5 college football takeaways: Ohio State and Michigan have something in common

Credit: Gregory Shamus

Credit: Gregory Shamus

Another thrilling week of college football is in the books. Here are five things to know about what went down across the country, starting close to home:

1. Ohio State and Michigan are both in weird spots at quarterback.

The bitterest rivals in college football both have veteran quarterbacks who have struggled to maximize the talent around them, although Jim Harbaugh has done a better job of building an offense that complements Speight’s abilities than Urban Meyer has for J.T. Barrett.

The odd thing about that is Barrett has more potential ways to hurt a defense if he is used correctly.

Will there be a change at either school before the next edition of The Game? I doubt it, but I suspect we’ll be discussing it more than one more time between now and then.

2. Dabo Swinney has built a monster at Clemson.

The Tigers keep losing big classes to the NFL, and they keep coming back strong – maybe stronger.

The latest example came last night when they thrashed Louisville in the big pizza palace on the Ohio River.

These guys aren’t fooling people schematically – they’re just darn talented. Again.

3. Texas will be fine under Tom Herman.

The Longhorns lost in overtime at USC, but they’ve already come a long way since an embarrassing season-opening home loss to Maryland.

UT fans might not be in the mood for moral victories, but I’m not one of those so I don’t have to worry about it.

4. One of college football's oldest rivalries can still bring the heat.

Luke Fickell is 1-0 in rivalry games after Cincinnati rallied to beat Miami University on Saturday night. The Bearcats won a Tresselball-type game, coming off the mat with 18 points in the fourth quarter to stun the RedHawks.

He’s got an uphill climb with the roster Tommy Tuberville left behind, so this is probably going to be a key pelt in Fickell’s pack when the season is over.

Meanwhile, you have to feel for MU QB Gus Ragland, who got flustered late and threw a game-flipping pick-6.

5. The debate about whether or not college football is better than the NFL is stupid because they're both great and pointless because beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but the NCAA letting its teams practice more might give the college guys an edge in September as far as quality of play.

Then again the excitement factor (also something that varies from person to person based on perspective) being higher in college football comes in no small part from the fact not as many of the players know what they’re doing so there are more mistakes that lead to more big plays.

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