The College Football Report Card is rolling along and this week was filled with questionable plays, more payouts for non-Power Five schools and some thrilling finishes.
The same thing goes as far as grading as last season. High marks will be only for the spectacular, and failing grades have no chance of being reversed.
Last week, the highest grades went to the Sun Belt Conference, whose schools collected millions from programs who thought they would coast to easy wins, and low marks went to the ridiculous amount of flags that have been thrown and not knowing how to dress in humid climates for Southern Mississippi’s coach.
Without further ado, here is the Week 3 analysis of how fans, teams, players and coaches fared:
WHAT YOU MISSED: Washington’s big win, Oklahoma’s mettle top Week 3
MISERY INDEX: Harsin has turned Auburn into a bad and boring team
HIGHS AND LOWS: Winners and losers in Week 3 of college football
WEEK 3 ROUNDUP: All the scores from college football’s Top 25 games
Doing anything to attract the attention of the officials is just a bad idea in general. Most players do anything they can to draw attention to themselves and sometimes it is to their determent. Which brings us to the Boilermakers of Purdue University.
They took a 29-25 lead on a 12-yard touchdown pass with 51 seconds left on the road against Syracuse. Then came the meltdown.
Two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, one on tight end Payne Durham, who caught the touchdown pass, during the successful extra point try and another one on head coach Jeff Brohm, forced Purdue to kick off from its own 10-yard line.
Syracuse’s ensuing drive started from the 50-yard line. Then, Garrett Shrader hit Oronde Gadsden for 25 yards with 7 seconds left for the winning score. It was the only pass completed on the drive after Purdue was flagged for defensive holding and pass interference to keep Syracuse hopes alive.
pic.twitter.com/KxU5slorT6
And after two more unsportsmanlike conduct penalties against Purdue, Syracuse kicked off from the Purdue 35-yard line. Game over.
B1G PLAY 😤
Shrader to Gadsden for the 25-yd score! pic.twitter.com/hxcJOFysIX
Messed around and found out: F
Since teams have been very generous and it is nowhere near the holiday season, the Report Card is obligated to point out those institutions who have been in the giving spirit, and on Santa’s nice list this year.
We have already seen the Sun Belt collect millions from athletic departments whose contract negotiations skills could use a little work (hello again, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, and Nebraska).
Nebraska couldn’t wait three weeks to save $8 million after firing Scott Frost and lowering its buyout. Big Ten West compadre Northwestern played the victim this week against Southern Illinois and thus the Salukis went back to Carbondale with a nice victory and a direct deposit of $550,000.
Eastern Michigan’s stocking was full thanks to Arizona State, as the Sun Devils filled it to the brim with $1.5 million. The Eagles then walked away with a 30-21 victory in Tempe and trolled coach Herm Edwards in the process.
The only quote to describe tonight…#EMUEagles | #ETOUGH | #StackEm pic.twitter.com/IjKc53M9o1
They played to win the game: A
Appalachian State armed with millions of dollars from Texas A&M and a visit from College GameDay, rewarded their fans with an absolute thriller against Troy. Trailing 28-26 on a fourth-and-10 with two seconds left in the game, quarterback Chase Brice rolled left out of pressure and heaved a 53-yard bomb down the field that was deflected and fell into the arms of wide receiver Christan Horn at the 5-yard line.
Horn then took the ball to the right and ran in snatching victory from the jaws of defeat and setting off a raucous celebration in Boone.
Mountaineer fever: A+
APP STATE WON ON A HAIL MARY ON THE FINAL PLAY‼️ pic.twitter.com/yDlzYYtU19
Going to keep this one short. A desperation heave at the end of the first half in the Indiana-Western Kentucky game turned into a win for the goal post as multiple players ran into it trying to defend the Hail Mary, leaving the post shaking after the collision. Luckily, no one was seriously injured during the play.
This might be a record for most players crashing into a goal post at the same time 😅 pic.twitter.com/1sQ6XiQwaL
Graded on the Madden Scale: Guts: 99; Awareness: 0.
0 – Touchdown passes for Florida, South Florida and Hawaii, who have played a combined 10 games and are the only teams left in the nation without one. It’s also the number of rushing touchdowns Colorado State has through three games.
1 – Touchdowns Georgia has given up through its first three games.
3 – Weather delays in the Iowa-Nevada matchup. Kickoff was at 6:40 p.m. local time in Iowa City. Nearly four hours of delays later, the game ended at 1:40 a.m. with a 27-0 Iowa victory.
5 – Touchdowns on 12 carries Michigan running back Blake Corum had against Connecticut.
18 – Percentage of third down conversions Old Dominion has converted this season.
27 – Number of first downs gained by Miami against Texas A&M. The Hurricanes failed to score an offensive touchdown in the 17-9 loss.
29 – Age of North Texas starting quarterback Austin Aune, who was born Sept. 6, 1993.
763 – Total offensive yards Ohio State had in a 77-21 thumping over Toledo.
Approx. 1 million – Combined amount of State Farm and AT&T commercials shown on Saturday.
Explain this one.
The worst fake field goal attempt this century: Expulsion.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING pic.twitter.com/iW05Kcbbr6
Appalachian State fans showed out during College GameDay with their signs.
Here for the pettiness: A
savage 😭 pic.twitter.com/M71kA6Yrka
The real Cornhusker.
Shrine to Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett: A
In honor of Stetson Bennett and the Bulldogs winning the National Championship last season, a farm in Georgia designed a 10-acre maze 🤯🔥 pic.twitter.com/7xbp7ERmAW
This lovely dog took advantage of the weather delays and enjoyed a late night game in Iowa.
pic.twitter.com/792sfIOQcs
Now to the game: For the Duquesne football team, a chance to get out of Pittsburgh and take a trip to Hawaii to enjoy the fun and sun has to be an experience of a lifetime. In addition to $215,000 in cash, the game contract says Duquesne was to receive from Hawaii 100 round-trip airline tickets, 55 hotel rooms for three nights and assistance with local transportation.
The reason for the pups’ disdain in this one is the late start time (11:59 p.m. ET) and the actual teams playing on the field. Duquesne is from the Northeast Conference of the FCS and Hawaii is fighting for the worst program west of the Mississippi, and maybe in all of college football.
Here is some proof: The Rainbow Warriors came into the game, dead last in scoring defense, 130th out of 131 teams in rush defense, 130th in total defense, 125th in scoring and total offense.