CFB Blitz: Early Week 6 takeaways

College Football Blitz recaps the most important developments from the day's top games and examines their significance moving forward.

That's the Nico UCLA wanted

There are 136 programs at the FBS level. Before Saturday, 135 of them had led at some point in a game this season. The only one that hadn't was a UCLA team that's already fired its head coach and offensive coordinator. Surely that state of affairs wouldn't change with No. 7 Penn State coming to town, right? Turns out, the secret to unlocking Nico Iamaleava and the Bruins' attack was 33-year-old Jerry Neuheisel - a man who had never served as an offensive coordinator before this game.

Iamaleava dominated Penn State's defense, throwing for 166 yards and two touchdowns while running 16 times for 128 yards and three scores. The Bruins outgained Penn State 435 to 357 in yardage - a staggering number considering UCLA entered the game 120th in the country in offense. This is a Nittany Lions defense led by arguably the best coordinator in the country, Jim Knowles, who just got schooled by a man making his debut as play-caller.

If UCLA is going to get this kind of performance from Nico going forward, the Bruins are a threat to anyone left on their schedule. If not, they can still be happy about playing spoiler to a Penn State team that started the season No. 2 and is now 0-2 in Big Ten play.

Wilson might save Napier's job

Billy Napier's isn't going to get away with this again, is he? The Florida head coach's firing seemed inevitable last season before the Gators ripped off four straight wins - two against ranked opponents - to close the season and save his job. If he somehow dodges a pink slip this time, it'll likely be due to the performance of freshman receiver Dallas Wilson.

Wilson arrived on campus with tons of hype but had yet to play this season due to injury. Once he hit the field, the woeful Florida offense's fortunes shifted. Texas was powerless against Wilson, and DJ Lagway looked like a future NFL quarterback again. The nation's 116th-ranked offense was suddenly explosive, with Lagway hitting Wilson for six catches, 111 yards, and two scores. The Gators put up over 450 yards on the nation's second-ranked defense and held a double-digit lead for almost the entire second half.

Saving Napier's job is still borderline impossible: The Gators face five ranked opponents in their last seven games and need to run the table to have any shot at the playoff. Wilson's emergence offers Napier the slightest glimmer of hope. If nothing else, whoever takes over in Gainesville next season will have plenty of talent to work with on offense.

2nd-half Alabama restored order

Through the opening 30 minutes of action in Tuscaloosa, it looked as though Vanderbilt might do the unthinkable and take down Alabama for the second season in a row. The game was tied 14-14 and the Commodores were holding their own on the road against the Crimson Tide. But in the second half, Alabama reasserted its place above the plucky underdog and among the class of the SEC.

In the second frame, the Crimson Tide outscored the visitors 16-0, outgained them by over 100 yards, held them to 9 yards rushing, and kept the ball for 19 of the 30 minutes. That's just about the perfect script for salting away a home victory. Hopefully you got your Ty Simpson Heisman bet in weeks ago, because there's not much value left on the budding star passer for the Tide. With 340 more yards and two touchdowns, Simpson has topped the 1,400-yard mark this season with 13 scoring passes against one interception.

Last October's Vanderbilt upset was one of the most electric scenes of the year, but its main catalyst struggled to replicate the result on the road. Although Diego Pavia made plays early, two interceptions and a fumble doomed any chance the Commodores had.

This Tide win is the latest in a ridiculous stretch featuring six ranked opponents in seven games. If Simpson can keep dissecting defenses like he's done the past two weeks, they might just run the whole table.

Polls were dead wrong

The preseason AP poll ranked Texas and Penn State at No. 1 and 2, respectively. Even with one loss each, the most recent AP poll still considered them top-10 teams. We kept both programs outside that threshold earlier this week based solely on their mutual lack of power conference wins - and both teams proved we were right to be skeptical with Saturday's road losses as favorites.

Penn State's defeat at UCLA is by far the more egregious setback (see above). The Nittany Lions looked like the second-best team on the field the entire game and their passing attack once again failed to unlock explosive plays, with Drew Allar's 19 completions going for just 200 yards. We've heard for years that the Nittany Lions lack legit receiving options for Allar. We'll buy that against teams like Oregon, but given the way UCLA has played this year, the Nittany Lions should have been able to get production from their equipment managers out wide.

However, Penn State's real issue Saturday was coaching: An interim boss and a first-time play-caller seemed significantly more prepared than James Franklin and Knowles. An early Bruins touchdown and surprise onside kick immediately indicated this wouldn't be the soft matchup many expected. The end result was the first loss by a top-10 team to an 0-4 program in the last 40 years.

A loss in The Swamp is much more digestible regardless of how Florida looks, but Texas now heads into the Red River Rivalry without a power conference win. It's easy to go after Arch Manning for two more interceptions, but the Gators' defense lived in the Texas backfield all game. Six sacks, eight hurries, and seven tackles for loss ruined any offensive progress for the Longhorns.

With the 12-team playoff, both teams still control their own destiny if they win out. However, it's almost all power conference competition the rest of the way for Penn State and Texas. If the first six weeks of the season are any indication, that's bad news for both.

Facing Belichick cures all offensive woes

Struggling to score? Can't move the ball or generate explosive plays no matter what? Have no fear, there's a cure for all that ails your offense: a healthy dose of Bill Belichick's North Carolina defense.

Clemson's offense has been one of the nation's more disappointing units, failing to score 28 points in an entire game yet this season. That continued Saturday as the Tigers went up against arguably the greatest defensive mind in the history of football - just kidding! The Tigers hit the 28-point mark before the end of the first quarter in Chapel Hill, taking a 28-3 advantage after 15 minutes. The 28-3 scoreline might bring up fond memories from Belichick's NFL days, but Tom Brady ain't walking through that door - which might be the main reason the legendary coach has looked anything but since the quarterback left New England.

By halftime, Clemson piled up 367 yards of total offense and 14 first downs while averaging 10.2 yards per play and 14.8 yards per completion. Nobody summed up the Belichick experience thus far better than this student on the broadcast.

North Carolina is arguably the worst power conference team, which is astonishing given the fanfare surrounding Belichick's hire. According to Josh Dubow of the Associated Press, Belichick's Tar Heels have been outscored by other power conference teams by 29 points per game - the second-worst margin among that cohort.

The Tigers and Tar Heels were both coming off bye weeks, an opportunity to turn things around after rough starts to the season. You'll never guess which head coach made headlines when he was spotted in Nantucket during that time and which one said he spent the week "self-scouting and evaluating everything."

46 straight completions?!

This column doesn't usually touch on FCS football, but completing 46 straight passes in a single game deserves a mention. That's exactly what Western Carolina's Taron Dickens did in a 23-21 victory over Wofford on Saturday. That set the new NCAA record for most consecutive completions in a game - and likely the most at any level of football ever. Dickens finished 53-for-56 for 378 yards and three touchdowns. That stat line raises an obvious question: How did the offense only score 23 points?