Your inbox approves Men's coaches poll Women's coaches poll Play to win 25K!
NCAAF
College football

College football's Week 4 winners and losers

Dan Wolken
USA TODAY Sports

Even when they’re good, the Wisconsin Badgers rarely blow you away. It’s more of a workmanlike program, built on efficient defense and a traditional offense without much flash.

Wisconsin linebacker T.J. Watt celebrates a sack against Michigan State.

But Saturday’s 30-6 victory at No. 8 Michigan State is the kind of eye-popping score that might make you think the Big Ten has another contender alongside Ohio State and Michigan.

Of course, the excitement over Wisconsin may be short-lived as the Badgers play at Michigan and host Ohio State in their next two games. But for now, it’s perfectly fine for Wisconsin to dream big after improving to 4-0.

This is a team that owns two victories against opponents that were in the top 10 when they played. And as ugly as Wisconsin’s 16-14 season-opening victory vs. LSU might have looked at the time, maybe the Badgers are now on an upward trajectory with freshman quarterback Alex Hornibrook at the helm.

No. 10 Wisconsin crushes No. 8 Michigan State 30-6

Hornibrook only threw for 195 yards against the Spartans, with 16 completions in 26 attempts, but there were big moments in the game where he showed serious moxie and put the ball on the money for his receivers.

If there is any big concern for Wisconsin right now, it’s a running game that produced just 122 yards on 41 carries. Running back Corey Clement, who has been dogged by an ankle injury, was only marginally effective with 54 yards on 23 attempts. There’s no doubt the Badgers will need to be much better up front if they’re going to challenge Michigan next weekend in what will likely be a physical, ugly, old school Big Ten game.

Still, there’s a lot to like about Wisconsin’s early season body of work, and the Badgers have truly earned their ascendancy into the top-10.

Here are the rest of Saturday’s winners and losers.

No. 12 Tennessee pulls away from No. 16 Florida

WINNERS

Tennessee: Down 21-3 after a first half in which they were booed several times by the crowd at Neyland Stadium, the No. 12-ranked Vols summoned an incredible comeback to put away No. 16 Florida and end an 11-year losing streak that had practically consumed the program.

After a difficult first half in which his receivers dropped passes and the offense stalled in the red zone, quarterback Joshua Dobbs came to life with four touchdown passes against a defense that hadn’t given up a score through the air all year. Florida was too conservative in the second half and the Vols took advantage, riding momentum to a 31-21 lead with 11:45 remaining.

This win positions Tennessee extremely well to finally win the SEC East, and fourth-year coach Butch Jones badly needed a win like this to get the Vols’ fan base off his back. Now, of course, the challenge will be coming back to earth for road games at Georgia and Texas A&M.

Five running backs score as Michigan football drills Penn State 49-10

Michigan: The Wolverines continue to quietly dominate, beating Penn State 49-10 to open Big Ten play. Apart from the sleepy first quarter last weekend against Colorado in which they yielded 21 points before roaring back, it’s hard to find much fault with anything Michigan has done.

This time, Jim Harbaugh wasn’t going to let his team get off to a slow start and it came out with surgical precision, scoring touchdowns on its first three drives. That’s a good sign now that Michigan steps up in competition next week against Wisconsin.

Virginia Tech: Any Hokies fan with a sense of history dreads playing East Carolina. Ever since a highly ranked Virginia Tech team lost to the Pirates in the 2008 season opener, they’ve played several close games including two more ECU victories in 2014 and 2015. But there was no heartburn required this year, as Virginia Tech cruised to a 54-17 win at Lane Stadium and improved to 3-1.

Given the bad memories against ECU, that’s a confidence-building performance for first-year coach Justin Fuente, whose team goes on the road for four of its next five ACC games in the wide-open Coastal division.

How Amway Coaches Poll top 25 teams fared in Week 4

Virginia: It was a rough 0-3 start to the Bronco Mendenhall era, but you could see progress even in losses the last couple weeks. The Cavaliers actually were underdogs at home to Central Michigan but came away with an impressive 49-35 win in which they racked up 569 yards.

Virginia shot out to a 28-0 lead, then gave it all back by the early stages of the fourth quarter. But instead of succumbing to shattered confidence, the Cavaliers showed some Mendenhall-bred toughness and exploded for three touchdowns in a span of six minutes to put away the game.

North Carolina: The Tar Heels didn’t lead until two seconds remained in the game when quarterback Mitch Trubisky found Bug Howard for a two-yard touchdown pass to win 37-36. The final play ended a frenetic sequence in which North Carolina, without a timeout, ran the ball near the goal line and got stopped with 12 seconds left.

UNC beats Pittsburgh 37-36 with touchdown in final seconds

The Tar Heels had to quickly reorganize and get a play off, which they did successfully to complete a comeback from 36-23 down in the fourth quarter. This is a huge momentum-saving win for the Tar Heels, who badly needed this game if they wanted to repeat as ACC Coastal champions.

Wake Forest: The Demon Deacons improved to 4-0 for the first time since the magical 2006 Orange Bowl season with a 33-28 victory at Indiana. Sure, the schedule hasn’t been Murderer’s Row — they have also beaten Tulane, Duke and Delaware — but it’s tangible progress for a program that had sunk to the bottom of the ACC when Dave Clawson took over in 2014.

The defense, which has been consistently good the last few years, gave up 538 yards to Indiana but found a way to intercept quarterback Richard Lagow five times.

Stanford: The Cardinal had to come behind late in the fourth quarter to beat a game UCLA team, but they did it. Keeping themselves unbeaten and setting up a showdown for control of the Pac-12 this Saturday at Washington, which also stayed unbeaten with an OT win at Arizona.

Duke shocks Notre Dame on late field goal

LOSERS

Notre Dame: Make no mistake, this was a bad day for the Fighting Irish. Duke was a three-touchdown underdog coming into Notre Dame Stadium and sprung a 38-35 upset that could have wide-ranging implications on the program. Notre Dame is 1-3 after coming into the year with College Football Playoff aspirations, and you can bet there will be fallout on the defensive side.

It’s been apparent all year there are major issues, but this is now at the five-alarm fire stage with coordinator Brian VanGorder. Head coach Brian Kelly brushed off questions earlier in the week about whether he might make a coordinator change, but those calls are only going to grow louder after yielding 498 yards to the Blue Devils.

Just to put it in context, Duke had scored a combined 27 points in losses to Wake Forest and Northwestern. At halftime Saturday, the Blue Devils had 28.

Georgia: It was clear the Bulldogs were living a lie at 3-0, and Ole Miss exposed them in humiliating fashion 45-14. This was a full depantsing of a Georgia team that was very fortunate to win its first three games against mediocre opponents, and it’s a bad look for a first-year head coach in Kirby Smart replacing a guy who almost never got beat in such humiliating fashion.

No. 21 Ole Miss routs No. 11 Georgia

It’s true. In 15 seasons, Mark Richt’s worst losses were 39 points to national champion Florida in 2008 and 32 points to LSU in the 2011 SEC title game. Making matters worse, running back Nick Chubb sprained an ankle in the first half and didn’t return. The severity of the injury is unclear.

Northern Illinois: The Huskies are in an absolute free fall, and now there’s a very real possibility that Rod Carey’s job is in danger. Northern Illinois lost its seventh consecutive game dating to last season; this time 28-23 to an FCS team in Western Illinois.

It would have been impossible to see this coming for the program that has been the gold standard in the Mid-American Conference for most of this decade, but something has gone very wrong of late. Saturday represented an opportunity for the Huskies to get back on track after a disastrous start to this season; instead they fell behind 28-7 after three quarters and couldn’t quite complete the comeback.

Oregon: The Ducks' slide back into mediocrity in the Pac-12 continued Saturday with a 41-38 loss to Colorado at home. Not to take anything away from the Buffaloes — it's Colorado's first win vs. the Ducks since it joined the league in 2011 — but the magic of past years seems to be gone.

And the Oregon defense is a problem. Mark Helfrich's tenure at the helm is going to get tricky now.

LSU: It won't get any easier for Les Miles after the No. 17 Tigers came up short against Auburn 18-13. There was some buzz about this clash being a loser leave town matchup, Miles vs. Auburn coach Gus Malzahn, and no doubt the seat is going to heat up again for LSU's head coach. And maybe for his offensive coordinator Cam Cameron.

The Tigers tallied 220 yards on the ground, 101 for Leonard Fournette, but those drives didn't end up in touchdowns often enough. To add to the frustrations, LSU scored on the game's final play in what would have been a miraculous victory ... but the clock actually ran out before the Tigers got the playoff. Esctasy to agony, and there could be a lot more on the way.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM WEEK 4

Featured Weekly Ad