DALLAS — Each autumn Saturday has its own personality. Some lie around doing a whole lot of not much. Some get frolicsome only here and there or even here or there. Some go haywire enough to crowd the brain. Saturday, Oct. 9, went haywire enough to crowd the brain.
Barely had the brain dealt with the marvel of Oklahoma vs. Texas, plus No. 3 Iowa’s nifty play that caught No. 4 Penn State late, plus a forgotten Boise State going to BYU and bumming out the loud locals, plus the two crazy 32-29 games in Blacksburg (Notre Dame over Virginia Tech) and Lincoln (Michigan over Nebraska), plus Wake Forest reaching 6-0 for the first time since that 1944 season under coach Douglas Clyde “Peahead” Walker, plus Kentucky reaching 6-0 for the first time since that 1950 season under Paul “Bear” Bryant, or Michigan and Michigan State reaching 6-0 together while very much separate, when a third-quarter score came barreling out of the wilds of College Station, Tex.
It went: Texas A&M 31, No. 1 Alabama 17.
Advertisement
It looked like a score as a smirk. It made no sense. Its charm, of course, was that it made no sense. How the addled followers of a warped sport love it when it makes no sense. Texas A&M, that preseason No. 6, had reached opening kickoff amid another season of a record failing to match a self-image, with two losses logged and all the big talk quelled. Alabama seemed more Alabama than ever. Do you mean a nascent October already could feature Mississippi State going into Texas A&M’s vaunted home and winning Oct. 2, then Alabama going in and not Oct. 9? Were we, the people, really about to stare at a top three with Georgia, Iowa and Cincinnati?
Of course not, and so the Crimson Tide and their fine young quarterback Bryce Young hunted and pecked their way to a 38-31 lead, sealing that matter with five minutes left.
Oh, except for now, we’re about to stare at a top four with Georgia, Iowa and Cincinnati (along with familiar old Oklahoma at No. 3), and how’s that for freshness in a sport that had teetered toward stale? Now they’re cleaning up the field they stormed at Texas A&M, much like the field they stormed at Iowa, or the field half of them stormed in Dallas when Oklahoma stormed from 7-28 to 55-48 in a festival of brilliant madness. Now Texas A&M can relish its mind-altering 41-38 win. It can celebrate preseason backup quarterback Zach Calzada, last seen glumly suffering a glum safety to cap the glum doom against Mississippi State but now guiding his team 65 yards in six plays to tie Alabama and 54 yards in eight plays to beat Alabama.
Advertisement
Wait, what?
Now Alabama has a 13th loss sprinkled across the past 11 seasons, and Texas A&M can savor the words of receiver Ainias Smith, who caught the tying touchdown pass from 25 yards on a play when Calzada got dinged.
“It felt like the whole world was on our side,” Smith said.
The Saturday at hand had developed a severe case of bonkers.
Now the cops had to lead Alabama Coach Nick Saban off through the revelers, a laborious trip, and Saban was saying things he doesn’t often have to say. Here’s one: “That was a huge momentum swing in the game, the kickoff return [by Devon Achane, 96 yards in the third quarter], we didn’t cover it right, correctly, so I’m responsible for all of it.”
Here’s another: “Think about two things. Think about how you feel when you lose. Think about what did you do to contribute to losing. And I know there’s things that I need to do better. Every coach should have things that they need to do better. And every player, we did a lot of things out there to contribute to the other team, whether they were penalties, missed plays, dropped balls …”
Advertisement
On the list of people who saw all that coming, there’s no one, thus there’s no list.
Of all the former Saban assistants to flail on opposing sidelines against him, the one who finally got that batch of dudes to 1-24 would be Jimbo Fisher, that old LSU assistant under Saban and Florida State head coach and national champion until that giant frigate started sailing sideways. Fisher’s note of late had come from his gargantuan contract and its mathematical disproportion to his meaningful wins.
“Eliminate all the clutter,” Fisher said in a game but futile attempt to explain the evening. “Eliminate the clutter, and win your space. Guys, there isn’t no secret to this. There ain’t no magical formula. They’ve got to believe in what you tell them.”
For such simplistic advice, they do pay such large sums.
Advertisement
In a baffling sport in a baffling world, Texas and Oklahoma staged a 75-yard bubble-screen touchdown, a stirring sack, a blocked punt, a sweet 29-yard catch on the sideline on third down, a sort-of-muffed punt, an 85-yard punt and four touchdowns — all before noon Central time. Spectacles aplenty remained.
Texas roared ahead and looked like freshly blue-blood, then Oklahoma roared back and Coach Lincoln Riley spoke of the joys of trailing 38-20 at halftime: “Like, the true competitors love when you’re down at half. Like, you love when things don’t start right. Like, you just, you love the competition. I think if you get too caught up in these momentum swings, you’re too worried about the outcome, as opposed to, just play the game, man. Like, just play the game. Just compete. Just coach the game. Don’t worry about where it’s at right now. Just kind of keep going.”
That sounds like good advice for all, foremost for Kentucky, one of only two unbeaten teams in the SEC, as it goes now to play the other, Georgia. “We just have had a good quiet confidence about us from the preparation that we are doing,” said Kentucky Coach Mark Stoops, in his ninth season already somehow, having done one hell of a job already somehow. Following upon a giddy upset of Florida, his squad went ahead and demolished LSU by 35-7 before a final of 42-21. It’s clear you don’t want to go messing around in Lexington even when the ball isn’t round.
Speaking of partial scores, visiting Penn State led Iowa 20-10 in the third quarter before Iowa scraped back as Iowa would scrape back — gradually. That preceded two field goals and then Spencer Petras’s nifty rollout right and pass back left to Nico Ragaini for a 44-yard touchdown and a 23-20 win, after which Coach Kirk Ferentz took a moment to praise the holder on kicks (Ryan Gersonde), such an Iowa thing to do. Utah had a 35-10 lead at baffling Southern California before a final of 42-26, the Utes’ first win in Los Angeles in a mere 105 years. Nebraska led Michigan 29-26 late, and Virginia Tech led Notre Dame 29-22 late, before both got overturned to 32-29 and Nebraska had another narrow and crushing loss hinging on a fumble, this one weird: “I thought the play was over,” quarterback Adrian Martinez said. “I was standing as I’m standing right now. And I thought it was done. But regardless of that fact, I feel a lot of responsibility and can’t make plays like that that hurt our team.”
Advertisement
And way up there in Syracuse, the drama-queen Saturday had those Demon Deacons of Wake Forest, that team of charm and mystery, trailing 37-34 in overtime, a first blemish possible. Then Sam Hartman lofted one behind wide receiver A.T. Perry on the left side of the end zone, and Perry contorted himself back to go get it somehow, and Perry told reporters: “After I caught it, I closed my eyes. I’ve looked forward my whole life to making a catch to win a game. I’m shaking. I won’t be able to sleep tonight.”
Some Saturdays do leave a brain in turbulence.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7uK3SoaCnn6Sku7G70q1lnKedZMCxu9GtqmhqYGd%2BcH2PaGhpZ5GhrqOtzJpkrqijmsFursSrqp6qm2KwsLjLnp6eZZakvLWuwKWjaA%3D%3D