Every college football season starts off with a few major upsets and surprises, with this year being no exception. From unranked teams beating top 10 teams to teams without a win being ranked, it feels like fans have already gotten a full season worth of twists and it’s only week four.
One of the biggest upsets so far happened in week one, when then unranked Florida State beat then No. 8 Alabama in Tallahassee. This game really came down to Alabama’s inability to stop the run and put meaningful pressure on Florida State quarterback Tommy Castellanos.
Since this game, both teams have continued winning, with Alabama climbing back to No. 14 from 21 after their only loss and Florida State continuing to move up the rankings, sitting at No. 7 before week four.
“It’s one of the reasons why I came here, for moments like these, for days like these,” said Castellanos, according to ESPN. “We [have] a long season ahead. Just take it one week at a time, keep grinding.”
Another surprisingly good team from the ACC is No. 18 Georgia Tech, having strengthened their team after a 7-6 season and a loss in the Birmingham Bowl last year.
Georgia Tech pulled off a big upset this past week, winning over then No. 12 Clemson by a 55-yard field goal in the final seconds of the game. This win propelled them to first place in the ACC over teams like Miami because it was a conference win.
“We worked that situation a lot throughout camp and practice,” said Georgia Tech kicker Aidan Birr, according to ESPN. “Seeing the offense and the defense play so well, I didn’t want to let them down.”
Another team that is performing better than expected is USF, who beat Florida and blew out last year’s Cinderella Boise State. After those two wins, USF was ranked at No. 18, but that didn’t last for long as their week three loss to Miami sent them back to being unranked.
“As a program, we’re going to be in that same exact situation again. It may be this year, it may not be. As a program, we’ll get there as fast as we possibly can,” said USF head coach Alex Golesh, according to ESPN.
One of the biggest storylines being followed coming into the season was Bill Belichick taking over as head coach for UNC after his fall from grace in the NFL.
In the Tar Heels’ first game, they scored quickly which caused fans to initially think that Belichick had actually done something for Chapel Hill. This hope was immediately crushed as UNC continued to lose their home opener 48-14 against TCU.
Since then UNC has gone undefeated with blowout wins against Charlotte and Richmond, both of which were expected from UNC regardless of the coaching staff. The next real challenge for UNC will be in week five when they take on Clemson.
“It’s been an improvement every week, but there are still a lot of things we can do better,” said Belichick, according to ESPN.
One positive that came out of the week two matchup against Charlotte was an interception from Fuquay-Varina’s very own Malcom Ziglar. It came in the final seconds of the game during a hail mary pass from Charlotte and is Ziglar’s first of his college career.
Other teams have decided to change their coaching staff after week three, with Virginia Tech and UCLA both firing their head coaches after 0-3 starts.
Virginia Tech’s losses came at the hands of South Carolina, Vanderbilt and— the most surprising— a 45-26 loss to Old Dominion. Virginia Tech is experiencing their first 0-3 start since 1987 despite years of sub-par football.
UCLA’s losses came from No. 16 Utah as well as two Mountain West teams: New Mexico and UNLV. UCLA is somewhat used to this kind of start, going 0-3 in 2019.
A team that is performing worse than expected is Notre Dame with a 0-2 record. Despite this less than ideal start, they are still ranked at No. 24, which is a shock since teams like Nebraska or Arizona are currently unranked even though they are undefeated.
The main idea behind keeping Notre Dame ranked is that both of their losses came from top 10 teams, No. 10 Texas A&M and No. 4 Miami. The Fighting Irish could theoretically still make the playoffs if they win out for the remainder of the season, like they did last year after losing to Northern Illinois in week two.
“We’re 0-2. So what do you control? You control getting better and getting ready for the next one. I can’t sit here and dwell on being 0-2 as much as I need to dwell on how we find ways to improve,” said Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman, according to ESPN.
This year’s college football season is looking to be just as, if not more, wild than last year. Week four begins Saturday with No. 17 Texas Tech at No. 16 Utah at noon on Fox.
