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Heading into Week 5 of the 2021 faculty football season, a quantity of attention-grabbing traits and storylines are developing.
Georgia’s protection has suffocated its opponents. A pair of SEC West offenses in Ole Miss and Arkansas are placing up plentiful numbers. We enjoy already considered a listing quantity of ranked groups lose games, too.
Let’s proceed thru among the wildest statistics of the faculty football season up to now.
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Georgia returned five starters from final season’s protection that gave up 321 yards per game, which ranked 12th in the nation. They enjoy been even better this one year.
The Dawgs are allowing only 5.8 functions per game, by a long way the fewest in the nation. Their protection doesn’t appear to enjoy an apparent weak point, either.
They’re second nationwide in passing protection, having allowed only 115.8 yards per game. They’re also tied for fifth in interceptions (seven), first in yards per passing strive allowed (4.6) and first in total protection (185.3 yards per game).
In their 62-0 shutout victory over Vanderbilt final week, the Dawgs held Commodores to fair 77 total yards of offense. Georgia had more touchdowns (eight) than Vanderbilt had third-down conversions (two).
The Dawgs will face their toughest take a look at of the season Saturday in opposition to No. 8 Arkansas, but they’re on the second an 18.5-point favourite, per DraftKings Sportsbook. That’s largely due to how dominant their protection is.
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Arkansas is 4-0 for the first time since 2003. The Razorbacks’ No. 8 put on this week’s Associated Press pollis their absolute top score since November 2002.
Arkansas burst onto the nationwide faculty football scene after upsetting No. 15 Texas at home in Week 2. It proved that fetch change into no fluke two weeks later, as it beat then-No. 8 Texas A&M 20-10.
The Razorbacks had 307 total yards in opposition to the Aggies in the first half alone, which change into essentially the most yards in a half establish up in opposition to a Prime 10 group in 15 seasons. Arkansas is also 1-0 in the SEC for the first time in 11 years, and it’s the one a great deal of group a great deal of than No. 1 Alabama to enjoy a few wins over Prime 15 opponents.
Razorbacks quarterback KJ Jefferson is the one player in the SEC and one of only six gamers nationwide with over 800 yards passing and 200 yards dashing. The redshirt sophomore also leads the nation in average yards per completion (18.4) and ranks second in yards per strive (10.8).
Arkansas ranks 11th in the nation in scoring protection (14.5 functions per game allowed) and 12th in total protection (267.3 yards). Which means that, the Razorbacks enjoy outscored their opponents 34-0 in the first quarter.
Georgia will positively be Arkansas’ toughest take a look at yet. We’ll search Saturday whether the Razorbacks can withhold their dream season going.
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Clemson’s 10-3 season-opening loss to then-No. 5 Georgia did no longer appear to be too catastrophic on the time. The Tigers restful can enjoy proceed the table and received the ACC to make it into the College Football Playoff with one loss.
Nevertheless heading into Week 5, Clemson’s five-one year toddle of making it to the ACC title game appears to be in grave threat.
The Tigers misplaced to the unranked NC Teach Wolfpack in double time previous legislation Saturday, 27-21. Clemson had received the final eight straight in opposition to NC Teach, and Teach change into unranked coming into the matchup.
It change into Clemson’s first loss to an unranked group since 2017. The Tigers are unquestionably 2-2 for the first time since 2014. NC Teach’s protection also held Clemson to 214 total yards, the fewest on this sequence since 1994.
The loss triggered Clemson to tumble to No. 25 in the AP Ballot, which marked the first time since September 2015 that it wasn’t within the Prime 10, per ESPN Stats & Files. The Tigers had been ranked within the Prime 10 for 97 straight weeks, which change into second in the encourage of Alabama in the contemporary AP pollexpertise.
Head coach Dabo Swinney, who appears to be on the verge of missing out on a CFP roar for the first time since 2014, insisted to newshounds that his group is no longer in actuality panicking lawful yet:
“There ain’t no funeral around here. We’re all factual, We’ll be lawful gorgeous. I do know what the issues are. I compose now no longer must name anybody for any individual to roar me what the subject is. I do know what the subject is. I unquestionably enjoy a total bunch chums in the industrial, but lawful employ time with the folks here. Nevertheless all of us know the put we’re and how we got here and what we now enjoy got to bewitch out. Lawful withhold shifting forward. It be now no longer refined, it’s fully straightforward unquestionably. Nevertheless straightforward things consequence in plentiful things, and till we gain mountainous on the vital functions we’re now no longer going to gain it was around.”
The loss to NC Teach change into only Swinney’s 16th ACC loss in his 13 seasons at Clemson, in step with North Georgia announcer Jim Stewart. Starting off the season 2-2 is no longer in actuality necessarily a death knell, but it unquestionably’s shaping up to be a prolonged season for Clemson.
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Issues are now no longer going so properly for second-one year Florida Teach head coach Mike Norvell.
The Seminoles enjoy gotten off to an 0-4 originate, which is their worst model since 1974. Their 20-17 home loss to Jacksonville Teach in Week 2 change into their first loss to an FCS opponent in faculty historical previous.
That game ended on a wild, final-second touchdown by the Gamecocks. Nevertheless Jacksonville Teach had the threshold in time of possession, and FSU went only 4-of-14 on third down.
On Monday, Norvell laid out a vision for how Florida Teach desires to procedure the leisure of the season:
“I’m pissed off that we’re 0-4, and we can bring up how decades it has been. I am unable to adjust that. I will adjust this group at this second and factual now with the chance. So we’re going to work our butts off to switch recuperate, and we’re going to bewitch out it the factual procedure. And we’re going to enjoy a out of the ordinary how we operate, the an identical usual of every little thing that we provide out. I will bewitch myself to it because I’ve got to be the instance.”
Florida Teach restful has games in opposition to North Carolina, Clemson, NC Teach and Florida closing. It be entertaining to behold the Seminoles being most popular in any of those games. Their only probability for a fetch is possible to be in opposition to UMass on Oct. 23, which speaks to the depths to which this program has fallen on the second.
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Twenty-five ranked groups enjoy already misplaced this season. That’s the absolute top quantity of ranked groups to lose thru the first four weeks of a season since 1936, in step with ESPN Stats & Files.
A pair of of essentially the most necessary upsets encompass:
- No. 10 North Carolina misplaced to an unranked Virginia Tech in Week 1.
- No. 16 LSU misplaced on the avenue to UCLA 38-27 in Week 1.
- No. 14 USC misplaced 42-28 in Week 2.
- No. 15 Texas misplaced 40-21 to an unranked Arkansas on the avenue in Week 2.
- No. 13 UCLA misplaced 40-37 to an unranked Fresno Teach group in Week 3.
- No. 15 Virginia Tech misplaced to an unranked West Virginia in Week 3.
- No. 9 Clemson misplaced to an unranked NC Teach in Week 4.
That quantity of upsets could well restful make things attention-grabbing for the CFP Probability Committee in the coming weeks.
In every person year of the CFP, conference champions that enjoy been either undefeated or with one loss made it in. What happens if there are a few conference champions with greater than one loss? Is that this the one year an undefeated non-Energy Five group makes it in?
We’ll want to behold whether chaos continues to reign supreme.
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So noteworthy for the asserting “protection wins championships,” factual? Through four weeks, the Wisconsin Badgers are 1-2, coming off a 41-13 loss to Notre Dame final week thanks to 2 fetch-sixes and a kickoff-return touchdown.
Nevertheless, they enjoy got the No. 2 protection in the nation in the encourage of Georgia, giving up lawful 212.3 yards per game. Wisconsin has the nation’s prime-ranked dashing protection, allowing lawful 25 yards per game. The Badgers are also sixth in the nation in third-down conversion protection, letting their opponents convert on lawful 25 p.c of their attempts.
It be outstanding that Wisconsin’s protection has been ready to make so properly and the Badgers are 1-2. Nevertheless the largest field with Wisconsin is the offense. Wisconsin is 112th in scoring offense, having scored lawful seven touchdowns and four field desires thru three games. That’s upright for a median of lawful 19 functions per game, and 34 functions came in opposition to Jap Michigan.
As we saw versus Notre Dame, it change into the offense and particular groups that surrendered many of the functions, so for this proficient protection’s sake, with any luck Wisconsin can decide things out offensively.
