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1) The benching of Miami quarterback Tyler Van Dyke—and this is nothing against the kid, who’s still just a redshirt sophomore—is just another example of people jumping the gun on hyping the draft stock of players at that position. It happened last year with former Oklahoma and now South Carolina QB Spencer Rattler, who was projected by some as a first-round pick, only to be benched in favor of true freshman Caleb Williams before transferring. And it may be happening again with the Hurricanes, who got a spark from former top-50 recruit Jake Garcia late in The U’s ugly loss to Middle Tennessee. The lesson here is simply that it takes a lot more than a few flashes as a young player to make a first-round quarterback.
2) The coach who led Kansas State’s upset win over Oklahoma, Chris Klieman, won four FCS national titles in five years at North Dakota State, and he’s had the Wildcats at a pretty solid level since arriving there in 2019 (K-State isn’t the easiest place to recruit to or win, which is why Bill Snyder was considered such a magician over the years). Klieman is 54, so maybe the ship has sailed on him as an NFL coach. But I’d be fascinated to see how someone like him would translate, jumping straight to the pros. Why? Because he’s had to win without having the advantages that a blueblood at that level would have. I’ve heard both Cincinnati’s Luke Fickell and Iowa State’s Matt Campbell compared to former Celtics coach Brad Stevens, as potential pro coaches, for that reason. Klieman, I think, fits into that box, too.
3) You don’t need to hear me go on about Ohio State’s offensive talent any more than I already have, but there was something from the Buckeyes’ blowout of Wisconsin that I wanted to point out: Badgers sophomore RB Braelon Allen is going to be a really interesting NFL prospect. He’s got a monstrous build, at 6'2" and 238 pounds, and he doesn’t turn 19 until January (meaning he’ll be 20 when he’s draft-eligible). The difference in Wisconsin when he was in the game, vs. when he wasn’t, was very, very noticeable. He churned out yards when there wasn’t much there, and looked athletic (even as a QB at times out of the wildcat) against a speedy Buckeye defense.
4) Clemson DT Bryan Bresee, who’s got a long NFL career in front of him, showed a lot of strength in playing Saturday in the wake of his 15-year-old sister’s passing. Check out our own Pat Forde’s column on Bresee from the ground in North Carolina, after the Tigers’ overtime win over ACC rival Wake Forest.
5) Jordan Addison, last year’s Biletnikoff Award winner, took a sizable risk in transferring to USC after starring at Pitt the last two years, but it’s working out fine for him. He has 21 catches for 337 yards and six touchdowns through four games. And going into the 2023 NFL draft, he’ll have the Lincoln Riley stamp on him, having now starred in the coach’s offense, following in a pretty good line of skill-position players (CeeDee Lamb, Hollywood Brown, Mark Andrews, Joe Mixon) Riley has helped develop for the pros.
6) Fun story here from my buddies Forde and Ross Dellenger on the Texas A&M–Arkansas doink. And for those who don’t remember, the proposal to raise the uprights in the NFL was dubbed the “Tucker Rule”—because Bill Belichick was adamant that a field goal attempt by Ravens kicker Justin Tucker in 2012 (during the ref lockout, no less) that was called good was actually wide right. Belichick didn’t win his argument that night, but he did get taller uprights in time for the ’14 season. And those uprights, higher than the college ones, may have pretty seriously impacted this year’s SEC West race.
