By Charles Hanagriff
We get three full months of college football. Now, thankfully, with a new playoff format, December will also be chock full of more meaningful games than ever before.
Still, after one full month, we’re approximately a third of the way home in the regular season, and it’s time to take inventory of the good, the bad and the ugly of September.
Best team
It’s hard not to go with the team ranked at the top. Alabama stomped all over the first three teams on their schedule, then managed to prove two things at once last Saturday vs Georgia. The Tide demonstrated they could dominate an outstanding team when they’re executing, and then showed they could handle adversity and make big plays in a tight game. Coaching change and all, Bama is still on top.
Best game
Georgia and Alabama in Tuscaloosa takes the top honors here too. It had a dominant stretch for one team, a big comeback for the other, an answer from the original leader, great individual performances and a finish that left everyone hoping that these two see each other again.
Best player
Jalen Milroe would probably win the Heisman if the voting took place today, but my vote is for Travis Hunter, Colorado’s do everything playmaker.
Hunter has 46 catches for 561 yards and six touchdowns. He has 16 tackles and has forced three turnovers on defense. He has dominated games, like the one versus UCF, with a touchdown and an interception. He has also saved games, like the fumble he forced in overtime against Baylor.
Charles Woodson won the Heisman as a two-way player, but he didn’t play full time on offense. Hunter, it seems, never takes a snap off.
Best coaching job
Lots of good choices here, but nobody has had to deal with as much as UNLV’s Barry Odom. Odom had his starting quarterback quit the team over an NIL dispute, had his school’s conference affiliation in limbo and had to play a preseason Top 25 team on the road on a short week.
UNLV is 4-0, which is a first for the school as a Division 1 member, and won their last game by 45 points.
Best comeback
Duke and Pittsburgh both erased three touchdown deficits in the second half to win, but I’m going with Iowa State’s 20-19 win over Iowa in Week 2.
The Cyclones drove 42 yards in 28 seconds to set up a 54-yard FG to win it. In Iowa City. Against THAT defense.
Best play
Ryan Williams’s 75-yard catch and run for Alabama to beat Georgia was amazing for several reasons. First, he came back to the ball to make the catch. Second, he made a video game spin move that didn’t seem possible in real time. Third, he outraced the secondary to the endzone. Fourth, he did all this against a team that hasn’t lost a regular season game since 2020.
Worst team
Not the worst team overall, but compared to expectations, this one goes to Florida State.
The Seminoles were a preseason Top 10 team, coming off an undefeated 2023 regular season, and at the top of everyone’s sympathy list for how last year ended.
They’ve lost straight up as a double-digit favorite twice, fell at home to Memphis, were fortunate to win versus Cal, and then were blown out at SMU in the Mustangs first game in ACC play.
A 2-10 record is not out of the question.
Worst game
North Carolina was an 11-point home favorite against James Madison and lost by 20. Their defense allowed 70 points. Their coach gave what felt like a resignation/retirement speech in the locker room afterwards, then had to walk it back two days later.
Worst play
Virginia Tech’s 30-yard pass to the endzone against Miami was originally called a touchdown. It was the last play of the game, and the Hokies looked like they had pulled the upset against the undefeated Hurricanes.
Of course, the play had to be reviewed.
And reviewed, and reviewed, and reviewed.
Finally, the officials ruled no catch because a defender from Miami was touching the ball while out of bounds.
It seemed like an awfully obscure application of a rule that was never intended to overturn a play like this. Sort of like an Aggie quarterback ruled down because he had his hand on top of the football.
Hot, and getting hotter
Dave Aranda’s seat in Waco.
A loss on the road to Utah was understandable, even if Cam Rising did not finish that game. However, losing to Colorado on a Hail Mary is indefensible, and Baylor followed that up by falling at home to BYU. The Cougars got up 21-0 before the band found their seats.
There are no sure wins or losses left on the Bears schedule. Aranda’s job feels squarely in flux.
Hot, but getting cooler
Speaking of BYU, Kalani Sitake’s record there had declined for three straight years, and he began this season needing to reverse that trend.
So far, so good. BYU has three road wins plus a home victory over then No. 13 Kansas State by 29 points. Sitake’s team has started 5-0.
Biggest upset
Of course, this one belongs to Northern Illinois, who marched into South Bend and beat Notre Dame, 16-14. The Irish were a 28-point favorite.
But can I give an honorable mention to Kentucky? As 15.5-point underdogs in Oxford, the Wildcats beat Ole Miss 20-17. Mark Stoops’s plan to control the ball worked perfectly with the help of some timely (or untimely depending on your point of view) penalties on the Rebel defense.
Then came the call of the year. Trailing 17-13 and facing 4th and 7 from their own 20 with 3:51 remaining, Stoops not only went for it, but didn’t play it safe. Brock Vandergriff’s 63-yard rainbow to Barion Brown set up what would be the winning points for Kentucky.
Apple, lemon, strawberry
You will excuse Auburn coach Hugh Freeze if he passes up any flavor of turnover offered to him, because he’s had them all this season.
Auburn has thrown nine interceptions, lost six fumbles and missed five fourth down conversions (which is pretty much a turnover).
Twice in a game this season, Auburn has turned the ball over five times. They lost those games by a combined 17 points.
But last week against Oklahoma, after a week of preaching ball security, Auburn took care of the pigskin for 56 minutes. Leading by five, and in Sooner territory, disaster struck.
The pick six gave Oklahoma the lead, and eventually the win, in a game they had trailed by 11 on the road in the fourth quarter.
Next up
Duh, October. Could it be any more fun?
