by Jack Kerwin  |  ydkjack1@gmail.com
The irony is almost palpable.
 
You hear James Franklin speak Saturday night, you listen to his words, you take a moment or two to let them sink in, take a deep breath … and, then, well, you kinda chuckle.
 
Here he was, minutes after seeing his Nittany Lions’ hopes at a College Football Playoff berth implode before the month of October kicked off, the type of body blow that would leave many a contender doubled over and unable to continue, and the head coach who embodies arrogance and boorishness straight out of the Donald Trump School of Elitism was more concerned with how he and his charges were viewed than accepting what just happened.
 
Yeah, damn right the Lions are not elite … and reason No. 1 is the coaching staff’s performance at crunch time. Led by Mr. Great But Not Elite himself, Franklin.
 
Exhibit A came on Penn State’s final offensive play against Ohio State — a fourth-and-five at the Buckeyes’ 43 that saw running back Miles Sanders get swallowed up for a two-yard loss almost simultaneously with him taking the handoff. Ballgame over.
 
The call was not one borne of ingenuity. The Lions run that play ad nauseam with Sanders, and did so Saquon Barkley, too. It rarely has worked with either, especially in key moments. Looks kinda like a delay. Sorta like a run-pass option. But all it is, is some lame blast up the gut that never seems to catch anyone by surprise, except Franklin’s coaching staff when it doesn’t work.
 
Keep in mind that PSU quarterback Trace McSorley may have audibled into the play after waiting through timeouts by both teams and then surveying the OSU defense. Thing is, that’s still on Franklin and his staff because they have it drilled into the kid that the play works, or that it’ll catch defenses off-guard.
 
It hasn’t, and it won’t.
 
It was ridiculous that play was even on the table at that point, with the host Lions down one, having blown a 12-point lead with just eight minutes to go, and McSorley proving to be PSU’s best and most creative option all night, having made the Buckeyes look silly more often than not when scrambling out of the pocket.
 
Plain and simple, that situation called for a run-pass option, with one guy, and one guy alone, running the show: McSorley. He’d already ran for 175 yards and passed for another 286, frankly, looking like a far more legit Heisman candidate than his overly ballyhooed former backfield mate now with the New York Giants ever did.
 
Here’s the reality of it all: Franklin entered the game believing he had the lesser team, and at every juncture when OSU was ready to fold, the Lions blinked in a way that modeled their coach’s faith, or lack of it.
 
Could’ve blown out the Buckeyes in the first half.
 
Could’ve put them away multiple times in the second half.
 
Could’ve cut their hearts out with a conversion on that aforementioned fateful play.
 
Never happened. Not once.
 
PSU had the better quarterback, the better receivers (despite the hype), the better ground game, the better passing game, the better defensive line … going into the game.
 
But, really, you’d never know it because there always seemed to be an underlying fear in how things were called from the sidelines, and then played out on the field.
 
So, please, next time — and there will be a next time, no doubt — spare us the post-game Brett Kavanaugh act.
 
ALMA MATTERS
 
You want irony, here it is…
 
While Franklin and Co. could be ripped for overthinking and sticking to the “traditional” running attack, Temple and Illinois, my two schools, could be ripped for the exact opposite.
 
Sure, only the Owls were in action this past weekend, but both coaching staffs have been brutal with either A) not sticking with the run or B) not sticking with the hot hand on the run.
 
Temple is far more guilty of A; Illinois B. Either way, they’re annoying.
 
Yo, Geoff Collins, you got a big-time, NFL-caliber stud at tailback in Ryquell Armstead. Truth be told, he’s better than the guy you just faced in Boston College’s AJ Dillon. Use him. Keep using him. None of this Anthony Russo misfire after misfire thanks to his erratic arm and the receivers’ erratice hands when you got Armstead going for 7 or 8 yards a pop.
 
Kid had 171 yards and four TDs on 24 carries against the Eagles.
 
Illinois has two quality backs in Reggie Corbin and Mike Epstein (both average 6.8 yards per carry). The perform best when they’re both on the field. So, Lovie Smith, just keep them both on the field at the same time and knock it off with trying to cross up teams.
 
THIS AND THAT ...
 

• Got no issue with Kelly Bryant wanting to leave the Clemson program after getting benched for Trevor Lawrence. Also got no problem with head coach Dabo Swinney benching Bryant, or the Tigers learning how to cope through the adversity of Lawrence getting hurt this past Saturday. That’s the game. That’s life. Nothing wrong with any of it.
• McSorley thrust himself into Heisman contention with his Herculean (or Vince Young at Texas-type) performance Saturday night, then saw any chance of a trip to New York City disappear with that one handoff.
• Notre Dame was the most impressive team these eyes saw all weekend. It’s not that they’re now improved at quarterback with Ian Book, but the move seems to have inspired the rest of the squad. Seventh-ranked Stanford was no match for the No. 8 Irish.
• Still see West Virginia quarterback Will Grier as the leader in the Heisman race, especially after another three-TD effort while winning on the road at a ranked opponent. But the best player in the country really may be Colorado wide receiver Laviska Shenault Jr., a 6-2, 220-pound sophomore who just abuses defensive backs and linebackers athletically and physically.
• Nebraska may turn its program around at some point, but Scott Frost made a dreadful decision to leave what he created at Central Florida in the hopes of recapturing past glory with the Huskers that is gone forever.

 

by Jack Kerwin  |  ydkjack1@gmail.com
Upon further review …

• Notre Dame is worthy of a top-10 ranking, if not better. All it took to confirm that was for bull-headed coach Brian Kelly to make the switch at QB to the better player — Ian Book — and the Irish looked like a different team offensively at Wake Forest on Saturday. Kid was so good he got the Demon Deacons DC fired on Sunday. For those holding out hope for a three-loss, middling-bowl season, sorry, the Brandon Wimbush Experiment finally, mercifully, is now over.  
• Penn State may contend for a playoff spot just yet. After almost ruining their chances in Week 1, the Lions have gone all “Alabama” ever since, outscoring their next three opponents by a combined 177-40, including a mind-boggling 42-0 stretch run at Illinois on Friday night after falling behind 28-24 in the third quarter. Frankly, prefer Miles Sanders as a feature RB over Saquan Barkley … because he doesn’t disappear for any stretches, never mind long ones.  
• There are no “outliers” capable of beating the system to claim a berth in the national semifinals. Both my picks shared a week ago — Virginia Tech and Mississippi State — were solid choices, and both went down in flames, the Bulldogs at SEC rival Kentucky and the Hokies at Old Dominion, an FCS-level outfit that entered the game 0-3. Things got so bad with Tech that star DE Trevon Hill got dismissed from the team Sunday.
  
• The ACC is the goofiest conference in the country anymore. You never know what you’re going to get, even with pied-piper Clemson still leading the way. Boston College earns a ranking for the first time in 10 years, then loses — bad — at previously winless Purdue. Syracuse is 4-0, N.C. State is 3-0 and we already mentioned Virginia Tech. Did you know 4-0 Duke smoked the same Army squad that just took then-No. 6 Oklahoma to OT?  
• Oregon QB Justin Herbert is the real deal — every bit as much as Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa. Plus, he’s 6-foot-6, 240.  
• West Virginia QB Will Grier remains my guy for the Heisman. These 5-TD passing games are getting routine.

 
ALMA MATTERS
 
For the fourth straight week, my two schools went a combined 1-1. How positively “meh” of them.
 
With Illinois, still waiting for Lovie Smith to walk out the door — by his choice or not. At this point, excusing the players’ inexperience is not an option anymore. Nor is pointing at their lack of talent. That ain’t the issue. Coaching is. Game-day coaching.
 
Exhibit A: Friday night, at home, against then-No. 10 Penn State, the Illini are keeping pace behind the tag-team running of Mike Epstein and Reggie Corbin. They’re down 21-17 at half. Epstein, coming off back-to-back 100-yard rushing games, has 72 yards on 12 carries. Has a couple receptions, too. First possession in the second half, he gets a break and before OC Rod Smith can get him back in there, Illinois manages to pull off a 75-yard drive to take a three-point lead. Fair enough.
 
But then the kid doesn’t see the field the rest of the third quarter, even as the wheels start coming off faster than you can “three-and-out” while the Lions catch fire. By the time Smith goes back to him, it’s too late. Damage done.
 
The Illini had no “feel” for using him against South Florida a week earlier, either, which resulted in them blowing a 19-6 lead in the fourth.
 
Can we stop rejoicing over M.J. Rivers II play at QB, too? Great, we get it, he’s a freshman. Can’t expect too much. Yeah, but we can expect him to feel pressure once in a while, and this guy can’t even sense the sharks circling a step away and the blood swirling all over.
 
Temple? Yo, take the win and just keep running Ryquell Armstead. Enough said.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
 
This upcoming weekend may be the best for big-time matchups thus far, and could serve as the “yay” or “nay” final say for several teams with playoff hopes.
 
No. 4 Ohio State travels to No. 9 Penn State in the featured, prime-time contest Saturday night, but it ain’t the only one with major implications. No. 7 Stanford visits No. 8 Notre Dame the same night (and time) as well. No. 12 West Virginia has to go on the road at No. 25 Texas Tech, which just dismantled then-No. 15 Oklahoma State on its own field, and No. 11 Washington hosts No. 20 Brigham Young, which already dropped then-No. 6 Wisconsin at its place this season, in the other biggies.

by Jack Kerwin  |  ydkjack1@gmail.com

It caught my eye.
 
Despite the futile track record, my daily scan at warp speed through social media continued in earnest Tuesday to see if anything popped out at me … and, much to my surprise, something did.
 
Wasn’t anything deep or detailed. Just a graphic courtesy of Fox Sports that pointed out the remaining unbeatens after three weeks of college football action this autumn of 2018.
 
But it got me thinking …
 
Which teams are capable of crashing the four-team party to settle the national champion that already seems to have sent out invitations, pending committee approval, to the current top five-ranked ranked squads: Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, Ohio State and Oklahoma?
 
Five? Three? Any?
 
Let’s be honest here. In this day and age, any outfit not named above that has a loss is out of the running — save for, maybe, Notre Dame … and that’s big MAYBE anymore anyway.
 
Those five are so far above every other program the difference defies description, and Alabama is, by far, the elite of that elite.
 
Frankly, Clemson, with its NFL-caliber defensive line and freshman phenom Taylor Lawrence looking like he may get forced into being “the man” faster than head coach Dabo Swinney had planned, seems to be the only legit competition to the Crimson Tide defending its crown.
 
But it’s nice to dream, or just wonder … what if?
 
Outside of that Fab Five, a whopping 29 teams have yet to taste defeat, or even a tie, offering hope of the improbable, if not impossible, to an awful lot of fans sports an awful lot of colors.
 
THE NO SHOTS
 
With apologies to many of my fellow Group of Five followers, if not alums, while this sport may love its “underdogs,” it very rarely rewards them. Central Florida not only was the nation’s lone unbeaten last season, it gave the country two of the most entertaining games in for-the-ages thrillers against South Florida and Memphis, won its conference and topped Power Five foe Auburn in a New Year’s Day bowl game — all while performing under the uncertainty of whether program builder Scott Frost would stay or leave.
 
For its efforts, UCF got a pat on the head with a No. 6 ranking, behind four teams with two losses each, mind you, and a ton of mockery thrown its way by stuck-in-their-ways experts and Joe Six-Packs alike for having the audacity to claim it had earned more.

With that in mind, watch out for the door hitting you in the face, North Texas, Louisiana Tech and Marshall of Conference USA, UCF, South Florida and Cincinnati of the American Athletic Conference, and Buffalo and Akron of the Mid-American Conference.
 
GET REAL
 
Boston College, Syracuse, N.C. State and Duke of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Minnesota and Indiana of the Big Ten, Kentucky and Missouri of the Southeastern Conference, and the Pacific 12 Conference undefeated quartet.
 
None of them — not Stanford, California, Washington State, Colorado or Oregon — have what it takes. Nice teams. But nothing special, even if Bryce Love returns to Heisman favorite form for the Cardinal.
 
Pretty much the same story with the rest mentioned right here, and in some cases, such as with Minnesota, Indiana and Missouri, that may be generous.
 
THE KIDDERS
 
Iowa of the Big Ten, Louisiana State of the SEC and Oklahoma State of the Big 12. Oh, yeah, Notre Dame, too. Sorry, Irish backers, but your guys are brutal to watch — even in victory. ND, currently ranked eighth in the country, could be 0-3 right now very easily and with a stretch of five straight weeks against quality competition starting with road game No. 1 Saturday at Wake Forest, it can forget about an undefeated season.
 
Iowa, just, well, doesn’t impress anyone. Nine teams ranked with losses, and the Hawkeyes are 3-0, unranked and not even leading the way in “others getting votes.”
 
As for Okie State, will be forever grateful that it put the kibosh on another Boise State darling tale before it ever really got started, but, they look to be the third wheel in a two-team conference.
 
LSU? Puh-leeze. That offense still stinks. To high heavens.
 
THAT LEAVES ...
 
If memory serves, Virginia Tech of the ACC, West Virginia of the Big 12 and Penn State of the Big 10 — and, really, they’re all wing-and-a-prayer wildcards to do anything.
 
The Hokies, led by two brilliant DBs in Caleb Farley and Reggie Floyd, have the stingy defense while the Mountaineers and Nittany Lions have the gunslinging QBs in Will Grier and Trace McSorley. Incredibly impressive strengths for each team, but none of them are complete or balanced.
 
If any were to shock the elite, never mind the nation, Tech seem the one for several reasons — even beyond that incredibly ranging and athletic stop troops. Schedule, special teams and a few threats at the skill positions. In that order.
 
ND is Tech’s toughest regular season game left and the Hokies get the Irish in Blacksburg, Va. Its next two toughest games — Boston College and Miami — are also at Lane Stadium.
 
Conversely, Penn State has four ranked teams remaining on its slate, starting with No. 4 Ohio State on Sept. 29. West Virginia, meanwhile, closes its season with this stretch: at Texas, vs. Texas Christian, at Okie State, vs. Oklahoma. Good luck coming out unscathed from that.
 
At this point, just can’t see any team challenging the top 5 for a spot in the CFP. But Tech sure looks like the best bet to put that to the test.

Unless, of course, Mississippi State somehow shocks Alabama, Auburn and LSU in the SEC West under first-year coach Joe Moorhead, who has the Bulldogs playing their best ball since a magical run to No. 1 in 2014.

OK, now memory has served ...

by Jack Kerwin  |  ydkjack1@gmail.com

Unforgiving.
 
If there is one word to describe the early stretches of the 2018 college football season, that’s it.

Unforgiving.
 
Yep, any uncertainty here, any weakness there, teams, players and coaches are gonna pay.
 
Can’t ever recall, well, frauds being found out so fast.
 
This week’s casualties included:
 
Big Ten Conference. Yo, it just ain’t that good. All that hullabaloo about overtaking the Southeastern Conference for “we’re the best in the country” chest-thumping last season was more than a tad premature. This past weekend’s seven-loss effort to nonconference competition — six of ’em against non-Power 5 teams — offered compelling evidence to that fact.
 
Wisconsin. Chief among the B1G’s disappointments on Saturday was Paul Chryst’s club. Frankly, the Badgers hadn’t looked so hot the first few weeks against a couple lightweights. Stepping up in class to face middleweight Brigham Young, No. 6 Wisconsin failed. Miserably. At home. It’s still hamstrung by Alex Hornibrook at QB, and, truth be told, the D isn’t as good as it usually is.
 
Boise State. Full disclosure — am pretty pleased about this development. The “noise” about the ever-overblown Broncos already had reached deafening annoyance, with talking heads across the country suggesting they had a shot at the College Football Playoff. Pardon my chuckle after the 44-21 dismantling Boise endured at Oklahoma State the first time it faced a legit squad.
 
Arizona State. One week after startling then-No. 15 Michigan State,16-13, in the desert, the Sun Devils saw the “Herm Edwards still can coach” tour run off the rails at San Diego State.
 
Southern Cal. Just in case you weren’t sure, the 22nd-ranked Trojans got their asses kicked a second week in a row on the road, this time at unranked Texas by a 37-14 score.
 
Hawaii. Was starting to wonder if we were getting shades of Colt Brennan in Cole McDonald with the Warriors’ strong, 3-0 start against decent competition. Then they visited Army.
 
JURY STILL OUT
 
Notre Dame. The Irish are 3-0 and looked bad in each game. At home, no less. May seem crazy, but they could lose at Wake Forest this Saturday, and will lose to Stanford and/or at Virginia Tech right after.
 
Indiana. Yeah, the Hoosiers are 3-0 and as the Big Ten Network’s Gerry DiNardo keeps saying, playing well. But against who? They host Sparty this coming Saturday night. Count on an “L.”
 
Auburn. The Tigers, for some reason, were a prohibitive favorite against LSU for Saturday’s SEC West title. Not sure why. They lost to LSU last year and now, again, this year.
 
LSU. Can’t honestly these Tigers are any better than the aforementioned Tigers, even with the last-second win at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
 
KEEP AN EYE  ON
 
Duke. Can’t take the basketball program or its relentlessly elitist fan base, but the Blue Devils may have something going on the gridiron this fall and, thankfully, we haven’t had that shoved down our throats. Nor will we any time soon. Still, three nice wins against Army, Northwestern and Baylor — all in convincing fashion.
 
Oklahoma. The “quietest” No. 5 team in the country in recent memory. Not for nothing, but Kyler Murray has way more athletic tools than departed Heisman winner Baker Mayfield … and less baggage. The Sooners may be a problem for expected CFP qualifiers Alabama, Georgia, Clemson and Ohio State.
 
ON THE HOT SEAT
 
Scott Frost. Sorry, use the outdated, blinders-wearing, pretzel logic all you like, but the guy made a mistake, a massive one, leaving Central Florida for his beloved Nebraska. The Huskers are so far below the Knights, even in CFP potential, it’s stunning. Even Nebraska Nation is letting him have it after an oh-2 start. At home, to boot.
 
Willie Taggart. Kinda thought he made a mistake leaving South Florida for Oregon last year. Have no doubt now, though, that he screwed up by departing Eugene for Tallahassee. Florida State is circling the drain at this point, and taking him with it. Fans already are pushing for a buyout.
 
Jeff Brohm. That buffer with being at supposedly less-pressure Purdue and positing a winning season in Year One there will only go so far. The Boilers already are 0-3 and staring down the gauntlet at the very possible winless season.
 
ALMA MATTERS
 
Temple demolished Maryland, 35-14. Nothing to gripe about there. Both lines looked good for the first time this season — against better talent than they faced in a pair of losses to open the season. The Owls got the rock to Ryquell Armstead (26 carries, 118 yards) and Philly area product Anthony Russo (Archbishop Wood) was impressive in his first start at QB.
 
Illinois lost to South Florida, 25-19, in what will be termed a heartbreaker, or morale victory, or some PC-twisted combo of the two. But not buying that here. The Bulls are what they were last season, and the Illini surrendered 600-plus yards to them once again, and this time blew a 12-point, 14-quarter lead. QB M.J. Rivers cannot feel pressure. At all. RB Mike Epstein is a talent. Get him the ball. More. A lot more. RB Reggie Corbin is a talent, too. Only he needs balance lessons. Immediately. Desperately. Never seen such a skilled player fall so easily before. Routinely.