10 takeaways from a wonderfully chaotic day of college football
Ten takeaways from a college football Saturday that looked boring on paper, but was no such thing on the field:
1. We should actually praise the officials who butchered the end of the Central Michigan-Oklahoma State game Saturday. Without their incompetence, we would never have seen one of the most amazing game endings in college football history.
So thank you, Tim O’Dey and the Mid-American Conference crew that worked the game. And thank you to the Big 12 replay crew that failed to correct the MAC crew when it had the chance. Your manifold incompetence made an instant classic possible.
Cowboys fans certainly won’t be happy about being on the wrong end of a spectacular play that never should have happened. It’s brutal to lose on a 51-yard Hail Mary lateral – Cooper Rush to Jesse Kroll to Corey Willis, forever cemented as heroes in Mount Pleasant – but it’s doubly brutal when it came on an untimed down that should not have been awarded to the Chippewas.
Central Michigan got the chance to make that shocking play because officials made an incorrect ruling after Oklahoma State quarterback Mason Rudolph tried to end the game by heaving the ball downfield and running out the clock. That was correctly ruled intentional grounding. But it was incorrectly followed with a last snap for the Chips.
The explanation from O’Dey to a pool reporter at the game, as relayed by Oklahoma State: “There’s a rule that says that the game cannot end on an accepted live ball foul. That’s the rule. There’s an exception to the rule that says if enforcement of the foul involves a loss of down, then that brings the game to an end. So in that situation, we’ve had the opportunity to run it back through our hierarchy, which includes the national rules editor, and he confirmed that should have been a loss of down and the end of the game at that point, so that extension should not have happened.”
That’s bad. But think about the officiating gaffe that helped set the stage for that final officiating gaffe: the crew picked up a flag on Oklahoma State’s go-ahead touchdown with 5 minutes and 12 seconds remaining.
On fourth-and-1 from the Central Michigan 2 – itself the result of a questionable third-down spot – James Washington took a jet-sweep shovel pass around the left end of the line of scrimmage. Washington scored but a flag was down and the preliminary signal was holding. After conferring, the officials picked up the flag.
But the replay showed Oklahoma State left tackle Victor Salako tackling CMU outside linebacker Alex Briones as Washington circled left. Salako just reached out and wrapped up Briones’ lower left leg, bringing him to the ground. How the flag gets picked up on that play, I have no idea.
It put Oklahoma State up 27-24, and when Rush threw an interception on the next possession that looked like it would be it – especially when the Cowboys got a couple first downs and were in position to kill the clock.
Until the grounding call, which could have been overturned by the Big 12 replay crew. Per a release from the league “NCAA Rules permit instant replay to correct egregious errors, including those involving the game clock. Walt Anderson, Coordinator of Football Officials, acknowledges that the Big 12 replay crew missed an opportunity to stop the game to inform the MAC officiating crew of the misapplication of the intentional grounding penalty as time expired….”
And thus the epic heave from Rush to Kroll to Willis was possible. And yes, Oklahoma State had every opportunity to stop it from happening.
Central Michigan has become Hail Mary U. Two years ago the Chippewas had a 75-yard, three-lateral score on the final play of the Bahamas Bowl to pull within 49-48 of Western Kentucky. But they went for two and the instant win and were denied.
This ending was happier. Also much more controversial. But every bit as final.
“Despite the error, this will not change the outcome of the contest,” said Bill Carollo, coordinator of football officials for the Collegiate Officiating Consortium.
2. People calling for Central Michigan to voluntarily forfeit the game are not living in reality. That isn’t happening, in this lifetime or the next. Miami certainly wasn’t going to forfeit last year’s miracle win over Duke when its multi-lateral kickoff return touchdown was found to have been incorrectly officiated.
A Mid-American Conference team beats a Big 12 team, that victory isn’t getting returned voluntarily.
3. Clemson punt returner Ray-Ray McCloud entered the end zone against Troy lacking a couple of important items.
He did not have a shoe. Or the football.
The shoe came off while weaving through the Troy defense. The ball was dropped because McCloud simply was too cool and wanted to drop it like a big-timer upon scoring. But he hadn’t scored yet.
That play pretty well summed up what 2015 national runner-up Clemson has been in 2016: nonchalant, lacking intensity and lacking killer instinct. After wheezing past Troy 30-24, the Tigers are 2-0 and have yet to impress anyone.
A team with the best skill-position talent in America – Heisman runner-up Deshaun Watson, 1,500-yard rusher Wayne Gallman and three top-flight receivers – is averaging just 24.5 points and 406.5 yards per game, down from 38.5 and 515 last year. This looks a lot like Ohio State’s sputtering offense last year, as the Buckeyes had a hard time buckling down the season after winning it all.
Except Clemson didn’t win it all in 2015.
4. That said, there were worse performances than Clemson’s on Saturday. Easily the worst win of the day was authored by Georgia.
The Bulldogs followed up their solid showing in beating North Carolina with a dangerous near-apocalypse against FCS Nicholls State. Georgia held off the Colonels, 26-24, narrowly avoiding what seriously would have been the worst loss in college football history.
The No. 9-ranked Bulldogs were 52.5-point favorites over Nicholls, which simply has been one of the worst football teams in all of higher education in the last five years. The Colonels are 9-48 in that time, and coming off a 3-8 season in which they lost to Louisiana-Monroe and Colorado by a combined 95-0. To have a chance between the hedges in the fourth quarter is simply unimaginable.
Georgia’s next eight games are all Southeastern Conference games. And even if the SEC East looks very flawed right now, everyone in it is considerably better than Nicholls. The Bulldogs have to tighten up everything in order to compete.
5. Despite Georgia’s travails, it was a good day for the SEC. After an unimpressive opening week, the league picked up non-conference victories over No. 15 TCU (by Arkansas, in a wonderfully chaotic contest) and Virginia Tech (by Tennessee, which found itself). There were no non-conference losses.
The Big 12, on the other hand, is struggling to maintain its playoff profile. Oklahoma State’s loss to Central Michigan was the league’s fourth to a non-Power 5 opponent. The other three: Oklahoma to Houston, Iowa State to FCS Northern Iowa, and Kansas to Ohio.
Texas Tech certainly didn’t help matters on Saturday night, allowing Arizona State to basically do whatever it wanted on offense en route to a win. TCU now has a home loss, and Kansas State is 0-1 with a bye week.
To date, Texas and West Virginia are the only Big 12 teams that have victories that might resonate: the Longhorns over Notre Dame and the Mountaineers over Missouri. That’s it so far.
6. Last week, some Penn State fans were rather disdainful of the idea that Pittsburgh is a legitimate prime rival. The 97th meeting of the two sure looked like a great rivalry game to me.
The Panthers jumped up 28-7, then white-knuckled their way to a 42-39 victory that was wildly entertaining and should provide both teams with some optimism going forward.
Pitt got running back James Conner (117 yards) fully revved up for the first time since 2014, leading a rushing attack that went for 341 yards against a Penn State defense that is missing departed coordinator Bob Shoop and three linemen now in the NFL. But the Nittany Lions should feel good about quarterback Trace McSorley (332 passing yards) and their tenacity in coming back to make the game a wire job.
The two only are scheduled to meet for the next three seasons, but it would be great to see the series extended beyond that. And maybe in that time Penn State will become good enough to beat the non-rival some fans look down upon.
7. Gold and black is back. For now. For the first time in a long time.
Three downtrodden teams wearing that color scheme are 2-0: Army, Colorado and Wake Forest. The Black Knights haven’t been 2-0 in 20 years; the Buffaloes have attained that height just once in the previous seven years; the Demon Deacons have done it once in the last six years.
Last time all three were 2-0 at the same time was 1996.
Wake should be fired up about an ACC road win, something it had done just once in the last three seasons until Saturday. Beating Duke by 10 in Durham ends a four-year losing streak to the Blue Devils and is the biggest victory in Dave Clawson’s 26-game tenure. With Delaware up next, the first 3-0 start since 2008 seems a distinct possibility.
Army is admirably old school, running the ball 136 times and throwing it just 11 times through two games. The Black Knights have beaten Temple and Rice and not allowed a point in the fourth quarter. There should be enough winnable games left on the schedule for Army to take a serious run at its first bowl game since 2010, and just its second in 20 years.
Colorado, too, is playing some defense. The Buffaloes have given up just 14 points and 124 passing yards in routs of Colorado State and Idaho State. The reality check arrives next week with a trip to Michigan.
Purdue, emphatic home loser to Cincinnati, would be the exception to the black-and-gold fast start. As it so often has been under Darrell Hazell.
8. Lamar Jackson of Louisville has exploded upon college football in his past four games, looking like a young Michael Vick.
In the 2015 regular-season finale against Kentucky, the true freshman ran for 186 yards and had 316 yards total offense to rally the Cardinals from 24-7 down to a 38-24 win. In the Music City Bowl, Jackson torched Texas A&M for 227 passing yards and 226 rushing. To open 2016, Jackson had 405 total yards and eight touchdowns in a half against Charlotte. And Friday night he produced an ACC-record 610 yards of total offense and five TDs in a rout of Syracuse.
The next step? Do it against an elite opponent. And right on cue, Florida State comes to Louisville on Saturday in a game of escalating importance.
9. The Lamar Jackson of defense/special teams may be LSU cornerback/return man Tre’Davious White. He had a traverse-the-field, 21-yard interception return touchdown in the first week against Wisconsin, then added an absurd punt return TD Saturday against Jacksonville State. White caught the punt at the LSU 40, retreated all the way inside the 20, then got pointed in the right direction and did not stop running until he had scored.
White might be LSU’s best weapon, but it appears the Tigers might have found a quarterback solution. Starter Brandon Harris was benched after another futile start against Jax State, and Purdue transfer Danny Etling came on to temporarily spark LSU’s previously miserable offense (which was, to be fair, also missing injured star running back Leonard Fournette).
10. ACC teams continue to schedule East Carolina. And continue to lose to the Pirates.
East Carolina pushed its ACC winning streak to six Saturday, beating North Carolina State 33-30. That follows victories over Virginia Tech in 2015, over North Carolina and Virginia Tech in 2014, and both the Wolfpack and Tar Heels in 2013. Beating the ACC has become ECU’s claim to fame – not that it has helped its Big 12 candidacy.
State politics have played a part in encouraging/pressuring N.C. State and North Carolina to schedule the Pirates. Virginia Tech apparently just enjoys the punishment.
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