NCAA Football Takeaways Week 4

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish had only 10 men on the field during the final two plays of their loss to Ohio State.

The Irish chose to finish their fight with one hand tied behind their back instead of risking a penalty in the closing seconds of the ball game.

Meanwhile for the Texas A&M Aggies, they had too many men on the field when their head coach Jimbo Fisher wandered onto the field-of-play during an Auburn Tigers scoop and score.

Texas A&M is the official school of ‘The 12th Man’, and apparently that 12th Man is Jimbo Fisher.

After the Aggies’ starting quarterback Connor Weigman went down with an injury, Max Johnson stepped in, and threw a touchdown pass to his own brother Jake Johnson.

The Johnson brothers are the sons of former-NFL quarterback Brad Johnson, Super Bowl XXXVII Champion with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Also, Arizona State Sun Devils’ running back Cameron Skattebo had an interesting Saturday against the USC Trojans.

Skattebo ran for 111 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries, caught four passes for another 79 yards and touchdown, completed two of three passing attempts for 42 yards, then booted a 53 yard punt that fell inside the 20-yard line.

Even with Caleb Williams showcasing his skill in this contest, Skattebo immediately became my favorite player to watch.

Let’s take a look at some other intriguing takeaways from Week 4 of the College Football season.

Rough Buffs

The Colorado Buffaloes went from a 1-11 team, to the talk of the NCAA.

After the first few weeks of the season, Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders shot up the Heisman odds and his passing props flew upward as well.

Coach Prime had this team rolling.

In Week 4, Oregon decimated the Buffaloes, 42-6.

Sanders’ passing yards prop was set at about 318 yards, depending on your sportsbook of choice, and he finished with just 159.

Sanders was also sacked seven times and charged for -34 rushing yards, sending his team backwards often.

Opposite Sanders, Oregon Ducks’ QB Bo Nix continued his Heisman-caliber season, throwing for 276 yards and three touchdowns. With all eyes on Colorado, the Ducks proved to be the team to keep an eye on.

The Buffs’ recent overtime shootout with lowly Colorado State was a major red flag, and then Colorado threw in the white towel against Oregon.

As long as this Buffaloes’ defense continues to get absolutely destroyed, they will have zero shot at the College Football Playoff.

It’s best to fade teams with glaring red flags.

Zero Points For Iowa

The Iowa Hawkeyes were shutout by the Penn State Nittany Lions in Week 4, 31-0.

It was the first time that the Hawkeyes were shutout since October 14th, 2000, losing to Illinois, also by a score of 31-0.

When Iowa was last shutout, “Come On Over Baby” by Christina Aguilera was the #1 song and a gallon of gas was roughly $1.50.

It’s been a while.

Hawkeyes’ head coach Kirk Ferentz was patrolling the sideline for that game, and he’s still in charge of Iowa today.

The main difference now is that Ferentz’ son, Brian, is the Hawkeyes’ offensive coordinator.

Iowa has never been known for their offense, but some pressure has been placed on the younger Ferentz, with his contract spiced up with designated performance objectives.

One objective specifically states that the Hawkeyes must average 25 points per game.

Well, that objective took a hit on Saturday.

After ranking 130th out of 131 FBS schools in 2022, they currently have the 89th-ranked offense averaging 21.3 points per game.

Iowa has a chance to creep a little closer to that 25 points per game mark next week against a weak Michigan State Spartans team.

On FanDuel, the over/under for total points scored by the Hawkeyes this week is set at 23.5 (over -125/under -102).

Whenever you bet on Iowa’s point total, you’re sort of wagering on Brian Ferentz’ future, too.

That’s kind of fun!

The Hawkeyes’ offense is subpar as usual.

Like father, like son.