Woody's Weekly Things: Clemson sends a message, RB gets revenge

CLASS OF 2019 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | State | Position | Team

CLASS OF 2020 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | State | Position

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF: Who's making the case for a top-four ranking?

Even before I started working at Rivals.com, I would spend my Saturdays watching as many college football games as possible. Now that I have interacted with most current college football players, it gives Saturday’s a different perspective. Each week, I will watch as many games as possible and share my thoughts in this space, examining weird moments and sharing some throwback recruiting stories as well.

Plenty was written about Florida State’s early-season struggles, but after a few nice wins and a close lose to Miami, most assumed the Seminoles had righted the ship. Then came yesterday’s debacle against Clemson. The Seminoles were blown off the field, losing 59-10 to No. 2 Clemson and true freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Nobody expected Florida State to win, but to lose in such horrific fashion combined with multiple players getting ejected and with several high-profile recruits in attendance, this is probably about as bad as it gets. Or is it? Three of the Seminoles' next four opponents are ranked, and the one that isn’t is 5-2 NC State. Could the school miss a bowl game for the first time since Ronald Reagan's first term? Also, ESPN showing this guy reading for most of the fourth quarter was almost as bad as anything that happened on the field.

The year was 2015, three-star running back Matt Colburn had been a longtime commitment to Louisville and was all set to sign with the Cardinals. But just a few days before Signing Day, he was informed the program wasn’t going to have room for him in its class. After shutting down his recruitment following his Louisville commitment, Colburn had few options to turn to in order to find a home. Signing Day came and went and a late spot opened up at Wake Forest and Colburn jumped at the chance. Luckily for Colburn, he gets a chance at revenge against the Cardinals once a year. On Saturday, Colburn went off for a career-high 243 yards and three touchdowns, besting his previous career-high, set last years against the Cardinals. Colburn is well on his way to 3,000 career yards from scrimmage, and his 644 rushing yards this year are more than double any player on Louisville’s roster. As a petty person myself, I couldn’t help but enjoy Colburn’s big game and his taunting of the crowd late in the game.

After losing to LSU two weeks ago there were plenty of Georgia fans who were ready to see Jake Fromm benched in favor of true freshman Justin Fields. Plenty of digital ink was spilled about how and when the Dawgs would use Fields against arch rival Florida this weekend, but when it came time for the game, it was all Fromm all the time. The former five-star, who replaced five-star Jacob Eason last season and led Georgia to within one play of the national championship, was stellar in the Bulldogs' win. He finished with 240 yards and three touchdowns and remains on pace to improve his completion percentage, yardage total and touchdown total over 2017. Fromm’s record as a starter is 19-3 and while I agree that Fields is a special talent, I think Fromm has proven time and time again that he’s worthy of being the team’s starter.

We are pretty much to the point where we need to make this a regular feature in the column, as Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy and Texas’ Tom Herman were the participants in this week’s “hold me back” non-fight of the week. The two squashed it after the game, but with all these near scraps on a weekly basis, how close are we to having cage matches and conference media days next year? For the record, I like Gundy in this one, but Derek Mason is still my No. 1 seed in the Coach Fight Battle Royale.

Instead of showing a weird play, I thought it would be more fun to share this video of Kentucky coach Mark Stoops crowd surfing in his own locker room.

Clemson’s destruction of Florida State was bad enough on the field, but the Tigers and coach Dabo Swinney also sent a message to recruits, both in the stadium and watching at home. For the second-straight week, the Tigers played every member of their travel squad in the game, including a number of deep reserves. The large margin of victory combined with the deep benches sends a clear message to recruits: come to Clemson and you will play and play early. The Tigers and Seminoles are currently battling for at least four high-profile recruits in the 2019 class and will likely to continue their rivalry on and off the field for years to come. Saturday’s win could go a long way toward making sure the gap remains wide between the two programs.

With the first release of the College Football Rankings this week, I’ll share my thoughts on the top four and how I think things should shake out when the rankings are released.

1. Alabama – Duh.

2. Clemson – The Tigers have had their struggles at times but with Trevor Lawrence looking better every week I like the Tigers here.

3. Notre Dame – The Irish are going to give their fans some nervous moments in the weeks to come but if they go undefeated they are in.

4. Michigan – This is where the list gets slightly controversial. The Wolverines don’t have as many impressive wins as LSU but with their only loss coming to Notre Dame on the road, I give them the nod for the fourth spot.

The rest: LSU is the next team out, followed by Georgia. Both teams have the opportunity to control their own destiny going forward and still have a pretty clear path to the playoff. Win out and you’re in. As for my alma mater UCF, I would rank the Knights No. 7, but I don’t see the committee ranking them higher than No. 12 when the rankings are released.

There’s not much of an actual chance that Gary Patterson gets fired but it’s pretty obvious that the Horned Frogs are having a season to forget. Saturday’s loss to Kansas dropped TCU to 4-4 on the year and snapped the Jayhawks' two-year Big 12 losing streak. With starting quarterback Shawn Robinson out for the year and playmaker KaVontae Turpin booted off the team, things aren’t likely to get much better over the final month of the season.

I didn’t exactly go out on a limb when it came to Rodgers and his ranking as he was a consensus four-star prospect, but there were plenty of people who doubted his ability to play at the next level, especially considering his size and relative level of competition. Rodgers quickly shed any of those concerns by contributing as a freshman and has taken his game to another level in 2018, as evidenced by his six-catch, 156-yard, two-touchdown showing in the Tigers' blowout victory over Florida State on Saturday.

Fitzgerald was a totally under-the-radar prospect, viewed by most programs as a future tight end and I never had the chance to see him play live. Obviously, I regret that, as he’s gone on to quite the career with the Bulldogs. He has his limitations as a passer, but should have been at least a four-star, as opposed to the two-star ranking he finished with in 2014. In Saturday’s win over Texas A&M, Fitzgerald had 241 yards passing and two touchdowns while adding 88 yards and two scores on the ground.

They call it the Fun Belt for a reason and Saturday’s shootout featured a come-from-behind victory for the Chanticleers. Trailing by seven heading into the fourth, Coastal Carolina got the go-ahead field goal with 2:54 left in the game. Georgia State drove the ball all the way to the Coastal Carolina 34-yard line, before the Chanticleers forced a turnover on downs to seal the game. The two teams accounted for 997 yards of total offense and continue to prove there is always a hidden gem on every college football Saturday.