GameDay Final: Ending September with a sinking feeling

— -- The month of September rarely defines a college football season.

If it did, Kenny Hill would have a Heisman Trophy and Baylor and Oregon would have a few national championship trophies.

But it's sure starting to feel like this September had more definition than most for some of the sport's heavyweights. Some of the teams we expected to be really good, including LSU and Notre Dame, aren't very good at all.

It's not just LSU and Notre Dame. It's Oregon. It's USC. It's Michigan State. And it's Georgia. Sure, those teams can turn it around with three-fourths of their seasons remaining. But it's also possible, after watching them for four weeks, that we were flat-out wrong about them in the preseason.

Remember when we thought that LSU might challenge defending national champion Alabama in the SEC West? The Tigers couldn't even beat Auburn in a game in which Gus Malzahn's team didn't score a touchdown.

During his dozen seasons as LSU's coach, we've grown accustomed to Les Miles pulling something out of his hat when games are on the line. It looked like he was going to do it again at Jordan-Hare Stadium. LSU appeared to score the winning touchdown with no time remaining in a thrilling finish. On the game's final play, LSU quarterback Danny Etling rolled to his right and fired into the end zone for D.J. Chark, who made a spectacular catch on the sideline for the winning 15-yard touchdown. LSU players celebrated wildly, but the score was overturned by instant replay, as it was ruled LSU didn't snap the ball before time expired.

Miles' penchant for late-game magic has suddenly become his curse. He seems to be out of ideas about how to turn LSU around, and it might be time for a change (for real this time).

"I don't know if I've ever come as close to winning a game and finishing second as today," Miles said.

A year after Miles survived a coup to oust him, he might be unable to save his job again. Then-No. 5 LSU lost to Wisconsin 16-14 in its opener. And after losing to Auburn, LSU will probably have to run the table to win the SEC West. LSU still faces five games against ranked foes, including a Nov. 5 home game against No. 1 Alabama.

It seems premature to write off LSU so soon, but the Tigers aren't the only team to be limping into October. Some preseason prognostications saw Notre Dame as a dark horse to make the College Football Playoff. But after falling to Duke 38-35 at home, the Fighting Irish are 1-3 for the first time since 2010, which was coach Brian Kelly's first season. After the game, Kelly said no starting job is safe on his team. That's how bad the Fighting Irish have looked so far.

"If you want to play for me moving forward, you better -- I don't care what your r?sum? says, I don't care if you were a five-star [recruit], if you had 100 tackles or 80 receptions or 30 touchdown passes -- you better have some damn fire and energy in you," Kelly said. "We lack it. We lack it -- severely."

The Fighting Irish weren't the only ones. Oregon spent much of the past decade in contention for Pac-12 titles. But Colorado surprised Oregon 41-38 at Autzen Stadium for the Buffaloes' first victory over the Ducks since joining the Pac-12 in 2011.?

Colorado won while playing without starting quarterback Sefo Liufau; backup Steven Montez threw for 333 yards with three touchdowns and ran for 135 yards with one score. He's the first player in Colorado history to pass for 300 yards and run for 100 in the same game.

"I've never been in a train wreck," Oregon coach Mark Helfrich said. "But that's probably what it would feel like."

That's probably exactly how Georgia feels. The No. 12 Bulldogs lost for the first time under new coach Kirby Smart, and it was ugly. No. 23 Ole Miss routed Georgia 45-14, marking the Rebels' biggest win over a ranked foe since 1969.

Ole Miss rebounded after blowing a 22-point lead in a loss to Florida State in its opener and a 21-point lead in its loss to Alabama last week.

"I can't think of a time in my lifetime where a team has done that to Georgia," Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said.

It's probably time to reassess a few other teams, but for entirely different reasons. Wisconsin, which was unranked in the preseason, might be the best team in the Big Ten West.

The Badgers walloped No. 8 Michigan State 30-6 in East Lansing. It was the Spartans' most lopsided home loss since 2009. Of course, we'll learn a lot more about Wisconsin in its next two games, when it plays at No. 4 Michigan and hosts No. 2 Ohio State.

Texas A&M, and not LSU, might be No. 1 Alabama's biggest threat in the SEC West. The No. 10 Aggies routed No. 17 Arkansas 45-24 in Arlington, Texas. Texas A&M is 4-0 for the third straight year, but this team seems built to avoid the second-half swoons that plagued the Aggies in each of the previous two seasons.

Texas A&M quarterback Trevor Knight, an Oklahoma transfer, has provided much-needed stability to the offense. He passed for 225 yards and two touchdowns and also ran for 157 yards and two scores against the Razorbacks.

"We're trying to grow with Trevor," Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin said. "I think tonight, he struggled early throwing, but he got running, and that was it. Somebody asked me what his best stat is, and I said it's winning."

Winning has probably never felt better for Tennessee. The No. 14 Volunteers trailed No. 19 Florida by three touchdowns late in the first half and seemed well on their way to their 12th consecutive loss to the Gators. But then Tennessee reeled off 38 consecutive points in a stunning 38-28 victory at Neyland Stadium. Suddenly,?the Volunteers look like the team to beat in the SEC East. More importantly, they displayed a backbone that seemed to be missing for much of the past decade.

Only a month into the 2016 season, we're still assessing which teams are overrated and which teams are actually really good -- like really, really good (except Alabama; we're sure about the Crimson Tide). We can be more patient separating the pretenders from the contenders.

That's what October is for.

Playoff teams after Week 4

1. Alabama : The Crimson Tide lost their top two tailbacks, Damien Harris and Bo Scarbrough, to injuries but still cruised to a 48-0 shutout of Kent State, Alabama coach Nick Saban's alma mater. Tide freshman Joshua Jacobs ran 11 times for 97 yards and two touchdowns.

2. Ohio State : The Buckeyes had the week off before hosting Rutgers and Indiana for their next two games. They'll get a big test at Wisconsin on Oct. 15.

3. Louisville : The Lamar Jackson Show continued in a 59-28 rout at Marshall. Jackson threw for five more touchdowns against the Thundering Herd. He's responsible for 25 touchdowns through four games.

4. Michigan : The Wolverines routed Penn State 49-10 -- for their fourth straight game with at least 45 points. It's the longest such stretch by a Big Ten team to start the season since Penn State in 2008.

Next four in contention

1. Clemson : Clemson's defense was absolutely dominant in a 26-7 win at Georgia Tech on Thursday night, holding the Yellow Jackets to 124 yards of offense. Tech averaged only 2.5 yards on 38 rushing attempts.

2. Houston : The Cougars were nearly flawless in a 64-3 rout of Texas State. They piled up 563 yards of offense, allowed only 33 rushing yards and had zero penalties and turnovers.

3. Stanford : The Cardinal survived with a 22-13 victory at UCLA, setting up a big showdown at Washington on Friday night. Stanford quarterback Ryan Burns went 5-for-8 for 66 yards and threw an 8-yard touchdown to JJ Arcega-Whiteside with 24 seconds left on the winning drive.

4. Wisconsin : After upsetting then-No. 5 LSU in the opener and No. 8 Michigan State on Saturday, the Badgers have now defeated multiple AP top-10 opponents in the same season for the first time since 1962.

Heisman candidates

1. Lamar Jackson, QB, Louisville: Jackson continued to look like a runaway Heisman winner in a 59-28 win at Marshall, passing for 417 yards and five touchdowns and running for 62 yards with two scores against the Thundering Herd.

2. Christian McCaffrey, RB, Stanford: UCLA's defense did a nice job slowing down McCaffrey at the Rose Bowl, especially by not giving him opportunities on special teams. He ran for 138 yards on 26 carries, his third straight game with more than 100 yards.?

3. Greg Ward Jr., QB, Houston: Ward's ailing right shoulder looked fine against Texas State. He completed 20 of 26 passes for 289 yards with two touchdowns and ran seven times for 39 yards with one score before taking a seat in the second half.

4. Deshaun Watson, QB, Clemson: After a slow start this season, Watson had his best game against Georgia Tech, completing 32 of 48 passes for 304 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. He also ran 12 times for 36 yards.

Tweets of the night

Best moments

Best plays

Worst plays

1.?Somehow, replay officials confirmed a ruling on the field that this hit on Stanford's Francis Owusu was not targeting.?

2. We don't see Michigan State self-destruct very often, but that's exactly what the Spartans did on Saturday. MSU's LJ Scott fumbled, and Wisconsin's Leo Musso returned it 66 yards for a touchdown.

3. Florida's Antonio Callaway tried to make a fair catch at his team's 2-yard line and fumbled. He caught another punt at Florida's 2 in the fourth quarter.

Quotes of the night

1. "I support our guys. I think this is something. It's not going away, it's gonna keep happening." -- Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, when asked about some players raising their fists during the national anthem.

2. "I guess they have decisions that people have to make. As long as it's done in a peaceful way, this is America. That's what the flag stands for. It stands for the freedom to do what you need to do. That's the beautiful thing about this country." -- Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio, when asked about three of his players raising their fists during the anthem.

3. "Every position, all 22 of them, will be evaluated. Each and every position. There is no position that is untouchable on this football team. And that's the quarterback, all the way down to -- maybe the long snapper's OK. We're not going to touch him. But everybody else is vulnerable." -- Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly

4. "Just pride in who our kids are. That's how we are supposed to play football. And maybe we've had a little too much success and we had forgotten that. Maybe being 21-point underdogs was a good thing, for a change." -- Duke coach David Cutcliffe

Stats that matter

1. 270: Syracuse receiver Amba Etta-Tawo had a school-record 270 receiving yards and two touchdowns in the Orange's 31-24 win over Connecticut. The previous record was 249 yards, set by Scott Schwedes against Boston College in 1985.

2. 16: North Carolina's Ryan Switzer set a school record with 16 receptions in the Tar Heels' 37-36 win over Pittsburgh. Switzer finished with 208 receiving yards and one touchdown.

3. 31: Arizona State rallied to score 31 points in the fourth quarter to beat California 51-41. It's only the second time in the past five years that an FBS team scored at least 30 points in the fourth quarter to come from behind and win. Both such games came against Cal.

4. 17: Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly threw two touchdowns against Georgia, which was the 17th consecutive game in which he threw a touchdown pass, breaking Eli Manning's school record of 16 straight set in 2002.