There was a lot of movement across the college football world over the weekend. Some teams moved up, and some moved down, though probably not as far as they should have.
Let’s do a quick recap of the weekend.
The Good
Clemson: There might not have been a bigger statement made than the one the Tigers made in Atlanta on Saturday. Clemson emptied the bench, starting after the first possession of the third quarter and still put 73 points on the scoreboard. Four quarterbacks played, even the punter took snaps at QB. 17 different players caught a pass and 10 different guys had rushing attempts. It was the worst beating in ACC play since the conference was formed. Oh, and Trevor Lawrence, that guy just keeps playing chess while the rest of the country is playing checkers. Just give him the Heisman now.
Alabama: After going into the half trailing Georgia 24-20, Bama put it on the Dawgs in the second half, outscoring them 21-0. The Tide lit up what was supposed to be one of the better defenses in the country for more than 550 yards, with more than 400 of those coming via Mac Jones and the passing game. However, this isn’t the Nick Saban defense fans have become used to seeing. The Tide have some issues on that side of the ball as Georgia averaged almost five yards per carry on the ground. Still some work to do in Tuscaloosa.
The Bad
Tennessee: At home, hosting lowly Kentucky, and the Vols can only muster seven points. Then one day later fire the defensive line coach. Makes perfect sense. That is exactly what Jarrett Guarantano needs to make him a better quarterback. The Vols were just 3-12 on third downs and that just will not get it done, even against Kentucky. Maybe Jeremy Pruitt isn’t quite as close as he thought.
Auburn: Remember when Bo Nix was thought to be the next big thing at quarterback? The Tigers lost to the Gamecocks for the first time since UofSC joined the SEC, despite holding them to under 300 yards of offense. Nix was picked off three times and Colin Hill was just barely good enough to get his team a win. The Chad Morris hire that was thought to be such a homerun is starting to turn into one big dud.
The Ugly
North Carolina: The Tarheels had two punts blocked and gave up a pick six, all in the first half as they dug themselves a 31-7 hole that they could never crawl out of against Florida State. The Seminoles just aren’t very good, but it didn’t matter. North Carolina made one mistake after another. One their final three offensive plays of the game, Tarheel receivers dropped passes. All of which hit them directly in the hands. Sorry, but this isn’t a top fifteen team, much less a top five team.
UCF: The Golden Knights had 798 yards of offense and lost. After leading Memphis by three touchdowns in the third quarter, the self proclaimed champs gave it up and lost to Memphis for the first time in their last 13 meetings. Then to top it all off, after missing a 40 yard game winning FG with 19 seconds left, this happened.
