NCAA Football News and Notes: Power 5 Recaps

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#14 Syracuse vs #5 Clemson

This past weekend featured a lot of ranked vs ranked teams and this was one of the best football games that were played. We saw an underdog team who has been fantastic this year coming into this game undefeated as the 14th-ranked team in the nation at 6-0. The other team, Clemson, they have been outstanding as their record was 7-0 before this game as the fifth-ranked team in the country.

Starting right away, Clemson struck first with a rushing touchdown from Will Shipley against Syracuse’s resilient defense. Cuse then answered with their own touchdown with Garrett Shrader throwing a touchdown to Sean Tucker to even the score up. In the second quarter, Uiagalelei had his second turnover of the game and this one was the worst of both of them. He fumbled the ball in the RedZone which led to Syracuse picking up the ball and scoring a 90-yard touchdown to go up 14-7 in Clemson. The crowd was stunned at what just happened to their team. Later in the quarter, Cuse scored another touchdown to go up 21-10 at halftime and we were instantly seeing an upset brewing here in Clemson.

In the second half after we saw both teams punt, Clemson fumbled the ball again, and then another from Clemson. It was the fourth turnover of the game for them and it was the third from Uiagalelei. Dabo Swinney took these matters into his own hands and handed the keys to freshman backup quarterback, Cade Klubnik. They wanted to give a spark to the team and they got just that. Klubnik then led them to score on their next two drives to go up 24-21 in the fourth quarter. Later on in the fourth, Clemson had the ball down six and could take the lead with a touchdown to practically end the game. Shrader was driving down the field and he threw a bad ball that was intercepted at Clemson’s 15. Clemson pulled out the win and didn’t get upset by the spark of the freshman backup quarterback, winning 27-21.

Uiagalelei had one of his worst games of the year throwing for 138 yards with 0 touchdowns and two interceptions. He also only ran for 13 yards on eight rushing attempts with a fumble. Klubnik may have come into the game and set a spark for Clemson to win but he didn’t do much either throwing only for 19 yards. The best player of the game was their running back, Will Shipley. Shipley ran for 172 yards and two touchdowns but had a fumble. He carried the offense when they needed him to get the win. For Syracuse, Shrader had a bad game throwing for 167 yards with only one touchdown and an interception. He played well on the ground though, rushing for 71 yards and a touchdown. Their defense kept them in the entire game, they made Clemson turn the ball over four times and had a defensive touchdown as well.

Syracuse lost their first game this past weekend to Clemson having their record as 6-1 which moved them down only two spots, 16th in the country. They play a hungry Norte Dame team this week at home which should be a good battle between these two gritty teams. On the other hand, Clemson moved onto 8-0 on their season yet they stayed the same in the rankings at fifth. They have a bye week then go on the road to play Norte Dame next week.

#9 UCLA vs #10 Oregon

In an exciting top-10 matchup it didn’t disappoint in the points department. Number nine UCLA entered the game undefeated with a 6-0 record before the game. Oregon entered the game already with a loss having a 5-1 record as the tenth-ranked team in the nation.

Starting in the first half it was a scoring fiesta. We saw both teams score on every single drive they had which is one of the craziest halves we have seen in college so far this year. Although both teams scored on every drive, Oregon had two more drives than them because they did a surprise onside kick and got the ball from that. Oregon scored four touchdowns and three of them came from the arm of the quarterback, Bo Nix. For UCLA, the scoring didn’t work out for them as much as it did for Oregon. They scored two field goals and just one touchdown ending the half with Oregon all over UCLA’s defense, 31-13.

In the second half, the scoring didn’t stop for both teams which was not surprising. Oregon scored two more touchdowns from Bo Nix who had an extraordinary game. For UCLA, they scored a field goal and then a touchdown to make the score a whopping 45-23 blowout. At this point, it was already the fourth quarter and UCLA just threw an interception and they couldn’t make a huge comeback to win. Eventually, UCLA scored another touchdown from Dorian Thompson-Robinson to make it a 15-point game but it was a little too late. UCLA’s defense got busted too early in the game to edge a comeback losing to Oregon, 45-30.

Bo Nix was a superstar on the field throwing for five touchdowns, no interceptions, and only six incompletions. He did all that and threw for 283 yards and rushed for 51 yards. Bucky Irving led the team in the rushing department with 107 yards with Noah Whittington right behind him with 73. Troy Franklin had an awesome game hauling in eight receptions for 132 yards and two touchdowns. For UCLA, Thompson-Robinson didn’t have his best game but it wasn’t a bad game, nonetheless. He threw for 262 yards and two touchdowns with an interception. Zach Charbonnet had a great game rushing for 151 yards with a touchdown. Once again, Jake Bobo had another great game totaling 101 yards on eight receptions and a touchdown. UCLA’s defense though got torched by Nix and company. UCLA will have to regroup to get right with their defense for the rest of the season.

UCLA finally lost their first game of the season bringing their record to 6-1. They moved down to 12th ranked in the country and have an easy opponent at home this week against Stanford. To Oregon, they moved up to the eighth-ranked team in a big win against one of their biggest rivals. They now sit at a 6-1 record and look to keep their consecutive winning record alive this week against California on the road.

#20 Texas vs #11 Oklahoma State

This game was filled with scoring throughout the game and made it one of the best games of the past weekend. Number 20 Texas was coming into this game with a record of 5-2 after a close win last week against Iowa State. For the Cowboys, they come into this game at home as the 11th-ranked team in the nation. They were 5-1 before this game and just came off their first loss of the season in double overtime to TCU.

The first quarter was filled with scoring but it started with an interception from Quin Ewers as he set up OK State with an instant chance to take the lead. They did just that kicking a field goal to go up 3-0 early. After Bijan Robinson answered with a 42-yard touchdown, State’s running back scored himself rushing touchdown from four yards out to go back up 10-7. Later in the quarter, Ewers picked himself back up and threw a touchdown to Xavier Worthy to go up 14-10 against the Cowboys. Skipping into the late second quarter, Texas led 24-17 after both teams scored a touchdown. Spencer Sanders threw an interception at the Longhorns 12 which then led Texas to capitalize scoring a touchdown and going up 14. Oklahoma State regrouped quickly and answered right before halftime with a rushing touchdown from Dominic Richardson, losing 31-24 at the half.

In the second half, we had a very stagnant start. There were seven straight punts and finally both teams scored field goals to make the score 34-27, Texas. Luckily for Oklahoma State, that was the last time Texas will score the rest of the way. After a Texas three and out, Spencer Sanders marched down the field and threw a touchdown to Brennan Pressley 10 yards out to make the score even at 34 a piece. Later on, Texas missed a field goal and State capitalized once again. They scored a touchdown 41 yards out from the arm of Sanders to Bryson Green. This was their first lead since the first quarter, winning 41-34. With a couple of possessions left for Texas to tie the game and take the lead, the redshirt Freshman choked. Ewers threw consecutive interceptions which sealed the deal for a Cowboys win. OK State ended up with a huge comeback and only let up three points in the second half, defeating Texas 41-34.

Spencer Sanders had another great game but he threw the ball 57 times with 34 completions. He had 391 yards and two touchdowns but had an interception. Oklahoma State rushed the ball with six players combining for 142 yards and three touchdowns, all from Dominic Richardson. For the receivers, Bryson green led the way with 133 yards on five catches for one touchdown. Their defense led the way for them in the second half, only letting up three points in it, and had two enormous interceptions to win the game. For Texas, Quin Ewers struggled a lot during this game. He may have thrown for 319 yards and two touchdowns but he had 30 incompletions and three interceptions. He threw two interceptions when the game mattered most and had his freshman moment, as does everyone. As usual, Bijan Robinson led the way with 24 carries on 140 yards and a touchdown. Xavier Worthy and Ja’Tavion Sanders led the way for the receivers totaling 154 yards on 10 catches and one touchdown.

After the loss this past weekend, Texas dropped out of the rankings and has a 5-3 record. They play a challenging opponent in the 22nd-ranked Kansas State team after their bye this week. They have a bye at a perfect time to regroup and get everything together because they want to get a pleasing bowl game this year. On the other side of the ball, everything is rolling for Oklahoma State. They are sitting pretty at 6-1 and are the ninth-ranked team in the country. They also play Kansas State but it will be this weekend on the road, which should be a very fun game to watch.