By now, we’ve all had a couple of days to digest another wild weekend in college football. Let’s take a little time to review some of what happened this past weekend while also looking ahead to what figures to be another action-packed week of games.
Odd Decisions
In an almost unprecedented move, Houston quarterback D’Eriq King and wide receiver Keith Corbin have both announced that they will redshirt the rest of the 2019 season, essentially allowing them to re-do their senior seasons with the Cougars in 2020. Following losses to Oklahoma, Washington State, and Tulane, the Cougars are 1-3 on the season and appear unlikely to fulfill the lofty expectations they had coming into the season under new head coach Dana Holgorsen.
This probably isn’t what the NCAA had in mind when they instituted a rule allowing players to participate in up to four games without burning their redshirt. King and Corbin are essentially forcing Houston to punt the 2019 season four games in with the hope that the Cougars will be in a better position to compete at a high level in 2020 with those two players coming back.
In theory, it makes sense for Houston, at least for next season. But it’s certainly unusual for two players, particularly seniors, to more or less give up on the current team and focus on next season.
Of course, there will also be speculation about both King and Corbin graduating from Houston and spending the 2020 season as grad transfers elsewhere. King, in particular, would likely be the best player available on the grad transfer market.
However, in his statement, King addressed that possibility, stating: “I came here to play football for the University of Houston and that is not changing.”
Hollow Record
Imagine throwing nine touchdown passes in a game but being unable to celebrate afterward. Well, welcome to Anthony Gordon’s world. The Washington State quarterback broke the school record set last year by current Jaguars rookie Gardner Minshew by throwing nine touchdown passes over the weekend against UCLA.
However, it turns out he needed to throw 10 to help his team win. The Cougars led 49-17 early in the third quarter, but couldn’t hold the lead and couldn’t outscore the Bruins, ultimately losing 67-63. The Cougars were done in by six turnovers, including two interceptions and a fumble by Gordon, so he’s not blameless in the record-setting loss.
Big Blow
The BYU Cougars have scored a pair of massive wins this season, knocking off both Tennessee and USC. However, they will spend the rest of the season without running back Ty’Son Williams, who suffered a torn ACL during the team’s loss to Washington over the weekend. Williams joined BYU as a grad transfer this season after spending the last three years at South Carolina.
He immediately became the team’s starting running back and had been an integral part of the BYU offense early in the season. The 2-2 Cougars will have to find a way to get by without him in their quest to reach a bowl game in back-to-back years. Fortunately for BYU, their schedule gets a lot easier moving forward after a brutal stretch of games in September.
