It’s a Saturday in America and anyone is beatable in college football … except Indiana. Yep, it’s that kind of season!
There was more carnage Saturday as Georgia went into Austin and rolled Texas.
The most recent dynasty in sport, Alabama, is looking very mortal as well after a loss to Tennessee.
Throw in close calls for top-15 teams Miami, Iowa State and BYU and the 2024 college football season continues to be unpredictable.
Week 8 is over and you know how this works: Let’s run through College Football Overtime, highlighting everything you need to know from the week that was in college football.
ONE BIG TAKEAWAY: ABOUT THAT MATCHUP OF FIRST-ROUND QBS IN AUSTIN …
If you took a look at a mock draft in August, you probably saw some combination of Georgia quarterback Carson Beck and Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers in the first round. Many mock drafts, like this one from ESPN, had the pair coming off the board in the top 10.
Those two first-round hopefuls squared off in Austin on Saturday with 18 NFL scouts on hand. I doubt that any left impressed.
Georgia’s defense woke up in a zany 30-15 win. The No. 5 Bulldogs (6-1) made a statement on the road against the No. 1 Longhorns (6-1). But it’s hard to come away bullish on either team’s quarterback situation on a night that saw Ewers benched for a stretch and Beck throw a trio of interceptions. Here are the final stat lines for the two, both of which might be generous in describing their struggles:
Ewers: 25 of 43 for 211 yards and two touchdowns to one interception, plus two fumbles.
Beck: 23 of 41 for 175 yards and three interceptions.
Despite how the stat line might look, Ewers had the rougher game of the two.
“He just wasn’t at his best,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said of Ewers. “… I didn’t think his eyes were always where they needed to be.”
Ewers threw just a single interception. But he could have thrown many more than that, with PFF saying he threw a turnover-worthy pass on 11.3% of his attempts. Georgia got into the backfield at will with seven sacks and 10 tackles for loss, punishing Texas for its inability to establish the run.
UGA coach Kirby Smart attributed some of the pressure numbers to Texas’ quarterbacks — including Arch Manning — holding the ball for too long.
The second half saw Ewers play better overall, as Texas briefly made the game competitive. But there were a lot of head-scratching throws from Ewers, who, for a second-straight week after returning from an oblique injury, looked off both with his movement in the pocket and mechanically.
There isn’t a quarterback controversy in Austin, at least for now. Ewers will start next week against Vanderbilt. Sarkisian said it loudly postgame. But by benching Ewers midgame, Sarkisian opened up a dialogue between Ewers and Manning which will follow the team anytime Ewers even kind of struggles.
It’s just the reality of having arguably the most famous person in the sport as your backup.
Beck’s performance is a bit harder to measure. The final stat line looks terrible. Yet Smart defended his quarterback, saying, “our inability to catch the ball is almost comical.”
There were at least a half dozen key drops by Bulldogs receivers, something that removed Beck and the offense from the flow of the game. Drops aside, Beck made his share of mistakes.
This is the third game this season in which he’s thrown at least two interceptions and the second time against a top-10 team that he’s chucked three. It’s a concerning pattern for a UGA team that, outside of the passing game, likely played its best game of the season since Clemson.
Draft evaluations, like college football seasons, are determined by far more than one outing. Beck and Ewers have plenty of additional opportunities to help their teams and put better games on tape.
But don’t be shocked if you start to see Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders take up the quarterback oxygen for draft experts in coming weeks. They’re the quarterbacks who are currently elevating their teams.
You can’t say the same of Ewers and Beck since mid September.
REPORT CARD
A. Indiana’s contending status
There’s no denying it at this point: Indiana is a legitimate College Football Playoff threat this year. You can’t draw any other conclusion following the Hoosiers’ 56-7 drubbing of Nebraska (5-2).
Does Indiana have a middling schedule? Absolutely. The Hossiers have wins over only UCLA, Maryland, Northwestern and Nebraska in Big Ten play. None of those teams have winning records in conference play. But Indiana is winning those games by an average scoring margin of 27.25 points per contest.
Dominance is the best measure of a contender in college football. Indiana more than qualifies.
Indiana is wielding an offensive cudgel this season. The Hoosiers, with the nation’s No. 2 scoring attack, have produced in different ways, too.
Ohio transfer Kurtis Rourke had thrown for 300-plus yards in every Big Ten game thus far. This week? He only needed 189 on 17-of-21 passing. Indiana’s run game took care of the rest, totaling 215 yards and five touchdowns on 6.5 yards per carry against a Nebraska rushing defense that entered the week ranked FOURTH nationally in yards allowed per carry.
The offense that Curt Cignetti and Mike Shanahan have put together isn’t a one-dimensional unit. It doesn’t even necessarily need to expose an opponent’s weaknesses. It can go right at an opponent’s strength.
It’s remarkably impressive when you consider the Hoosiers offense returned just five starters, one of which (Donaven McCulley) is already in the transfer portal. They’ve reworked the unit on the fly and it’s producing better results than anyone.
There are big games ahead for Indiana, including matchups with Michigan and Ohio State. But there’s no reason to think that the Hoosiers can’t win those matchups. Their offense — along with an excellent front on defense — is good enough to match anyone.
No fluke to be found in Bloomington.
