Everyone from college football casuals to hard-core fans had Week 4 circled as a can’t-miss slate of games.
With six matchups between ranked opponents on tap, we certainly got our fair share of excitement. Unfortunately, most of those games didn’t prove to be particularly compelling, and we don’t seem to have many more answers about the sport’s balance of power following the week’s conclusion.
Still, as we do every week here at For The Win, we’ll do our best to contextualize the weekend, from the top-10 matchups to lower-level wackiness. Here are the winners and losers from Week 4 of the college football season.
Winner: Alabama sends a message to Lane Kiffin
A lot has been said so far this season about Alabama and the possibility of the dynasty being on its last legs (some of it by me). I’m far from ready to issue a full mea culpa about the Tide, but it’s clear this team is not the sickly old man in the SEC West.
Alabama’s defense dominated Ole Miss and quarterback Jaxson Dart in a 24-10 win that never really seemed to be in doubt after the early stretches. This team has obvious problems, which may be exposed against someone like LSU, but that unit at least still largely resembles the Alabama defenses of old.
And while the offense failed to make major strides against an Ole Miss defense on which the jury is still out, it’s clear that Jalen Milroe takes it to a higher level than either Tyler Buchner or Ty Simpson can. Simply put, Tide fans will have to take the good with the bad when it comes to Milroe.
I still don’t think this is the best team in the West or a title contender, but it’s clear at this point that the bottom is not going to fall out under Saban, at least in 2023.
Loser: Colorado's Cinderella story finally comes to an end
OK. The thing finally happened, and you can rest assured that I’m going to talk about it. But now that Colorado’s first loss under Deion Sanders, which came in ugly fashion in Eugene with a 42-6 loss at the hands of Oregon, is in the rearview, can we finally start to have conversations about this team without leaning on hyperbole?
We knew this was going to happen. Sanders did impressive work to revitalize Colorado through the transfer portal, especially at the skill positions, but he isn’t an actual wizard.
We knew the Buffaloes had issues in the trenches that TCU, Nebraska and Colorado State couldn’t really expose. Oregon could, and the result was a seven-sack game for Shedeur Sanders, which never really allowed the offense to get going.
Not that it likely would have mattered, but not having Travis Hunter available on both sides of the ball was costly, especially for the Colorado secondary against a talented passer in Bo Nix.
But can we please have some perspective? This team is miles ahead of where anyone whose last name isn’t Sanders thought it would be in Year 1. Smoking Nebraska didn’t mean this team was going to compete for a title, nor did losing to Oregon mean the Buffs have been “exposed.”
Everyone needs to relax a little bit and enjoy the ride.
Winner: The Pac-12's upper class
You’re getting a value pack here because there are just too many teams in this conference worth recognizing. Obviously, there’s Oregon, and while it’s hard to contextualize exactly what the win over Colorado means as we sit here in late September, the Ducks look to be a contender.
But they are just one of several. Washington led the nation in passing yards per game last season, and that offense somehow looks even better in Michael Penix Jr.’s second season in Seattle. He’s a Heisman frontrunner, and that offense paired with an underrated defense could be the recipe for a national title contender no one seems to be talking about right now.
USC has lots of questions on defense after surrendering 28 points to an Arizona State offense that was blanked by Fresno State the prior week, but Caleb Williams should keep the Trojans in almost any game. Then, of course, there’s two-time defending champion Utah, which is 4-0 despite missing quarterback Cam Rising and absolutely terrorized a promising true freshman quarterback in UCLA’s Dante Moore last week.
If you’re looking for a wild card, how about Washington State? The Cougars have ranked wins over Wisconsin and Oregon State, and Cam Ward seems to have taken massive strides in his second season since transferring up from the FCS.
There’s so much intrigue in this league right now that it’s depressing to realize the Pac-12 won’t exist beyond this season.
Loser: Lane Kiffin falls flat on his face
Saturday felt like a game Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss just had to win. They didn’t, it wasn’t even particularly competitive and I’m not going to pull any punches. This was a simply embarrassing performance, even against an Alabama team that clearly remains competitive despite its flaws.
Kiffin has struggled tremendously in big games during his tenure in Oxford, and he hasn’t beaten his mentor in Saban. Saturday was an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, but once again, his team just couldn’t take advantage.
It doesn’t help that Kiffin spent most of his midweek press conferences trolling Saban, whether it was alleging that Alabama had covertly changed defensive play-callers, seemingly mimicking Saban’s presser mannerisms and implying that his retirement could be imminent.
Saban clearly wasn’t a fan of all that.
Kiffin is Kiffin. He’s a unique persona in this sport, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with that. But if you’re going to act like he so often does, it has to be backed up by winning. If it’s not, the schtick grows old quickly.
Between setting his program up for even more embarrassment by talking a big game and perpetual offseason flirts with other jobs (most recently Auburn) that likely won’t end until Kiffin leaves Oxford, pine box or otherwise, it’s hard to imagine he has as much goodwill as he’d like at the moment.
Winner: Ohio State silences the critics (for now)
It wasn’t pretty, and the Buckeyes were fortunate to avoid a loss, but a top-10 win on the road speaks for itself.
Following Ohio State’s 17-14 comeback win over Notre Dame, coach Ryan Day came after everyone in his on-field postgame interview. No one was spared, including 86-year-old Lou Holtz, who apparently said that the Buckeyes weren’t physical enough.
To be fair, Holtz wasn’t the only one to levy those accusations after the team’s performance against Michigan the last two seasons, but Day’s anger is mostly justified.
The questioning of Day and Ohio State really transcends all metrics normally used to evaluate coaches. He’s 49-6 with the Buckeyes, and he’s perhaps a missed field goal against Georgia away from having a national title under his belt.
This year’s team hasn’t exactly proven itself and likely won’t, at least in the public eye, until it ends its skid against Michigan, which is a sentence that would have been very confusing to read a few years ago.
But Day has a defense that looks elite after shutting down Sam Hartman and the Irish’s run game for most of the night, and while Kyle McCord may not have the ceiling of the quarterbacks he’s succeeding, he clearly brings some moxie to the table after leading a game-winning drive on Saturday night.
The Buckeyes are as much of a contender as anyone right now.
Loser: Marcus Freeman's coaching mistake costs Notre Dame severely
I’m about to slightly undercut everything I just wrote because Notre Dame still should have won that game. Its plan to stick to the run worked to perfection as the Fighting Irish eventually wore down Ohio State’s defense with back-to-back second-half touchdown drives.
It looked like the game was in hand, but the Buckeyes still drove down the field with a chance to end the game on a goal-line run. Notre Dame still could have won at that point, but a tremendous coaching gaffe made its job significantly harder.
The Irish only had 10 men on the field for what proved to be the final play of the game. Freeman said it was because he didn’t want to risk drawing an offsides penalty with a late substitution since he didn’t have any timeouts, which is understandable.
What is not understandable is how that could even happen in the first place considering the play was coming out of a timeout. It’s impossible to say if it would have made a difference, but the undermanned Irish couldn’t keep running back Chip Trayanum out of the end zone.
This Notre Dame team looks good and acquitted itself well in a loss to a talented team. But that was a massive mistake by Freeman, and it’s one that is amplified tremendously when it happens in a key spot in such a massive game for his tenure.
The trajectory under Freeman remains positive, but if that were to change, this is a moment that may linger in fans’ minds.
Quick Hitters - Winners
Georgia State: Many had this job pegged as one to watch in the carousel next offseason, but a change doesn’t seem likely now as the Panthers are 4-0 and coming off a big win over Coastal Carolina.
Oklahoma: Perhaps Brent Venables has fixed this defense in Year 2. The Sooners beat Cincinnati 20-6 on the road, and while we have offensive questions, this could be a real challenger to Texas in the Big 12.
TCU: The Colorado loss looks more like an anomaly every week. Sonny Dykes took care of business against his former team in a 34-17 win over SMU in what will be the last Battle for the Iron Skillet for the foreseeable future.
Kansas: It doesn’t even feel like a surprise to say this anymore, but Kansas is 4-0 after getting past BYU at home. Lance Leipold has the chance to capture the biggest win of his tenure when the Jayhawks hit the road to take on Texas next weekend.
West Virginia: We may be watching Neal Brown coach his way off one of the nation’s hottest seats in real-time. The Mountaineers are 3-1 after a huge win over Texas Tech, and things may be simmering down in Morgantown.
Northwestern: It looked like a Big Ten win may not be in the cards for the Wildcats, but they got that out of the way with a 37-34 overtime win over Minnesota.
BEN BRYANT TO CHARLIE MANGIERI ON THE FIRST PLAY OF OVERTIME NORTHWESTERN WINS
pic.twitter.com/KZvNUiNYXU— SuperHawkeyeFan (@superhawkeyefan) September 24, 2023
Quick Hitters - Losers
Purdue: A drop-off was expected in Year 1 of the Ryan Walters era, but getting blown out at home by a Wisconsin team undergoing a major transition of its own doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence.
Clemson: The Tigers gave Florida State a better game than many expected, but it’s hard to take a moral victory when they had the chance to win. Kicking issues continue to plague Clemson, and walk-on kicking addition Jonathan Weitz missed a potential game-winner from 29 yards with 1:45 to play before the Tigers ultimately lost in overtime.
Auburn: Expectations weren’t that high for Hugh Freeze in Year 1, but man, that offense is abysmal. Three Tigers quarterbacks combined to go 9 of 23 for 56 yards in a 27-10 loss to Texas A&M.
Virginia Tech: The Hokies clearly aren’t very good, but things should never be bad enough that you lose to Marshall.
Michigan State: This seems like a lost season as the Spartans brass has bigger fish to fry. At least, that’s the impression I got from a lifeless 31-9 loss to Maryland.
Texas Tech: The Red Raiders entered the year with Big 12 dark horse hype, but they’re now 1-3 after a loss to West Virginia that will be hard to swallow.
Oklahoma State: After a rough loss to an Iowa State team without several starters as a result of the betting scandal, it really seems like it’s time to start wondering if the Mike Gundy era has run its course in Stillwater.
Iowa: Brian Ferentz may officially be in trouble. His contract stipulates the Hawkeyes average 25 offensive points per game, which they were before a 31-0 clunker against Penn State. Now, the pressure will ramp up tremendously as the Big Ten schedule progresses.
UCF: Sending the Knights into the meat grinder that is Kansas State to begin its Big 12 residency was just never going to end well.
Appalachian State: The Mountaineers lost in heartbreaking fashion at Wyoming, having a field goal blocked and returned for what would become the game-winning touchdown in the final minutes. When will these teams learn to stop going to Laramie?
BLOCKED!! WYOMING TAKES IT BACK FOR THE LEAD pic.twitter.com/c4ztSaLmzl
— Sickos Committee (@SickosCommittee) September 24, 2023
