First off, I'm glad Hawaii are 2-0 and Rutgers didn't get humiliated by Washington on Friday night.

But...tonight was remarkable.

The 2nd greatest comeback in NCAA history as Josh Rosen led UCLA from 44-10 down in the 3rd quarter to a 45-44 victory I still can't believe I witnessed.

Rosen threw for 391 and 4 TDs-all of them in the 4th quarter.

The last TD was a piece of brilliance on a fake spike.

Yikes.

One TD pass was lucky, but so what?

Rosen took a beating but just kept going and going even when it looked hopeless and would've made sense to quit.

Please Jets, don't destroy this kid when you draft him.

Legend of Josh Rosen grows in epic comeback against Texas A&M
12:01 AM ET
Kyle Bonagura
ESPN Staff Writer

PASADENA, Calif. -- The game was over. Several thousand fans were sure of it as they headed for their cars.

And can you blame them?

It was nearly 100 degrees at the Rose Bowl on Sunday night and late in the fourth quarter, Texas A&M led 44-10. Stick around in the heat to watch one of the worst opening-season losses in UCLA history? No thanks.

Those who did were rewarded greatly.

UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen lived up to his lofty billing while leading the Bruins on five straight touchdown drives, capped by a 10-yard score to Darren Andrews with 43 seconds remaining to secure an improbable 45-44 comeback win.

It was a loss for Texas A&M that somewhat managed to accomplish what usually takes a whole season: It started off great – just how good can this team be? – and then quickly went off the rails. It undoubtedly left the fan base frustrated and, again, wondering just how long coach Kevin Sumlin will be for the job.

Texas A&M and UCLA are more similar than different. Their rosters are loaded with former big-time recruits. They consistently produce NFL players. Neither has won anything of significance in a long time. The parallels are seemingly endless.

Both UCLA coach Jim Mora and Sumlin were hired prior to the 2012 season and provided immediate improvement. Sumlin won 29 games in his first three years; Mora won 29. Since then, however, their tenures have been defined by stagnancy (Sumlin) and regression (Mora).

It's too soon to say who this game affected those narratives.

In the offseason, UCLA seemingly did everything right. Its offense was a disaster last season and Mora blew up the offensive coaching staff. He replaced it with a more experienced, more accomplished one, led by coordinator Jedd Fisch, whose rapport with Rosen, from all accounts, has been good.

At first, though, the results were more of the same. UCLA couldn’t run the ball and Rosen didn’t get enough time to find any sort of a rhythm. But once things finally clicked, they didn’t stop. Despite being pressured on 49 percent of his dropbacks, Rosen completed 35 of 58 passes for 491 yards and four touchdowns. On one of Rosen’s touchdowns, it should be noted, should have been an easy interception. A deep pass went right through the hands of a defender and into Andrews’ hands for a 42-yard touchdown to make the score 44-31.

The win masks some obvious problems for UCLA, but after such a memorable win, those conversations can wait for another day.

A clear turning point came when Texas A&M lost quarterback Nick Starkel to injury, leading 41-10. Once he went down, the Aggies couldn't do anything right.

For the Texas A&M, a loss at this stage of the season is something different.

Since Sumlin has been the coach in College Station, Texas A&M is 20-2 in games played in August and September. In game Nos. 1-8 each year, Sumlin is 30-10. After that, he’s 14-11. In a season in which Sumlin is coaching for his job, an embarrassing loss to start the season was a worst-case scenario.

My son, who goes to UCLA, is very excited! He doesn't go back until September 20 but he got to watch it and if Rosen stays healthy it will make the bus ride from school to the Rose Bowl a lot of fun.

I went to bed in the third quarter because I figured the game was done. I'd already seen so many blowouts this weekend I didn't think I needed to watch another.

He quickly becomes a fan favorite in NY.

ESPN's College Gameday show will be coming to Blacksburg for Saturday's matchup between #2 Clemson and #12 Virginia Tech.

I hope Lee Corso remembers to get extra insurance for his rental car this time ...

Man, the ESPN personnel are not in the least bit subtle when they get butthurt because they think someone said something mean about them, are they?

Talk about unprofessional - it seems like half of the "commentary" of the UW/Cal game has been them trying to disprove Chris Peterson's comments, going so far as to bring on the PAC12 commissioner to talk about how great the rating are for PAC12 night games.

For the record, Peterson was talking about the fans that come to the game - you know, in the actual stadium. No one wants to not get home until after midnight from a football game on a Saturday night.

Morons.

Miami-Florida State was an amazing game.

Oklahoma will plummet in the rankings and Penn State should be the new #3.

I generally like Kirk Herbstreit, but I think he way overstepped with his comment that UW should be grateful to be on TV at all, or however he said it in a condescendingly way.

However, Chris Petersen was also somewhat wrong in saying that no one on the East Coast wants to watch them that late. I live in the Eastern time zone, and me and my buddies always stay up to watch the West Coast games, they are usually way better than the weekly 'Bama-beating-up-a-weak-second-tier-team snoozefests that air earlier.

Not sure I understand Petersen's comments about the local fans and evening start times, either. How is that any different from all of the Thursday night, Friday night, and even Saturday night televised games by East Coast teams that start at 8:00 or 8:30 PM local time? Or am I missing something here?

Petersen's comments about the start times and local times: lots of alumni come from the extended area - there are many that drive from the other side of the Cascades, easily 2 or 3 hours, for a home game. There's also the legendary "sail-gating" as the stadium is adjacent to Lake Washington. When the game starts after dark it hampers pre-game activities, but it also makes it difficult for those long distance drivers since the game ends so late. Besides ensuring people are getting home after midnight (even for the locals since traffic is so bad in the U District), it makes it harder for people to enjoy the games as a family event.

Washington and Washington State BOTH in the Top 10.

Woah!

Friday the 13th bringing nightmares to a couple of teams:

#2 Clemson falls to Syracuse in the Dome 27-24.

Washington State is in danger of having their win streak snapped, currently losing to Cal 20-3.

And by extension, I think it hurts the local economy. I remember as a kid driving to the game with my Dad, leaving early in the morning, eating lunch in town or on campus and eating supper after the game on the way home, getting home maybe about 10 p.m. How many kids get to have that kind of experience when games regularly don't start until 8 p.m.? And who wants to hunt around for a restaurant at midnight? Seems like there's a lot of drive straight to the game, drive straight home. Especially with a schedule that is almost all late games. While some attendance drop can be related to down years, the bitching I hear most is about the predominance of late starts. It's a very common gripe locally.

As for those 8 or 8:30 p.m. local starts, look at your available audience. An 8 p.m. local start on the East Coast is 5 p.m. on the West Coast, 6 p.m. Mountain Time. Oh good. We'll just be off work. An 8:30 p.m. local start Out West is 10:30 or 11:30 p.m. on the East Coast. Over the course of a season, it's easy to see how the Mountain West and Pac-12 teams get shorted for attention by viewers and voters. This contributes to why people Out West believe in East Coast bias.

I've been contracting for ESPN/CBS etc at football games at Boise State for many years now, and with the team's popularity with ESPN, the schedule becomes overwhelmingly late. I've only seen the sun once at gametime in the past two or three years. An afternoon game is a rare anomaly. And yes, it affects attendance. And yes, it can get a bit chilly by the second half. It becomes very much a less enjoyable family experience. Especially for a Thursday game.

Let me mention something else that is happening more and more at ESPN. They're called REMI games — remotely directed and produced. Much of the crew is on site, except for the director, who is back in Connecticut or Florida. It's added fun for us camera guys, because there's about a 3- or 4-second delay between what we're shooting and what the director sees. The next time you see a swish pan on the air, it should make you wonder. I remember a basketball game in which the announcers were also off-site. It was bad.

Clemson was a shocker, but losing Bryant to a concussion is why they lost.

They can still win out and be in the playoffs, but I doubt it.

Falk was pure garbage for Washington State with 6 turnovers. That team is out of the picture.

Yep, I've seen a lot of folks saying they leave the game at half-time so that they can get home at a decent hour.

Other considerations locally are that we're really far north, so at this time of year by the time 7:45 kickoff rolls around it's been dark for well over an hour. Yet another thing that's been pointed out is that UW practices in the morning, so having the team out until midnight is an issue.

No single issue is a "final straw" sort of thing, but taken in aggregate, you can see why Petersen is annoyed, as are local alumni/fans.



Dare I say it.... they Cuog'd it. (Sorry Hank).

Iowa State. Wow, just wow. Who would have thought it?

Penn State choked in a major way to Ohio State.

Bye-bye #2 ranking.

A lot of frauds with high ranking for beating nobody of consequence have been exposed the last few weeks and the rankings should reflect that this week.

Penn State, you my friends are indeed a fraud.

My Alma mater Rutgers who were abominable last year are a shocking 4-5 after beating Maryland today.

The program may be on the rise after a long stretch of failure which came off of the greatest years in the program's history.

Glad the corrupt scumbags who tainted things are gone now.

Hope the Jets were watching the insane Oklahoma-Oklahoma State game today.

Holy crap!

Baker Mayfield lit up OSU (ranked #11 by the way) for just shy of 600 YARDS and 5 TDs as well as one rushing TD.

Mason Rudolph wasn't too shabby for OSU throwing for 448 yards and 5 TDs.

I just pray the Browns don't touch either guy for their sake.

big article today in my local newspaper about all the things the browns have screwed over the years.....hue jackson...."the savior of the franchise"....is 1 - 13

the article talks about how the screwed up the trade for mccarron, and how they offered more than the 49ers for garappolo, but the pats still traded him to the niners ( insinuations of garrapolo not wanting to go to cleveland, but nothing concrete. carson wentz also mentioned.

everyone around here is talking about how they will fuck up the draft this year, they have a ton of picks.

well, the effigy's of urban meyer should start to be seen around campus in columbus this week. 2 losses is unacceptable in that place. and heisman talk of j.t. barett should also be put to rest.

so, alabama lost to clemson, beat up division III mercer and sat on their couch's over the weekend as ohio state beat an undefeated team.

and alabam gets in the championship and OSU does not.

guess saban has more power then meyer.

and the NCAA should just make it a final 3 and put alabama in the final 4 at the beginning of the year.