Iowa State has more options with Purdy
Thanks to Brock Purdy, Iowa State's playbook suddenly has many more options.
Purdy's stunning performance in the upset of Oklahoma State in what essentially was the college debut for the true freshman gave the offense a new look and a new sense of confidence.
Iowa State is still last in the Big 12 in total offense and ninth in scoring, but there's now a feeling that if Purdy proves to be the real deal, those numbers will improve in the weeks ahead.
"Our playbook is certainly a vast playbook. We can do a lot of things," coach Matt Campbell said. "With Brock's opportunity to get in the football game, he certainly opened up some playbook pages that we were able to get to."
Gamecocks’ QB set to return
South Carolina got some good news about its quarterback situation with Jake Bentley expected to return as the Gamcocks' starter against No. 22 Texas A&M after missing last week with a left knee injury.
Coach Will Muschamp said Tuesday that Bentley has moved well, looked strong and, unless there's a setback, will play Saturday.
Without Bentley, some good things happened for South Carolina (3-2, 2-2 Southeastern) last week. Not only did the Gamecocks come away with a win, they backup Michael Scarnecchia led the team to a 37-35 victory over Missouri and demonstrated South Carolina has depth at the position.
Notre Dame’s been here before
Brian Kelly has learned to adapt over the years, even when it comes to the postgame music played in the Notre Dame locker room.
"As long as they do their job, I have no problem with having to listen to music that I'm not familiar with and routines that are a little bit different," said Kelly, whose musical tastes stop and end with Bruce Springsteen more than Jay-Z, Beyonce, Drake and Travis Scott.
Kelly has had three of his Fighting Irish teams open the season 6-0 and they have all had their differences. The 2012 team reached No. 1 with a 12-0 regular season before getting hammered by Alabama in the national title game. The 2014 team won just two of its final seven games to finish 8-5.
The latest version is now ranked No. 5 and is coming off impressive second-half performances over Stanford at home and against Virginia Tech on the road. There is plenty of talk about whether the Fighting Irish might be in the mix of the playoff rankings, the first of which comes out Oct. 30.
But there is a lot of football left and the rest of Notre Dame's schedule is no cakewalk.
Spartans punter out for season
Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio says punter Jake Hartbarger's leg injury from last month is likely to end his season.
Hartbarger hurt his lower leg Sept. 8 at Arizona State. Shortly after that, Dantonio said the fifth-year senior would be out six to eight weeks, but on Tuesday, he said Hartbarger was unlikely to return in 2018.
The plan for now is for Hartbarger to get a medical redshirt and play again next year.