This week in college football as explained by Bruce Springsteen
There is so much to talk about this week. Saturday was, somewhat appropriately, a day of utter chaos in the college football world. Three out of the top four teams in the nation suffered upsets. Troy will likely be ranked when Tuesday night rolls around. Michigan State found an offense. A guy named "Blewitt" hit a game-winning field goal for Pitt to lift them over Clemson. The world is an uncertain place (except for Alabama, who will waltz right into an SEC Championship) so we have enlisted the help of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band to help us make sense of what happened this week.
This Saturday, Harbaugh awoke from a quiet night, he never heard a sound. Hawkeyes raided in the dark and brought death to his hometown. And the really tragic (or funny, depending on your rooting proclivities) thing about Michigan's loss to Iowa is that to one man, it looked all too familiar. For the trivia-minded among you, the last time the second, third, and fourth ranked teams in the nation all lost on the same day was back in 1985. And though the third and fourth place teams were different back then, #2 was not. #2 was a plucky Michigan squad who, led by a young hotshot quarterback, marched into Iowa City to take on the #1 Hawkeyes, and then got beaten by a last-second field goal.
Their quarterback? A junior named Jim Harbaugh.
The lesson of "Death To My Hometown" is that if you don't learn from your history, you're doomed to repeat it. I guess Harbaugh isn't a Springsteen fan.
Born To Run: Nick Chubb and Sony Michel Lead Georgia to Upset Over #9 Auburn
Much will be made of Auburn's second-half collapse against the Bulldogs this past Saturday, and for good reason. Their offense couldn't get anything going over the course of the entire game, and the Georgia defense had their way with Tigers QB Sean White, sacking him twice, holding him to 6 total completed passes for a total of 27 yards through the air, and even notching an interception.
So yes, Auburn never got it going offensively, but make no mistake: the reason that the Bulldogs were able to pull off this upset was because they dominated the possession battle. And yes, Jacob Eason had a great game, but both Nick Chubb and Sony Michel ensured that Auburn's defense stayed on the field for the vast majority of the game.
Overall, the Bulldogs almost doubled up on Auburn's time of possession, 39 minutes to their 21, and in the fourth quarter alone, they were able to hold Auburn to slightly over 2 minutes and 30 seconds of possession time. Sure, Chubb and Michel's stat-lines aren't world-beating -- Chubb ran for over 100 yards and Michel notched himself 55 on ten carries -- but it was enough to ensure that the Tigers defense was beat up every time they took the field. It was also enough to ensure that this year's Iron Bowl will be a bit more meaningless than it has been in recent years.
Have you been down in the dumps lately? Feeling depressed? Sad about your life, thinking that things are going wrong, that things are out of your control? Take solace in the fact that at least you're not Rutgers.
Michigan State, one of the worst teams in the Big Ten (at least this year), beat the snot out of Rutgers in a 49-to-zero drubbing. Rutgers' garbage fire keeps on burning, while they continue working in the cold. Much has been made of the team's (dumb) (stupid) (really, really dumb) decision to join the Big Ten, with many pundits claiming that the move was bad for college football. I respectfully disagree. Rutgers' terrible football team is one of the most entertaining things to watch, and their inclusion in the Big Ten means that the entire country can see their quarterback trip, fall backwards, and throw a pass to an invisible receiver.
God bless Rutgers, the "Yakety Sax" of football teams, for letting a terrible Michigan State team put up 49 points.
Glory Days: With Loss To USC, Huskies Lose Their Best Chance At A Playoff Spot
This one's rough. It would have been so much fun for the Huskies to win out, and then spend hours talking about how dumb the playoff selection committee was for somehow still failing to include them in the top 4. As it stands now, they'll need a lot of help to claw their way back into the top 4.
Now, to be fair, USC is surging -- they don't look as bad as they did earlier in the season, and a loss to them isn't the worst thing in the world. But given the way the playoff committee seems to view the Pac-12 as a whole, things remain very, very uncertain for Washington. Even if they do take care of business and win out, even if they end up winning the entire Pac-12, there's no guarantee -- especially since it seems fairly likely that conference champions from the Big Ten and the ACC will also end up with one loss. Washington has to hope that their opponent in the Pac-12 title game is a strong one, and that other conference hopefuls pick up another loss or two if they want to solidify a case to be one of the top four teams in the playoff. As it stands now, Huskies fans, when you feel like crying, just start laughing thinking about glory days, when we were all making fun of the committee for ranking Texas A&M above you.
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