College football blitz: Week 4 recap
September 25, 2019
Four weeks into college football and while a lot of teams are starting to feel the heat, some are sitting at the top of mountain.
Appalachian State @ North Carolina
Speaking of mountains, one of the bigger headlines coming out of this weekend was Appalachian State (3-0) knocking off a, now, lukewarm North Carolina (2-2) squad.
The Mountaineers made the trek off the mountain for a rendezvous in Chapel Hill on Saturday — and went back to Boone with a boost of confidence. App. State, in its first win over a Power-5 team since defeating Michigan 34-32 in 2007, gave the Tar Heels a run for their money through much of the first half, boasting a 27-17 lead at the intermission.
UNC, as it has all season, relied on its offense to make a second-half comeback — to no avail. Noah Ruggles’ game-tying 56-yard field goal was blocked by Demetrius Taylor to give the Mountaineers the 34-31 win.
7 Notre Dame @ 3 Georgia
Notre Dame proved once again that, while it is a historically good team, it is one step below what we consider to be the football elite. At the top sit the Clemsons, Alabamas and Georgias of the football world, and a step below them is Notre Dame.
The Fighting Irish showed this on Saturday night when they had a chance to knock off the no. 3 team in the country, possibly making a bigger case for College Football Playoff contention. But Notre Dame, as you can infer based on past games, had the opportunity seep through its hands.
The Irish trailed 23-17 with 3:12 left in the fourth quarter and were unable to force a three-and-out for a chance to get the ball back. 23-17 was the final, and while they came close, the Fighting Irish fell to a top-5 opponent as they had 18 out of the last 19 times according to Fox Sports.
10 Utah @ USC
Southern California, which put up a subpar 5-7 showing last season, looks to make itself a known entity this season. The Trojans did exactly that on Saturday when they hosted — and outlasted — no. 10 Utah.
Both squads kept it close for much of the contest, but a Utah safety, which turned into a touchdown for USC put the Trojans up 10 with less than seven minutes to play.
Unable to close the gap, no. 10-ranked Utah fell 30-23, giving the Utes their first loss of the season as well as a loss in their Pac-12 opener.
UCLA @ 19 Washington State
There are a plethora of notables surrounding this game so here are a few:
-UCLA defeated no. 19 WSU 67-63
-UCLA trailed 49-17 with 3:49 left in the third quarter
-Both teams combined for 1,377 total yards
-Both quarterbacks combined for 1,077 yards and 14 touchdowns
Other upsets
-No. 13 Wisconsin knocked off no. 11 Michigan 35-14
-Colorado knocked off no. 24 Arizona State 34-31
-Southern Methodist knocked off no. 25 TCU 41-38
-Pittsburgh knocked off no. 15 Central Florida 35-34
North Carolina scores
Appalachian State 34 North Carolina 31
Charlotte 10 Clemson 52
Wake Forest 49 Elon 7
N.C. State 34 Ball State 23
East Carolina 19 William & Mary 7
Duke BYE
Powers Poll Top 25
- Clemson (4-0) →
- Alabama (4-0) →
- Georgia (4-0) →
- LSU (4-0) ↑1
- Oklahoma (3-0) ↓1
- Ohio State (4-0) →
- Florida (4-0) →
- Auburn (4-0) ↑4
- Penn State (3-0)(BYE) ↑1
- Wisconsin (3-0) ↑10
- Texas (3-1) ↑2
- Washington (3-1) ↑6
- Oregon (3-1) ↑3
- Notre Dame (2-1) ↓6
- Michigan (2-1) ↓6
- Virginia (4-0) ↑5
- Boise State (4-0) ↑6
- Iowa (3-0) (BYE) ↓1
- California (4-0) ↑5
- Texas A&M (2-2) ↓5
- Utah (3-1) ↓7
- Southern California (3-1) NR
- UCF (3-1) ↓12
- Washington State (3-1) ↓5
- Baylor (3-0) NR
Dropped from rankings: No. 21 Oklahoma State; No. 25 Wyoming