Austin American-Statesman-USA TODAY NETWORK
10 college football moments we loved this week.
The 2023 college football season is in full swing, and we’re already embroiled in a season where a lot of change could be upon us. Texas actually beat Alabama–in Tuscaloosa, mind you. Shocking development, but it got even crazier from there. The Pac-2 stood strong, with Washington State upsetting Wisconsin and Oregon State continuing to play good football, and much much more.
Every week, we’re going to bring you the top-10 from the week of college football. The top-10 what, you say? Well, we don’t know. It might depend based on the week, shit it might depend on the hour. But there will be 10 of them, every week, we promise.
Without further ado, here’s our top ten from the week of college football.
10. The intro to Wisconsin-Washington State
For a portion of the college football fanbase, Keith Jackson was the definitive voice. When you heard Jackson on a Saturday afternoon you just knew something special was going to happen, and Jackson’s ability to put into words some of college football’s best moments is the stuff of legend, right down to his trademark call “whoa Nellie.”
ESPN and ABC paid tribute to Jackson ahead of Saturday’s game between Wisconsin and Washington State, where Jackson went to college, graduating in 1954 with a degree in speech communications. Their tribute to Jackson, featuring his own perfect description of the region, is perfection:
Also: pulchritudinous prose? Whoa Nellie, indeed.
9. Traveler got the rest of the night off
The Pac-12 is enjoying a great start to the season. Eight of the teams in the conference are undefeated and all eight of those teams (USC, Washington, Utah, Oregon, Oregon State, Colorado, Washington State, and UCLA) are ranked.
However, this has come at a cost.
To the mascots.
When Oregon defeated Portland State 81-7 to open their season Puddles, the team’s mascot, was stuck doing 546 pushups to mark the points scored by the Ducks. Then on Saturday night as USC rolled Stanford behind another tremendous Caleb Williams performance, the school was forced to give Traveler, their horse, a rest:
This is a real fact I just learned: USC didn’t send out Traveler for the Trojans’ latest score because the horse was too tired.
USC up 42-3 with 5 minute left in the first half.
— Keely Eure (@keelyismyname) September 10, 2023
8. The evolution of Quinn Ewers
Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers has shown tremendous growth on the field, highlighted by the Longhorns’ win over Alabama in Tuscaloosa this weekend.
There is also development happening off the field:
If someone could pass along that nutritional plan, that would be great.
7. Big boy grillin’ on the roof TD
Just sit and watch greatness as University of Colorado-Mesa lineman Cooper Mumford picks up this fumble and knew exactly what to do with his moment.
Look at the grace, the ability to think on the fly, plus the accuracy and execution off schedule. Brother you might be playing the wrong position.
6. Jimmy Sexton
For the uninitiated, Jimmy Sexton is the agent behind the sports’ most powerful and rich head coaches, including Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher. Fisher was well under fire after failing to make a bowl game last year, but came into Hard Rock Stadium against the Miami Hurricanes looking to make a statement.
Well, statement made:
No. 23 Texas A&M gave up 17 4Q points to Miami today and lost 48-33. That had us thinking about A&M firing Kevin Sumlin for Jimbo Fisher.
Sumlin: 6 yrs, $30M with $5M buyout. 51-26 in 6 yrs.
Fisher: 10 yrs, $94.95M with $76.8M 2023 buyout. 40-22 entering year 6.
Interesting. pic.twitter.com/Sl5UBDkCI0
— First and Pen (@firstandpen) September 10, 2023
Yeah, that’s bad. A&M looked physically overwhelmed on the offensive side of the ball, and for all of the offensive genius that OC Bobby Petrino was supposed to bring, it still looks like a Jimbo Fisher offense, which is quite bad.
There’s no getting out of this for A&M, either. The buyout is way too high to do anything, and that contract is (Charles Barkley voice) GUARANTEED. They signed this deal with Dr. Facilier and now they’ll be a frog with a lot of oil money forever.
Shoutout to Jimmy Sexton, legend at the bank for every CFB coach on Earth.
5. USC’s Zachariah Branch is making people think of Reggie Bush
USC continues to take an ACME anvil to every team they play offensively, and outside of reigning Heisman winner Caleb Williams, the most impressive player in these games has been freshman Zachariah Branch. He’s the only player in the FBS this year with a receiving TD, punt return TD and a kick return TD, and does it while making everyone else look really, REALLY slow.
People are already starting to bring up Reggie Bush when talking about Branch, and for good reason. He moves like a video game character come to life, and that gamebreaking speed in this offense is going to be so fun to watch this year.
4. Shedeur doing the Primetime step
Folks, Colorado might be legitimately fun. After playing in a shootout vs. TCU, the Buffaloes came home and slugged out a victory over Nebraska. QB Shedeur Sanders was once again phenomenal, and on one of his three touchdowns, he hit the dance that his father Deion made famous:
Just an incredibly cool moment for father and son, and I hope this continues throughout the season.
3. South Dakota State-Montana State
South Dakota State-Montana State might have been the best game that you missed from the season so far, but don’t worry, we got you. With 1:30 left in the game, South Dakota State scored the go-ahead touchdown, sending the crowd into a frenzy.
However, that was far too much time for Montana State. They drove the length of the field, and on the last play of the game Montana State looked to have scored the game winning touchdown, but it was then overturned because he couldn’t keep his feet in.
Early candidate for game of the year came down to this touchdown call getting overturned. I took this video and will let you decide for yourself.
I’m sure Montana State and South Dakota State will meet again this winter. pic.twitter.com/qsRKxl2X6a
— Kienan (@KienanDixon16) September 10, 2023
The finish to the game was insane, and it was between two of the best football teams at the FCS level. Go watch it if you can.
2. Kansas’ Jalon Daniels is once again good
Last year, we screamed from the rooftops that you needed to be watching Kansas, starting early in the season.
Well, we are screaming again.
Quarterback Jalon Daniels missed the first game of the season for the Jayhawks due to a back injury, but he returned to the lineup for Kansas’s game Friday night against Illinois.
His magic returned as well:
The Jayhawks won34-23 to move to 2-0 on the season, and face games against Nevada and BYU before taking on Texas at the end of the month. That game could be special.
1. NC State’s video board got struck by lightning
Saturday was a big day at NC State.
Not only were the Wolfpack welcoming in one of the nation’s top-ranked teams as Notre Dame paid them a visit, but the school was unveiling their new $15 million video board at Carter-Finley Stadium. The school announced the project last year, highlighting both the size of the board and the “state of the art sound system.”
However, its debut was cut short.
Due to lightning.
Thankfully, they were able to get the board up and running gain. However, the same could not be said for the Wolfpack as they lost to Notre Dame 45-24.
