Thoughts on College Football's Week 4 and NFL Week 3

 

Thoughts on College Football's Week 4 and NFL Week 3

1. Best of the Week

Best Game: Ohio State at Notre Dame

What a night in South Bend! I feel for the Irish faithful, they showed up on a big night and had a great game. Notre Dame is better than most opposing fans want to admit, but they brought Hartman in for this game. Having 10 players on the field to end the game is inexcusable. That was unfortunate. But I think the gap is closing to the top, and the Irish certainly are still in the playoff hunt.

Best Player: Cam Ward (QB) - Washington State

No offense to Bo Nix, who was surgical against Colorado, but Ward had the best performance of the weekend. The Two-PAC championship did not disappoint. Oregon State is physical and methodical, but Ward would not let his team lose, answering every time. He was confident in the pocket, excellent at moving his feet, and accurate to every level. The Cougars were a forgotten team in realignment, but they could make some noise in this final season.

Best Uniform: Ole Miss Rebels


Ole Miss sometimes abandons the blue in recent years, but the powder blue works so well. Throw it on Bama's beautiful grass in the 3:30pm sunlight and I am a huge fan of this classic look. If you're going to lose, do so in style. Hotty Toddy.

2. You Can Date (Not Marry) Analytics

When the Chargers were lining up to go for it on 4th down deep in their own territory, all I could think about was the Patriots going for it on 4th down from their 28 in 2009 against the Colts. Do you remember this game? The Hoodie got raked over the coals for going for it and missing because the Colts went and scored. But Peyton Manning had gone 79 yards in under 2 minutes on back to back drives, so maybe it was the right play?

Analytics are helpful, but they don't always have context. The Chargers' defense, the most expensive in the league, has been really bad. Kirk Cousins is no Peyton Manning, but he had been moving the ball well. Maybe Staley didn't trust his defense, or maybe he is just so committed to always going for it that it wouldn't have mattered if the Justin Fields' Bears were the opposing team. One last quibble for me is taking the ball out of your insanely talented, large, and athletic quarterback, who could've at least done the Jalen Hurts "Tush Push" or let him throw to Keenan Allen, who was unstoppable.

Analytics are a tool in the toolkit. Numbers are neither good nor bad, we just rationalize them. But I'm sure Oregon's analytics didn't say to do the fake punt, but that was the play that really broke the game open. They're really helpful, but coaches get paid too much money to hide behind them on the podium.

3. NFL Offensive Explosion

My goodness, the Dolphins and the Chiefs really put on a show (and the Chiefs had to with Taylor Swift in the crowd). I cannot wait for the matchup in Germany between these two teams. The Chiefs have become so methodically consistent without Tyreek Hill and are back to full stride with Kelce back. The Dolphins may be the fastest team ever assembled and will be hard to beat if they can have a home playoff game in Miami in January. There have been a lot of low scoring affairs this season but these two teams, along with the 49ers and Eagles, are in a league of their own offensively to start the year.

4. The Deion Thing

We can't write this blog without mentioning the game on Saturday. I love Deion's brashness but also his willingness to step up and face the music when someone gets the better of him. I thought it was interesting Lanning let the cameras record the pregame speech, but I'm sure they will use that in recruiting. It's pretty funny that Oregon, which was wearing cleats that changed colors based on body temperature, was able to position themselves as the hardworking team not "playing for clicks".

What Deion has done in year one, transforming the worst roster in Power 5 to win 3 games already, is great. I think he will keep building and will be successful. But I also love that teams could go back at him. Deion Sanders Jr. had a great tweet showing how Colorado will be brash but can take it right back.


I hope the eye balls stay on Colorado even as they take their lumps this season. It's great for the sport.

5. Play of the Week

Ohio State squeaked out a win on Saturday night and actually got the ground game going a bit to help get out of South Bend with a win. They used some smart scheming against a tough Irish front and some great downfield blocking to get this touchdown.




  • Ohio State has two receivers and a tight end (dot 1) to the short side of the field. They also have the running back, TreVeyon Henderson (dot 2), on that side of the formation. Usually teams run to the opposite side of the running back and more teams have been having the tight end be on the backside of the formation. Ohio State does just that and we will see why soon.
  • Notre Dame brought the heat, and Ohio State had trouble with the pressure on Saturday night. Here, we see five players on the line of scrimmage and only one off ball linebacker (dot 3). He has a lot of field to cover, and it will prove too much. Notre Dame also walks up the short side safety (dot 4) to bring pressure, but this cuts off his pursuit angle on a wide run.
  • Marvin Harrison Jr. deserves special respect, and the Irish give him that. The deep safety (dot 5) is shaded away of the 3-by-1 to him, a huge sign of respect to the best wide receiver in college football.


  • Ohio State calls a run play to the wide side as TreVeyon (dot 2) takes the handoff and both the backside guard and tackle pull to lead block for him. Their tight end (dot 1) is able to condense down and seal the hole created by pulling both linemen and ensuring the run play has time to develop. This is brilliant schematic thinking by Ryan Day.
  • The linebacker (dot 3) is trying to get to the outside, but will he be able to?
  • The safety (dot 4) is caught coming downhill and will have a hard angle if this run breaks.


  • The edge defender fights to the outside of the pulling lineman (dot 1) and tries to force the run back inside to the lone linebacker (dot 2). TreVeyon responds by bouncing outside. Having all these defenders on the line of scrimmage can make it hard to get past, but if you do there is no help at the second level. That is a scary gamble with such a fast running back.
  • The free safety (dot 3) is 12 yards off the line of scrimmage because he is worried about Harrison Jr. He's now the defender with the best angle on the tackle, but he has to close a lot of ground.


  • The linebacker can't get over the top and TreVeyon is on the second level. We can see the backside safety in pursuit (dot 1), the free safety (dot 2) taking an angle that doesn't push the runner back to anyone who may be in pursuit.
  • Lastly, we see top 5 pick Harrison Jr. (dot 3) blocking downfield and fighting to spring Henderson free. A lot of top receivers don't want to do this work, but it is necessary if you want to spring long runs. Harrison Jr. actually gets rolled up on and hurt on this play, but his enthusiasm for the dirty work is something that makes him special and will set him apart at the next level.


  • House call, TreVeyon in a foot race is a good bet and he hits here.

Let me know what you think about breaking up the blog into two chunks! Looking forward to making more picks, hopefully I bounce back.

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