It’s a weekly challenge for college football fans: Let’s not make sweeping declarations after one game. It becomes even more challenging when the quarterback position is at the center of the conversation. It’s the most important position, in a game and the trajectory of a program. As we look across the country, several situations have fan bases on opposite sides of overreaction or underreaction.
The most notable story of the weekend was Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers’ abdominal strain and Arch Manning’s relief duty, which included five touchdowns in a 56-7 win over UTSA. Naturally, when an injury happens and a highly touted backup shines, some will raise thoughts and questions about what could be done with the backup. But that would be an overreaction.
Ewers likely won’t play this weekend, but his injury doesn’t sound serious, which is great news for Texas. There has never been controversy internally about the quarterback conversation, and with three weeks before facing Oklahoma, it feels like Manning will just steer the ship until Ewers returns. If Manning continues to shine, that’s great. Texas fans can get a peek into the future while knowing a quarterback capable of winning the national championship this year is coming back soon.
Texas’ in-state rival, Texas A&M, is in a different situation. Manning shared the SEC Freshman of the Week honors with Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed, who filled in late notice for starter Conner Weigman and shined against Florida with three touchdowns. Weigman, talented but not always available, has been a mixed bag to start the season. Reed provided a spark to the offense through the air and on the ground and could raise the ceiling of the offense because of that ability.
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Weigman, like Ewers, is considered week to week, and although he has more program equity than Reed, Weigman is far less established than Ewers. The Aggies face Bowling Green and Arkansas before Missouri on Oct. 5. It will be interesting to see what happens with the Aggies.
More quarterback news broke Monday morning when it was announced that Michigan would move toward Alex Orji over Davis Warren, who had a rough day against Arkansas State. One way to react: Michigan’s offense has no chance this season. Or this is the player who should’ve been starting from the beginning. Elsewhere, NC State will continue to start CJ Bailey over injured Grayson McCall, and Auburn is rolling with Hank Brown over Payton Thorne again this week. It’s only Week 4, and college football is fluid, so we’ll keep monitoring.
Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed accounted for three touchdowns in the Aggies’ win over Florida on Saturday. (Matt Pendleton / USA Today)
Here are five more things we are overreacting about, not reacting enough about and perfectly reacting to — all sides equally needed in the discourse of our great sport.
We’re overreacting to … trash talk.
In the latest talking point involving Shedeur Sanders, the Colorado quarterback went viral for his postgame exchange with Colorado State quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, and Sanders declined an embrace. Many who saw only that exchange quickly wrote off Sanders as being disrespectful, continuing his scrutiny from a week ago, when he left the field early against Nebraska. But there are two sides to the story, and Sanders’ reaction was warranted.
Shedeur Sanders and Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi full exchange😱
FULL VIDEO: https://t.co/uRuUSXtcVE@deionsandersjr pic.twitter.com/mraNKbAKXu
— GUCCE🦬🐦⬛ (@gucceCU) September 15, 2024
Here’s part of what Fowler-Nicolosi said before the game: “The hype, the media train only gets so far at the end of the day. You have lined up 11 guys against our 11 guys, and we’ll see who wants it more. And we’ll see how far Instagram followers take them.”
“We should have murdered them guys …we’re coming for revenge”
“We’ll see how far instagram followers gets them”
Here’s what CSU’s Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi and Tory Horton had to say about last year’s Rocky Mountain Showdown and the upcoming game against CU: pic.twitter.com/51ZBPyigpf
— Romi Bean (@Romi_Bean) September 12, 2024
Sanders got the win and can react how he wants. And Fowler-Nicolosi’s comments were fine too. It’s competition! No personal lines were crossed, no foul play on the field ensued. Good old-fashioned trash talk (within limits) is good for the game, and rivalries like this are good as well.
We’re underreacting to … how good the Group of 5 has been.
In the old era, there wasn’t much room for conversation about the Group of 5 teams within the national championship landscape, but we can have those discussions with the expanded College Football Playoff field, as at least one Group of 5 team will get in annually. With that, this is the call to pay attention throughout the season because good ball is being played.
GO DEEPER
Group of 5 schools are playing — and winning — more high-stakes games: CFP Bubble Watch
Mountain West team UNLV is 2-0 against the Big 12 with wins against Houston and Kansas. Within the same conference, Boise State took Oregon to the brink and has a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate in running back Ashton Jeanty. The MAC arguably has the biggest storyline of the season: Northern Illinois is ranked after its win over Notre Dame, but also, Toledo just went to Mississippi State and had a dominant win, and Bowling Green took Penn State to the wire in Week 2.
Then there’s Liberty, last year’s Group of 5 representative in the New Year’s Six, which is 3-0.
Memphis made the latest big statement with a win at Florida State, although that doesn’t hold as much weight as it would’ve in the preseason, but it’s a major win nonetheless. That win, no matter what FSU looks like at the end of the year, will help Memphis’ Playoff case if it takes care of business.
The days of monitoring one undefeated team needing all the breaks to have a chance at the Playoff are done. Now it’s a multilayered, multi-conference conversation that will happen every year. Let’s all dive into it.
We’re overreacting to … Georgia’s road game against Kentucky.
If you read last week’s edition, you know we talked about overreacting to top-10 teams struggling as big favorites early in the year. This week’s overreaction victim: Georgia, which escaped Kentucky with a 13-12 win.
GO DEEPER
After another slow start, Georgia’s need for better offense is getting real
Let’s start with some respect for Kentucky. Georgia has been held below 20 points on the road three times in the past five years: 2020 at Kentucky, 2022 at Kentucky and 2024 at Kentucky. Some teams, in certain places, just make for good matchups. Additionally, Kentucky has recorded eight straight bowl-eligible seasons. There’s no denying Georgia was sluggish, but surely other top teams have struggled against teams more inferior than Kentucky.
In the course of more than 40 straight regular-season wins, some will be uglier than others, but great teams find a way. Georgia found a way and extended a historic streak, and that should be enough to hold serve in the rankings. But now there’s a new No. 1 team.
Texas has been the most impressive team week over week to start the season, but a case can be made that Georgia’s three wins (Clemson, Tennessee Tech, Kentucky) are better than Texas’ wins (Colorado State, Michigan, UTSA). The beauty of it is that these teams will meet in October to settle it on the field (at least until we get to the Playoff).
As for Georgia, perhaps it’s the wake-up call that’s needed. It better be because Alabama is up next on Sept. 28 in Tuscaloosa.
We’re underreacting to … Iowa’s offensive improvement.
One of the most intriguing subplots of last season was Iowa’s Drive for 325 points under offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz. The offense fell way short (216 points) and was held below 10 points five times before Ferentz was let go.
Insert new coordinator Tim Lester. Insert a lot more yards and a lot more points.
Iowa’s offense, which ranked 132nd (out of 133) in points per game and 133rd in yards per game in 2023, is ranked 58th in points per game (32.3) and 54th in yards per game (418) this season. The Hawkeyes have the leading rusher in all of college football in Kaleb Johnson. As a result, no team in the country has more 30-yard rushes than Iowa (six). Though the Hawkeyes have played only three games, that’s an incredible start to a turnaround.
Some will point out that Iowa has played Illinois State, Iowa State and Troy, and that’s true, but Iowa reached 400 yards once last season. In 2022, it beat FCS team South Dakota State 7-3 with two safeties. The level of competition hasn’t mattered in mocking the offense previously, so it shouldn’t matter in giving credit now. There are still questions, and the competition level is about to pick up, but we must acknowledge that this is the best (early-season) unit turnaround in college football.
We’re reacting perfectly to … Florida State’s downfall.
Many knew it was over after Week 2, but a few people were still holding out hope for the Seminoles after their bye week. The verdict is in: The 2024 Florida State Seminoles are done. It was obvious from the second play of their game Saturday: a fumble recovered by Memphis en route to the Seminoles’ 20-12 home loss. Errors continued to haunt Florida State throughout the day, marking four straight losses for the program after it started last year 13-0.
FSU Fumbles on the second play of the game
Just a dumpster fire in Tallahassee pic.twitter.com/GSqpXEjkub
— College Football Headlines (@CFBHeadlines) September 14, 2024
There’s still intrigue, mainly about what will happen at quarterback. For now, DJ Uiagalelei is the starter, but that could change. What’s undeniable is the need for some kind of spark after several rough weeks. Mike Norvell’s job security is not in question, but the program needs a culture reset. Unfortunately, it’s going to take several long months to get that process going.
(Top photo: Scott Wachter / USA Today)
