It’s a good thing college football is typically played on days when the majority of its participants aren’t otherwise dedicating themselves to prayer and contemplation. I suspect there’s a lot of that going on among fan bases of teams who wound up on the short end of the crucial sticks that were being handed out on what was being billed as Separation Saturday.
It’s probably starting in Coral Gables, where number one finally went down, as dutifully documented by THE ATHLETIC’s Manny Navarro and Pete Sampson:
Notre Dame needed a win the College Football Playoff selection committee couldn’t ignore. Miami needed to find out how much of its offense it could count on without Malachi Toney. They both got answers. The Irish earned the 31-24 win in a legacy-defining, Heisman-like effort from quarterback CJ Carr.
Carr completed 29 of 40 passes for 319 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions, and the Irish got the key defensive play they needed from senior safety Luke Talich in the end zone to prevent No. 1 Miami from completing a second-half comeback after the Hurricanes trailed 24-3.
Miami’s Darian Mensah, the Heisman Trophy betting favorite coming into the week, threw a fourth-down pass into the end zone with 3:36 left from the Notre Dame 18. Tight end Elija Lofton reached up and pulled the ball down with both feet inbounds but didn’t complete the catch, a call that was upheld upon a replay review and drew harsh criticism from Miami coach Mario Cristobal afterward. Talich was credited with the breakup.
It was a fitting coda to a day that began with the secular sector making a case of its own with a team that actually unbeaten–a coronation which Navarros and Sampson’s colleagues David Ubben and Antonio Morales covered:
Utah snapped its three-game losing streak to archrival BYU and established itself as the team to beat in the Big 12 with a 28-20 triumph in the Holy War on Saturday.
The third-ranked Utes (9-0, 6-0 Big 12) already had a Top 25 win against Houston, but this victory over ninth-ranked BYU is the signature win of their season and first-year coach Morgan Scalley’s tenure. Utah intercepted quarterback Bear Bachmeier four times, including twice in the final five minutes. Bachmeier entered Saturday with just four interceptions this season. Utah survived a game that featured some wild momentum swings. The Utes jumped all over the Cougars (7-2, 4-2) with two touchdowns in the first five minutes to build a 14-0 lead. BYU then stormed back with 20 consecutive points to take a 6-point lead into halftime, only for Utah to answer back with 14 unanswered points to close out the game.
But hey, they’re nearer to G-d than Thee Ohio State University and their faithful area, which yet another ATHLETICan, Stewart Mandel, took note of:
I found it odd Tuesday night when College Football Playoff selection committee chairman Hunter Yurachek cited Ohio State’s defensive struggles against USC — not its backup quarterback — as the reason it ranked the Buckeyes down at No. 12 in their first rankings. Turns out he was ahead of the curve. Ohio State’s defense does, in fact, stink. And the Buckeyes (6-3, 4-2 Big Ten) are going to miss the Playoff because of it.
No. 23 Oregon (6-3, 4-2) went to the Horseshoe, fell behind 14-0 early, then ripped off a jaw-dropping 38 straight points for a stunning 41-28 upset of Ryan Day’s team. Ohio State had not allowed that many points at home to a team ranked as low as the Ducks since Nov. 13, 1999, when unranked Illinois beat an eventual 6-6 Buckeyes team 46-20. Ohio State, the sport’s most consistent program this century, has now lost three games for the first time since 2011.
Yeah, Oregon’s got the same record and a reasonable shot at potentially clawing its way back into the College Football playoff picture–or at bare minimum a halfway decent bowl while there’s still one of consequence in place.
I guess prayer can work–at least on occasion.
Courage…