Week 4 of the college football season on Saturday was a rollercoaster ride from noon ET until well past midnight. No. 6 Oklahoma was stunned at home by Kansas State in a game that saw the Sooners defense give up five total touchdowns to quarterback Adrian Martinez. The loss may very well prevent them from a chance at making the College Football Playoff field down the road. Elsewhere, No. 7 USC escaped with a win over Oregon State in a nail-biter that proved the Trojans offense may not be as electric as it appeared through the first three games of the season.
The SEC was all over the place. Alabama cruised over Vanderbilt, Tennessee hung on to beat Florida, Arkansas was dropped from the ranks of the unbeaten in a loss to Texas A&M and Georgia was incredibly sloppy in a win over Kent State.
On the heels of yet another wild Saturday, let's hand out grades for all of the top national title contenders based on their odds from Caesars Sportsbook heading into the weekend.
College football grades: Week 4 report card
Team | Odds | Grade | Analysis |
---|---|---|---|
2-1 | A+ | The SEC opener was no problem for the Crimson Tide as they rolled to a 55-3 win over Vanderbilt. Quarterback Bryce Young had 385 passing yards and four touchdowns in what was a typical performance for the reigning Heisman winner. | |
21/10 | C+ | Georgia got the win over Kent State 39-22 in what was one of its sloppiest performances of the last few years. The Bulldogs turned the ball over three times, and quarterback Stetson Bennett IV tossed his first pick of the season. Coach Kirby Smart gets a mulligan, but this was the football equivalent of a slice into the woods off the tee box. | |
13/4 | A+ | The 52-21 win over Wisconsin was essentially wrapped up when the Buckeyes jumped out to a 28-0 lead early in the second quarter, but the final score was a little deceptive. The defense was lights out and C.J. Stroud did C.J. Stroud things from the moment toe met leather. | |
12-1 | B+ | The Tigers played one of the wildest games of the day in the 51-45, double-overtime win over Wake Forest. Quarterback DJ Uiagalelei threw for 371 yards and five touchdowns, but the defense did give up 447 yards -- albeit to a great Demon Deacons offense. | |
14-1 | B- | The Trojans skated by Oregon State in Corvallis 17-14 in a game in which quarterback Caleb Williams completed just 16 of his 36 passes for 180 yards. That is nowhere close to the kind of performance that is expected of a title contender. More importantly, though, is the fact that its defense locked down a Beavers team to the tune of 320 total yards. In the grand scheme of things, that's a much bigger deal than a stagnant offense. | |
25-1 | B- | The 34-27 win over Maryland was the sloppiest game of the year for Jim Harbaugh's crew. The big star from the win was running back Blake Corum, who put up a whopping 243 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. That took plenty of pressure off of quarterback J.J. McCarthy. | |
40-1 | F | The Sooners got smoked 41-34 at home by a Kansas State team that just lost to Tulane last week. This was a throwback to the Sooners teams of old -- all offense and no defense of which to speak. | |
60-1 | C+ | The Nittany Lions were tied at 14 with Central Michigan at halftime but managed to pull away late. Sean Clifford only threw for 217 yards in the win, but they didn't look like a national championship-caliber team. | |
75-1 | F | The Longhorns loss to Texas Tech in overtime, which effectively eliminates them from national title contention. Two losses in September by a Big 12 team proves that they aren't title-worthy. | |
75-1 | D | The Hogs lost to Texas A&M in one of the wildest games of the day. The offense fell into a massive rut after going up two touchdowns early, and the defense made the Aggies look functional offensively. | |
75-1 | B | The Volunteers picked up a huge win over a Florida team that had won 16 of the last 17 in the series. However, they gave up 594 total yards, Anthony Richardson threw for 453 yards and they almost threw it away late in the game. | |
75-1 | n/a | The Cowboys were off on Saturday. | |
100-1 | B | Utah cruised to a win over Arizona State. But this was an Arizona State that lost its coach on Sunday, which makes it hard to gauge just how much the Utes' win actually matters in the title chase. | |
100-1 | B+ | The Huskies had no problem with a downtrodden Stanford team. Michael Penix Jr. was solid throughout, and the defense sucked the will out of the Cardinal essentially the entire game. With that said, it was Stanford ... and this isn't the same Stanford that beats teams up on both lines of scrimmage in the past. | |
100-1 | C- | The Rebels hung on to beat Tulsa 35-27, they got stopped behind the line of scrimmage seven times and quarterback Jaxson Dart only threw for 154 yards. The rushing attack, however, was rock solid with 308 yards. |