Two takeaways from college football on Saturday
Hendon Hooker source: Getty Images There wasn’t much surprising about the results from Saturday. Oklahoma continued its free fall, getting shut out by Texas, 49-0. Even though Jimbo Fisher gave Nick Saban a game in Bryce Young’s absence, the Crimson Tide pulled through. None of the top 10 lost despite Oklahoma State playing with its food for four quarters.
However, there were two noteworthy performances. Chip Kelly’s resurgent UCLA squad beat defending Pac-12 champs, No. 11 Utah, 42-32, to remain undefeated, and No. 8 Tennessee went into Baton Rouge and obliterated Brian Kelly’s 4-1 (now 4-2) Tigers, 40-13.
Vols’ QB Hendon Hooker has received a (smokey) mountain of praise for the way he’s played, and that continued Saturday with another turnover-free outing, finishing the day 17 for 27 for 239 and two scores, with additional 56 yards on the ground. He hasn’t thrown a pick all season and had LSU supporters streaming toward the exits early.
Bruin QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson did throw his first interception of the season, a pick-six in the waning seconds of a convincing win over Utah at the Rose Bowl, but the fifth-year senior didn’t do much else wrong. DTR only had five incompletions all day, ending the day 18 of 23 for 299 yards and four touchdowns, with another score on the ground. UCLA has a bye week before Kelly faces his old team in Eugene on October 22.
Tennessee on the other hand hosts No.1 Alabama next week as it does this time every year. If College Gameday didn’t already visit Knoxville once this season for the Florida game, that’d be a no-doubt destination for the crew. My guess is it’ll be in Ann Arbor for the Michigan-Penn State game to mix it up, but all eyes will be on CBS’ afternoon SEC showcase next weekend. We’ll see.
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