You know what’s worse than losing a game you deserved to win? Almost winning a game you ABSOLUTELY deserved to lose and still losing it. Northwestern got doubled up in yardage by Michigan at Wrigley Field yesterday, but Michigan committed a bunch of turnovers and missed a bunch of field goals …

… and it hit me like a ton of bricks when Michigan kicked a walk-off field goal to win. Why couldn’t they just blow us out like normal?

– Rodger Sherman

One of football’s little secrets is that not a lot happens in the locker room during halftime. Hollywood tells us that coaches are giving inspirational speeches, reminding players about teamwork and what the sport is all about, but the truth is there’s not a lot of time for inspiration. It takes a few minutes for everyone to get off the field and into the locker room, and once inside, players need to receive medical treatment and take in nutrients. Maybe they meet with position coaches before getting back out onto the field.

But you really didn’t need to tell Texas A&M players a lot during halftime of Saturday’s game, when they trailed South Carolina, 30-3. The speech was likely along the lines of, “Hey, are you guys serious?”, and “Could you please stop doing that?”, and “Remember, you guys are very good and they are very bad.”

The Gamecocks built that 27-point lead on a series of Aggie mistakes: Three turnovers, a dropped touchdown, missed field goals, and blown coverages. Morale was so low that a frustrated Texas state trooper cost himself the cushiest assignment a state trooper can get by barging through South Carolina wide receiver Nyck Harbor.

In the second half, Texas A&M simply stopped pointing the gun at its foot. The Aggies scored four touchdowns on four possessions, turning a 30-3 deficit into a 31-30 lead in about 20 minutes of game time. They almost came back too quickly: The Gamecocks still had a shot to win at the end. But, well, they looked like the South Carolina team from their previous six losses.

It was the biggest comeback in A&M history, and the first time an SEC team has ever come back from a 27-point halftime deficit (SEC teams were 0-286 before that). It was also the second straight week that an undefeated team has needed magic to win, after Indiana’s millimeter miracle in the back of the end zone at Penn State.

What a beautiful summary of this chaotic college football season. When the regular season is over, we’re going to try to make definitive statements, like this team BELONGS in the College Football Playoff, and that team DOESN’T HAVE WHAT IT TAKES to be a champion.

But we’re trying to make sense of teams that can look like total garbage in one half and unstoppable in the next. We’re fools trying to make sense of a scatterplot when the best thing to do is look at the chaos and marvel.

Now it’s time for me to highlight Homefield Apparel’s Texas A&M collection. Homefield has a ton of designs that celebrate the Aggies’ history and traditions, from the yell leaders, to various Aggie expressions that nobody else understands, to shirts that encourage Gigging ‘Em.

But I am obligated to highlight Homefield’s two shirts featuring Miss Rev, the Aggies’ loyal collie mascot and the highest-ranking officer in the Corps of Cadets.

THEY GAVE HER A LITTLE COWBOY HAT!!!!

AND A BANDANA!

When you live in LA, you’ll often see ads for movies that came out eight months ago when it’s time for awards voting. The ads will list the various awards the movie is nominated for and say FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION. I always found it odd that movie studios do this. Not only is this movie no longer in theaters, but probably 99 percent of the people who see the ad can’t vote on the award.

On Saturday, Texas Tech ran the equivalent of a FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION touchdown. In the middle of the Red Raiders’ 48-9 beatdown of UCF, they subbed in star linebacker Jacob Rodriguez at quarterback and had him run the ball into the end zone for a touchdown:

The logic behind the play was sound. Rodriguez played quarterback in high school and committed to Virginia as a dual-threat QB (although he mainly played wide receiver during his lone year for the Hoos before transferring.)

But that’s not why head coach Joey McGuire ran the play. After the game, he said he did it because Rodriguez deserves Heisman consideration, which tends to go to “players who score touchdowns” and “quarterbacks.”

The Red Raiders are not exactly a Heisman-friendly team. Their strengths have been a spectacular pass rush and elite line play on both sides of the ball, rather than superstar QB play. They’re also confidently demolishing opponents, with all 10 of their wins coming by at least 23 points, which means no chance to display the last-second heroics that Heisman voters love.

So they’re gaming the system a little bit. After all, the Heisman is kinda like the Oscars. We know that if a big-time actor does a great impression of a famous 20th century historical figure, they’ll win best actor. And Tech knows that Heisman voters are suckers for two-way players. The only primarily defensive players to win the Heisman are Travis Hunter last season and Charles Woodson in 1997, two players who also caught a lot of passes. Tech realized that all the videos of Rodriguez obliterating opponents could only go so far. They had to put him in at QB.

Rodriguez is a star, and the mustachioed face of a Red Raiders team streaking towards the playoffs. I don’t think he’ll win the Heisman, but in a toss-up year, I think he should get legit consideration. It’s like when a pretty lady actress puts on a bunch of prosthetics to play a not-very-pretty lady. The voters are gonna be like WOW, he’s so VERSATILE!

Georgia had a great idea that turned its close matchup against Texas into a not-very-close matchup: What if we just don’t give our opponents the ball? After Arch Manning threw a touchdown to pull within one possession of Georgia with five minutes left in the third quarter, the Bulldogs went on a long touchdown drive featuring two fourth-down conversions. Then they attempted a surprise onside kick, the very first of Kirby Smart’s 10-year tenure as Georgia’s head coach. (Say 10-year tenure five times fast.)

Georgia recovered, then scored another touchdown on an extended drive. The game went from 14-10 to 28-10 without Arch Manning touching the ball. I loved Smart’s post-game explanation of his decision.

It was a great week for onside kicks. Delaware’s Nate Reed connected on his third onside kick of the year in three attempts. (Although he missed the potential game-tying field goal on the ensuing drive, bummer.)

And Akron pulled off maybe the best onside kick I’ve ever seen: A pooch kick that hit within two feet of the sideline and spun backwards like a lofted iron directly into the arms of an Akron player:

The surprise nature of the Akron and Georgia plays are now a college football exclusive. Under the NFL’s new dynamic kickoff rules, teams have to announce when they’re attempting an onside kick, which are not allowed unless a team is trailing late. Both kicks were successful because special teams coaches noticed vulnerabilities in their opponents’ kick return schemes: On Georgia’s kick, Texas’ front line bailed early, running away from the kick at the moment of contact, leaving it in terrible position to respond to the onside. The college rules are way more fun … unless you’re on the team that has to play 11 consecutive minutes of defense.

🐘 Alabama lost! That’s still rare enough that it gets an entry in here.

⛵️ I’m going a bit under-the-radar (ship term) for my favorite game Saturday: The Secretaries’ Cup between the Coast Guard Academy and Merchant Marine Academy, played at Fenway Park. The MMA landed a knockout (MMA term) by scoring a touchdown with 20 seconds left to win 39-38.

🐺 UConn beat Air Force to move to 8-3. It’s been one of the best seasons in Husky history, but I’m personally devastated that Joe Fagnano threw his first interception after starting the year with 25 touchdowns and no picks. He was so close to demolishing the previous record for touchdowns thrown in an interception-less season (10 touchdowns, no picks, accomplished by Shai Werts in 2018, Zach Gibson in 2021, and Joe Milton(!) in 2022).

👿 The dream of 8-4 ACC champion Duke is dead after its loss to UVA yesterday. Sorry for spending several hundred words getting excited about that last week.

I’ve been doing regular guest spots on Split Zone Duo this year. On Friday, I swung by to talk about the 0-10 UMass Minutemen and how they became the worst team in college football: