CFB ROUNDUP: WEEK 4 – Oklahoma & LSU shocker.

Week 4 in CFB saw the return of the SEC programs and their first taste of football in 2020. Following some shocks in Week 3, CFB fans were treated to some even more surprising results. In particular, reigning national champions LSU suffered a shock 44-34 defeat at the hands of Mike Leach and Mississippi State.

Join Ash this week taking a look at all the CFB results and a closer look at some of those shocks and top games of Week 4.

SEC:

Kentucky 13-23 Auburn

Florida 51-35 Ole Miss

Mississippi St. 44-34 LSU

Georgia 37-10 Arkansas

Alabama 38-19 Missouri

Tennessee 31-27 S Carolina

Vanderbilt 12-17 Texas A&M

Mississippi State 44 @ LSU 34

There is only one place to start, the home of the 2019 champions, LSU. Mississippi were always going to give LSU a game but I can’t imagine many expected this.

The Bulldogs offence took charge on the day against LSU with QB KJ Costello throwing for 623 yards and 5 touchdowns. It was mainly done through the air with Osirus Mitchell, RB Kylin Hill & JaVonta Payton all having 100+ receiving yards. The LSU defence had no answers for Costello and Co. It may only be one game, but Costello has already entered his name into the hat for Heisman trophy contention.

Kylin Hill did most of his work through the air, with 158 receiving yards and 1 TD. He only ran the ball 7 times, resulting in 34 yards.

The revamped LSU struggled throughout, particularly on defence. DBU allowed big chunk plays through the air. The offence did not fare much better outside of WR Terrace Marshall Jnr. LSU QB Myles Brennan struggled on the day, with 345 yards, 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. He came away with a QB rating of 32.2

It was a day to forget for the reigning champions, and one that Ed Orgeron will want his players to learn from quickly for their next home game against Vanderbilt on October 6th.

Florida 51 @ 35 Ole Miss

Florida made a claim for their playoff spot early and could see themselves in the top 4 rankings when December comes.

The standouts of the game have to be Florida QB Kyle Trask (finished with 416 yards and 6 touchdowns) and Tight End Kyle Pitts. Pitts ended the day with 170 yards and 4 touchdowns. Yes, you read that right, 4 touchdowns! Pitts proved to be a nightmare all day for the Ole Miss defence with his size and speed out-matching both Linebackers and Cornerbacks.

The Rebels kept it close through the second quarter but could not cope with the power of Trask and the Florida offence. This was a tough start to life for new HC Lane Kiffin but the team will continue to gel following a preseason of unrest whilst trying to integrate new schemes.

Big 12

Kansas State 38-35 Oklahoma

Iowa State 37-34 TCU

West Virginia 13-27 Oklahoma State

Texas 63-56 Texas Tech

Kansas 14-47 Baylor

Kansas State 38 @ 35 Oklahoma

LSU was not the only team on the wrong side of an upset on Saturday in CFB. The Spencer Rattler led Oklahoma fell to Kansas State in what could well be the biggest shock of the weekend. It was a game that Kansas weren’t sure they could play until Friday following more positive Covid results in the camp.

What will make this loss worse for The Sooners is just how they lost this game. They were up by three touchdowns early in the second half, before allowing a Kansas State team missing 8 starters to come back with 24 unanswered points late in the 3rd quarter. The win was sealed with a 50 yard field goal from Blake Lynch.

Only a fortune teller could have seen this result coming at half time, with Oklahoma out gaining Kansas 288 yards to 98 & up two scores.

Kansas QB Skylar Thompson had a day to remember with 334 yards and 1 TD through the air, adding to his 3 rushing touchdowns. Kansas leaned heavily on RB Deuce Vaughn, who went for 129 yards through the air and a score on the ground.

It was an indifferent day for the star Oklahoma QB Spencer Rattler who completed 30/41 passes for 387 yards and 4 touchdowns. However, he also threw 3 interceptions, including a late overthrown pass that was picked off to end the day for Oklahoma.

The previously ranked number 3 Oklahoma will need to pick themselves up and dust themselves off for next weekend’s matchup against Iowa State.

Texas 63 @ 56 Texas Tech

We so nearly had three major upsets in CFB this weekend. Texas needing to come from behind in overtime to beat rivals Texas Tech. The Longhorns came from 15 down with only 3:13 on the clock before sealing the win in overtime.

Texas Tech RB SaRodrick Thompson carried over his impressive display from Week 3 with 16 carries for 104 yards and 2 touchdowns. The majority of his yards came on a 75 yard touchdown run late in the fourth that so nearly won them this game. 

Sam Ehlinger may not have had the yards this week (262) but still came away with 5 more touchdowns to add to his 5 from Week 2. Ehlinger is certainly in the front runners for the Heisman in this early stage of the season.

The Texas Tech defence played well particularly early in the second half, stuffing Texas to just 50 yards and 3 points for the first 26 minutes of the half. Unfortunately, they just ran out of steam, allowing Ehlinger to produce a 59 yard scoring drive that took just 30 seconds off the clock.

Texas followed that quick score with a converted onside kick and raced back up the field once again, before Ehlinger threw to his main receiver Joshua Moore for an 18 yard score and a two point conversion to take the game to overtime.

The Longhorns then made quick work of overtime, with Ehlinger once again finding Joshua Moore who finished the day with 3 TDs. Texas Tech had their chance to tie the game back up but Alan Bowman’s pass could only find Texas DB Caden Sterns to end the game.

A close scare for Texas, who came out on top. But a tough loss to take for The Red Raiders, who came so near to a major upset against their local rival.

ACC

Louisville 20-23 Pitt

Georgia Tech 20-37 Syracuse

Duke 20-38 Virginia

Texas State 21-24 Boston College

Florida State 10-52 Miami

NC State 24-45 Virginia Tech

Florida State 10 @ 52 Miami

D’Eriq King ran riot again in CFB Week 4 for Miami, with a dominating win against a lacklustre Florida State who went 0-2 for the season in the absence of HC Mike Norvell (positive Covid test). King threw for 267 yards and 2 scores whilst producing 65 yards on the ground. King is yet to throw an interception in his first three games.

The game was almost delayed due to lightning following the warm ups. Luckily it held off, and Miami were able to produce some lightning of their own on both offence and defence to smother The Seminoles.

Miami controlled the first half, scoring touchdowns on their first five possessions to lead by 35 points at the break. They took their foot off the gas in the third quarter, before closing the game out with a further two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

Florida State QB James Blackman had another poor day at the office, with 120 yards, 1 touchdown & 1 interception against a fierce Miami defence. Blackman could not get into any sort of rhythm and the Florida defence spent far to long on the field against a stout Miami offence.

FS will go looking for their first win of the season against FCS side Jacksonville State. Whilst Miami take their unbeaten 3-0 start to the #1 ranked Clemson Tigers.

Best of the Rest

UCF 51-28 East Carolina

Tulane 66-24 Southern Miss

Army 10-24 Cincinnati

S.F Austin 7-50 SMU

FIU 34-36 Liberty

UTEP 31-6 UL-Monroe

HBU 36-66 Louisiana Tech

Middle Tennessee 35-37 UTSA

UAB 42-10 South Alabama 

Troy 7-48 BYU

Ga. Southern 18-20 Louisiana

Campbell 21-52 Appalachian State

Missouri St. 20-27 Central Arkansas

Eastern Kentucky 37-14 The Citadel

Army 10 @ 24 Cincinnati

This one may not have been the highest of scoring of CFB week 4. It did however involved two ranked teams facing up against each other looking to maintain their unbeaten runs. Cincinnati were able to come away victorious against their non-conference opponents.

Army fans would have been hoping for more from their triple threat rushing offence, who had previously averaged nearly 390 rushing yards per game. On Saturday they were only able to manage 182 against a superior Cincinnati defence.

Army did start the game strong, with a defensive touchdown after just 51 seconds. It came from a muffed pitch by Bearcats QB Desmond Ridder, and was returned 42 yards by DB Jabari Moore. Moore had a solid first quarter, adding an interception to his 6 points.

Cincinnati came back to lead 10-7 into the half, it should have been 17 following a blocked punt on the 7 yard line. The Army defence however were able to stop them at the 1 yard line.

Cincinnati scored an unanswered touchdown in the third quarter and followed that up with another in the fourth. The Black Knights were only able to muster a field goal in the 4th quarter.

Expect to see Cincinnati move up the rankings following losses to sides above them. Unfortunately for Army, this will likely see them fall out of the top 25.

Final Words

And there we have it, CFB Week 4 is in the books. And what a weekend it was. LSU and Oklahoma shockers, blowouts, high scoring affairs, Heisman Trophy candidates stating their claims early. This is why we love College Football! And with the Big Ten & Pac-12 (alongside smaller conferences) returning, we are just getting started!

Roll on Week 5, and remember Rush Nation, Saturdays are for rushing too.

Sources

https://www.espn.co.uk/college-football/boxscore