Highlight Reels & Whoopsie Feels: Week 3’s college football thrills

Why don't we start this by laughing at Florida State once again? The team's shocking struggles are well known by now. Last week, the 'mighty' Seminoles lost to the Memphis Tigers to drop to 0-3. At the top of FSU's difficulties was quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei's play. The former star recruit, destined for NFL greatness, has regressed badly. His horrible play continued.

Hey, but it wasn't just D.J. messing up. Take a loss at this terrible drop-by running back Caziah Holmes late in the second quarter. These are the types of plays that make people cringe, whether you're a fan of the team or not. God bless him.

At least it wasn't a fumble on a fair catch. That's what wide receiver Lawayne McCoy did moments later after Memphis went three-and-out. This couldn't been a second-straight scoring drive for FSU. God bless him as well.

Even when Florida State did something right, they made people face-palm themselves, immediately after. After they scored a touchdown to cut the Memphis gap to 11, the Noles looked lost on a two-point conversion. Poor D.J. got crunched for nothing.

Do you want another D.J. Uiagalelei folly? Here is a failed hurdle attempt and a hilariously laughable flop. This occurred early in the fourth quarter on a critical third-down.

Players look lost and fans have had their excitement and hope, drained. However, the Seminoles have had a history with 3-0 starts. This is surprising. Two of their three 0-3 starts have been under Mike Norvell.

By the way, a fire alarm went off in Norvell's post-game press conference. It sounds like an omen of things to come.

UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka has been one of the biggest reasons for the Rebels' 3-0 start. In their game against Kansas last Friday, he single-handedly took over the game. He gained 210 of UNLV's 267 total yards of offense.

Most of that was on the ground as he's a truck. "Sluka Doncic" should be the next coming of Marshawn Lynch with some of these runs. He bounces off guys with ease.

Also, early in the fourth quarter, UNLV got lucky. With Sluka trying to escape a heavy pass rush, he got the ball stripped from his hand. What happened next was insane. At least three or four Kansas Jayhawk defenders have a clear scoop of the ball. Somehow, some way, they couldn't corral it. This led to UNLV scoring the winning touchdown on an 18-play drive that lasted almost 10 minutes.

No.4 Alabama handled business against unranked Wisconsin. In a blowout win, there were plenty of Crimson Tide highlights to focus on. However, two stood out. The first highlight happened on Alabama's second possession. 17-year-old freshman Ryan Williams scored Bama's first touchdown. Most 17-year-olds are still in high school. This guy is on the national stage. This is incredible.

Earlier in the first quarter, Wisconsin backup Braedyn Locke came in. Tyler Van Dyke sustained a knee injury that turned out to be a season-ending ACL tear. Locke found out what it was like to be hit by an SEC defensive lineman. What a bone-cruncher!

Texas State gave a great fight against Arizona State last Thursday. The Bobcats suffered a crushing home loss. However, it's safe to say that this team under G.J. Kinne will be a problem for years. Quarterback Jordan McCloud leads one of the nation's most potent offenses. This dime to Jaden Williams in the third quarter was a beauty.

Then, later on in the same quarter, Joey Hobert leaped over Myles Rowser of the Sun Devils. Who says white guys can't jump? If you've said that, you better reevaluate that.

South Carolina might have proved they're on the way to relevance again. Yes, they blew a huge lead to an LSU team that hasn't looked great. However, when was the last time South Carolina was looking like this? It's been a while. In the second quarter, the Gamecocks raced out to a 17-0 lead. This blocked punt, picked up by Buddy Mack III, led the way for that.

Then, early in the third quarter, LSU already found themselves back in the game. Down by eight points, LSU understandably went for a touchdown on fourth-and-goal. Needless to say, it didn't go well at all. This play was dead from the beginning.

Michigan State cruised past Prairie View A&M this past weekend. They didn't break a sweat. Well, except for cornerback Charles Brantley. With under a minute to go in the first half, he took an interception from his endzone to the Panther's endzone for a touchdown.

Louisiana Tech fell short of upsetting struggling North Carolina State last Saturday. However, they did have hope at the end of the first half, when they scored 17 unanswered points in the final three and a half minutes. This play ignited the run. At NC State's 46-yard line, Jack Turner threw a ball down the near sideline. Tru Edwards did the rest with this incredible catch.

Then No.24 Boston College went on the road against a top-10 Missouri and came close to pulling off another upset. The Eagles are certainly a shocking force this season.

In the early stages of the second quarter, Boston College got a 14-3 lead but in an unconventional way. Thomas Castellanos bobbled a snap from the shotgun. He picked up the rolling ball off the ground and set up an unforeseen touchdown for Reed Harris.

Despite Boston College opening up a two-score lead, Missouri would regain momentum. The Tigers scored 24 unanswered points which essentially won them the game. Six of those points came at the hands and feet of superstar wideout Luther Burden. Take a look at this smooth spin move!

Also, there was a funny moment involving Burden. He would rip and toss a mouthpiece from a Boston College defender. The near referee called an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. However, his tossing of the flag was insane. The flag never came back down on the replay.

We also had an imitation of the Carlton Dance by Cameron Keys. However, Keys' imitation is still behind the imitation done by former NBA star Rasheed Wallace. BALL DON'T LIE!

Brett Gabbert is one of the more underrated quarterbacks in the country. He should get more attention, love, and respect from the national media. He's certainly better than passers in power conferences, one of them we showed at the top. Take a look at this beautiful touchdown throw to Reggie Virgil

TCU wide receiver Savion Williams became one of the driving forces for TCU's shootout win over UCF. He only caught four balls for 41 yards. However, two of those receptions were touchdowns. Both scores were insane athletic plays on Savion's part. Williams leaped up over two defenders to make his first crazy grab.

Williams' second touchdown catch was even more insane. In this play, there seemed to be some miscommunication between Williams and Josh Hoover. Williams outran where the ball was being placed, yet he made an incredible adjustment for the score. Put this on a poster.

Here's the replay of the catch.

The Pitt Panthers pulled off a second straight miracle comeback. Against West Virginia, Pitt trailed 34-24 with less than five minutes remaining. They would score 14 unanswered points to win. Several key plays kept the Panthers in the game. This blocked punt was one of them. Brandon George returned it for a touchdown in the third quarter.

As said earlier, West Virginia led by as many as 10 points before Pitt started their comeback. This crazy catch by Justin Robinson put WVU up by that amount. With a defender over his back, Robinson reached out his left arm to make the catch.

However, Robinson was outdone on the ensuing possession by Pitt. Daejon Reynolds ended up making his critical catch almost two minutes later. With two Mountaineer defenders over him, Reynolds caught a pass in the corner of the endzone to ignite Pitt's comeback. That great ball placement by Eli Holstein too.

These receivers love making highlight-reel grabs, don't they? In the FCS ranks, Dez Williams of Stony Brook showed off his athleticism against the Fordham Rams. With the Seawolves down four in the second quarter, the wideout reached out and grabbed the pass that was thrown behind him. Stony Brook would score a touchdown minutes later and would pull out a close victory.

No. 12 Utah beat rival Utah State with ease last Saturday. The game was never in doubt and the Utes had control the entire way. There were several plays to show from Utah's dominating performance. Late in the first quarter, Tao Johnson from Utah would deliver a bug hit on Kyrese White. The pass ricocheted in the air and was nearly intercepted.

Then, in the fourth quarter, Carsen Ryan hauled in a two-yard touchdown pass from Isaac Wilson. This score put the game away. Ryan became another target to record a one-handed catch this week.

Now No.6 Tennessee enjoyed an easy, blowout win over Kent State last Saturday. It was expected since the Golden Flashes are arguably the worst team in major college football. By the end of the first quarter, the Vols had cruised to a 37-0 lead. It was ugly for Kent State and late in that same period, they would attempt an onside kick... when they were up 30-0. This is funny but mean at the same time. Poor Kent State. They deserve better.

The mediocre and disappointing Florida Gators suffered their second loss of the season against Texas A&M. That is another defeat in what looks to be another long year in Gainesville. Florida fans have been frustrated for many years and this play added to that frustration.

In the loss, the Gators lost defensive back Trikweze Bridges to a targeting call. However, where's the infraction? Is hitting a dude's rear end a problem?

The North Dakota State Bison claimed their second straight victory against East Tennessee State. The back-and-forth affair ended with a clutch Bison touchdown with 50 seconds left. NDSU came back from a 12-point deficit with only two minutes left.

While the late comeback was impressive, even more impressive was the foot of kicker Eli Ozick. In the second quarter, he nailed the second-longest trifecta in school history.

The Buffalo Bulls of the MAC improved to 2-1 last Saturday with an easy win over UMass. Late in the first quarter, punter Ethan Duane made himself look like a punting pro. He was able to punt the ball 63 yards and had his punt coverage team pin the Minutemen at the one-yard line. Masterful job, Ethan!

Duane currently ranks 29th in the nation for net average punt yards. He also ranks 39th for gross average punting yards. The junior is in the discussion for the best punter in the MAC.

The Toledo Rockets became the second MAC team to find themselves in the headlines. A week after Northern Illinois upset Notre Dame, the MAC's top contender did the same to Mississippi State of the SEC. Instead, this wasn't a close win.

This was a demolition. Toledo lit up the field all evening. One of their best plays was in the second quarter when Tucker Gleason escaped a pass rush and threw on the run. Larry Stephens made a great reaching catch.

Also, Toledo got that bag as well. This is the MAC's first win over an SEC team since Toledo beat Arkansas in 2015.

If there's a lesson to be learned about the great college game is that one week can make a huge difference. The Oregon Ducks just showed that again. Oregon waded toward the finish line in their first two games against Idaho and Boise State. Even though they won both games, the team didn't look great at all. Then, they flipped the script against Oregon State in a domination effort.

Dillon Gabriel has his best showing of the season. He threw for nearly 300 yards and accounted for three touchdowns. In the second quarter, he got his party started. In the early moments, Gabriel ran for a 54-yard touchdown to undo a 7-7 tie. Oregon took a lead that they would never relinquish.

Later in the quarter, the signal-caller threw a dart on the move. Avoiding a modest pass rush, Gabriel peddled to his right, finding Traeshon Holden in the back of the endzone. This is a perfect example of patience from a quarterback.

Oh wow, guess who decided to show up this week? Is Notre Dame one of the bigger embarrassments in college football? Yeah. Should they have dominated Northern Illinois the way they did to Purdue? Absolutely.

However, they did bounce back greatly. They essentially won the game in the first quarter. Notre Dame opened the second quarter scoring with a monster 34-yard run from Riley Leonard. He bounced off two Purdue tackles for the score.

Tulane didn't look so great against Oklahoma over the weekend. While they've been competitive against several power conference schools such as K-State and USC, they stood no match for OU. Tulane fell behind 21-0 in the first half.

With under half a minute left, Tulane got on the board but kicker Ethan Head embarrassingly missed the PAT. He kicked a line drive that went under the crossbar.

Michigan has a major quarterback problem. The Wolverines have let the Davis Warren/Alex Orji experiment go for three weeks. Now, because of Warren's hideous performance against Arkansas State last Saturday, Alex Orji has been named the starter. Warren threw three interceptions. Two of those came in the first half. Michigan's aerial game is not getting anywhere with this QB play.

Troy might be 0-3 but receiver Devonte Ross is having an incredible year. Through three games, the junior has 15 catches for 271 yards and three touchdown receptions. He was the reason why Iowa was on the upset watch. In last week's performance against Iowa, Ross broke out. In the second quarter, Ross began his showcase with a 63-yard touchdown grab.

Then, with a minute left in the half, he returned a punt, 77 yards for a touchdown. This gave Troy their only lead of the game.

Late in the third quarter, with Troy down 10 points, Ross struck lightning again. He made another catch for 62 yards, cutting Iowa's lead to three. He accounted for all three scores by the Trojans.

Washington State has become one of the early darlings of the 2024 season. After being one of two teams that were deserted and left for dead in the decaying PAC-12 conference, they are now 3-0. They took down rival Washington in the Apple Cup. Wazzu only had two power conference teams on their schedule and beat them both.

One of the biggest reasons for Wazzu's early success has been the play of quarterback John Mateer. His uncanny athleticism, scrambling ability, and strong arm make him the ultimate weapon for the Cougars. He threw for 245 yards, ran for 62 more, and accounted for three scores. His first score was on a 23-yard run late in the first period to get Wazzu's lead back.

His second rushing touchdown happened late in the first half, with under a minute left. He ran this in on a third-and-20 to give Washington State another lead.

In the third quarter, Mateer would throw a side-arm pass to Josh Meredith for a 16-yard touchdown. This essentially, won Wazzu the game because late in the game, the defense shine.

With the Huskies down by five late in the fourth quarter, they drove the ball to WSU's one-yard line. On fourth-and-goal, the Cougar defense, which has been exceptional all year, had their shining moment. Head coach Jake Dickert showed his emotions.

Also, Grimace made an appearance!

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