Confetti from a college football weekend

Ole Miss 22, Kentucky 19: Has Lane Kiffin (pictured) found a home? The Rebels are 5-0 after they survived Kentucky in Oxford. The Wildcats, on the way to their first loss, turned it over twice in the red zone in the final three minutes, and missed two extra points and a 39-yard field goal along the way. Their motion penalty nullified a late touchdown. But the Rebels have been solid, with a 100-yard rusher in every game and six rush touchdowns from freshman Quishon Jenkins. From now on, their schedule is all SEC West.

Illinois 34, Wisconsin 10: One of the more expensive losses in recent college football history. On Sunday, the Badgers fired coach Paul Chryst, whose buyout is reportedly $16.5 million. Although the Badgers are 2-3 with home losses to Illinois and Washington State, Chryst is 67-26 at Wisconsin with two New Year’s Day bowl victories and three Big Ten West championships. Meanwhile, Illinois is 4-1 and sacked Wisconsin’s Graham Mertz six times. Running back Chase Brown has broken 100 yards in each game. And the Illini coach is Bret Bielema, formerly at Wisconsin. His 68 wins are second in Badger history, one more than Chryst’s.

Georgia 26, Missouri 22: The Bulldogs returned to Athens without their No. 1 ranking and they barely salvaged their assumed trip to the College Football Playoff. They didn’t score a touchdown until the fourth quarter and trailed 16-3 at one point, but finally found a pulse in the running game and cranked up scoring drives of 73 and 68 yards. On Sunday, Alabama replaced Georgia atop the AP poll. “They kicked our butts,” said coach Kirby Smart of the Tigers. That isn’t supposed to happen, and maybe the Bulldogs shouldn’t have walked through Missouri’s pregame warmup. 

Ohio State 49, Rutgers 10: The Buckeyes can make a No. 1 case, too, but C.J. Stroud’s Heisman Trophy campaign needs a boost. It’s not his fault, because he’s thrown 18 TD passes in five games and some of his favorite receivers are hurt. Ohio State has leaned on its running game and got five touchdowns from Myan Williams Saturday. It has averaged 264 ground yards the past three weeks.

Clemson 30, N.C. State 20; TCU 55, Oklahoma 24; Duke 38, Virginia 17: The Tigers lost offensive coordinator Tony Elliott to Virginia and defensive coordinator Brent Venables to Oklahoma, both as head coaches. How’s that working out?

The Tigers are 5-0 after this win over the 10th-ranked Wolfpack, who had too many penalties and turnovers (2) to expect to break Clemson’s 36-game home win streak. D.J. Uiagalelei continued his improvement with two running touchdowns and a 21-for-30 passing night with no picks.

Meanwhile, Virginia had the ball for only 22:41 in the big loss to Duke, which had lost 13 consecutive ACC games. The Cavaliers are 2-3 and have scored 53 points the past three weeks.

But that’s nothing compared to the furor in Norman, as Oklahoma has given up 500-plus yards in the past three games and 96 points in the past two. TCU (4-0)  rushed for 361. An injury to quarterback Dillon Gabriel complicated matters in this one, but that doesn’t help Venables explain back-to-back losses for only the second time since 1999. 

Utah 42, Oregon State 16: The defending Pac-12 champs will know their true identity soon enough, with a trip to UCLA on Saturday and a home date with USC on Oct. 15. Right now they’re trying to remind CFP committee members they’re still here, after a 3-point opening loss to Florida. This win was impressive, with four takeaways, and three TD passes from Cameron Rising. Cornerback Clark Phillips III had a pick-six and two other interceptions. Utah (4-1) gave up 29 points at Florida and has given up 36 since.

Georgia Tech 26, Pittsburgh 21; Connecticut 19, Fresno State 14: Flip a coin to determine the bigger upset.

Tech fired coach Geoff Collins after a 27-10 loss to UCF, but stunned 24th-ranked Pittsburgh with three takeaways, good for 17 points, and 154 rush yards from Hassan Hall. The interim coach is Brent Key, a former offensive line coach at Alabama, and this didn’t hurt his potential candidacy a bit.

As for UConn, they lost at Fresno State, 49-0, last year and had as little hope as any FBS program in the country. The Huskies were 4–32 in their past four seasons (all their 2020 games were canceled) and they belong to no conference. But ex-UCLA coach Jim Mora, 60, signed up this year. The Huskies were 1-4, with Central Connecticut their only victim, yet they held Fresno to 187 total yards and denied the Bulldogs on all seven third down situations. This was UConn’s first win over an FBS school since a 20-14 win over Tulsa in October of 2017.

James Madison 40, Texas State 13; Coastal Carolina 34, Georgia Southern 30: Another fun weekend in the Sun Belt, America’s least appreciated conference. It has nothing to do with Lizzo’s flute, but James Madison is 4-0 in its first Sun Belt season. The Dukes were an FCS power that built up its facilities and took the leap this year and, in doing so, came back from 25 points down to beat Appalachian, and got a 44-7 win over Middle Tennessee, which won at Miami two weekends ago. Quarterback Todd Centeio, a transfer from Colorado State, has 11 touchdowns and one interception, and the Dukes got the 30th most votes in this week’s AP poll.

Coastal Carolina (5-0)  is 33rd, but it’s a known quantity, with quarterback Grayson McCall. He led the FBS in yards per pass attempt last year (11.7). He also has led the Chanticleers to 27 wins in their past 30 games. On Saturday they scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to stop an upset bid by Georgia Southern (3-2), now led by ex-USC coach Clay Helton. If both teams handle business, they’ll meet each other as undefeateds on Nov. 26.