After Further Review: Hope for Notre Dame, another Stanford heartbreak, Iowa's latest embarrassment

There are so many games over the course of a college football weekend that some slip through the cracks and others require further examination the next day. Before we turn the page to Week 7, here’s a closer look at some of the most interesting outcomes of Week 6.

Notre Dame 28, BYU 20

All isn’t lost in South Bend after a miserable start.

The Fighting Irish scored a nice win over a ranked BYU team on Saturday night in Las Vegas to move to 3-2 after an 0-2 start that included a loss to Marshall in Week 2.

Drew Pyne threw for 262 yards and three TDs while Logan Diggs and Audric Estime each rushed for over 90 yards in the win over the Cougars. Michael Mayer was unstoppable, with 11 catches for 118 yards and two TDs as he became the tight end with the most catches in Notre Dame history. Given he still has half a season left, Mayer could put a lot of distance between himself and second place by the end of 2022.

The Irish were up 25-6 against BYU at one point in the third quarter before the Cougars cut the margin to a possession in the fourth. But Blake Grupe’s 20-yard field goal with just over six minutes remaining was enough cushion for the Irish.

Pyne has settled in nicely as Notre Dame’s signal-caller since taking over for Tyler Buchner after his shoulder injury. Pyne is completing 73% of his passes and has thrown nine touchdowns to two interceptions while getting support from Estime and others in the run game. WR Jayden Thomas’ ascendance was also a bright spot for the Irish on Saturday night. He had three catches for 74 yards and a TD after catching two passes against North Carolina.

With Stanford and UNLV next up on the schedule, the Irish should be 5-2 ahead of what could be a bigger-than-expected game against Syracuse. And an eight-win season is still very much in play despite games against Clemson and USC the rest of the season. That’s a down year by Notre Dame's standards but given the start and the injury to Buchner, that would be a heck of a rebound in Marcus Freeman's first full season as head coach.

— Nick Bromberg

[College Football Week 6 Winners and Losers: Who are the real CFP contenders?]

Illinois 9, Iowa 6

Iowa had another horrific offensive performance on Saturday night. The Hawkeyes, now 3-3 on the year, rank dead last in the nation in total offense. That’s No. 131 out of 131 teams at 238.8 yards per game. Only UMass (3.73) is worse on a per play basis than the Hawkeyes, who are averaging a measly 4.09 yards per offensive play.

One sequence in the loss at Champaign summed things up for Kirk Ferentz’s program and the offensive coordinated by Ferentz’s son, Brian.

Iowa trailed 6-3 midway through the second quarter after an Illinois field goal. The Hawkeyes started the ensuing drive at their own 27 and promptly went backward. Iowa’s first down pass fell incomplete. A second-down run gained a yard and then Spencer Petras was sacked for a loss of 10 yards on third down to bring out Tory Taylor, Iowa’s overworked punter.

Standing inside his own 5-yard line, Taylor boomed one over 60 yards toward Illinois’ Isaiah Williams. But Williams muffed the punt and Iowa recovered at the Illinois 35.

What did the Iowa offense do with that gift? Again, it went backward and lost 6 yards in three plays to bring Taylor back out onto the field for another punt.

Taylor pinned Illinois at the 14 and Iowa's defense soon gave the offense another gift. This time, Williams fumbled on a quick receiver screen. The ball bounced loose and Iowa recovered at the 5-yard line.

Surely, Iowa would be able to punch the ball into the end zone and take the lead, right? Wrong. Here’s a sample of the goal line offense:

After a 15-yard penalty, a 9-yard completion and then an offsides penalty on Illinois, Iowa kicked a field goal on fourth-and-goal from the 9. This drive lost only 4 yards, which was actually an improvement over the previous two possessions, which had lost 11 and 6 yards.

This was the latest example of what has become one of the weekly laughingstocks in college football. The Hawkeyes finished No. 121 in total offense in 2021, and the only change Ferentz made in the offseason was to keep his son Brian in place as offensive coordinator and also give him the title of quarterbacks coach.

It’s a complete embarrassment for a proud program that has won a lot of games, yet Ferentz refuses to make changes to his coaching staff that he’s directly responsible for. If it’s too difficult for Ferentz to at least demote his son, it speaks volumes about what a poor hire it was in the first place.

— Sam Cooper

Oregon State 28, Stanford 27

It’s a mess right now at Stanford.

The Cardinal dropped to 1-4 on the season in a gut-wrenching loss to the Beavers. Stanford had a 24-10 lead at the start of the fourth quarter before the lead was cut to two. Stanford then kicked a field goal with 58 seconds to go for a five-point lead, but this is how Tre’Shaun Harrison won the game for Oregon State.

Stanford was, quite frankly, in a fortunate situation to be up five and not up three or even one ahead at the time of Harrison’s catch. Oregon State had to go for two after Atticus Sappington hit a 40-yard field goal in the third quarter because of an injury to its long snapper. Both of the conversions failed as Oregon State could have had the game tied before Harrison’s TD and the Beavers took a knee on the 2-point attempt after taking the lead.

Oregon State’s win also means it has been over a year since Stanford has beaten a Power Five opponent. The Cardinal surprised then-No. 3 Oregon in overtime on Oct. 2, 2021, and subsequently ended the season on a seven-game losing streak. And since Stanford has lost four consecutive games after beating Colgate to open the 2022 season, the Cardinal are on an 11-game losing streak to FBS teams, let alone teams from the Power Five conferences.

A big reason for that streak is a struggling defense, though Stanford’s defense hasn’t been very good in each of the past four seasons. The Cardinal are allowing 33 points per game in 2022 and offenses are gaining 6.5 yards per play. The only Power Five teams allowing more yards per play this season are Arizona, Vanderbilt and Colorado.

Stanford has also allowed at least 6 yards per play on defense since 2019. Not so coincidentally, the Cardinal went 4-8 that season and snapped a 10-year bowl streak. And Stanford hasn’t been back to a bowl game since that streak ended. A bowl game looks very unlikely this year given the Cardinal’s struggles against Pac-12 teams. And if Stanford finishes below .500 for a third consecutive full season, it’s worth wondering what changes need to be made to get back to heights the school was reaching earlier in the 2000s.

— Nick Bromberg

Cincinnati 28, South Florida 24

It feels like the bye week has come at a good time for Cincinnati. The Bearcats have won five straight after losing at Arkansas in Week 1, but many of those wins have featured uneven performances. That was especially true Saturday.

USF entered the game having lost three straight, including a 38-point loss to Louisville and a 20-point loss to East Carolina. Nonetheless, USF jumped out to a 10-0 lead, led 17-14 at halftime and then took a 24-21 lead early in the fourth quarter at Nippert Stadium.

Cincinnati would go ahead later in the fourth and seal the win with a defensive stop, but it was another lackluster effort from the Bearcats, especially considering the standard the program has set in recent years. UC is dealing with a bunch of injuries, so this bye week will be welcomed before the home stretch of the AAC season.

The Bearcats are still the favorite to win the conference, but this team needs to play at a higher level — especially with trips to SMU and UCF on the horizon.

— Sam Cooper

Extra points

USC 30, Washington State 14: The additions of Caleb Williams and Jordan Addison deservedly got the top billing among the transfers head coach Lincoln Riley brought to USC, but Travis Dye has been just as important. Dye, a running back who left Oregon to join the Trojans, has been an integral part of USC’s 6-0 start to the season.

He has topped the 100-yard mark in four of USC’s six games and was the best player on USC’s offense in Saturday night’s win over a feisty Washington State team. Dye finished the night with 149 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries. With a trip to Utah coming next weekend, Dye will be key if the Trojans can leave a raucous environment in Salt Lake City with a victory.

Clemson 31, Boston College 3: Clemson’s offense has undoubtedly been better this season, but there was a bit of a return to last year’s form on Saturday night. The Tigers ended up wearing down an overmatched BC team over the course of four quarters. But Clemson started slowly as the game was tied 3-3 for much of the first half. Clemson averaged just 4.5 yards per play in the first half and DJ Uiagalelei threw an ugly interception. Clemson is 6-0 and up to No. 4 in the AP Poll but has started slowly on offense in its past two outings. It’s something to keep an eye on with a trip to Florida State coming next week before games vs. No. 18 Syracuse at home and Notre Dame in South Bend.

NC State 19, Florida State 17: Speaking of Florida State, that was a tough loss for the Seminoles on Saturday. FSU had a 17-3 halftime lead in Raleigh, yet allowed the Wolfpack to come from behind and win even after quarterback Devin Leary was knocked out of the game. NC State trusted Jack Chambers, Leary’s backup, enough to throw only one pass, yet he still engineered a comeback victory. If Leary is sidelined for a while, it will be a big blow to an NC State offense that was already struggling with him in the lineup.

San Diego State 16, Hawaii 14: Jack Browning kicked a game-winning 26-yard field goal with seven seconds left to give the Aztecs the win and get them to 3-3. San Diego State started Jalen Mayden at quarterback and he was 24-of-36 passing for 322 yards and a TD. The Mississippi State transfer made the start at QB after seeing significant playing time at safety over the first five games of the season. Mayden had nine tackles over the first five games of the season.