With Week 8 in the books it feels almost like college football is back to normal. The Big Ten returned this weekend and gave us a handful of excellent games and some surprising upsets thrown in for good measure.
Whether it was Kansas State’s Phillip Brown getting 189 yards on punt returns or Wisconsin’s breakout performance from Graham Mertz, there were plenty of talking points. Here are my biggest winners and losers from Week 8.
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Winners
Graham Mertz
Wisconsin’s redshirt freshman made his first career start on Friday against Illinois and put in a performance to remember. The Badgers were comfortable in victory with the final scoreline at 45-7 and Mertz in particular was grabbing all of the headlines. He finished the game having completed 20 of his 21 passes for 247 yards and five touchdowns. He would have completed all of them too, had Garrett Groshek not dropped a routine catch.
With his five touchdown passes Mertz tied the school record and became the first Wisconsin quarterback to achieve this since 2003. He also tied the record for consecutive completions (17) and set a Badgers record for single game completion percentage (95.2). He finished the game with a passer rating of 155.3 and though it is still early it looks like Wisconsin could have something special on their hands.
Rutgers
I don’t think anyone saw this result coming. Rutgers entered their game against Michigan State as double digit underdogs and hadn’t won a conference game since way back in November 2017. They hadn’t come close to a victory either, with all of their losses in 2019 coming by at least 27 points. Through those 21 games they had averaged 7.8 points and hadn’t had a winning conference record since joing the Big Ten in 2014. This changed yesterday thanks to their 38-27 win over the Spartans.
In truth this game was just as much about Michigan State losing the game as it was Rutgers winning it. They lost a fumble on their first offensive snap and just could not take care of the ball all game. In the end they had seven turnovers, with five fumbles and two interceptions. Whether or not Greg Schiano can get the Scarlet Knights back to winning ways in the long run remains to be seen, but they will be happy with the start they have made.
Justin Fields
Big things were expected of Fields this season and he has started well. He delivered in style against Nebraska as the Buckeyes ran out as comfortable 52-17 winners. Fields looked comfortable and demonstrated all of the traits that have established his status as a top five pick come April. Whilst he might not challenge Trevor Lawrence for the No. 1 overall pick, he won’t be far behind and with games like this it was easy to see why.
Fields finished the game 20 of 21 for 276 yards and two touchdowns. He also led the Buckeyes in rushing, with a further 54 yards and a touchdown on the ground. His decision making and deep ball accuracy are two of his biggest strong points and they were on display here. His go-ahead touchdown pass to Garrett Wilson in the first quarter was particularly impressive and if he keeps playing like this he will have a great shot at the Heisman again.
UNC’s Running Backs
After a shock defeat to Florida State last weekend, UNC were keen to bounce back with a win in Week 8. Everyone knows how much they love to run the ball and they showed as much this weekend in a dominant 48-21 win over NC State. Javonte Williams and Michael Carter combined for 266 rushing yards and four touchdowns, with Carter adding a further 46 yards as a receiver.
61 per cent of that yardage came after contact and NC State just couldn’t deal with them. Williams finished the game with an average of 8.4 yards per attempt and had 17 forced missed tackles in this game alone, the most by any running back in a single game so far this season. The two rank second and third in yards per attempt amongst all Power Five backs and look like they are set to put up monster numbers if they continue at their current pace.
Losers
Jaylen Waddle
Every season it seems like we lose a top draft prospect to injury and this year it turned out to be Jaylen Waddle. The Alabama wideout had made an explosive start to the season, with 557 yards and four touchdowns through four games. With Jerry Jeudy and Henry Ruggs gone we were beginning to see how he would function as a No. 1 receiver and the signs were very encouraging. The way he was performing he looked like he would be the favourite to be the second receiver off the board in April behind Ja’Marr Chase.
Nick Saban has confirmed that Waddle will need surgery after breaking his ankle on the opening kickoff and that his 2020 season is over. This obviously raises questions about his draft stock. In a stacked receiving class there is the potential that this injury may even put him out of first round contention altogether. This was not only a huge loss for Alabama, but for fans of college football everywhere.
Penn State
Things just don’t seem to be going well for the Nittany Lions. In August they lost Micah Parsons, the heart of their defense and best linebacker in college football to an opt-out. Earlier this week they announced that their highly touted running back Journey Brown would also be out for the season after the discovery of a medical condition.
Despite all of this misfortune they were still entering the weekend ranked eighth in the nation and 6.5 favourites over Indiana. Things didn’t go to plan and they weren’t able to establish a lead until right near the end of the fourth quarter. They then had a chance to seal the comeback and run out the clock but Indiana allowed them to score a touchdown and they fell straight into the trap. Indiana then went down the field and scored, before a controversial two-point conversion got them the win in overtime. It looks like the Nittany Lions could have a tough campaign ahead of them.
Kansas’ Special Teams Unit
The Jayhawks as a whole were disappointing as they fell to a 55-14 defeat at the hands of Kansas State, but their special teams unit were particularly poor. They allowed Wildcats punt returner Phillip Brown to have 189 return yards at an average of 47.3 yards. For context, Texas State led the nation entering Week 8 with 158 punt return yards all season. Last season Alabama were the only team in college football with more than two 40+ yard returns and Brown managed to match that in this game.
The Jayhawks’ special teams unit has to shoulder a lot of the blame for this as 24 of Kansas State’s 34 first half points came directly from special teams plays or from short fields thanks to Brown’s returns. This was definitely a performance to forget and their continued failure to get their punts out of bounds or stop Brown in the open field cost them here.
Kentucky
Kentucky were riding high after two dominant wins that saw them beat Mississippi State and Tennessee by a combined 58-9. Their defense was stifling in both games and their offense was able to move the ball effectively. They looked like a completely different team this weekend though as they fell to a 20-10 defeat against Missouri that wasn’t even as close as the scoreline looks.
The tables were well and truly turned as Kentucky just could not move the ball for the entire game. They managed just 145 yards of offense and almost half of that came on their lone touchdown drive. They completed just four passes for 47 yards and their running game wasn’t much better, amounting to 98 yards from 23 carries. With a tough game against Georgia on the horizon things could get worse for the Wildcats.
