The Hodgepodge: Ohio State Gears Up to Go Duck Hunting, Vanderbilt Shocks the CFB World by Beating Alabama and Five Top-11 Teams Lose Saturday

By Garrick Hodge on October 7, 2024 at 11:47 am
Vanderbilt
Steve Roberts – Imagn Images
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Welcome to The Hodgepodge.

Coming into the weekend, there was only one matchup between ranked teams on the docket. And that turned out to be a bludgeoning, as Texas A&M thumped Missouri 41-10.

If you told me that result ahead of time, I probably would have guessed this would have been the worst slate of the season. 

Well. Not so much. 

Let’s get into it all.

Ohio State spotlight of the week: Duck hunting season

I won’t spend too much time recapping Ohio State’s 35-7 win over Iowa. 

Most of you already know it was a very Iowa-ish game. The Hawkeyes slowed the game down, forced a couple of turnovers and mucked things up to keep the game competitive early. Ohio State started forcing turnovers of its own and Iowa had no prayer. 

Jeremiah Smith continued to look like an alien as a true freshman. Will Howard rebounded from a first-half interception and turned in a five-touchdown game. And the defense didn’t allow Iowa to score until the fourth quarter with the majority of OSU’s backups in the game. 

But Ohio State has bigger ducks to hunt. 

OSU now has a top-three showdown with arguably its biggest threat in the conference, the Oregon Ducks. It’s a game that needs little buildup considering the numbers in front of each team’s logos in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, but we’re going to relish every second of it anyway. 

I can already envision both of Ohio State’s coordinators licking their chops in preparation for this one. 

Chip Kelly obviously has no shortage of history with Oregon. He’s probably been scouring over film, perhaps with an eye on the tape of Kalen DeBoer’s spread offense at Washington torching this Oregon defense last season. It’s fun to envision the different formations Kelly could deploy to put the Ducks’ defense in a blender that he’s yet to show this season. OSU started to finally show a little bit of designed Will Howard runs against Iowa, and with that on tape, Oregon’s defense is going to have to account for it. The biggest spotlight on offense will probably be offensive tackles Josh Fryar and Josh Simmons, who have to handle standout Oregon defensive ends Jordan Burch and Matayo Uiagalelei, both of whom have at least 3.5 sacks this season. 

Defensively, Jim Knowles will have to account for playmakers everywhere. Tez Johnson is a deadly wide receiver capable of housing it at any time, Terrance Ferguson is an underrated tight end who can cause problems in the middle of the field and running back Jordan James just had his best game of the season against Michigan State. 

The biggest chess piece will be contending with Oregon quarterback Dillion Gabriel, an accurate, effective, yet limited passer. The Ducks’ offensive line has been injury-plagued at times and inconsistent throughout the season, and Tyleik Williams could be in line for a big game for OSU considering the interior of Oregon’s line is arguably its weakest point. 

It’s going to be an awesome game, and we can’t wait to break it down all week. One mildly concerning stat, though: Big Ten teams traveling across two-plus timezones are 1-8 so far this season, with Indiana’s win against UCLA being the lone victory.

Vanderbilt topples Alabama

Well, well, well.

I think we already have a good inkling of what happened here, ’aight? One week following a massive victory against Georgia, Alabama players in the progrum started reading all that rat poison telling them how good they are, and complacency snuck in. The Crimson Tide went into Vanderbilt overlooking their opponent and the Commodores ran through them like shit through a tin horn en route to snapping an 0-for-60 record all-time against AP top-five teams and earning a 40-35 victory.

At least, that’s how I envision Nick Saban would have recapped that catastrophe on Alabama’s end. 

If someone could have revealed the future before the game started and said Vanderbilt would win this contest, what on earth would you have predicted happened? Probably some utterly fluky, turnover-infested disaster. 

Nope. 

Vanderbilt just straight-up outplayed Alabama for four quarters. The Commodores hadn’t scored more than 20 points against the Crimson Tide since 1996, then hung 40 on them and outgained Alabama 418-394. Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia was a machine, completing 16 of 20 passes for 252 yards and two touchdowns and running for 52 yards.

Some flowers are certainly warranted for Vanderbilt, which while still flawed isn’t an SEC pushover anymore this season. But it’s going to be a week in hell for Kalen DeBoer.

One week ago, DeBoer earned respect from his fanbase by toppling SEC giant Georgia. That goodwill is entirely spent a week later, with Alabama message boards being an unholy place for the past 48 hours. 

We’re not going to completely overreact here. While the Crimson Tide’s secondary has more leaks than a faulty bathroom, they’re still prime playoff contenders in an expanded field. But if anything, this loss showed that there’s only one coach who’s near automatic in delivering weekly success you can set your watch to in Tuscaloosa, and he’s currently commenting on College GameDay.

Chaos rules the weekend

So many other insane things also happened on Saturday, so we’ll do our best to recap.

  • In all, five teams in the top 11 went down (Michigan, Missouri, USC, Alabama, Tennessee), four of them against unranked opponents. We nearly added a sixth team to that list, but it survived by the hair of its chinny chin chin. 
  • That aforementioned team was Miami, which erased a 25-point Cal lead against a defense that was more gassed than a sleep-deprived Reece Davis commentating on the game. This game was humorously billed as coke vs. woke, and it was foolish to expect coke not to be its most productive around 2 a.m. 
  • USC officially got its welcome to the Big Ten moment. Sure, it already lost to Michigan, but the Trojans can probably get over losing a one-possession game to an established brand. This time, they lost on the road to a Minnesota roster with far less talent in a trenches battle (it helps that Gophers running back Darius Taylor is very good, too). I thought P.J. Fleck was a madman, going for it on fourth-and-goal from the one-yard line in a tie game with around 53 seconds remaining, but somehow it worked out.
  • Washington secured its revenge against Michigan from the national title game from a year ago, winning a 27-17 contest in Seattle. Of note here, the Wolverines have now played their third quarterback of the season, thrusting Jack Tuttle into action in relief of an underwhelming Alex Orji. Tuttle seeing the field brought back all the Chris Olave high school teammate tweets you’d thought you’d seen the last of and served as a reminder that there are still 25-year-olds playing college football. Anyway, what is it they say about having to play three quarterbacks again?  
  • Arkansas taking down Tennessee 19-14 is arguably the most shocking result of the weekend. Mostly because Josh Heupel’s offense was ineffective for most of the night and because Razorbacks backup quarterback Malachi Singleton led the eventual game-winning drive following an injury to starter Taylen Green. Another top-five SEC team bit the dust, and now Texas is the lone unscatched team remaining in the league. 
  • What a disappointing effort by Missouri, which was outclassed in nearly every meaningful statistical metric against Texas A&M. The Tigers had played poorly in two straight contests beforehand yet survived with wins, but Saturday may have been a prime indicator that Missouri just isn’t a great team. With the remaining schedule being a little lackluster, the Tigers may have to win out to keep their CFP hopes alive, even with Alabama still on the docket. On the A&M side, though, the Aggies now quietly have a reasonable path to making the SEC title game, especially with all the chaos happening in the league Saturday. Its toughest two remaining games are LSU and Texas, both of which are at home. If it splits those contests and holds serve in games it will be favored in, you’re looking at a 7-1 record in conference play.

And then there were 12

More than one-third of the way through the season, we have 12 undefeated teams remaining in the sport.

Big Ten: Ohio State, Oregon, Indiana, Penn State
SEC: Texas
ACC: Pittsburgh, Miami
Big 12: BYU, Iowa State
Group of Five: Navy, Army, Liberty

Week Six had some fun moments

  • The whole damn weekend, man.
  • Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki designed a play that sent 348-pound offensive lineman Olaivavega Ioane in motion to be a lead blocker. I love it.
  • Right as the final clock hits zero in Vanderbilt’s upset win, some crafty scoreboard operator played a clip of Nick Saban saying “the only place that’s not hard to play in the SEC is Vanderbilt.” 
  • Vanderbilt students walked three miles down Broadway in Nashville to throw the goalposts in the river. This sport is the best.
  • Temple kicker Maddux Trujillo drilled a whopping 60-yard field goal against UConn.
  • Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty broke a 60-plus yard touchdown run on his first carry of the game against Utah State. Jeanty broke the 1,000-yard rushing mark on the season with just his 90th carry. The Broncos standout is probably the Heisman frontrunner so far. 
  • Punters are people, too, and this was a perfect punt from Texas A&M. 
  • Your weekly Jeremiah Smith is insane clip. 
  • Your weekly Ryan Williams is insane clip. 
  • Arizona State had a last-second go-ahead touchdown to beat Kansas on Saturday. The Sun Devils were picked to finish last in the Big 12 but have started 4-1 this season. 
  • Find you someone who loves you like Michael Irvin loves Miami football.

Week Six had some wacky things, too

  • Biggest wacky thing of the week has to be Nico Iamaleava somehow not even throwing the ball on the game’s final play.
  • Alabama defensive captain Malachi Moore had a mini meltdown near the end of Vanderbilt and Alabama. Moore slammed a Vanderbilt player’s head on the ground after a play was over, then appeared to punch himself and fling his mouthpiece across the field as the Commodores were taking knees. I understand that we’re all human and make mistakes, and he probably knew all too well his team was about to be the butt of all college football jokes for a week, but you’d expect better discipline out of a team captain. 
  • It’s been one of those seasons for Kansas. 
  • I’m kind of over Lincoln Riley’s demeanor when he loses. He overreacted to a very reasonable question. It would be one thing if it were an isolated incident, but there are constant blowups with this guy whenever anything isn’t sunshine and roses.
  • I’m usually very pro-player celebration but mimicking shooting an opponent with a shotgun deserves a 15-yard penalty. Sorry, Dylan Stewart.
  • Minnesota did something similar in a one-possession game, yikes! 
  • Watch this play. You are never going to guess what happens. 
  • When you take down the No. 1 team, you get away with swearing on live TV (language warning, obviously). 
  • Good thing this cheerleader is flexible because if it were me, there would have been at least two torn ligaments. 
  • All’s well that ends well for Miami but this has to be the worst throw/decision combo of the week courtesy of Cam Ward. 
  • Although the eventual go-ahead touchdown by the Hurricanes against Cal shouldn’t have counted.

Former Buckeye of the week 

Week Six former Buckeye of the week: Kyle McCord, QB, Syracuse

It wasn’t a perfect game by any means for McCord, but he made enough plays to lead Syracuse to a ranked win against previously undefeated UNLV, including a game-tying touchdown pass in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. McCord finished 40-of-63 (!) for 355 yards, three touchdowns and one interception on the night. In five games this season, McCord has thrown for 1,814 yards, 17 touchdowns and six interceptions. 

Past results

Week Zero former Buckeye of the week: Mason Arnold, long snapper, Florida State
Week One former Buckeye of the week: Evan Pryor, RB, Cincinnati
Week Two former Buckeye of the week: Quinn Ewers, QB, Texas
Week Three former Buckeye of the week: Mookie Cooper, WR, Missouri
Week Four former Buckeye of the week: Julian Fleming, WR, Penn State
Week Five former Buckeye of the week: Noah Rogers, WR, North Carolina State

Games of the week

We had a below .500 week, but with the day being as chaotic as it was, we’re chalking it up as a fluke and moving forward.

Week 6 record: 3-4
Overall record: 22-20

Appointment viewing

Texas at Oklahoma, 3:30 P.M. Saturday on ABC

Pick: Oklahoma +14.5

Breakdown: I still think Texas wins here with a far superior roster, but I just respect the Red River Rivalry too much to think the Longhorns win by three possessions or more. Plus, we just watched a chaotic weekend and Texas is the lone SEC team that hasn’t faced some kind of adversity yet this season. That changes on Saturday. 

Penn State at USC, 3:30 p.m. on CBS

Pick: Penn State -4.5

Breakdown: I’ll probably regret this, but I’m slowly buying in that this Penn State team is pretty good. Even if that’s not entirely true and Big Game James strikes midnight, this USC team might be who we thought they were before it upset LSU Week 1. If Minnesota can win, Penn State can too, even if it’s on the road.

Ole Miss at LSU, 7:30 p.m. Saturday on ABC

Pick: Ole Miss -3

Breakdown: I have a sneaky feeling this could be an offensive shootout for a second straight year. Both of these squads have talented yet flawed rosters, but when in doubt, count Brian Kelly out of a big game. 

Ohio State at Oregon, 7:30 p.m. Saturday on NBC

Pick: Ohio State -3.5

Breakdown: I normally avoid picking Ohio State games in this column since I predict every game anyway with the rest of the 11W staff, but I’m making an exception for this week given the gravity of the contest. These teams feature the most talented rosters in the Big Ten and have future NFL players all over the field, but Ohio State has been the more consistent team as the season nears its midpoint. Bottom line, if you can force Dillon Gabriel to make NFL-level throws to beat you, I’m not convinced he can do it. On the flip side, I expect Chip Kelly to finally unleash this offense schematically and for the Buckeyes to escape Eugene with a narrow seven-point win. 

Underrated games

Kansas State at Colorado, 10:15 p.m. Saturday on ESPN

Pick: Colorado +5.5

Breakdown: Offhand seeing this matchup, I didn’t think I’d be rolling with Colorado whatsoever. But after some very light research, the Wildcats have been susceptible to the pass this season, only ranking 101st nationally in passing defense. That plays into Colorado’s hands of course, as the Buffs are ninth in the country in passing offense.

Washington at Iowa, noon Saturday on FOX

Pick: Iowa -2.5

Breakdown: Washington just faced a similar team to Iowa last weekend in Michigan, and escaped with a victory. But that was in Seattle. This contest will be in Iowa and I expect the Hawkeyes to overwhelm Washington’s offensive line and make enough plays in the ground game to survive. 

Cal at Pittsburgh, 3:30 p.m. Saturday on ESPN

Pick: Pittsburgh -3.5 

Breakdown: How ’bout them Pitt Panthers? With their win on Saturday, the Panthers moved to 5-0 for the first time since the 1991 season. Cal on the other hand is reeling from a blown 25-point lead to Miami. I’m picking the Panthers to keep it rolling and advance to 6-0.

Hot seat tracker

Seat is red hot

Billy Napier, Florida: Two straight wins for the Gators, give it up! Now, enjoy a stretch against Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Texas, LSU and Ole Miss. 

Dave Aranda, Baylor: Another week, another loss for Baylor. This is a when, not if, situation.

Seat is probably a little warm

Mack Brown, North Carolina: The Tar Heels have lost three straight games. They’ve given up 70 points to James Madison, blew a 20-point lead to Duke and lost by double digits to Pitt. Might be time for Mack to hang it up.

Ryan Walters, Purdue: Welcome to the hot seat list, Ryan Walters! I’ve given him some slack because he’s only in his second year and Purdue is arguably the hardest job in the Big Ten. But the Boilermakers may be one of the worst Big Ten teams I’ve seen in recent memory. It’s not out of the question Purdue finishes 2-10 and if that happens, athletic director Mike Bobinski would have a decision on his hands.

Off the list for now

Clark Lea, Vanderbilt: If you snap Vanderbilt’s 0-for-60 streak in program history against top-five teams, you’re permanently removed from the hot seat for the rest of the year, even if the Commodores go into a tailspin. Congrats, Clark Lea.

Sam Pittman, Arkansas: Similar vibes to Vanderbilt here. Knocking off a top-four team may very well have secured Pittman’s job in Arkansas this season.

Hodgepodge Week 6 classifiers

It’s a wild week, so let’s have a little fun with these.

Uh alright, I think these teams are good?: Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Texas

Good but confusing: Georgia, Tennessee

Good but lost to Vanderbilt: Alabama

Suing the league yet blessed they play in the ACC: Clemson

Cardiac Hurricanes: Miami

Big 12 fun dysfunctional family: Utah, Iowa State, Kansas State, BYU, Colorado, Texas Tech

Probably have to win out to make the CFP: Michigan, USC, Missouri, Notre Dame, Iowa 

Could be a loser-out game this week: Ole Miss, LSU

Lovable playoff darkhorses: Indiana, Nebraska, Rutgers, Illinois, SMU

Not lovable playoff darkhorse: Texas A&M

Serving our country and both 5-0 for the first time since the 1940s: Army, Navy

Group of Five playoff contenders: Boise State, Toledo, James Madison, Liberty, UNLV

Could make a nice bowl game but don’t know about much else: Louisville, Oklahoma, Syracuse, Kentucky, Pittsburgh, Duke, Boston College, Washington, Cal

Will have a chance to make a bowl game at least: Minnesota, Michigan State, Maryland, TCU, South Carolina, Arizona State, Cincinnati, West Virginia, NC State, Wisconsin, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Arkansas, Stanford, Vanderbilt

It’s not looking great: Florida, Northwestern, Auburn, UCLA, Purdue, Wake Forest, Baylor, Houston, Mississippi State, Florida State, Kansas, Oklahoma State

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