For our regular reader(s?!) apologies for the delay; technical difficulties, 403 messages, interminable construction, blah, blah, blah. As they say, sh-t happens.
Well, not quite everybody says that. You’re far less like to hear that in the state of Utah, best known for three things: Stunningly beautiful and stoic mountains, stunningly beautiful and plausibly chaste Morman women, and some of the best damn college football you’ll find anywhere this year. Including the team that early this morning was finally elevated to true national recognition on the heels of an accomplishment which the hometown SALT LAKE TRIBUNE’s Jason Batacao giddily described for the tithers:
Utah was the last remaining undefeated team in the Big 12 heading into its late-night bout versus Houston on Saturday. With a win, the Utes would become the odds-on favorite to win their conference. A loss? The Big 12 standings would become that much more confusing and convoluted.
Jackson Bennee’s strip sack set up a Devon Damper touchdown, and the Utes beat No. 14 Houston 21-13 at Rice-Eccles Stadium.“It was a great call,” Bennee said of his game-clinching strip sack. “I can’t really take too much credit for it. It opened up how it should, and that’s what you dream of.
Utah is now 7-0 on the season and 4-0 in the Big 12, with a clear path to be the best team in the conference.
And thanks to some help from arguably one of the more overlooked teams in the Sunshine State, they have already become the best team in the state, as ABC4 Salt Lake’s bots conceded:
From one of its biggest wins in school history, to one of the most heartbreaking losses, all in the matter of a week, #2 BYU loses its first game of the season to UCF in dramatic fashion, 39-31 in double overtime.
Keyone Jenkins threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Lehi High School grad Grayson Brousseau in the second overtime, and UCF survived a wild finish in regulation knock the Cougars from the ranks of the undefeated. Needing a touchdown and a 2-point conversion to force a third OT, the Cougars (6-1, 3-1 Big 12) drove to the UCF 4-yard line, but Bear Bachmeier’s fourth-down pass to Walker Lyons fell incomplete, giving the Knights (4-3, 2-2) their first win over a top-5 team in school history.
That allowed the Utes enough room in the upper rooms of the AP Top 25 to actually vault over UCLA to become the second highest-rated remaining unbeaten team, since the Bruins’ home win over a truly spartan Michigan State team (pun intended; it’s late) was deemed nowhere near as transcendent as the results involving the Beehive State squads. Miami was idle, but their co-tenants on the haunted turf of Hard Rock Stadium picked the ideal week to finally bring a win of their home, as their hometown HERALD’s By C. Isaiah Smalls II keyed in this afternoon:
They say bye weeks allow teams to rest and recalibrate in order to finish the rest of the season. It looks like quarterback Malik Willis and the Miami Dolphins used that time wisely.
The offense came out on fire as the Dolphins beat the New York Jets 28-25. “We got a chance to really see where we were at,” Willis said of the bye. “We put a lot of good stuff on tape. And when you see that consistent, game in and game out, it builds a lot of confidence in guys.”
Which left the Jets’ own co-tenants with a true chance to cement their hold as Gotham’s football darlings despite more off-field drama than the J-E-T-S produce on it. As ATHLON SPORTS’ Pat Pickens described they took full advantage of said opening:
The New York Giants went into their bye on a high note, upsetting the Houston Texans 27-21 in overtime Sunday at NRG Stadium.
Giants running back Devin Singletary, a former Texans rusher, won the game with a 30-yard touchdown run, and Cam Skattebo had a career-high 124 rushing yards, including a 16-touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
The Giants (4-2-1) won their first road game of the season and are now two games ahead of the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles, who will meet Monday night.
The Utes also wound up as last man standing vs. the Big 12’s other remaining unbeaten prior to yesterday. But drawing a Eastern Time Zone clash in an ancient outdated venue proved to be an doing, as the hometown LUBBOCK Nathan Giese of the LUBBOCK AVALANCHE-JOURNAL chronicled:
The Texas Tech football team played its worst game in two years and were manhandled by Cincinnati in a 37-24 loss on the road for its first loss of the season.
The fifth-ranked Red Raiders (6-1, 3-1) didn’t have any answers on offense and the defense struggled to contain Cincinnati quarterback JC French IV, who had four touchdown passes. Cole Tabb put the finishing touches with a 56-yard TD run, finishing with 173 for the game. Will Hammond was 24-of-37 passing for just 227 yards on the game.
Turns out it was merely the beginning of a surprisingly celebratory back-to-back for the Queen City, as the robots at the THE ASSOCIATED PRESS transmitted this afternoon:
For 30 minutes, it was hard to tell which team was playing its backup quarterback, Cincinnati or Baltimore. Then the best version of Joe Burrow arrived, and the second half wasn’t close.
Burrow threw four touchdown passes, and the Bengals rebounded from a desultory first two quarters to beat Baltimore 35-13 on Sunday, handing the Ravens a second straight divisional loss with Lamar Jackson sidelined.
And to keep with our co-tenant theme, the Bengals indeed were once the Bearcats’ at said relic, the now 111-year-old Nippert Stadium. Well at least that was true back in 1969.
Yeah, I know that’s a stretch. Once again, it’s late.
Courage…