What We Learned From CFB Week 3: Arch Manning and Other Quarterback News; Let’s Enjoy the Rumors

It’s a weekly challenge for college football fans: Let’s not make blanket statements after one game. It’s even harder when the quarterback position is at the center of the conversation. It’s the most important position in the game and the trajectory of a program. When you look across the country, there are a few situations where fan bases are on opposite sides of either overreaction or underreaction.

The most notable story of the weekend was Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers’ abdominal strain and backup duties for Arch Manning, which included five touchdowns in a 56-7 win over UTSA. Naturally, when injuries occur and a highly regarded backup shines, some raise thoughts and questions about what could be done with the backup. But that would be a stretch.

Ewers is unlikely to play this weekend, but his injury doesn’t appear to be serious, which is great news for Texas. There’s never been any internal controversy surrounding the quarterback talks, and with three weeks to go until the Oklahoma game, it seems like Manning will simply steer the ship until Ewers returns. If Manning continues to shine, great. Texas fans can look to the future, knowing that a quarterback capable of winning a national championship this year will be back soon.

Texas State’s rival, Texas A&M, is in a different situation. Manning shared SEC Freshman of the Week honors with Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed, who stepped in for Conner Weigman at the last minute and shined with three touchdowns against Florida. Weigman, talented but not always available, was a mixed bag early in the season. Reed added spark to the offense through the air and on the ground and could raise the offense’s ceiling with that ability.

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Weigman, like Ewers, is being considered week-to-week, and while he has more program capital than Reed, Weigman is much less established than Ewers. The Aggies will face Bowling Green and Arkansas before Missouri on Oct. 5. It will be interesting to see what happens with the Aggies.

More quarterback news came Monday morning when it was announced Michigan would be moving toward Alex Orji instead of Davis Warren, who had a rough day against Arkansas State. One reaction: Michigan’s offense has no chance this season. Or maybe this is the guy who should be starting all over again. Elsewhere, NC State will continue to field C.J. Bailey in place of the injured Grayson McCall, and Auburn is rolling with Hank Brown again in place of Payton Thorne this week. It’s only Week 4, and college football is fluid, so we’ll keep an eye on it.

Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed threw three touchdowns in the Aggies’ win over Florida on Saturday. (Matt Pendleton/USA Today)

Here are five more issues we overreact to, underreact to, and overreact to—all sides equally needed in the discourse of our great sport.

We are overdoing it with… trash talk

In the latest Shedeur Sanders thread, the Colorado quarterback went viral after an exchange with Colorado State quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, with Sanders refusing to hug him. Many who only saw the exchange were quick to write off Sanders as rude, following up on his observation from a week ago when he left the game early against Nebraska. But there are two sides to a story, and Sanders’ reaction was justified.

Shedeur Sanders and Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi – full exchange😱

FULL VIDEO: https://t.co/uRuUSXtcVE@deionsandersjr photo:twitter.com/mraNKbAKXu

— GUCCE🦬🐦‍⬛ (@gucceCU) September 15, 2024

Here’s a snippet of what Fowler-Nicolosi had to say before the game: “Hip, the media train doesn’t get very far at the end of the day. You put 11 guys up against our 11 guys and we’ll see who wants it more. And we’ll see how far their Instagram followers take them.”

“We should have murdered them… We will come for revenge”

“We’ll see how far their Instagram followers will take them”

Here’s what CSU’s Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi and Tory Horton had to say about last year’s Rocky Mountain Showdown and the upcoming game against CU: photo:twitter.com/51ZBPyigpf

— Romi Bean (@Romi_Bean) September 12, 2024

Sanders won and can react however he wants. And Fowler-Nicolosi’s comments were fine too. It’s a rivalry! No personal lines crossed, no fouls on the field. Good old-fashioned trash talk (within reason) is good for the game, and these rivalries are good too.

We are not responding enough to how good Group 5 was

In the old days, there wasn’t much room to talk about Group of 5 teams in the national championship landscape, but we can have those discussions with the expanded College Football Playoff field because at least one Group of 5 team will make it there every year. As such, it’s a call to pay attention all season long because there’s good football being played.

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Group of 5 schools play — and win — more high-stakes games: CFP Bubble Watch

Mountain West UNLV is 2-0 against the Big 12, with wins over Houston and Kansas. In the same conference, Boise State swept Oregon and has a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate in quarterback Ashton Jeanty. The MAC probably has the biggest story of the season: Northern Illinois is ranked after beating Notre Dame, but Toledo also just went to Mississippi State and won dominantly, and Bowling Green swept Penn State in Week 2.

Next up we have Liberty, last year’s Group 5 representative in the New Year’s Six, who has a 3-0 record.

Memphis made one last big statement with a win over Florida State, although it doesn’t carry as much weight as it would have in the preseason, but it’s still a big win. This win, regardless of what FSU looks like at the end of the year, will help Memphis make the playoffs if they can get it done.

The days of monitoring one undefeated team that needed all the breaks to have a chance at the Playoff are over. It’s now a multi-layered, multi-conference conversation that will happen every year. Let’s dive in.

We’re exaggerating about… Georgia’s away game with Kentucky

If you read last week’s issue, you know we talked about the overreaction to the top-10 teams struggling as favorites at the beginning of the year. The victim of this week’s overreaction: Georgia, which ran away from Kentucky with a 13-12 win.

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After another slow start, the need for improvement at Georgia’s offense is becoming real

Let’s start with some respect for Kentucky. Georgia has been held under 20 points on the road three times in the last five years: 2020 at Kentucky, 2022 at Kentucky and 2024 at Kentucky. Some teams, in some places, just pair up well. Kentucky also has eight consecutive bowl-qualifying seasons. There’s no denying Georgia has been sluggish, but other top teams have certainly struggled against teams weaker than Kentucky.

In a 40-plus regular-season win streak, some will be uglier than others, but great teams find a way. Georgia found a way and extended its historic streak, and that should be enough to keep it in the rankings. But now there’s a new No. 1 team.

Texas has been the most impressive team week in and week out early in the season, but you could argue that Georgia’s three wins (Clemson, Tennessee Tech, Kentucky) are better than Texas’ wins (Colorado State, Michigan, UTSA). The beauty of it is that these teams will meet in October to settle the matter on the field (at least until we get to the Playoffs).

As for Georgia, maybe that’s the wake-up call it needs to be. It better be, because Alabama is next in Tuscaloosa on September 28th.

We’re Underreacting to Iowa’s… Offensive Improvement

One of the most intriguing subplots of last season was Iowa’s 325-point drive under offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz. The offense was a total failure (216 points) and held under 10 points five times before Ferentz was fired.

Put in new coordinator Tim Lester. Put in a lot more yards and a lot more points.

Iowa’s offense, which ranked 132nd (out of 133) in points per game and 133rd in yards per game in 2023, is 58th in points per game (32.3) and 54th in yards per game (418) this season. The Hawkeyes have the best running back in college football in Kaleb Johnson. As a result, no team in the country has more 30-yard rushes than Iowa (six). Although the Hawkeyes have played just three games, it’s a remarkable start to a turnaround.

Some will note that Iowa has played Illinois State, Iowa State and Troy, and that’s true, but Iowa only reached 400 yards once last season. In 2022, it beat FCS South Dakota State 7-3 with two safeties. The level of competition didn’t matter in mocking the offense before, so it shouldn’t matter in giving credit now. There are still questions, and the level of competition is expected to increase, but we have to admit that this is the best (early season) turnaround in college football.

We are responding perfectly to… the fall of the state of Florida

Many knew it was over after Week 2, but a few still held out hope for the Seminoles after their week without games. The verdict is in: The 2024 Florida State Seminoles are done. That much was clear from the second play of their game Saturday: a fumble recovered by Memphis en route to a 20-12 home loss for the Seminoles. Mistakes continued to plague Florida State throughout the day, marking the fourth straight loss for a program that started last year 13-0.

FSU makes a mistake in the second play of the game

Just a dumpster fire in Tallahassee photo:twitter.com/GSqpXEjkub

— College Football Headlines (@CFBHeadlines) September 14, 2024

There’s still some intrigue, mostly about what happens at quarterback. DJ Uiagalelei is the starter for now, but that could change. There’s no denying the need for some kind of spark after a rough few weeks. Mike Norvell’s job security is non-negotiable, but the program needs a culture reset. Unfortunately, it’ll take a long few months to get that going.

(Top photo: Scott Wachter/USA Today)