WEEK 4 WINNERS & LOSERS
WINNERS
• Tennessee: Down 21- 3 after the first half, the No. 12 Volunteers summoned an incredible comeback to down No. 16 Florida and end an 11- year losing streak. Quarterback Joshua Dobbs came to life with four touchdown passes against a defense that hadn’t given up a score through the air all year. Florida was too conservative in the second half, and the Vols took advantage. The win positions Tennessee well to win the SEC East.
• Michigan: The Wolverines continue to quietly dominate, beating Penn State 49- 10 to open Big Ten play. Apart from the sleepy first quarter last weekend against Colorado in which they yielded 21 points before roaring back, it’s hard to find much fault. This time, Jim Harbaugh’s team came out with surgical precision, scoring touchdowns on its first three drives. That’s a good sign now that Michigan steps up in competition next week against Wisconsin.
• Virginia: It was a rough 0- 3 start to the Bronco Mendenhall era, but you could see progress even in losses. The Cavaliers were underdogs at home to Central Michigan but came away with an impressive 49- 35 win in which they racked up 569 yards. Virginia shot outt to a 28- 0 lead, then gave it all back by the early stages ges of the fourth quarter. ter. But the Cavaliers showed howed some Mendenhall- allbred toughness and exploded for threeee touchdowns in six minutes. • North Carolina: The Tar Heels didn’t lead until two seconds remained in the game when quarterback ack Mitch Trubisky found Bug Howard for a two- yard touchdown ouchdown pass to win 37- 36. The final play ended a frenetic sequence in which North Carolina, without a timeout, ran the ball near the goal line and got stopped with 12 seconds left. The Tar Heels had to reorganize quickly and get a play off, which they did successfully to complete a comeback from 36- 23 in the fourth quarter. This is a huge momentum- saving win for the Tar Heels, who badly needed this game if they want to repeat as ACC Coastal champions.
LOSERS
• Notre Dame: Duke was a threetouchdown underdog coming into Notre Dame Stadium and sprung a 38- 35 upset that could have wide- ranging implications on the program. Notre Dame is now 1- 3 after coming into the year with College Football Playoff aspirations, and you can bet there will be fallout on the defensive side. Head coach Brian Kelly brushed off questions earlier in the week about whether he might make a coordinator change, but those calls are only going to grow louder after the Irish yielded 498 yards to the Blue Devils. • Georgia: The Bulldogs were living a lie at 3- 0, and Mississippi exposed them in humiliating fashion 45- 14. This was a rout of a Georgia team that was very fortunate to win its first three games against m mediocre opponents, andan it’s a bad look for first-fi year coach Kirby Smart,S who’s replacingreplaci a guy ( Mark Richt) wh who almost nevern got beat in such humiliatingh fashion.fa MakingMak mattersmat worse,wor runningrunn back Nick Chubb sprainedspra an ankleank and didn’tdidn return. — Dan Wolken, USA Today