NCAA Football News and Notes: Power 5 Recaps

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It’s another week of college football recaps in Power 5. Take a read and see what we thought were the biggest games this past week.

South Carolina vs #13 Kentucky

In a very surprising way, this was one of the best matchups and upsets this week. South Carolina came into this game at 3-2 with Spencer Rattler having a very questionable year. On the other hand, Kentucky has one of the best quarterbacks in the nation, Will Levis. Levis is one of the main reasons they were ranked 13th and have a 4-1 record coming into this game but they were without him this game.

Starting with the ball at home, Kentucky wanted to begin with an electric start to get the crowd going early in the game. Trying to do this though, Chris Rodriguez fumbled the football on the first play of the game and South Carolina returned the ball to Kentucky’s two-yard line. MarShawn Lloyd rushed for a two-yard touchdown for an early lead of 7-0. On the next six drives of the game, there was no score with the teams punting. South Carolina turned the ball over two times, and Kentucky missed a field goal. Finally, the backup quarterback, Kaiya Sheron, completed a pass to Jordan Dingle for a 16-yard touchdown to even the score at 7-7. Later in the half, Rattler turned the football over again, this time with an interception. It was the end of the half after that and they went into halftime with a very defensive score, 7-7.

Starting right out of the gate, Rattler rushed down the field and scored a touchdown, passing to Antwane Wells Jr for 42 yards making it a 14-7 game. Kentucky proceeded to punt on their next drive and South Carolina kicked a field goal to make it a 17-7 game. Into the fourth quarter, Jalen Brooks put the football game out of reach with a 24-yard rushing touchdown making it a three-possession game of 24-7. Kentucky went on to answer on a touchdown from Sheron to JuTahn McClain for 10 yards. On Kentucky’s next drive. after a SC punt, Sheron threw an interception and that was the game. South Carolina pulled off the upset against Kentucky and their backup QB, making it a final score of 24-14.

Rattler has not been living up to expectations this year but he still is 4-2 on the year and got the job done against Kentucky. Although they won, Rattler only threw for 177 yards but did only have five incompletions. He threw a touchdown but he also threw an interception and had a fumble. Antwane Wells Jr hauled in three receptions for 66 yards and a touchdown. The star of the offense was MarShawn Lloyd who ran for 110 yards and a touchdown. The defense was also outstanding forcing two turnovers and getting six sacks. For Kentucky, Kaiya Sheron threw for 178 yards on 15/27 throws. He had two touchdowns and one interception, having an ok game for the first start of his young career. Chris Rodriguez had a good game rushing for 126 yards but he had a crucial fumble at the beginning of the game.

Overall, Rattler may have won this game but he has to start playing better. If South Carolina wants to be at its best, he has to start playing as he did once with Oklahoma. South Carolina goes home and plays a tough opponent in Texas A&M which should be a very good game. On the other side of the ball, Kentucky most likely would have won this game if Levis played. Sheron didn’t play terribly but Levis is a top-10 pick in the upcoming draft. Kentucky moved down to 22nd in the country and plays a tough matchup this week against number 6th-ranked Tennessee in a very important game for both squads.

#11 Utah vs #18 UCLA

In a top-20 matchup, this was one of the most exciting football games of the week. The Utes came into this game 4-1 ranked 11th in the country after a big win against Oregon State. On the other side, UCLA headed into this game as the 18th-ranked team in the nation at a surprising 5-0 record being led by top quarterback, Dorian Thompson-Robinson.

Utah started with the ball trying to take a quick lead in Pasadena but punted the ball. This led to four punts in a row for both teams but eventually, Cameron Rising threw an interception in the red zone to get things going for UCLA. UCLA then went 97 yards to score a rushing touchdown from Thompson-Robinson from seven yards out. Utah kicked a field goal to get on the board, but UCLA answered quickly with Thompson-Robinson throwing a touchdown to Jake Bobo. Badly needing a touchdown, the Utes answered with Tavion Thomas running it into the endzone from five yards out. Both teams then proceeded to miss field goals which ended the half, 14-10 UCLA.

The second half had an immaculate start to it. There was a combined five straight touchdowns from both teams. Thompson-Robinson threw for three of these touchdowns and Cameron Rising threw for one and ran from another. Talk about a showing from both quarterbacks going back and forth showing what they can do. The score was 35-25, UCLA, when Utah had the football to try and score for the third consecutive drive. Rising then fumbled and turned the ball over. UCLA quickly scored a touchdown from a 1-yard rush by Zach Charbonnet. The score was out of reach in the fourth and Utah turned the ball over on downs on their next drive ending their game. Although they scored a pick-six, it was a little too late ending the game in a 42-32 UCLA win at home.

Dorian Thompson-Robinson has to be in the Heisman consideration because he has been fantastic all season. He had an extraordinary game throwing for 299 yards and only had five incompletions. He also threw for four touchdowns but had one interception with a rushing touchdown. Another guy that went crazy was running back Zach Charbonnet who had 198 yards and a touchdown. For the receivers, eight players caught a pass and showed they can spread the football all around the team. For the Utes, Rising threw for 287 yards but had no touchdowns, an interception, and a fumble. Although he threw no touchdowns, he ran for 59 yards for two touchdowns. Tavion Thomas ran for 91 yards and a touchdown but that was it after those three touchdowns on offense. The other touchdown they got was from Clark Phillips, an 80-yard pick-six, but it was a little too late.

Utah moved down to 20th in the country after the tough loss on the road to UCLA bringing their record to 4-2. They now play 7th-ranked USC at home in a big game. For UCLA, they moved up to 11th in the country staying undefeated at 6-0. They go on the road and play Oregon which is ranked 12th in the country and has been very hot lately in what should be a top football game this Saturday.

#17 TCU vs #19 Kansas

It was one of the most entertaining games of the week that did not disappoint. TCU came into this game as the 17th-ranked team in the nation after destroying Oklahoma the week before. Kansas has been a huge surprise to everyone coming into the football game as the 19th-ranked team. They are coming off a defensive battle last week against Iowa State as they won 14-11.

TCU started with the ball and scored quickly with a field goal off the leg of Griffin Kell from 39 yards out. After the field goal, both teams combined for six straight punts or turnovers on downs. Kansas fumbled the ball inside the TCU 5. TCU then capitalized scoring a touchdown from Kendre Miller from one-yard out. Kansas finally got on the board with their own field goal from 40 yards out and then picked off Max Duggan to gain momentum going into halftime down 10-3.

Kansas kept the momentum and they scored a touchdown right out of the gate on four plays but they suffered a loss coming into the second half with Jalon Daniels not being there. The backup quarterback, Jason Bean, threw a 12-yard touchdown to Mason Fairchild showing he could keep Kansas in the game. Later in the game, TCU fumbled and Kansas capitalized scoring a touchdown from Bean again, going up 17-10 for their first lead of the game. TCU started to get things rolling scoring a touchdown. The Frogs then got an interception and proceeded to score another touchdown going up 24-17 all of a sudden. Kansas finally answered with Bean scoring another touchdown from 38 yards out to Quentin Skinner making it all knotted up at 24. Yet again, TCU answered with another touchdown with Max Duggan throwing a touchdown to Taye Barber. Later on, Kansas scored a touchdown to even the score up at 31 but TCU took the lead right back in under three minutes. They then had Kansas turn the ball over on downs and ended this nail-biter of a game, winning 38-31.

Max Duggan had an unbelievable game throwing for 308 yards and three touchdowns with one interception. He also ran for 55 yards and a touchdown. For the other rusher of TCU, Kendre Miller rushed for 88 yards and a touchdown. Another player that played outstanding was wide receiver Quentin Johnston who had 14 receptions and 206 yards with a touchdown. All around it was a great game on offense from the Frogs. On the other hand, the Jayhawks lost their star quarterback who may be out for the season. Luckily Jason Bean looked excellent throwing for 262 yards with four touchdowns and one interception in pretty much one half! Quentin Skinner hauled in four receptions and two touchdowns for 98 yards while three other players had over 50 yards too.

TCU moved to 13th in the country after beating a tough opponent in Kansas totaling their record to 5-0 on the season. TCU plays #8 Oklahoma State at home this week which should be a very good matchup. For Kansas, they are most likely without their starting quarterback the rest of the way, and Jason Bean will try and win one game to send them to a bowl game for the first time since 2008. They stayed the same as the 19th-ranked team at 5-1. They have Oklahoma this week on the road to try and get the lucky number of six wins.