[ESPN]

In a weekend that featured three games between teams ranked in the AP Top 10, college football did not disappoint. Sure, Washington obliterated Stanford on Friday night, (and yeah, Michigan and Wisconsin played a 1950s football game, which was probably not that enjoyable to non-Michigan fans) but there still was a lot to like. Louisville vs. Clemson was an instant classic and there were several games with insane finishes – UNC’s booming field goal to win at the buzzer in Tallahassee; Tennessee’s Josh Dobbs’s Hail Mary capped a ridiculous last minute in a win over Georgia; Indiana won the Old Brass Spittoon for the first time in forever when the Hoosiers upset Michigan State in overtime.

The playoff picture was clarified a little bit this week. Clemson’s now in the driver’s seat to grab a bid out of the ACC, and Louisville – even in a loss – helped sow the seeds of a compelling case to be the first non-conference champ to steal a playoff bid. Washington aced its first test with flying colors and, as the clear Pac-12 frontrunner, looks to be solidly in the picture. Michigan won what could very well be the second-toughest game on its schedule; of course, the winner of the Michigan – Ohio State seems very well-positioned to make it in.

ACC

--- CLEMSON and LOUISVILLE turned in what might wind up being the best game of the season. The quarterback battle between Deshaun Watson and Lamar Jackson – who could easily be argued as the two best quarterbacks in all of college football – was as good as advertised: Watson accounted for 396 yards and threw for five touchdowns, Jackson had 457 yards of total offense and had three touchdowns, one through the air and two on the ground. It was a sloppy game as the two teams combined for eight turnovers, and Watson was responsible for four of them. After a scoreless first quarter, Watson caught fire in the second quarter and Clemson entered halftime up 28-10. Louisville then scored 26 unanswered points to take a lead, but two touchdowns from the Tigers got them the 42-36 win. The game ended as a pass from Jackson to WR James Quick short of the sticks wound up with Quick going out of bounds short of the yard to gain deep in the red zone. Louisville acquitted themselves well in defeat and Jackson should still be considered the Heisman frontrunner (for how little that really matters), but Clemson has assuaged any concerns from a slow start and look to be a decent bet to win the ACC at this point.

[more on the week that was after the JUMP]

--- The signature win of the Larry Fedora era at NORTH CAROLINA fittingly came on a long three-pointer: after Florida State QB Deondre Francois engineered a late touchdown drive to go up 35-34 with 23 seconds left, UNC managed to get the ball into field goal range and Nick Weiler – who’d had an extra point blocked – hit a 54-yarder to stun the Seminoles. North Carolina leapt out to a 21-0 lead in the 2nd quarter, but it was a shootout: Francois hit 11.6 yards per attempt and UNC QB Mitch Trubisky – an underrated signal-caller who’s looked terrific since a so-so Week One – threw for 10.7 ypa and three touchdowns. FSU cashed in all of their touchdown drives on the ground – giving Dalvin Cook three of them – but actually threw for almost 150 more yards more than they ran for. It was a backbreaking loss for the Noles, who now sit at 0-2 in ACC play; they completed a rousing comeback before that shocking UNC drive and field goal in the dying moments of the game. FSU plays a much better than expected Miami team on the road next week and face Clemson two weeks after that. UNC is in great position to win the Coastal, though they probably need a win against Miami to lock that up.

--- Speaking of MIAMI, the Hurricanes moved to 4-0 under Mark Richt and they’re now suspiciously high in the polls; two second quarter scoop-and-score touchdowns extended the Miami’s lead over GEORGIA TECH to 28-7 and after the Yellow Jackets pulled the deficit down to one-score, Miami responded with a swift touchdown drive to put the final score at 35-21. The schedule surely gets tougher for the Canes, but at the very least, there seems to be a substantial turnaround from the disastrous Al Golden era – even if the first year under Richt doesn’t continue like this, a good foundation is being set for the future. The next few weeks will be pivotal: they host Florida State and North Carolina before traveling to Virginia Tech; 2-1 in that stretch could put the Canes in the ACC Title game if that L doesn’t come to Carolina.

--- After that stretch, Miami travels to Notre Dame (an honorary ACC program); the Irish beat SYRACUSE this week to up their record to 2-3 on the season. S&P+ gives Notre Dame a 49% chance of becoming bowl eligible.

--- In other ACC action, VIRGINIA notched a somewhat surprising road win over DUKE (a team that’s probably bad but beat Notre Dame last week) and the Cavs now have won two straight after looking awful for the first few weeks of the season. NORTH CAROLINA STATE handed WAKE FOREST its first loss of the year. PITTSBURGH and BOSTON COLLEGE took care of Group of Five opponents with ease.

[Upchurch – MGoBlog]

Big Ten

--- The marquee game of the week in the Big Ten was a strange one: MICHIGAN and its defense seemingly controlled the game against WISCONSIN, but it was a tense and close game throughout (a long touchdown pass from Wilton Speight to Amara Darboh in the fourth quarter gave the Wolverines a 14-7 win). Certainly Michigan’s inability to finish drives and their three missed field goals were a large part of why the game was so close; the Wolverine defense smothered Wisconsin and, if not for a long INT return that set up a short field for the Badgers’ only score, could have shut them out. Wisconsin was only able to get 8 hard-fought first downs and their mediocre yards per carry number (2.5) was actually somehow better than QB Alex Hornibrook’s day: 9-for-25, 88 yards, a TD, and 3 INTs. Michigan’s offense was better at moving the ball, but they were often stopped short of the end zone, where the perilous kicking game came into play. Still, outside of a brief moment where Wisconsin could have connected on a long pass to take the lead (Hornibrook missed by a mile), the outcome didn’t seem seriously threatened. Wisconsin gets Ohio State at home in two weeks and has a bye week to try to figure things out on offense.

--- There were two upsets of note in Big Ten play this week: INDIANA was on the receiving end of a classic “Sparty No” moment from MICHIGAN STATE and beat the Spartans in overtime. The IU – MSU game was a closely fought contest: Indiana came back to take a seven-point lead late in the game only to see Spartan QB Tyler O’Connor lead State down the field for a game-tying touchdown, but in OT, things went horribly wrong for State. On the first possession of OT, they were quickly pushed back by the IU defense and were forced to kick a FG (which was missed), but forced Indiana to try one, and the Hoosiers also missed. An obscure penalty for “leaping” over the blockers set up another try, this one a chip shot, which was made, giving IU the 24-21 win.

--- The other upset came as NORTHWESTERN went on the road to IOWA and had their best offensive performance of the season, winning 38-31. The Wildcats outgained Iowa by about 80 yards and leaned heavily on Justin Jackson, who had 171 rushing yards (58 of them coming on a long touchdown run), though QB Clayton Thorson also threw for three touchdowns. The Hawkeye offensive line was really bad – they allowed six sacks and the two Iowa running backs combined for just 107 yards on 31 carries (less than 3.5 ypc). The Big Ten West is probably due for a few more surprises, so maybe it’s too early to write off Iowa in the chase for the division title but they’ve looked pretty bad over the last three weeks.

--- PENN STATE escaped MINNESOTA at home after Saquon Barkley ripped off a game-winning touchdown run in overtime; the Gophers led 13-3 at halftime and hit a go-ahead field goal with less than a minute left, but PSU drove down far enough to make a field goal of their own to send the game to OT. Minnesota got the ball first and had to settle for another FG. Trace McSorely threw for 335 yards and ran for 73 more in the win. OHIO STATE and MARYLAND destroyed RUTGERS and PURDUE, respectively. DJ Durkin’s Terrapins are quietly undefeated. NEBRASKA actually trailed ILLINOIS at home in the fourth quarter, but wound up winning 31-16; they’re pretty high in the rankings, but maybe they shouldn’t be.

[Jennifer Buchanan – USA Today]

Pac-12

--- Perhaps the most surprising result of the weekend was WASHINGTON’s dominant 44-6 win over STANFORD. While the Cardinal were perhaps a little off from the expected standard of the conference frontrunner entering this game, the Huskies were pretty much a complete unknown – though a well-hyped one. That isn’t the case any more: U-Dub completely dominated on both sides of the line, nearly doubled up Stanford in yardage, and made an emphatic case as the best team in the Pac-12. What was most impressive was Washington’s defensive front; the Huskies notched eight sacks and held star Stanford RB to just 49 yards rushing. Since they struggled the week before in an overtime win over Arizona, it’s easy to wonder if Stanford was simply a good matchup for Washington – since the Cardinal overwhelmed U-Dub last year, that might not be the case. Anyways, Washington plays an Oregon team that’s been in free fall – giving the Huskies their best chance at a win in that series in some time (they haven’t beaten the Ducks since 2003).

--- During the Sonny Dykes tenure, CALIFORNIA’s defense has been an extreme liability, but the maligned unit came up huge in a late-game goal line stand to hold onto a 28-23 win over UTAH. The Utes had seven plays from inside the 11-yard line in the ending sequence and were rebuffed again and again by the Cal defense; it was a surprising result given both Cal’s recent history and how well Utah had run the ball, but in the end, it was a big win for the Bears. Utah actually outgained Cal – mostly because the Bears were completely unable to run – but Davis Webb threw for four touchdowns and over 300 yards in the win.

--- The rest of the games in the Pac-12 weren’t close. COLORADO blew out OREGON STATE and could make a case as the Pac-12 South frontrunner if they beat USC this weekend. Speaking of the Trojans, the Los Angeles schools beat the Arizona schools: UCLA wound up winning easily over ARIZONA (who are now down to their third-string QB, a true freshman) and USC turned in a surprisingly authoritative win at home against ARIZONA STATE, who’d played well entering that game. WASHINGTON STATE added to OREGON’s woes with a 51-33 win; somehow, the UO defense may have gotten worse in 2016 – Brady Hoke’s unit gave up 655 yards pretty evenly split between run and pass. They’re going to have a very tough time with Washington this weekend.

[Dale Zanine – USA Today]

SEC

--- In a pivotal SEC East matchup, TENNESSEE snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against GEORGIA; this was the fourth time the undefeated Vols have overcome a double-digit deficit to win a game – and it was certainly the most exciting comeback they’ve had this season. With less than three minutes left, Tennessee got a strip-sack in the endzone for a touchdown to take their first lead of the game, and Georgia threw an interception on the next possession. Three Alvin Kamara runs for UT didn’t kill the clock, and gave the ball back to UGA freshman QB Jacob Eason, who threw a 47-yard touchdown to fellow freshman Riley Ridley to take a 31-28 lead with ten seconds left. A 15-yard celebration penalty and a nice kick return set up Tennessee with one play – a Hail Mary shot to the end zone that was answered when Jauan Jennings pulled down the prayer from Josh Dobbs (who accounted for four touchdowns on the game). It was an utterly heartbreaking way for Georgia to lose a game at home, and put Tennessee solidly in the driver’s seat for a spot in the SEC title game, even though they have a game at undefeated Texas A&M next weekend and against Alabama in a few weeks.

--- The rest of the action in the SEC offered little in terms of compelling football. ALABAMA put KENTUCKY in a sleeper hold and won by four touchdowns; LSU surprisingly routed MISSOURI at home in their first game without Les Miles (and, maybe more importantly, their first game without Cam Cameron) – Coach O’s Tigers gained 418 yards on the ground even though star RB Leonard Fournette was very limited by injury. In other conference action, TEXAS A&M had a workmanlike road victory over SOUTH CAROLINA and FLORIDA beat VANDERBILT by the score of 13-6.

--- ARKANSAS and AUBURN each demolished some weak non-conference opponents. OLE MISS faced Memphis in their annual rivalry game and atoned for their loss in last season’s matchup, defeating the Tigers by a comfortable 48-28 margin.

[Bryan Terry – The Oklahoman]

Big 12

--- With OKLAHOMA struggling through the first few weeks of the season, a loss to TCU– especially one that came after a huge comeback – would have been devastating. The Sooners managed to hold on to the win: in the first quarter, they trailed by two touchdowns but eventually battled to take a 49-24 lead; TCU had some long Kenny Hill-to-Taj Williams touchdowns and staged that big comeback – only to fall short, 52-46 after being unable to convert on a long fourth down with about a minute left. The offenses in this game were about as good as the defenses were bad (and it’s hard to tell which is more the case sometimes, good offense or bad defense), but a combined 1,004 yards of total offense and 13 touchdowns seems to indicate that it’s the latter. In any case, it was a big win for OU, who’s still undefeated in Big 12 play and could be in the conversation for a conference championship, if not a playoff bid.

--- A shockingly competitive game between BAYLOR and IOWA STATE almost was the upset of the week: the Bears had to rally from down two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to escape with a 45-42 win against a dreadful ISU team. Baylor outgained the Cyclones by almost 200 yards and didn’t have any turnovers, but the defensive performance from BU was atrocious. Since they did eventually wind up winning, it’s hard to knock them too much, but it should signal some alarm with regards to their playoff hopes. KANSAS STATE and WEST VIRGINIA also played a very close game; it’s hard to tell how good (or bad) these teams are at this point but a 13-point fourth quarter comeback to get a 17-16 win was huge for WVU, who’s a surprisingly undefeated team this far into the season.

--- OKLAHOMA STATE routed TEXAS and the Longhorn defense is an absolute mess; head coach Charlie Strong demoted his defensive coordinator, but it might be too little too late – if the Horns keep on bleeding points (at least 40 of them in games against major opponents), they’ll probably be looking for a new coach soon. As for Oklahoma State, it was a nice bounce back win after a loss to Baylor last week. TEXAS TECH also routed KANSAS.