Stock Up, Stock Down (9.4.25)
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
Stock Up, Stock Down (9.4.25)
Carson Beck looked comfortable and confident, throwing for 205 yards and 2 touchdowns against a very good Irish defense. Dani Dennis-Sutton had the numbers — 1 sack, 2.5 TFLs, and 2 forced fumbles — but there was an additional ferocity I thought he displayed. Cal was projected to be one of the bottom-feeders of the ACC, and while it still might be, it appears the Golden Bears have themselves a quarterback. Oregon State and Washington State, two programs who were once a part of the “Power conferences” have been left behind. Both the Beavers and Cougars showed the fight that last season was going to be, and showed that they can compete with the top teams in the country. The biggest losers in the conference thus far have been Oregon and Washington, who were both once part of a Power 5 conference and are now in a non-Power 5 conference. The real winners in the ACC have been Clemson and Miami, both of whom could challenge for the title.
Miami
Heading into the season, everyone and their mother had Clemson as the ACC winner. Well, after one weekend of football, I think that might have changed as Clemson lost to LSU while Miami beat Notre Dame, potentially shifting the vibes for who the leader of the pack in the ACC will be.
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Now sure, those two games were meaningless in the grand scheme of who will win the ACC. But Clemson showed something Penn State fans are quite familiar with: when the Tigers don’t have a distinct talent advantage over an opponent, they struggle. Conversely, Miami rose to the occasion, somehow overcoming Late Game Mario Cristobal’s philosophy of “literally stop trying, the clock will run out.”
The Hurricanes had three real questions for me coming into the season:
How does Carson Beck look taking over for Cam Ward? How do you replace your top six pass catchers from a year ago? Could new defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman really make a difference?
At least on Sunday night, they answered all those questions quite well. Beck looked comfortable and confident, throwing for 205 yards and 2 touchdowns against a very good Irish defense. Receivers like Malachi Toney, CJ Daniels, and Keelan Marion came down with timely grabs.
And the defense is led by one of the nastier defensive lines in the country, with Ruben Bain, Akheem Mesidor, and David Blay (:angry face:) making plays throughout the night.
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I still have questions about Mario Cristobal not Mario Cristoballing this thing, but I thought Miami was the biggest winner of the weekend.
Dani Dennis-Sutton
Paul George is a nine-time NBA all-star, has made an All-NBA team six times, an All-Defensive team four times, and is a lock for the NBA Hall of Fame. And yet, when you’ve watched George during an NBA game over the years, he’d sometimes go through spurts where you didn’t even realize he was out there. For someone who was supremely talented enough to average 28 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 4.1 assists during the course of an NBA season, he’d occasionally go through like an eight-minute period where you had to ask yourself, “Wait, where has George been?”
In some sense, that’s how I’ve felt at times about Dani Dennis-Sutton. An incredibly talented defensive end who has the numbers when it comes to sacks and TFLs, but someone who wasn’t “felt” on a down-to-down basis. That started to change late last season after he got healthy from a groin injury suffered against Wisconsin, but I really thought you noticed a difference on Saturday. Dennis-Sutton had the numbers — 1 sack, 2.5 TFLs, and 2 forced fumbles — but there was an additional ferocity I thought he displayed. That feeling that other teams got about Abdul Carter, it felt like DDS actually had that. Good sign of things to come if that continues on.
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Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele
Cal was projected to be one of the bottom-feeders of the ACC, and while it still might be, it appears the Golden Bears have themselves a quarterback. Despite landing Ohio State transfer Devin Brown out of the transfer portal, Cal opted to started its star freshman Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele…who it also landed out of the transfer portal, technically. JKS was committed to Cal and then flipped to Oregon late in the process. He enrolled at Oregon, where he spent about a week before entering the transfer portal and flipping back to Cal. College football in 2025, folks.
Anyway, while the end of his recruitment was flakey, JKS’s game is anything but. The 6-foot-3 thickly built lefty QB looks like the next great Hawaiian quarterback, as he shined in his debut putting up 234 yards and 3 touchdowns on Oregon State, dropping dime after dime.
I’m fascinated to see how JKS does the reason of the season, and then how Cal and him handle the offseason. Obviously given his previous transfer from Oregon, he has a comfortability at Cal. But will that be enough for what could could be coming during the portal period?
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Stock Down
Oregon State and Washington State
The biggest losers in conference realignment thus far has been Oregon State and Washington State, two programs who were once a part of the “Power” conferences who have now been left behind. Both the Beavers and the Cougars showed good fight last season — going 5-7 and 8-4 respectively — but I can’t help but feel this season will be a harsh reminder of the reality of their situations.
Week one might be a foreshadowing of what’s to come. Oregon State got blown out 34-15 by the aforementioned Cal Golden Bears on its home field — yikes. Meanwhile, Washington State scraped by an FCS Idaho team 13-10 that’s in a rebuilding season after losing its head coach Jason Eck to New Mexico — double yikes.
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It’s a shame because just a few seasons ago both these programs appeared on the rise. Oregon State finished the 2022 season ranked No. 14, while Wazzu had a young quarterback by the name of Cam Ward. Now, just a few years later, and they are less relevant than ever.
Steve Sarkisian
*James Franklin voice* Hello, Sark. Welcome to hell.
In all seriousness, it does feel like the the honeymoon period with Steve Sarkisian is over at Texas. Now it’s about actually winning, and losing another top five game where his quarterback and offense looked out of sorts was only grease to the fire.
The UCLA Road Game On October 5th
While the Iowa game was/is getting most the buzz for Penn State’s toughest road game outside of Ohio State, I wondered during the offseason if fans were overlooking the roadie to UCLA. It came at a weird point on the schedule — right after what will be an emotional win or loss against Oregon — and with the addition of Nico Iamaleava, the Bruins had a real opportunity to build on Deshaun Foster’s 5-7 season.
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Well, the “building” part might not be happening. UCLA struggled mightily in its home opener against Utah, losing 43-10 as Iamaleava struggled for the entire night.
While Iamaleava is getting much of the blame, equal parts should be going to a Bruins offensive line that gave him essentially no time to throw. The Utes were in the backfield all night, which as a Penn State fan, bodes well for the game on October 5.
Stock Up, Stock Down (9.4.25)
Carson Beck looked comfortable and confident, throwing for 205 yards and 2 touchdowns against a very good Irish defense. Dani Dennis-Sutton had the numbers — 1 sack, 2.5 TFLs, and 2 forced fumbles — but there was an additional ferocity I thought he displayed. Cal was projected to be one of the bottom-feeders of the ACC, and while it still might be, it appears the Golden Bears have themselves a quarterback. The biggest losers in realignment thus far have been Oregon State and Washington State, who were once a part of the “Power Five” conferences. Both Beavers and Cougars showed good fight last season — going 5-7 and 8-4 respectively — but I can’t help but feel this season will be a harsh reminder of the harsh reality of the Power 5 conferences. It’s going to be a long season, but I’m looking forward to seeing how it all plays out in New York City in September.
Miami
Heading into the season, everyone and their mother had Clemson as the ACC winner. Well, after one weekend of football, I think that might have changed as Clemson lost to LSU while Miami beat Notre Dame, potentially shifting the vibes for who the leader of the pack in the ACC will be.
Now sure, those two games were meaningless in the grand scheme of who will win the ACC. But Clemson showed something Penn State fans are quite familiar with: when the Tigers don’t have a distinct talent advantage over an opponent, they struggle. Conversely, Miami rose to the occasion, somehow overcoming Late Game Mario Cristobal’s philosophy of “literally stop trying, the clock will run out.”
The Hurricanes had three real questions for me coming into the season:
How does Carson Beck look taking over for Cam Ward? How do you replace your top six pass catchers from a year ago? Could new defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman really make a difference?
At least on Sunday night, they answered all those questions quite well. Beck looked comfortable and confident, throwing for 205 yards and 2 touchdowns against a very good Irish defense. Receivers like Malachi Toney, CJ Daniels, and Keelan Marion came down with timely grabs.
And the defense is led by one of the nastier defensive lines in the country, with Ruben Bain, Akheem Mesidor, and David Blay (:angry face:) making plays throughout the night.
I still have questions about Mario Cristobal not Mario Cristoballing this thing, but I thought Miami was the biggest winner of the weekend.
Dani Dennis-Sutton
Paul George is a nine-time NBA all-star, has made an All-NBA team six times, an All-Defensive team four times, and is a lock for the NBA Hall of Fame. And yet, when you’ve watched George during an NBA game over the years, he’d sometimes go through spurts where you didn’t even realize he was out there. For someone who was supremely talented enough to average 28 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 4.1 assists during the course of an NBA season, he’d occasionally go through like an eight-minute period where you had to ask yourself, “Wait, where has George been?”
In some sense, that’s how I’ve felt at times about Dani Dennis-Sutton. An incredibly talented defensive end who has the numbers when it comes to sacks and TFLs, but someone who wasn’t “felt” on a down-to-down basis. That started to change late last season after he got healthy from a groin injury suffered against Wisconsin, but I really thought you noticed a difference on Saturday. Dennis-Sutton had the numbers — 1 sack, 2.5 TFLs, and 2 forced fumbles — but there was an additional ferocity I thought he displayed. That feeling that other teams got about Abdul Carter, it felt like DDS actually had that. Good sign of things to come if that continues on.
Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele
Cal was projected to be one of the bottom-feeders of the ACC, and while it still might be, it appears the Golden Bears have themselves a quarterback. Despite landing Ohio State transfer Devin Brown out of the transfer portal, Cal opted to started its star freshman Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele…who it also landed out of the transfer portal, technically. JKS was committed to Cal and then flipped to Oregon late in the process. He enrolled at Oregon, where he spent about a week before entering the transfer portal and flipping back to Cal. College football in 2025, folks.
Anyway, while the end of his recruitment was flakey, JKS’s game is anything but. The 6-foot-3 thickly built lefty QB looks like the next great Hawaiian quarterback, as he shined in his debut putting up 234 yards and 3 touchdowns on Oregon State, dropping dime after dime.
I’m fascinated to see how JKS does the reason of the season, and then how Cal and him handle the offseason. Obviously given his previous transfer from Oregon, he has a comfortability at Cal. But will that be enough for what could could be coming during the portal period?
Stock Down
Oregon State and Washington State
The biggest losers in conference realignment thus far has been Oregon State and Washington State, two programs who were once a part of the “Power” conferences who have now been left behind. Both the Beavers and the Cougars showed good fight last season — going 5-7 and 8-4 respectively — but I can’t help but feel this season will be a harsh reminder of the reality of their situations.
Week one might be a foreshadowing of what’s to come. Oregon State got blown out 34-15 by the aforementioned Cal Golden Bears on its home field — yikes. Meanwhile, Washington State scraped by an FCS Idaho team 13-10 that’s in a rebuilding season after losing its head coach Jason Eck to New Mexico — double yikes.
It’s a shame because just a few seasons ago both these programs appeared on the rise. Oregon State finished the 2022 season ranked No. 14, while Wazzu had a young quarterback by the name of Cam Ward. Now, just a few years later, and they are less relevant than ever.
Steve Sarkisian
*James Franklin voice* Hello, Sark. Welcome to hell.
In all seriousness, it does feel like the the honeymoon period with Steve Sarkisian is over at Texas. Now it’s about actually winning, and losing another top five game where his quarterback and offense looked out of sorts was only grease to the fire.
The UCLA Road Game On October 5th
While the Iowa game was/is getting most the buzz for Penn State’s toughest road game outside of Ohio State, I wondered during the offseason if fans were overlooking the roadie to UCLA. It came at a weird point on the schedule — right after what will be an emotional win or loss against Oregon — and with the addition of Nico Iamaleava, the Bruins had a real opportunity to build on Deshaun Foster’s 5-7 season.
Well, the “building” part might not be happening. UCLA struggled mightily in its home opener against Utah, losing 43-10 as Iamaleava struggled for the entire night.
Source: https://sports.yahoo.com/article/stock-stock-down-9-4-144426907.html