Disclaimer: Bandwagoning is not a ranking of the best or worst teams, the biggest wins or worst losses. It’s instead an inexact assessment of the emotions experienced by various fan bases following their most recent game. There is nothing scientific about this. Not a thing.
JUMPING OFF: Cocky squaring up against Sebastian the Ibis would’ve been pretty cool. But it’s not happening now thanks to South Carolina and Miami mutually canceling their upcoming home-and-home series.
The two teams agreed six years ago to play in 2026 and 2027, starting with a game in Columbia. They decided to rip up the contract after the ACC and SEC each decided to go to nine-game league schedules.
The conferences also mandated that their members play at last one non-conference Power Four opponent annually. USC already has Clemson filling that requirement. It will now likely schedule down for those dates previously earmarked for Miami (Sept. 5, 2026 and Sept. 18, 2027) against a Group of Five team or perhaps an FCS opponent.
Get used to it.
Back in August, Alabama nixed its upcoming home-and-home series with West Virginia after the SEC announced it was going to nine games; Florida canceled games with Arizona State, Cal and N.C. State. More will come.
In a way it might dumb things down a bit for the College Football Playoff selection committee by having league games across the board. Yet it’s still got some thinking to do.
The Big Ten — the conference that cried the most and the loudest for all of the P4 to have nine league games — doesn’t require its members to play that extra big-time contest. And they’re not, either. Exhibit ‘A’: Indiana won’t play a non-conference P4 opponent for at least the next five seasons.
So the selection committee will need to differentiate between, say, a 10-2 Big Ten team and a 9-3 SEC team. Or a squad from the ACC or Big 12, for that matter. Because not all records will be equal.
Again, it would’ve been pretty cool to see Cocky down on South Beach and Sebastian prancing around Williams-Brice Stadium. Likewise for the WVU mountaineer patrolling Tuscaloosa.
Yet the reality is that making the CFP in December is cooler, even if it means some less flashy games in September.
JUMPING ON: Keep in mind that North Carolina is bad — really, really bad. And its defensive backs couldn’t play dead in Scream 7. The Tar Heels have lost their three games against P4 opponents by a total score of 120-33.
That being said, Clemson did exactly what it needed to do in its 38-10 get-right victory at the Tar Heels. The Tigers got out of their own way and executed offensively to avoid their first 1-4 start since 1993.
Clemson (2-3, 1-2 ACC) eclipsed its season-high in points (34 against Syracuse on Sept. 20) and had 350 yards of total offense before halftime. The Tigers could’ve throttled down more during the second half but prudently backed off and got out of Chapel Hill pretty unscathed and confident.
Things were especially good for quarterback Cade Klubnik, who spread things around to 11 different receivers en route to going 22-of-24 passing for 254 yards and four touchdowns.
The Tigers next play at Boston College (1-4, 0-3 ACC), which is surrendering 230.8 passing yards a game (85th nationally). It’ll be a decent test to see if the UNC game unlocked the Heisman Trophy candidate he was in August. Or, once more, if it was because the Tar Heels are really, really bad.
Really.
SEATS GOING FAST: The bottom could fall out again for UCLA as soon as this weekend, even against a mediocre-at-best Michigan State. And, incredibly, things could actually get worse for the Bruins (1-4, 1-1 Big Ten), as they still have Ohio State, Indiana, Washington and Southern Cal on the schedule. Bless their hearts.
But let’s flush all of that for a moment and soak up some good college football vibes from UCLA’s 42-37 upset of then-No. 7 Penn State (3-2, 0-2 Big Ten). It was the first time since 1985 that a team was 0-4 or worse beat a top-10 opponent. And this 0-4 team (which was a 24.5-point underdog against the Nittany Lions) is being shepherded by interim coaches after DeShaun Foster was fired on Sept. 15.
That includes Jerry Neuheisel serving as offensive coordinator. He’s the same Jerry Neuheisel who, as a backup quarterback, came in to lead UCLA to a 20-17 win over Texas in 2014. He’s also the son of former UCLA, Washington and Colorado head coach Rick Neuheisel, so his chill setting is always maxed out.
Those two nuggets help explain how he adapted to the OC role despite learning 96 hours earlier he’d be calling plays for the first time in his career. He’d only been coaching tight ends until OC Tino Sunseri left the program earlier in the week.
The result was 446 yards of total offense; 10 of 16 third-down conversions; five-touchdowns (two passing, three rushing) from beleaguered quarterback Nico Iamaleava and one monumental victory.
And also a really proud pops.
“Too good!,“ Rick, now an analyst for CBS Sports, said in a text message to The Post and Courier. “Great day for the lad and his dad!“