Week 4 Recap: Don’t Touch the Remote

Beaver Stadium on a 2025 game day. On Saturday, Wisconsin won here for the first time since 2003. Photo: Famartin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

College football is more fun than the NFL right now. A close college game beats a close NFL game, and a September Saturday in this sport matters in a way most NFL Sundays don’t. That’s all I’ll say about the NFL.

My evidence doesn’t make me look great. Late in Texas-Tennessee, with Texas up 10, I turned off the TV and told my family, “Texas won.” Texas did win. In the meantime, Tennessee scored, recovered an onside kick its Australian punter drop-kicked off the turf, and threw a Hail Mary for the game on the last play.

I was right. I also missed all of it.

That was Week 4, and a lot of it came down to which way a football bounced. Also, my Badgers won in State College for the first time since 2003. We’ll get there.

The close ones

I haven’t been glued to a Friday game like Northwestern-Indiana in a while. The Wildcats trailed No. 5 Indiana 12-0 at halftime, then outscored the defending champs 23-17 the rest of the way. Aidan Chiles finished with 293 passing yards and three total touchdowns, and Indiana kept answering with Lee Beebe Jr., who ran for 203. Down 29-20, Northwestern kicked a late field goal and nearly recovered the onside kick. It bounced Indiana’s way. If it bounces the other way, we’re talking about something completely different this morning.

Then came Knoxville, where Tennessee couldn’t move the ball for most of the day. Texas sacked the Vols 10 times, second-most in school history, and Colin Simmons had five of them to tie the Texas record (plus one celebration penalty I won’t describe here). With 1:22 left, Faizon Brandon hit Mike Matthews for a 30-yard touchdown, and the onside kick bounced off Ryan Wingo’s hands to Tennessee’s Arion Carter.

So Tennessee got the bounce Northwestern didn’t. It just couldn’t do anything with it. After a sack and a couple of penalties, Brandon’s last-play Hail Mary got knocked away by Jelani McDonald. Texas is 4-0, and I’d like it noted that I called this one.

Iowa, meanwhile, did the most Iowa thing possible for 58 minutes. Its only touchdown through three quarters came on a 99-yard kickoff return, and Michigan outgained the Hawkeyes 429 to 285. JJ Buchanan’s second touchdown catch, a 49-yarder, put Michigan up 19-14. (Michigan missed the two-point try. Hold that thought.)

Iowa then went 91 yards in under two minutes, with help from a 15-yard penalty for a late shove out of bounds and a 29-yard catch that Addison Ostrenga tipped to himself. With two seconds left, Hank Brown put a back-shoulder throw in the corner from the 16, and Reece Vander Zee got a foot down. Iowa 20, Michigan 19, and thanks to that missed two-pointer, the touchdown was enough. That walk-off was incredible to watch.

Michigan won its opener on a last-play Hail Mary to beat Western Michigan by one. It took the universe three weeks to collect.

Mississippi State looks really good, and Kamario Taylor has a real Heisman case. He threw for 360 yards and three touchdowns against No. 19 Missouri, including the 24-yard game-winner to Sanfrisco Magee with 3:57 left. Missouri had its chance to tie it and turned it over on downs at the State 11. A month ago Taylor was about 150-to-1 to win the Heisman. Now he’s around 5-to-1, and if you got in early, you’re buying.

Handling business

About half the Top 25 beat the teams they were supposed to beat and looked every bit as good as advertised:

• Ohio State 42, Illinois 19. Jeremiah Smith caught 12 passes for 217 yards and four touchdowns, and he’s now the Heisman favorite.
• Notre Dame 49, Purdue 10. It was 35-0 at halftime, and CJ Carr accounted for four touchdowns.
• Alabama 49, South Carolina 18. Keelon Russell threw for 365 yards and four touchdowns.
• Texas Tech 49, Sam Houston 14. Austin Romaine had pick-sixes on back-to-back throws, a first in FBS in 13 years.
• Utah 31, Iowa State 17. Wayshawn Parker took Utah’s first snap 54 yards for a touchdown and finished with 174 rushing yards.
• LSU 35, Texas A&M 6. Sam Leavitt threw for 312 yards, and LSU outgained the Aggies 506 to 197.

Marcel Reed, the A&M quarterback whose name I blanked on Saturday (which tells you something), went 10 of 26 for 106 yards. The Aggies are 0-2 in the SEC, and it’s looking like a long season in College Station.

Oklahoma was worse. How do you nearly match Georgia in total yards (296 to 306) and lose 41-13? John Mateer turned it over three times in the second quarter, including a fumble Georgia returned 85 yards for a touchdown. Against Michigan and Georgia, two good defenses, the Sooners have 23 points combined. They have a bye week to right the ship.

The upsets

And now, the part I’ve been waiting to write.

Wisconsin crashed Penn State’s Homecoming and won 24-20, the hard way. Penn State led 17-0 in the second quarter, and all 17 points came on short fields or from its defense, including a pick-six off Colton Joseph, who threw three interceptions on the night.

Then Joseph found something. His touchdown run made it 17-7 at the half, and after Penn State pushed it back to 20-10, Wisconsin scored twice in the last four minutes. First came an 11-yard touchdown pass to Eugene Hilton Jr. Then, on third-and-13 from the Badgers’ 28, Joseph hit tight end Jacob Harris, who turned it into a 72-yard touchdown with 1:13 left. Harris had two false starts on that same drive. Nobody in Madison is holding them against him.

Joseph was bad for three quarters and great for the last four minutes, which still made him a lot better than Rocco Becht. Becht looked horrible. He went 12 of 29 with his first interception of the season, and Penn State couldn’t move the ball on a full field, managing three points and 122 yards after halftime. When you’re up 17-0 at home, and up 20-10 with under four minutes left, you can’t lose that game. Penn State did.

Wisconsin found a gritty way to get it done. It was an absolutely insane win, and the biggest of the Luke Fickell era by a mile.

Florida handled Ole Miss. When Jon Sumrall heard his No. 21 Gators were favored over No. 4 Ole Miss, he said, “Lot of good drugs out there.” The books were right. Florida ran for 302 yards and six touchdowns in a 52-28 win, led by Jadan Baugh (142 yards, three touchdowns) and Duke Clark (126 yards). Ole Miss moved the ball, but Florida went 6 for 7 in the red zone and never turned it over. Florida might be back.

No. 20 Oregon won at No. 12 USC, 41-27, on a scary night. Dante Moore left in an ambulance after a late hit on a slide (he has a concussion, and his scans came back clean), and Nebraska transfer Dylan Raiola came in and threw for 289 yards and two touchdowns. Oregon handled it.

Next Saturday, Ohio State and College GameDay go to Iowa City, and Alabama goes to Starkville. I’ll have a preview up before then, and I’ve learned my lesson: nobody in my house touches the remote until the clock says zero.