Ohio State rolling in Big Ten play
By battling back from an 18-point deficit to beat Boston College, Clemson dodged the sort of random, seemingly avoidable loss that could've severely damaged the team's resume for the College Football Playoff.
Not that one loss would've eliminated the Tigers, who have made five straight appearances in the playoff. Even had the Eagles pulled off the upset, Clemson could have secured a spot in the semifinals by running the table, which would have included at least one and possibly two wins against Notre Dame.
Losing to the Eagles simply would've forced Clemson to win out — which the Tigers may very well do anyway.
The takeaway from Saturday may not be that Clemson survived. Instead, the bigger story was the play of freshman quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei, who completed 30-of-41 attempts for 342 yards and three touchdowns, one on the ground, as the replacement for Trevor Lawrence, who missed the game after this week's positive test for COVID-19.
Viewed as the heir apparent to Lawrence since signing with Clemson this past winter, Uiagalelei easily secured his place as the Tigers' future starter and may have even made a case for being included among the top Heisman Trophy contenders heading into the 2021 season.
Here are the rest of Saturday's winners and losers:
Winners
Ohio State
It may be that Penn State is the best team Ohio State will face all season. If so, the Buckeyes are going to cruise through the Big Ten and into the playoff. Tested only in brief spurts by the Nittany Lions, the Buckeyes' 38-25 win included 318 passing yards from quarterback Justin Fields and a strong performance from running back Master Teague, who finished with 110 yards on 23 carries. The teams capable of beating OSU reside in the ACC and SEC. For 0-2 Penn State, the focus shifts to salvaging a successful season from a poor start.
Cincinnati
No. 7 Cincinnati shrugged off a challenge from another AAC contender and beat Memphis 49-10, riding an outstanding performance from a defense that's making a case for being considered the best in the country. This is a no-brainer: Cincinnati is the best team in the Group of Five. The Bearcats might even be good enough to reach the playoff.
Notre Dame
Beating Georgia Tech 31-13 keeps Notre Dame perfect heading into next weekend's home game against Clemson. It gets better: Dabo Swinney said after the Tigers' win against Boston College that Lawrence was not expected to be back to face the Irish. It's not that beating Uiagalelei and the Tigers will be easy — in fact, a healthier and more experienced Uiagalelei will be dangerous — but not having to face Lawrence is an obvious positive.
Big Ten upstarts
The conference belongs to Ohio State. But several
underrated Big Ten teams have made news through two weeks. One is Indiana, which is 2-0 after beating Rutgers 37-21. Another is Purdue, which beat Illinois 31-24 to remain unbeaten. With wide receiver Rondale Moore unavailable, Purdue has leaned even more heavily on sophomore David Bell, who had nine catches for 122 yards against the Illini. And Northwestern is 2-0 after coming back from a 17-0 hole to beat Iowa 21-20.
Texas
Needing a victory to stay in the race for the Big 12 championship, Texas took advantage of a plus-four edge in turnover margin to beat No. 6 Oklahoma State 41-34 in overtime. In doing so, the 4-2 Longhorns took some heat off of coach Tom Herman and added some needed positivity to a week that had seen a rash of bad news on the recruiting trail. With games ahead against Kansas State and Iowa State, Texas has an opportunity to play its way into the Big 12 title game.
Losers
Michigan
If losing to Michigan State is bad enough, Michigan's embarrassment and frustration is doubled by the fact that MSU was coming off a loss to Rutgers. The Wolverines allowed 449 yards of total offense and never led in a 27-24 loss, dropping Jim Harbaugh to 3-3 in the series and a combined 3-8 against the Spartans and Ohio State.
Meanwhile, his counterpart, Mel Tucker, became the first MSU coach to beat Michigan in his first try since Nick Saban did so in 1995.
LSU
Even the most pessimistic outlooks for LSU's follow-up to last year's national championship couldn't have predicted this: Auburn racked up more than 500 yards of offense and held the Tigers to 1.2 yards per carry to win 48-11, dropping LSU to 2-3.
Kansas State
Kansas State was held to just a measly 41 yards rushing and committed three turnovers in a 37-10 loss to West Virginia, the Wildcats' first loss in conference play.
Were the Wildcats caught looking ahead to next week's matchup against Oklahoma State, which before kickoff looked like the biggest game of the year in the Big 12?