College football report card: Appalachian State's Hail Mary, Purdue's penalties earn big grades

The College Football Report Card is rolling along and this week was filled with questionable plays, more payouts for non-Power Five schools and some thrilling finishes.

The same thing goes as far as grading as last season. High marks will be only for the spectacular, and failing grades have no chance of being reversed.

Last week, the highest grades went to the Sun Belt Conference, whose schools collected millions from programs who thought they would coast to easy wins, and low marks went to the ridiculous amount of flags that have been thrown and not knowing how to dress in humid climates for Southern Mississippi’s coach.

Without further ado, here is the Week 3 analysis of how fans, teams, players and coaches fared:

WHAT YOU MISSED: Washington's big win, Oklahoma's mettle top Week 3

MISERY INDEX: Harsin has turned Auburn into a bad and boring team

HIGHS AND LOWS: Winners and losers in Week 3 of college football

WEEK 3 ROUNDUP: All the scores from college football’s Top 25 games

Boiler Meltdown

Doing anything to attract the attention of the officials is just a bad idea in general. Most players do anything they can to draw attention to themselves and sometimes it is to their determent. Which brings us to the Boilermakers of Purdue University.

They took a 29-25 lead on a 12-yard touchdown pass with 51 seconds left on the road against Syracuse. Then came the meltdown.

Two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, one on tight end Payne Durham, who caught the touchdown pass, during the successful extra point try and another one on head coach Jeff Brohm, forced Purdue to kick off from its own 10-yard line.

Syracuse's ensuing drive started from the 50-yard line. Then, Garrett Shrader hit Oronde Gadsden for 25 yards with 7 seconds left for the winning score. It was the only pass completed on the drive after Purdue was flagged for defensive holding and pass interference to keep Syracuse hopes alive.

And after two more unsportsmanlike conduct penalties against Purdue, Syracuse kicked off from the Purdue 35-yard line. Game over.

Messed around and found out: F

This week in Christmas

Since teams have been very generous and it is nowhere near the holiday season, the Report Card is obligated to point out those institutions who have been in the giving spirit, and on Santa’s nice list this year.

We have already seen the Sun Belt collect millions from athletic departments whose contract negotiations skills could use a little work (hello again, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, and Nebraska).

Nebraska couldn’t wait three weeks to save $8 million after firing Scott Frost and lowering its buyout. Big Ten West compadre Northwestern played the victim this week against Southern Illinois and thus the Salukis went back to Carbondale with a nice victory and a direct deposit of $550,000.

Eastern Michigan's stocking was full thanks to Arizona State, as the Sun Devils filled it to the brim with $1.5 million. The Eagles then walked away with a 30-21 victory in Tempe and trolled coach Herm Edwards in the process.

They played to win the game: A

Hail Mary, Hell yes

Appalachian State armed with millions of dollars from Texas A&M and a visit from College GameDay, rewarded their fans with an absolute thriller against Troy. Trailing 28-26 on a fourth-and-10 with two seconds left in the game, quarterback Chase Brice rolled left out of pressure and heaved a 53-yard bomb down the field that was deflected and fell into the arms of wide receiver Christan Horn at the 5-yard line.

Horn then took the ball to the right and ran in snatching victory from the jaws of defeat and setting off a raucous celebration in Boone.

Mountaineer fever: A+

Hail Mary, Hell no

Going to keep this one short. A desperation heave at the end of the first half in the Indiana-Western Kentucky game turned into a win for the goal post as multiple players ran into it trying to defend the Hail Mary, leaving the post shaking after the collision. Luckily, no one was seriously injured during the play.

Graded on the Madden Scale: Guts: 99; Awareness: 0.

Stats for you

0 - Touchdown passes for Florida, South Florida and Hawaii, who have played a combined 10 games and are the only teams left in the nation without one. It's also the number of rushing touchdowns Colorado State has through three games.

1 – Touchdowns Georgia has given up through its first three games.

3 – Weather delays in the Iowa-Nevada matchup. Kickoff was at 6:40 p.m. local time in Iowa City. Nearly four hours of delays later, the game ended at 1:40 a.m. with a 27-0 Iowa victory.

5 – Touchdowns on 12 carries Michigan running back Blake Corum had against Connecticut.

18 – Percentage of third down conversions Old Dominion has converted this season.

27 – Number of first downs gained by Miami against Texas A&M. The Hurricanes failed to score an offensive touchdown in the 17-9 loss.

29 – Age of North Texas starting quarterback Austin Aune, who was born Sept. 6, 1993.

763  – Total offensive yards Ohio State had in a 77-21 thumping over Toledo.

Approx. 1 million - Combined amount of State Farm and AT&T commercials shown on Saturday.

Best and worst of the rest

Explain this one.

The worst fake field goal attempt this century: Expulsion.

Appalachian State fans showed out during College GameDay with their signs.

Here for the pettiness: A

The real Cornhusker.

Shrine to Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett:  A

The Dog of the Week: Duquesne at Hawaii

This lovely dog took advantage of the weather delays and enjoyed a late night game in Iowa.

Now to the game: For the Duquesne football team, a chance to get out of Pittsburgh and take a trip to Hawaii to enjoy the fun and sun has to be an experience of a lifetime. In addition to $215,000 in cash, the game contract says Duquesne was to receive from Hawaii 100 round-trip airline tickets, 55 hotel rooms for three nights and assistance with local transportation.

The reason for the pups’ disdain in this one is the late start time (11:59 p.m. ET) and the actual teams playing on the field. Duquesne is from the Northeast Conference of the FCS and Hawaii is fighting for the worst program west of the Mississippi, and maybe in all of college football.

Here is some proof: The Rainbow Warriors came into the game, dead last in scoring defense, 130th out of 131 teams in rush defense, 130th in total defense, 125th in scoring and total offense.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: College football Week 3: Appalachian State, Purdue games end wildly