Luicci's College Football Plus: Week 5 Recap

Questions Abound About The SEC, Texas And Defense In General

Five questions

Q. Are we seeing a seismic shift in the power structure of the SEC?

Just look at what happened on Saturday. Texas A&M upset Florida. Missouri beat LSU. Arkansas would have beaten Auburn if not for a horrendous officiating mistake. Kentucky held Mike Leach’s vaunted offense scoreless. And Ole Miss gave Alabama fits – piling up 647 yards of offense, the most ever against the Tide. There’s still strength at the top with Alabama and Georgia, who get to settle the issue of the SEC’s best team on Saturday. But with the exception of Vanderbilt, competitiveness – not upper echelon dominance – seems to be the new theme in the SEC.

The one drawback to all of that balance: Despite making for a fun regular season it can prove costly when the College Football Playoff Selection committee meets.

Q. Can we finally relegate Texas and Tom Herman to irrelevant status now?

You have to admire the toughness and the strong will of quarterback Sam Ehlinger. He’s a gamer. But he needs to talk less and win more. His pep talks and promises too often ring hollow after the Saturday results are in. As for Texas, the country is tired of that “we’re back – no wait, we’re not” act. The Longhorns have been living off their tradition and history for too many years now. The bottom line: It’s a mediocre program. Head coach Tom Herman is part of the reason for that, having gone 10-7 the past two seasons. The biggest indictment is that Texas is not a well-coached team. The sloppiness, the mental mistakes (11 more penalties against Oklahoma on Saturday), the lack of discipline. Ehlinger can only do so much.

Seriously, who else thought it was a good idea to bring in Chris Ash, the worst head coach in Rutgers history (and that takes some doing), as defensive coordinator?

Only Tom Herman, future ex-Texas coach.

Q. Is it time to tweak the rules so that defenses have a better chance of succeeding again?

Listen, we’re no 6-4 Penn State-Iowa type of game advocates. But isn’t this high-scoring, shootout-style of play getting kind of – get ready for it – boring? It’s routine now and it’s everywhere in every league (see, the Big 12 was trendsetter after all). If it even affects Alabama, as Saturday’s Ole Miss game showed, maybe it’s time to tilt some of the rules back to defense after they have so heavily favored offense for years now. The result now is video game football. It’s the same mindset that has ruined baseball with all the emphasis on home runs and launch angle. The fascination with gimmicky stuff only last so long. Wouldn’t it be nice to see a normal 24-20 game for a change, where some good defense is played? Right now, there isn’t a team in the country not susceptible to being lit up for seven touchdowns on a given Saturday. Is that really fun to watch on a weekly basis?

Q. What has happened to college football in the state of Florida?

Consider this: Six of the seven Florida colleges are now on losing streaks. The only one that isn’t is 1-0 FAU, which had its game on Saturday against Southern Miss postponed. On Saturday alone, Florida lost, Miami lost, Florida State lost, South Florida lost and FIU lost. UCF was off but did lose the last time it played (to Tulsa). Combined, the seven Florida schools are 10-8.

Remember when Miami, Florida State and Florida were all potential top 10 teams, when UCF was whining about being excluded from the playoffs and when South Florida was a feel-good success story for a late-starting program?

Now everyone goes into Florida and cleans (up on) the Swamp.

Q. How good is North Carolina – and are the Tar Heels ready to challenge for the No. 2 spot behind Clemson in the ACC?

Mack Brown’s time may have run its course at Texas but the 69-year-old coach has been rejuvenated in his second go-around in Chapel Hill. After a 7-6 “rebuilding year” in his first season back at North Carolina in 2019 the Tar Heels look to be as dangerous offensively as any team in the country. Sophomore QB Sam Howell is a star-in-progress and UNC is 3-0 after Saturday’s 56-45 victory over Virginia Tech. The Tar Heels rushed for 399 yards that game – the most rushing yards since 1993 – and saw Michael Carter (214 yards, two TDs) and Javonte Williams (169 yards, two TDs) become the first pair of backs to rush for 160 yards or more in the same game for the first time in school history.

The biggest obstacle to an unbeaten regular season (and maybe a date with Clemson in the ACC title game) is Nov. 27 when Notre Dame visits.

Bet they miss old Mack in Austin now.

Q. On the Rise

Iowa State (3-1)

Cyclones have rebounded nicely from that stunning opening-game loss to Louisiana to start 3-0 in league play for only the third time in school history (2002 and 1950 were the other times). A first-ever Big 12 title is there for the taking.

Texas A&M (2-1)

Kudos to Jimbo Fisher for his first win over a top 5 team since taking over at A&M. The Aggies are one of those sneaky-good SEC teams, in part because of a proven senior quarterback. Now let’s see if they can avoid a misstep for a few games and build off the Florida upset.

Boston College (3-1)

Sometimes, luck means as much as performance. The Eagles got some of the former when Pitt missed a PAT in OT, but this is a markedly improved team for two reasons: New coach Jeff Hafley and Notre Dame QB transfer Phil Jurkovec.

On the decline

LSU (1-2)

Seriously, 586 yards allowed to Missouri? After giving up 623 in the opener to a bad Mississippi State team? Bo (Pelini) does not seem to know defense. Tigers are 1-2 for the first time since 1994 and a lot closer to Vanderbilt this year than they are to Alabama.

Louisville (1-3)

Cards reached a new low in losing 46-27 to Georgia Tech on Friday to fall to 0-3 in the ACC. That’s the same Yellow Jackets team picked for last in the 15-team ACC. Right now, Louisville is a mess on both sides of the ball.

Syracuse (1-3)

Duke had been 0-4 before Saturday. Now the Blue Devils are 1-4 despite three lost fumbles and an interception. Orange had 28 rushing yards (this is the school with the unparalleled history of running backs, right?) after going for 286 last year against Duke. Blue Devils shredded Syracuse’s defense with 363 rushing yards and 645 overall. An 0-4 team did this to Dino Babers’ squad.

Who’s hot

Connor Bazelak, QB, Missouri

Despite missing three of his top receivers due to COVID-19 protocols, the freshman threw for 406 yards and four TDs in the 45-41 victory over LSU. Tigers appear to have found their QB of the present and future.

Najee Harris, RB, Alabama

It’s easy to forget about running backs these days with all of the dazzling passing numbers being posted. But Harris was the key to the Tide holding off Ole Miss in a shootout, rushing for 206 yards and five TDs to contribute to the highest-scoring regulation game in SEC history.

Michael Carter, RB, North Carolina

A career-high 214 rushing yards and two TDs keyed Carolina’s rushing total of 399 yards – the most since 1993 – in a 56-45 victory against what is supposed to be a decent Virginia Tech defense.

Who’s not

K.J. Costello, QB, Mississippi State

Two games after setting an SEC single-game passing record the Stanford transfer suffered four interceptions (the Bulldogs had six overall) and failed to generate any offensive points in a 24-2 loss to Kentucky. Costello now has nine interceptions in three games. Two of his picks against the Wildcats were in the end zone.

SEC officials

They robbed Arkansas of a victory at Auburn with a botched call of Bo Nix’s backward spike after he mishandled the snap as the Tigers were trying to set up for the game-winning field goal (which they got). The SEC office acknowledged afterward that Nix spiked the ball backwards, making it a fumble, but since the league determined there was no clear recovery in the immediate aftermath of the fumble the call stood as simply intentional grounding. That crew should earn a one-game suspension for that epic failure.

Alex Kessman, PK, Pittsburgh

Hate to pick on kickers, but how do you make a clutch 58-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter and then miss an extra point in OT in a 31-30 loss to BC? Kessman, a senior, is usually reliable. He missed just one extra point all of last season.

Playing it forward

Previewing the top games coming up this weekend (All times Eastern)

Georgia at Alabama, 8 p.m., CBS

Does any other game really matter this weekend? No. This epic showdown saves a slate of mediocre matchups nationally on Saturday.

Tom Luicci was the national college football and basketball writer for The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J. from 1979-2014.