This is why we love college football.

LSU Triumphs

Joe Burrow has gone from backing up Dwayne Haskins to establishing himself as arguably the best quarterback in the nation. Has a grad-transfer quarterback ever meant so much to a team? He’s the owner of the best completion percentage in the history of college football. By the end of the year, he may go down as the greatest quarterback in LSU history. It’s crazy to think where this all started for him.

What I think gets lost in everything is he’s been this good all along. I certainly don’t blame him for losing out to eventual Heisman-finalist Dwayne Haskins for the starting job at Ohio State. Does anyone? And it’s not like Haskins ran away with that job, Burrow gave it a helluva run.

Anyway, LSU beat Alabama yesterday for the first time in eight years. They looked dominant at times. Dare I say, they looked like the best team in the nation at times.

Lovie Smith’s Going Bowling

That was the worst loss of Mark Dantonio’s career. Furthermore, it is a perfect representation of the last four years of Michigan State football.

I’m just going to be happy for Illinois. They’ve been through a lot since Ron Zook left. Hell, they were going through it while he was there. But this is the first time that Illinois has been an exciting team since Juice Williams was in Champagne.

Lovie Smith is having fun. The beard is beautiful. It looks like the players are having fun and leaving it all out there. At 6-4, Illinois is eligible for a bowl. They finish up with Iowa and Northwestern. At the very worst, they should finish 7-5. If they beat Northwestern AND Iowa, we’ve got something really special here.

Tennessee is Kinda Back

After starting 0-2 then getting to 1-4 it looked like Tennessee was done. Another coaching search was looming. There were deaths of empty seats in the great Neyland Stadium.

The Volunteers are now now 5-5. Along the way they’ve beaten South Carolina, Mississippi State and Kentucky. Don’t get me wrong, this team still has plenty of issues. But they’re finding ways to win games. They’re playing good defense, and doing just enough on offense and special teams.

They kindof remind me of Illinois. They started out real bad. But they’ve got a chance to finish really strong. Missouri and Vanderbilt still remain. I’ve gotta think they win at least one of those.

Random Things

Oregon and Utah are very alive in this playoff race.

Penn State is in serious trouble. They’ve still got Ohio State on the menu.

Minnesota is the best P5 story this year. PJ Fleck’s got that fanbase believing, big-time.

+100 respect to Matt Campbell for going for the win in Norman. The dude’s got some serious stones, and he’s about to get absolutely paid in this coaching carousel.

Baylor is still undefeated!

#9Windiana is within reach.

Fun Fax

Illinois’ 25-point comeback is the biggest comeback in school history.

Joe Burrow went into Saturday’s game with the best completion % in the history of the sport. It got even better after LSU’s win over Alabama.

With Indiana being ranked in the AP top 25 today, the longest P5 AP drought now belongs to Purdue. The Boilermakers have been unranked since 2007.