Over the course of a college football season, it seems like there's always one or two Saturdays that make many observers say, "Well, there's not any big games this weekend."
I've come to cherish these Saturdays as much as any on the calendar, because as trite as it sounds, the sets of games that that aren't as attractive to the casual viewers always end up delivering suspense, surprise, and lasting implications for conference races and the national championship picture.
This Saturday certainly qualified as one of those days, with a pair of Pac-12 games as the only contests between a pair of ranked teams. Both of those games ended as complete blowouts, but the decisiveness of each victory by the respective road teams will have big implications for that conference's standings and national rankings.
But the drama could certainly be found elsewhere, and in early conference games to boot.
Most crucially for the upper reaches of the rankings, TCU and Texas Tech played a thrilling shootout that might not be equaled for sheer excitement and late-game craziness by any contest this year.
And even though TCU prevailed after running back Aaron Green caught a tipped pass in the back of the end zone on 4th-and-Goal with 23 seconds left, the game did expose some issues that TCU is inevitably going to have to deal with as Big 12 play continues.
TCU, known as a defense-first team under Gary Patterson, has lost defensive starters left and right due to season-ending injuries, players leaving football and, this week, an arrest. At times in Saturday's game, the Horned Frogs couldn't even make an open field tackle, and consistently allowed lots of space for Tech's skill position players to run in.
Of course, the Red Raiders did the same on that side of the ball. But they're not the ones with national title aspirations. It's possible that TCU's offense could score 50 points every game, but that's not exactly the most sustainable of goals.
The typical Patterson player on defense is an unheralded recruit who learns the 4-2-5 scheme in his first years before the heavy play counts and stardom come. Now, those players are having to fill in immediately. Frankly, it's hard to see the Frogs winning the Big 12 or getting into the playoffs like this.
Elsewhere, Tennessee managed to lose another game against a quality team in which it had a 10+ point lead. Butch Jones and the coaches should bear responsibility for this loss, as the Vols were simply afraid to throw the ball on all but the most obvious passing downs throughout the second half.
Tennessee had the talent this year to make an outside run at the SEC East, but it already appears as if the division will likely be decided by Georgia-Florida in Jacksonville on Halloween.
Bret Bielema's offseason bluster continues to bite him in the rear end as Arkansas, like Tennessee (the Hogs' next opponent), doesn't know how to win. Bielema's conference record now sits at 2-15 over three seasons, and the school has no choice but to keep him around for a while after he signed a six-year extension in the offseason.
Arkansas has to play at Alabama, LSU, and Ole Miss this year, and is already 1-3. Even making to the Birmingham Bowl or Independence Bowl will be the utmost of chores for the Hogs.
Pivoting back to the aforementioned Pac-12 contests that headlined this week in principle, Oregon looks to be in serious, serious trouble after getting completely demolished by an experienced Utah team in Eugene Saturday evening. Oregon hasn't looked like themselves thus far this year, and against Utah, its typically opportunistic defense gave up 530 yards and didn't force a turnover.
Oregon could still get back into the Pac-12 North race with games against Colorado, Washington State and Washington next on tap, but a brutal November looms with contests against California, at Stanford, and USC to open up the last month of the regular season.
As for UCLA's win over Arizona, the Bruins look like as strong a playoff contender as any from that conference. True freshman QB Josh Rosen looks like the real deal, and RB Paul Perkins would be an early Heisman favorite if LSU's Leonard Fournette wasn't putting defenses in a meat-grinder every week.
The defense is a question mark after losing a third starter for the season to injury, do-everything inside LB Myles Jack, but there's quite a bit of talent ready to fill in. It will be really tough for the Bruins to stay undefeated, however, as they'll have to go to Stanford, Utah and USC later this season. The Utah and USC trips are on the final two weekends of the regular season, and could decide the Pac-12 South.
Next week features two games, Notre Dame/Clemson and Alabama/Georgia, that are likely to get much more hype than any of Saturday's games did. But it's going to be hard to live up to Week 4's slate for unpredictability.
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