CFB Week 4 Takeaways: Shakeups in Big 12, Group of 5 Before Huge Slate

As the headline games of the 2024 college football season draw closer, margins for error are shrinking.

Week 4 tossed an unpleasant dagger at several unbeaten records, most notably for a couple of Big 12 programs and a few Group of Five schools.

While none of those setbacks made a College Football Playoff trip impossible, the losses made that pursuit a lot more challenging.

But there is plenty of good news to go around, too.

Illinois and Louisville stayed unbeaten in advance of their respective showdowns on the road in Week 5, and the SEC...well, the conference's top tier is backing up the league's reputation.

The takeaways are subjective but include a review of notable results and a preview of key upcoming games around the nation.

Friday night at Nebraska, Illinois pulled out an overtime win that improved Bret Bielema's squad to 4-0.

And now, the Fighting Illini have a bigger game up next.

This weekend, they'll head to ninth-ranked, 3-0 Penn State for an impactful Big Ten clash.

Ohio State and Oregon are the league front-runners, but Illinois can demand a little more respect with an upset in Happy Valley.

Penn State, meanwhile, needs to start conference action on a positive note.

The main criticism of James Franklin's tenure is that the Nittany Lions have stumbled in big games.

Falling at home to Illinois would be highly concerning, especially with USC and Ohio State looming.

The winner won't be the Big Ten favorite but will demand some respect as October begins.

I'll probably say a version of this multiple times on a weekly basis: One loss does not ruin the season.

Let's start there.

Every setback still stings, though.

And unfortunately for either Oklahoma State or Kansas State, a second consecutive letdown is inevitable when the programs square off in Week 5.

Oklahoma State had a terrible day on offense in a 22-19 loss to Utah.

The score doesn't look miserable, but the Pokes fell behind 22-3 despite the Utes not having Cam Rising at QB.

OSU benched signal-caller Alan Bowman at halftime, struggled with Garret Rangel and went back to Bowman in a frustrating, very important Big 12 opener.

Late in the evening, Kansas State headed to BYU and imploded.

After jumping to a 6-0 lead, the Wildcats surrendered 31 straight points in what became a 38-9 blowout.

Whichever team falls on Saturday at K-State will no longer have any margin for error in the Big 12 standings.

Clemson's ugly opening loss to Georgia and Florida State's early meltdown have commanded most of the attention in the ACC.

Miami's hot startmore on that shortlyhas landed some headlines, too.

Louisville, which you may recall made the ACC title game last season, is quietly lingering once again.

So far, the Cardinals have cruised past Austin Peay and Jacksonville State and kicked off ACC action with a victory over Georgia Tech.

They've climbed to 15th in the AP poll against that unassuming slate.

That's about to change in Week 5.

Louisville heads to No.

16 Notre Dame for an afternoon clash in South Bend.

Since the Cards toppled the Irish last season, they won't be lacking confidence.

Nevertheless, it's the biggest game of UL's young campaign and a chance to capture some national attention.

You ready for a seemingly endless set of twists and turns in one portion of the College Football Playoff race? Memphis earned a solid win at Florida State last weekend, seemingly confirming itself as a top threat to secure the Group of Five's coveted spot in the expanded 12-team CFP.

Northern Illinois had vaulted into that discussion with a Week 2 upset of Notre Dame, and Toledo even wrecked SEC squad Mississippi State recently.

And they all lost on Saturday.

Navy stunned Memphis 56-44, Buffalo edged NIU 23-20 in overtime, and Western Kentucky stormed back to beat Toledo 26-21.

On the other hand, James Madison went to ACC school North Carolina and picked up a remarkable 70-50 victory.

The upset promptly sent JMU into the discussion with Boise State and Liberty as prime G5 contenders.

We'll keep tracking this storyline every week.

What unfriendly hosts, this Michigan team.

After three unimpressive games on offense, the Wolverines sat Davis Warren and turned to Alex Orji.

The move didn't spark the passing game as Orji trudged to just 32 yards on 12 attempts.

Michigan, though, still won 27-24 behind a physical rushing attack and stout defense.

On the Wolverines' game-winning touchdown drive, they attempted only two passes in 10 snaps.

It was a perfectly imperfect way to introduce USC to the traditional style of several Big Ten programs.

Over the next five weekends, each of Wisconsin (Sep.

28), Penn State (Oct.

12) and Rutgers (Oct.

25) travel to USC.

They'll all bring a run-heavy mentality that the Trojans must be better prepared to defend.

Welcome to your new reality, USC.

Defense wins championships, the old saying goes.

But we've seen overwhelming offenses do that, too.

Through four weeks, Miami and Ole Miss are the most productive scoring attacks in the country.

The former has averaged 605.0 yards and 52.3 pointsboth top-three marks nationallywhile the latter is pacing the FBS with 670.8 yards and 56.0 points per game.

Can the sizzling offenses stay hot in conference? Miami is set to begin ACC action at home opposite rival Virginia Tech on Friday night.

Ole Miss starts SEC play on Saturday afternoon when Kentuckywhich put a major scare into Georgiamakes the trip to Oxford.

Every remaining game is a league contest for both teams.

It's implausible to expect that level of production to continue, but these offenses are about to cause a few sleepless nights for other coaches in their conference.

This week: Georgia at Alabama.

Next week: Missouri at Texas A&M.

The following: Ole Miss at LSU, Texas vs.

Oklahoma.

You get the point.

As conference play becomes the bulk of each Saturday's slate, the SEC is always going to have a marquee game.

There are just so many excellent teams in the league this season.

Texas remains No.

1 in the nation, while Georgia and Alabama are second and fourth, respectively.

Tennessee and Ole Miss follow at fifth and sixth, with Missouri in 11th and LSU in 14th.

The depth of matchups is far greater, of course, but the typical SEC spotlight is about to shine very brightly..

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