid team effort here by UCF to get the takeaway during the No. 25 Knights’ 35-28 win over Memphis.

Best third down: I know what you’re thinking here. It’s third-and-16 yet it looks like Baylor quarterback Blake Shapen only needs to scramble for three or four yards to pick up the first down. This play resulted in a two-yard loss and a punt, but I can’t blame the Bears. I wouldn’t know what to do in this situation either.

The little engine that couldn’t: This wasn’t a particularly good omen before Purdue’s 24-3 home loss to Iowa.

People don’t forget: App State handed Texas A&M a loss back in September, and this guy won’t let the Aggies forget it. He had his cigar ready for the end of Texas A&M’s 41-24 home loss to Florida. If Jimbo Fisher is going to get his team to a bowl game, it needs to win out against Auburn, UMass and LSU.

Best celebration: Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett getting some payback after Tennessee fans messed with him on Friday.

Honorable mention goes to this LSU fan who fascinated my colleague Aaron Suttles.

And finally, if you were worried about Kansas’ missing goal posts, here’s an update. If you know the reference, you know this is gold. Tough day for the Vols.

(Photo: Todd Kirkland / Getty Images)





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