Mandel’s Final Thoughts: Kyle McCord outplays Will Howard, and more Ohio State woes
New York TimesAnd now, 20 Final Thoughts from college football’s Rivalry Weekend, where many of the teams fought for 60 minutes, and then fought some more. On the same day that Ohio State’s Howard played his worst game of the season, the guy he replaced, Kyle McCord, led Syracuse to its biggest win in years, a 42-38 upset of No. 16 Arizona State has surged from 3-9 in coach Kenny Dillingham’s first season to a conference championship game appearance in Year 2. Playing at the exact same time, Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty carried 37 times for 226 yards and a score —– his fifth 200-yard game this season — in the Broncos’ 34-18 win over Oregon State. “It was the worst performance offensively that I’ve ever seen,” Boilermakers coach Ryan Walters said of his team, which had previously suffered top-10 losses to Notre Dame, Oregon, Ohio State and Penn State.