Vibes Up/Vibes Down: Week 4

The important thing to note here as this becomes a weekly piece at The Scoop is that we're measuring Vibes by weight class. Ohio State expected to be the No. 1 team in the AP poll at this point in the season. The team right behind them? Not quite. 

VIBES UP:

1. Miami: If you could draw up a list of teams that the Hurricanes would need to beat at home to get South Beach interested in The U again, Notre Dame and Florida might be 2 and 3. After fending off the Irish 27-24 in the opener, Corey Heatherman's defense has allowed 22 points total in their last three contests. Ranked No. 2 for the first time since 2017 -- and the second since 2003 -- Miami fans get two weeks to soak up the sunshine while Mario Cristobal and company spend the next two weeks preparing for a trip to No. 8 Florida State on Oct. 4.

2. Texas Tech: There's nary a more satisfying victory than the one that validates you are what you believed you are. That's the case for Texas Tech 34, Utah 10. In an Irresistible Force vs. Immovable Object battle, Texas Tech's run defense didn't move. The Red Raiders limited the Utes to 101 rushing yards on 31 carries, with a long of eight. A third of the way into their season, Tech is top five nationally in rushing defense, yards per carry, 16th in passing efficiency, ninth in yards per play and 14th in scoring. Tech is 4-0 and inside the AP Top 15 for the first time since 2013. That team started 7-0 and finished 8-5; this team's defense won't allow that to happen. Losing QB1 Behren Morton was a bummer, but backup Will Hammond went 13-of-16 for 169 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions while adding eight carries for 61 yards. 

3. Oklahoma: What is Sooner Magic? It's winning a 24-17 game in which you score an illegal touchdown, have a scoop-and-score overturned because it was ruled an incomplete pass, and then get a key completion confirmed in which the ball was removed from the receiver while on the ground so forcibly it nearly ended up in the stands. All three of those plays involved the same receiver, by the way. With Auburn behind them, Brent Venables will now spend the next three weeks -- the 7th-ranked Sooners are off this week, then host Kent State -- devising a game plan to harass and confuse Arch Manning that is so diabolical it could legally be classified as a hate crime.

4. Indiana: In the search for This Year's Indiana, it seems many forgot to consider Indiana. Curt Cignetti's team set a Big Ten record for most points scored on an AP top-10 opponent, scoring touchdowns on their final seven non-clock-killing possessions. Seven Hoosiers compiled 312 yards and three touchdowns on 6.4 per carry, and Fernando Mendoza hit 21-of-23 passes for 267 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions. Win at Iowa this week, and No. 11 IU will have to weeks to prepare for their trip to No. 6 Oregon. The Ducks may be the best team in the country, but Indiana isn't far behind.

5. Vanderbilt: Vandy is 4-0 for the first time since 2008, and also enjoying their highest ranking since that year's 5-0 start. Those Commodores immediately went on a 4-game losing streak, never scoring more than 14 at any point in the streak. That... won't happen again. After dropping 70 in a revenge win over Georgia State, the 'Dores are hitting marks not seen in more than a century: most single-game points since scoring 76 on Tennessee in 1918, a program-record 8.9 yards per play, and the longest streak of 30-plus point games to begin a season since 1916. Clark Lea's team now gets Utah State before a trip to No. 17 Alabama (crucially, immediately after the Tide plays at No. 5 Georgia) in what's shaping up to be one of the biggest games in school history.

6. Florida State: A team that ranked third-to-last in total offense a year ago now leads the country in yardage. Not only that, FSU leads by over 40 yards per game. This isn't the same Seminoles team, of course, but that's the point. Gus Malzahn's offense leads the nation in yards per carry (min.: 100 attempts) and yards per attempt, and as a result they're first in scoring. Avoid a face plant at Virginia on Friday night and FSU will enjoy its biggest home game since 2014. 

7. North Texas: The winners of consecutive road games for the first time since 2021, North Texas is 2-0 on the road and 2-0 in OT. A win over 1-3 South Alabama on Saturday gets the Mean Green off to their best start since 1977 and gives Eric Morris's team two weeks to prepare for a massive showdown with South Florida. 

8. Michigan: Continuity is important, except when you're Michigan, who moved to 8-0 under interim or acting head coaches since 2023. How do you help your true freshman running back win on the road? You out-run your opponent 290-43. The USC trip in three weeks won't be easy, but there's not a single game on this schedule the Wolverines can't win. That includes You Know Who. Bottom line: the Bryce Underwood era is ahead of schedule. 

9. Texas A&M: Lest we forget, the Aggies are still basking in the glow of their potentially-program-changing win at Notre Dame, and now get a run of three straight SEC home games before a trip to Arkansas. As Kirby Smart loves to say, humility in the SEC is a week away, so Mike Elko's staff is focused solely on Auburn this week. But outside of Kyle Field? They're whispering about a possible top-5 showdown at No. 4 LSU on Oct. 25. 

10. Rice: Rice, who hasn't finished above .500 since 2014, is off to its first 3-1 start since 2001. Scott Abell's offense is 11th in the country in total rushing yards; their 214 carries are the most in the nation. 

VIBES DOWN:

1. Oklahoma State: It doesn't get more over than losing to "little brother" Tulsa at home for the first time since 1951; technically, it's the first home loss in "Oklahoma State" history, since that loss occurred so long ago that the school was known as Oklahoma A&M then. Whatever the name, it's a team that's dropped 11 straight to FBS opponents. This is officially the worst stretch of Cowboy football since the 0-10-1 season of 1991. 

2. Wisconsin: Bad: the Badgers have now lost seven straight games to Power 4 opponents. Worse: only one of those seven was within 15 points. Weird: that one was a 3-point loss to No. 1 Oregon last November.

3. Clemson: In a place where "Best" used to be the standard, Dabo Swinney is now begging to be treated like Clemson is just another ACC program. One can see his point, because that's pretty much what they are. The Tigers are now 1-5 in their last six against the Power 4, and that one win (an upset of SMU in the ACC Championship) now looks like one of the most deceptive, market-shifting wins in recent college football history. I'll close with this.

4. Florida: Let's see, you lost the last scheduled game against on-again/off-again rival Miami for quite a while, perhaps ever, your biggest rivals are all in the AP top-10, your franchise quarterback doesn't rank in the top 100 in passing efficiency, your offense was last seen gaining 141 yards and going 0-of-13 on third down, the unit ranks in the 100s nationally, and your head coach/play-caller won't give up the play sheet. Other than that, everything's going great. 

5. Arkansas: What's worse than losing back-to-back games to Ole Miss and Memphis? Knowing that you beat yourself as much as the Rebels and the Tigers did it to you. Sam Pittman's team easily could be 4-0 and preparing for a once-in-a-generation home game with No. 22 Notre Dame on Saturday (noon ET, ABC), but now it appears the rest of the season is simply waiting for the other shoe to drop on the Pittman era.