In a weekend that saw two top-10 teams -- as well as four other ranked programs -- lose, there were a lot of memorable moments. There was Iowa State ending its 18-game losing streak to Oklahoma, another incredible finish to a chapter of the Miami-Florida State rivalry, and even Alabama only winning by eight points.
Still, keeping all of that in mind, there was only one moment from the weekend that stood out to me, and it took place in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where the sky opened up and unleashed a rare Midwestern typhoon. It was this moment.
Just what in the hell happened to John O'Korn here?
It was one of the strangest things I can recall seeing during a game, and I needed to get to the bottom of it. There were plenty of theories as to what caused O'Korn to suddenly and violently go flying backward.
Your first instinct is to think he was shoved, but the more you look at it, you realize that wasn't the case. So the next logical thought is that somebody on the Michigan State sideline pulled him down from behind. And if you don't want to believe that's possible, you wonder if maybe O'Korn was flopping on the sideline to draw a flag on the Spartans. It's a rivalry after all, and sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.
The final possibility is that O'Korn slipped. It was raining hard, after all, and sometimes cleats aren't made for walking on a wet sideline. Well, theories aren't enough for me. I needed to investigate.
1. He slipped: This is the easiest one to dismiss. If you slow down the tape and look closely, you see that O'Korn's body doesn't move in a way that would suggest he slipped and fell. His shoulders suddenly move back while his head goes crashing forward in a classic whiplash movement.
That's just not a movement that often happens when a person slips on something. We also don't see O'Korn using his arms to balance himself, which is an involuntary reaction of the body once slippage has commenced. This theory is debunked, but it does lend credence to ...
2. He was pulled down: Now here's where things get interesting. Again, we go to the tape to show the whiplash movement in O'Korn's upper body.
That's certainly something that we could see when a person is pulled down from behind. Of course, if this is the case, then somebody had to do the pulling, but who? No. 34 behind O'Korn is a suspect, but if we look at the tape, we see he didn't do it with his right arm, as it's at his side the entire time.
We can't see 34's left arm at the time of the incident, though after O'Korn goes down, we see that 34's left arm is at his side. I have to believe that, had it been 34, we would have seen more physical movement from him. I'm ready to clear him of any wrongdoing.
Perhaps it was an assistant behind O'Korn. He's to the left of 34 and is the next logical suspect. The problem is that this assistant is holding a Gatorade bottle in his left hand, making it impossible for him to have yanked O'Korn with that hand.
Where things get suspect is with the assistant's right hand. After O'Korn falls, we see the hand, and it is below the assistant's waist.
Was this the hand that pulled O'Korn down, or is this the hand of a man who saw a young man falling and tried to either catch him or at least help him up? The results are inconclusive.
3. He flopped: Since we can't see O'Korn's legs on the video, it's almost impossible to prove this one way or the other. All we know is that the NBA and soccer are two of the fastest growing sports among American millennials, and it's entirely possible this is causing the youth of our country to believe falling without being touched is the best way to win games. Still, that's circumstantial evidence. No conclusions can be drawn from it.
So here we are testing three theories, and we don't have a conclusive result. It's frustrating, and trust me, I was frustrated as I was trying to figure it out. I reached the point where I was willing to try anything I could to get an answer, so, like a desperate detective, I called a psychic hotline. She was of no help, though she did tell me a financial windfall was in my future, so that's kinda cool.
Anyway, after the psychic didn't pan out, I just put the footage through different filters, and you wouldn't believe what I discovered. Just look at this. This is the moment right after O'Korn's body goes flying. Look what you see in front of him.
He was pushed after all. By a ghost. Crazy.
Grudge of the Week
So, ESPN seems to be mad at Washington coach Chris Petersen over comments he made last week. Petersen complained about the late start times his team gets every week. He called them "painful" because "no one" on the East Coast is staying up that late to watch Pac-12 games.
What Petersen didn't do was blame anybody specifically. He could have called out Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott, who secured the conference's television deals, or he could have condemned the networks that ultimately decide when games get played. But he didn't. He just said his team is at a bit of a disadvantage because of its location and how late its games start.
Well, the network that airs those games acted like Petersen insulted the honor of every one of its employees' mothers. First, we got this from Kirk Herbstreit on "College GameDay."
Then, sideline reporter Quint Kessenich using these sugary props to break down Washington's nonconference schedule during its game against California.
Finally, both play-by-play announcer Mark Jones and analyst Rod Gilmore went after Petersen in the booth because he didn't meet with them during the week, Jones going as far as calling Petersen "irascible and somewhat cantankerous." Scott also made his way to the booth to discuss the scheduling situation during the 10:30 p.m. ET kickoff featuring Washington.
If Petersen is "irascible and somewhat cantankerous," I'm not sure what you would call the response to his rather innocuous comments other than petty and rather thin-skinned.
Photo of the Week
I just couldn't stop staring at this photo from play-by-play announcer Jason Benetti from the booth during Purdue's game against Minnesota. That storm rolling in delayed the game for a bit, and Purdue would go on to beat Minnesota, proving that trains make for safer traveling during a storm than boats do.
Stat of the Week
Stanford running back Bryce Love rushed for 152 yards in a win over Utah on Saturday night, giving Love 1,240 yards on the season. He's averaging 206.67 rushing yards per game this season, which is very impressive. How impressive?
Well, assuming Stanford gets to a bowl game this season and plays 13 games -- it could play 14 if it wins the Pac-12 North -- Love will finish the season with 2,687 rushing yards if he keeps up his average.
Barry Sanders' record for rushing yards in a single season, set at Oklahoma State in 1988, is 2,628. Just something to keep an eye on.
Random Ranking of the Week
Tom Petty died a week ago, and although plenty of people have already done tributes, I want to rank the five best Petty songs.
1. "Runnin' Down a Dream"
2. "I Won't Back Down"
3. "You Don't Know How It Feels"
4. "Breakdown"
5. "Free Fallin'"
All rankings are final!
Snapchat Filter of the Week
I have no words.
Voters of the Week
There wasn't anything egregious that stood out this week, but a couple of decisions did catch my eye.
We'll start with Pat Caputo of The Oakland Press, who had Virginia Tech at No. 18 on his ballot last week and left the Hokies off his ballot this week. So one of two things happened here. Either Caputo was so disgusted by Virginia Tech's 23-10 win over Boston College that he decided not to rank it, or he just forgot to list the Hokies. I'm guessing it was the latter, but if it were the former, I'd love to hear the reasoning behind it.
Then there's WBZ Newsradio in Boston's Jonny Miller, who I've featured here before. Miller has TCU at No. 12 on his ballot behind three teams with a loss in Ohio State, Auburn and Oklahoma. No other voter has TCU lower than nine on their ballot.
Student Section of the Week
Hey, it's never too late to get an education.
College Football Playoff Projection of the Week
1. Clemson
2. Alabama
3. TCU
4. Penn State
Until the next Monday After!