For the Tennessee fanbase, the silence from John Currie has been deafening. To some it’s been maddening. Just go check his Twitter mentions for proof.

The Tennessee athletic director has remained silent on Butch Jones through a four game losing streak. Many called for a simple statement from Currie, just to acknowledge that there was a problem and that he intends to fix it.

To a certain extent, Currie did that.

Appearing on the Big Orange Hotline show with Bob Kesling, Currie finally broke his silence. Currie first spoke of his father, who was a surgeon. “The surgeon’s creed is there’s no problem that you can’t make worse by operating.”

If we’ve learned anything through this, it’s that Currie is a very thorough guy. He isn’t reactionary. He’s going to see things through — for better or for worse.

“You’ve got to make decisions that you believe are best for your program. I believe that supporting our staff and supporting our players, getting ready for the Southern Miss game, is the best I can do for our football program right now,” Currie said.

Currie went on to mention that he sees Butch Jones every Sunday. “That’s been one of my practices the whole time. The nine years I’ve been an athletics director, I always try to go into the building on Sunday — win or lose.”

Currie called the loss to Kentucky disappointing. “Our players played so hard through the whole game. They never let up.”

He finished with this. “The bottom line is, one of the reasons I came back here to the University of Tennessee is that this is a national program with a national following and incredibly passionate and fevered fans. That knife cuts both ways. You’re excited when you win, and you’re disappointed and angry when you lose. It’s the same for the staff and the AD and the players too.”

Butch Jones said that he has Currie’s support yesterday in his weekly press conference, saying that nothing has changed. There was a reported meeting on Sunday between Currie and Jones to discuss the “immediate future,” but nothing has come of that — at least to us outsiders.

The only thing we know for sure is that Jones is getting another week, as Jimmy Hyams reported on Sunday morning. Tennessee has a tricky game on their hands too, with Southern Miss coming to town. Vegas initially placed Tennessee as seven point favorites, but that number has quickly fallen to five.

Honestly, Currie didn’t give us much to chew on last night. So at least until we see how Jones and Tennessee perform against Southern Miss, we’re all in a holding pattern for another handful of days.

The West Virginia Mountaineers got a huge pickup today as Kwantel Raines made his commitment official. Raines, the number two safety in Pennsylvania had been deciding between West Virginia, Penn State, Pittsburgh and Florida. Raines was on hand in Morgantown this past Saturday as the Mountaineers took on the Oklahoma State Cowboys on a rainy Saturday afternoon. The coaching staff has been after Raines for quite a while, making the Aliquippa native a priority target early in the process and becoming the first school to offer him a scholarship. Raines has never forgotten about West Virginia. It doesn’t hurt that his cousin, Dravon Askew-Henry, is a star in Gibson’s defensive scheme.

Quotables

Brian Dohn, National Recruiting Analyst

…but his ceiling is highest as a safety. He has the speed to cover outside of the numbers, he changes direction well, he is physical and will hit in the passing game and against the run, and he he has plus ball skills. He reads plays quickly and his burst is a plus. He can fill run gaps and also blitz.

Measurables

Height: 6’ 3’’

Weight: 200 lbs.

Power 5 Offers – Florida, Penn State, Pittsburgh, California, Indiana, Iowa State, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Maryland, Michigan State, N.C. State, Rutgers, South Carolina, TCU, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin

Big 3 Ratings:

• 247Sports – 4* (93 rating)
• Rivals – 4* (5.8 rating)
• ESPN – 4* (82 rating)

Highlights:

Of all the things Rich Rodriguez thinks about during the season, the amount of national exposure his program receives isn’t one of them.

“It’s not on the list of the things that I worry about on a regular basis,” he said.

But…

“Exposure is good for all programs, particularly if you think it’s going to be good exposure,” he continued.

Indeed, and the newly-ranked Arizona Wildcats are already reaping the benefits of being in the national spotlight.

Arizona has won four straight behind the electrifying quarterback play of Khalil Tate, becoming must-watch TV, and high school recruits are taking notice.

Rodriguez said there has been an “uptick” in Arizona’s recruiting during UA’s four-game winning streak.

“From guys answering their phones quicker to texting us,” he said. “Certainly there’s guys in Southern California that know Khalil Tate. That’s helped a little bit, but we had some outstanding guys here this past weekend.”

Arizona has landed several 2018 recruits lately (I urge you to go to our recruiting section for all the updates), now sitting with 16 commits in its class, which is ranked 63rd nationally.

It’s not a super impressive class, but that could certainly change if the Wildcats keep winning.

“I don’t know how many we’re going to sign, but we’re going to have a lot more interest all of a sudden,” Rodriguez said. “It was going well anyway. We thought recruiting well last year and that’s showing up a little bit, and we think it’s going well this year, too.”

The UA even added its first 2019 commit recently, and a good one at that: four-star athlete Casey Kline.

Whether or not that can directly be attributed to Arizona’s recent success — and the exposure that comes along with it — is unclear, but it should only help the Wildcats moving forward.

Follow Ryan Kelapire on Twitter at @RKelapire

“Nobody was yelling at each other pointing fingers. You usually don’t win games like that. But looking up at halftime, we were beating them up front and we felt we had to stop the bleeding on our end.”

-Ohio State wide receiver Terry McLaurin, via Doug Lesmerises, Cleveland.com

The Ohio State Buckeyes took all 60 minutes to prove that they were the better team against a very worthy adversary in Penn State. The Buckeyes, who boast some of the greatest talent in the nation and consistently better recruiting classes than the Nittany Lions, trailed for the duration of the game until quarterback J.T. Barrett found tight end Marcus Baugh in the end zone for the touchdown that put Ohio State up one point with 1:48 remaining in the fourth quarter.

How the Buckeyes got so far behind to start–by as much as 18–however, was as much a factor of mistakes on the part of the Buckeyes as it was great plays by Penn State. The Ohio State defense, for their part, did extraordinarily well, holding Heisman frontrunner Saquon Barkley to 44 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries. Trace McSorley, who had four total touchdowns against Michigan last week, had just 192 yards passing on the day. Still, two crucial pass interference penalties–including one on a potential interception in the end zone–turned the tide in favor of Penn State early.

Special teams continued to be flawed throughout the game, especially at the start as Barkley ran the opening kickoff back 97 yards for a touchdown. Later in the first half, after cutting Penn State’s lead to 11, Ohio State was penalized for being offsides on the ensuing kickoff. Even later in the game, punter Drue Chrisman dropped the snap and, mercifully, managed to still get the punt away. K.J. Hill managed to hang on after his own blunder after he muffed a punt from the Nittany Lions.

However, the most egregious, and consistent, errors seemed to come from the offense. Fumbles by Parris Campbell and Barrett were both recovered by Penn State, while one by Binjimen Victor was thankfully called back due to holding on the Nittany Lions. Both Hill and Baugh dropped crucial passes from Barrett, and members of the offensive line kept committing false starts at critical times.

Despite their mistakes, the team pulled together when it counted. Barrett was laser focused in the fourth quarter, the defense proved utterly dominant and starters made their way to special teams. It doesn’t help to have so many errors setting the team back, but managing to overcome them–against one of the best teams in the country–speaks volumes about the unit and their resilience.

“It’s no secret. The Ohio State Buckeyes always bring the ratings for TV networks, but especially when they’re lined up against another big-named foe.”

-D.J. Byrnes, Eleven Warriors

Despite a heavy slate of 3:30 p.m. games Saturday, including Notre Dame’s win over NC State, Iowa State’s knocking off of TCU and Northwestern’s upset of then-No. 16 Michigan State, Ohio State’s win over Penn State proved to be the most-watched game of the entire weekend, and the second-most-watched game of the season (Alabama’s win over Florida State in week one earned a 7.3 mark). FOX Sports PR announced Sunday that the top-10 matchup drew a 6.4 overnight metered market rating, with the audience peaking at a 9.0 rating from 7 p.m.-7:15 p.m. during the Buckeyes’ epic comeback. The rating is FOX’s best ever for a regular season college football game.

Of course, the Buckeyes tend to draw a crowd, whether in-person or on TV. Last year’s matchup against Michigan–a noon game on ABC–had a 10.4 overnight rating. That viewership was the highest for a noon kickoff ever. It was also the most-watched game of the 2016 regular season. This season, the Buckeyes’ opener versus Indiana had a rating of 3.6, which made the game the most-watched Thursday opener ever. Ohio State’s matchup with Oklahoma the following week drew more than 8.2 million live viewers and a rating of 5.3.

In addition, millions of people have watched Michigan versus Florida, Michigan State and Penn State. All three matchups, the latter two of which were featured night games on ABC, rank in the top-10 most-watched games this season.

So far this season, Saturday Night Football on ABC has proven to be the dominant force in the television football landscape, and the ESPN family of networks (including ABC) have aired the majority of the most-watched games so far this season.

Ratings for NFL games, while still higher than for college games, have begun to dwindle, while growth for college games has remained steady.

After an exit in round of 16 the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament last season, the No. 8 Ohio State Buckeyes women’s basketball team is set to open up regular season play Nov. 10 against No. 9 Stanford. Over the weekend, however, the Buckeyes had a strong showing in an exhibition game against the Ashland Eagles, defeating the Division II champs of 2017 110-80 at the Schottenstein Center. Senior forward Stephanie Mavunga and senior guard, and reigning Big Ten Player of the Year, Kelsey Mitchell led the Buckeyes in scoring with 28 points a piece. Mavinga also added 23 rebounds and four assists to cap her performance. Three other Buckeyes scored in double digits on the day.

The Buckeyes are considered one of the top teams in the nation headed into the season, especially with Mitchell’s decision to forego the WNBA Draft and return to Columbus for her senior season. Mitchell began making waves as a freshman when she became the first freshman ever to lead the country in scoring with 24.9 points per game. She broke the single-season scoring records for both Ohio State and the Big Ten with 873 points on the year, and broke the NCAA record for three-pointers made in a season with 127. She continued her dominant performance throughout her sophomore and junior seasons, earning first team All-Big Ten honors both years, and is expected to be one of the top players in the conference this season.

Next up, the women are scheduled to face Urbana on Sunday, Nov. 5 before tipping off regular season play.

The men’s team meanwhile, under the direction of first-year head coach Chris Holtmann, looks to be off to an auspicious start in the pre-season as well, earning a victory in a closed scrimmage against Xavier over the weekend. Xavier is widely considered a top-20 team, so even a win in a scrimmage is worthwhile considering the Buckeyes have now been left out of the NCAA Tournament for two-straight seasons.

STICK TO SPORTS

Well, the sun did rise on Sunday. Monday, too.

Though I was sure it would, sometimes seeing is believing.

There’s no better way to explain what happened in Columbus on Saturday other than that one hurt.

“They are who we thought they were, and we let ‘em off the hook,” in the immortal words of the late, great Dennis Green.

So, given that, here are my three takeaways from Penn State’s crushing loss.

1. James Franklin and Joe Moorhead are great coaches, but both are fallible

Part of the dread of Saturday’s loss has to come from the feeling of deja vu that most Penn State fans suffered. Just like in the Rose Bowl, Penn State had a late lead and the ball with a chance to let one of the premier offenses in the country salt away the game, and the coaching staff balked. Rather than letting Trace McSorley go out and win the game, they played not to lose it and it bit them in the behind. Franklin and Moorhead have been integral in putting Penn State way ahead of schedule in its rebuild, but Saturday’s ending surely needs to be questioned.

2. Penn State still lacks the depth to be an elite team

There are many reasons the Nittany Lions lost on Saturday, but injuries played a sizable role. Defensive end Ryan Buchholz left early in the game with what looked to be a serious knee injury. Buchholz has been one of Penn State’s best pass rushers and run stoppers and it was unable to replace that production, particularly after Shareef Miller was hobbled later in the contest. Later, Ryan Bates got rolled up on and was forced to leave the game. While Penn State’s offensive line was far from great prior, it was at least passable. After the injury, the Nittany Lions were forced to move Will Fries to left tackle and put Chasz Wright in at right tackle and everything began to fell apart. If Penn State wants to compete with the big boys, it will need to continue to build depth up front in recruiting.

3. Saquon Barkley should still be the Heisman front runner

Barkley was limited greatly on the ground after an early 36-yard touchdown run, but his impact in the kick return game cannot be understated. His 97-yard return for a touchdown to open the game set the tone and gave the Nittany Lions a ton of momentum. Additionally, Ohio State had to change its whole kickoff game plan, allowing Koa Farmer to get a massive kickoff return of his own and putting Penn State in fantastic field position at the end of the game with a chance to retake the lead. Barkley is still the country’s most dangerous player with the ball in his hands, and that was evident.

How in the world did Ohio State pull that off?

Despite trailing by 15 points in the fourth quarter, the Buckeyes kept their College Football Playoff hopes alive with their miraculous 39-38 win over No. 2 Penn State, and in the process put the rest of the sport on notice. While everyone had a hand in the comeback (even special teams did something good!), J.T. Barrett and the Ohio State defensive line went above and beyond in carrying the Buckeyes to an improbable win.

You probably already know J.T.’s 4th quarter stats by heart: 13/13, 170 yards, and three touchdowns, including the beautifully designed and executed game-winner to Marcus Baugh:

Not bad for a guy people said couldn’t win a big game.

Meanwhile, the defensive line continued to show why it might be the best position group in the country. The unit racked up 7.5 tackles for loss and two sacks, held all-world running back Saquon Barkley to just 44 yards on 21 carries, and closed the game out by absolutely mauling the Penn State offensive line on four straight plays:

On this episode of The Hangout in the Holy Land, Colton Denning and Patrick Mayhorn are effusive in their praise of Barrett and the line, and talk about everything that happened in Ohio State’s wild win, including:

• Barrett’s status as the best quarterback in school history.
• Why they think the coaches nearly bungled the game with their kickoff strategy, and wondering what was up with forgetting about J.K. Dobbins, plus the swing passes to Mike Weber.
• Discussing where the game was at its bleakest, but why they always thought Ohio State had a chance to win.
• Giving props to the Austin Mack, Jordan Fuller, and the offensive line, plus looking ahead to the last four games of the season, and more!

You can find the podcast on our iTunes page, and we encourage reviews, comments, criticisms, etc. to help us deliver the best possible audio product. The more we hear from you, the better we can make it. We’re also on Soundcloud, and you can subscribe via RSS on your Android and Windows Phone devices here.

What You Need to Know:

• After a bye week, Auburn is ranked #16 and is 6-2 on the season and 4-1 in the SEC. The Tigers lost to Clemson in week 2 and let an early lead slip away against LSU.
• Texas A&M fell to 5-3 on the season; 3-2 in the SEC after getting outmatched by Mississippi State on Saturday.
• Auburn’s remaining schedule includes a road trip to College Station, then three home games against Georgia, ULM, and Alabama in the Iron Bowl.
• Texas A&M is trending down at 79th in total offense with 387 YPG (90th in passing YPG; 42nd in rushing YPG); while Auburn is ranked 27th in total offense with 462 YPG (68th in passing YPG; 19th in rushing YPG).
• Auburn’s SBNation site is College and Magnolia.

Betting Lines:

• Auburn opens as a -12.5 point favorite.
• Auburn is 3-3-2 Against the Spread while Texas A&M is 4-4 ATS.
• The Under has hit in A&M’s last 4 games; while the Over has hit in the last 5 games Auburn has played.

Historical Notes:

• Texas A&M leads the all-time series 5-2 against Auburn.
• Auburn has never lost in College Station, and Texas A&M has never lost in Auburn. Before A&M joined the SEC, two of the games were played in Dallas.
• Auburn is known as the Tigers, but does not have a live tiger. It does use a live eagle in pre-game pageantry to fly across the stadium to the War Eagle yell. The current War Eagle is War Eagle VII, and named Nova. However, Nova was suspended from flight activities due to a diagnosis of chronic heart disease. A bald eagle named Spirit is flying in the place of Nova for this season. War Eagle is also an endearing term used like Howdy, or Roll Tide among fans. Auburn has clarified that its mascot will remain the Tigers, as they are the “Tigers who say ‘War Eagle’”. In my opinion, this is one of the best traditions in College Football. Also, Get better Nova.
• Famous Auburn Tigers Alumni include Charles Barkley, Bo Jackson, Jimmy Buffett, Frank Thomas, Cam Newton, and Tim Cook. Leave your favorite in the comments.

Tigers to Watch:

Kerryon Johnson RB 6’0” 212 lbs

The junior running back is running at a 5.3 yards per carry average. Kerryon has 723 rushing yards and 14 rushing touchdowns. The 14 TDs puts Kerryon tied for fourth in total TDs this season (rushing, receiving, return). This is after being slowed by injury earlier this year. Auburn uses the spread to employ a power running scheme, and Johnson is a great fit for what Coach Gus Malzhan wants to do.

Jeff Holland, LB 6’2” 249 lbs

The junior edge rusher currently leads the SEC with 8 sacks along with 10 tackles for loss. In Auburn’s last game against Arkansas, Holland forced two fumbles and recovered one.

Media Blitz:

• Venue: Kyle Field, College Station, Texas
• Game Time: 11:00 am CT
• Channel: ESPN

Newsreel:

Weather:

• Forecast calls for a cloudy day with highs reaching into the mid 80s. There is currently a 20% chance of rain.

The last time the Arizona State Sun Devils (2-3, 1-1 Pac-12) beat a ranked team isn’t out of reach — in September against No. 24 Oregon. Their last top-10 win came just two years prior in Pasadena, beating UCLA on 38-23 in October of 2015.

But the last time the Sun Devils beat a top-5 ranked opponent: Sept. 21, 1996 against No. 1 Nebraska.

On Saturday, the No. 5 Washington Huskies (6-0, 2-0 Pac-12) venture into Sun Devil Stadium equipped with a sound defense, veteran coach and most notably, talented quarterback Jake Browning.

“He’s a winner,” ASU head coach Todd Graham said. “He’s a championship quarterback, and as far as I’m concerned, he sets the standard in our league because you prove it on the football field every week.”

Browning, who is 25-8 overall as a starter, is 18-2 since the start of his sophomore season. From 2015 to 2016, Browning nearly tripled his touchdown total from 16 to 43 and almost doubled his team’s wins, from 7 to 12. He put the Huskies in the College Football Playoff last season, proving himself closer to a “championship quarterback.”

But what is most mind boggling is Browning’s efficiency. He won’t try to outpass teams.

His 244.3 passing yards per game rank seventh in the conference, and light years behind Pac-12 leading UCLA QB Josh Rosen who averages 427 passing yards per game. Even ASU QB Manny Wilkins is a major leap ahead, averaging 290.4 passing yards per performance.

But again, it isn’t about how much he throws it. In 2016, Browning had the 10th best quarterback rating in the country (81.3). His 2017 QBR (79) is 13th best in the nation and No. 1 among all current starting Pac-12 quarterbacks. He’s completed 123 of 173 pass attempts this season with a 70.5 percent completion rate, which is good for a Pac-12 best besides Luke Falk.

“Really solid decision maker. Extends plays a lot better than what you think he does. There’s a lot of guys who get a lot more attention, but he just wins football games,” Graham said. “Doesn’t require a lot of credit for it. That’s what I like about him. I really like his demeanor and his personality. You can tell he’s a high character kid.”

What has protected and complimented Browning’s Huskies to championship contending play are the men directly in front of him and sometimes beside of behind him. The offensive line has propelled the Huskies into a so far undefeated season.

Washington has given up just six sacks all season. The Sun Devils on the other hand, gave up seven sacks in a game alone against New Mexico State.

Defensively, Arizona State failed to record a single sack against Stanford, doing very little damage to the offensive line, and making easy leg room for Stanford running back Bryce Love, who had a career day with 301 yards on the ground.

Compared to Arizona State’s 647 rushing yards, the Huskies have attained over 1,000 yards on the season thanks not only to leading rusher Myles Gaskin (559 yards, eight touchdowns), but an extra push from its offensive line.

“They’re offensive line is very good. Very physical,” Graham said. “You gotta stop the run. I mean Gaskin is a really good back. Coleman is a really good back as well. I think where they’ve really matured is the offensive line.”

Going into Saturday’s matchup, Graham is well aware of the state of the Sun Devils. At 2-3, he admitted his team got off to a “slower start” than he’d like, but see’s the end of the season far more important than the beginning.

“Where everybody thinks everybody is in week one, it’s not. It’s where you are as you progress through the season. Where you are in November and you know how you’re team develops,” Graham said. “I think we played our best game against Oregon. We did some good things against Stanford. We didn’t tackle enough to win that game and they were the better team. But I feel confident in where we’re at.”

Say what you want about Ohio State’s quality of opponent since their loss to Oklahoma, but the Buckeyes have trucked through the last month, winning their four games by an average score of 52-10. Both the offense and defense have been top-notch (we’ll get to the special teams later), and they’ve managed to avoid serious injuries for the most part as they head into the second half of the season.

On this episode of The Hangout in the Holy Land, Colton Denning and Patrick Mayhorn talk Ohio State’s improvement over the last month, and what they think of the Buckeyes taking over the No. 1 spot of the new S&P+ rankings. They also break down everything about Ohio State’s 62-14 win over Maryland, including:

• What impressed them most about J.T. Barrett’s game versus the Terps.
• Binjimen Victor’s growth, and whether he’s taken the leap to being the Buckeyes’ go-to receiver.
• Replacing Branden Bowen on the offensive line after his season ending injury.
• Giving props to the defense, talking up Chase Young, Jalyn Holmes, and Nick Bosa, plus a celebration of Jerome Baker’s breakthrough game.
• Wondering what the hell happened on special teams, and why that’s the biggest concern for the team moving forward, and more!

The guys also take a look at what happened around college football this week, make fun of Michigan’s loss to Michigan State, and talk about why you shouldn’t worry about Oklahoma’s loss to Iowa State.

You can find the podcast on our iTunes page, and we encourage reviews, comments, criticisms, etc. to help us deliver the best possible audio product. The more we hear from you, the better we can make it. We’re also on Soundcloud, and you can subscribe via RSS on your Android and Windows Phone devices here.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish used a combination of a dominant run game and a solid, opportunistic defense to come away with lopsided win over a power five program on the road. Sound familiar? It shouldn’t. It’s this year’s theme.

Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

As with every other game, some stats told the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Others, not so much. Let’s take a look.

The Fighting Irish Offense was 5-16 on third down. Ian Book went only 17-31 through the air for 146 yards and two interceptions. The fact that Notre Dame even threw the ball 31 times suggests that maybe things didn’t go swimmingly for the Irish in Chapel Hill Saturday afternoon.

Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

But that wasn’t the case. It turns out that when your outstanding running back stable, behind yet another game in which Josh Adams went over 100 yards in the first half, and with the help of the as-usual outstanding offense line play the way they do, you have room for error. The margin increases when you consider the depletion due to injury on the other side of the ball; the North Carolina Tar Heels were missing what seemed like a million players on defense, and more just kept dropping as the game went on.

341 yards rushing (Adams had 118 on 13 carries and one touchdown, Deon McIntosh led the Irish with 124 on 12 carries, Ian Book added 45 yards on 12 carries, and C.J. Holmes and Tony Jones Jr. chipped in 32 and 31 respectively) affords you the luxury to experiment and open up the play book with a pass-first quarterback making his first start. Thanks to the running game, Ian Book got plenty of chances.

Stat’s That Don’t

Which brings me to my next point. 17/31 for 146 yards isn’t bad given the weather conditions, but two interceptions to one touchdown and a QBR 27.7 tell me all I need to know. Ian Book should not be starting over Brandon Wimbush and you are completely out of your mind if you think otherwise.

Brandon Wimbush’s potential as a passer combined with his current abilities as a runner are going to outweigh Book’s potential as a passer and his limited ability on the ground any day. I think 14 more points against the Tar Heels is the difference between having a healthy Wimbush in the game vs. Book. Simply because, instead of two interceptions, you more than likely have 50-60 more yards on the ground from Wimbush and the opportunity for two more scores. I don’t think you see the pass-heavy play calling in those conditions if Wimbush is your quarterback.

Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

Here’s some more truthful stats: 265 yards of offense. Three turnovers. 13 first downs to Notre Dame’s 27. The North Carolina offense was shut down by an outstanding Notre Dame defensive effort. The defense continues to improve which is yet another luxury that will the passing offense to evolve regardless of who the quarterback moving forward is.