Saturday's America*

 (*Title of the late, great Dan Jenkins' compilation of pieces about college football. Just so you don't think the Blob is committing plagiarism or anything)

Anyway ...

Anyway, I'm borrowing Jenkins' title because Saturday's America was what we had yesterday, and it was once again more proof that Saturday's America beats Sunday's America every day and twice on, well, Sunday. Or Saturday, actually. Or ... oh, hell, you know what I mean.

Saturday's America?

That's what you have when the No. 3, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 8 teams in the nation all go down in the same week.

It's what you have when No. 3 (Penn State) and No. 5 (Georgia) go down at home.

It's what you have when Virginia knocks off  Florida State, and Oregon beats Penn State, and Ole Miss beats LSU, and Alabama beats Georgia.

It's what you have the weekend's biggest clash -- No. 6 Oregon vs. No. 3 Penn State is 3-3 at the half, and then 17-3 in favor of Oregon with 11 or so minutes to play, and then 17-17 at the end of regulation after Drew Allar leads two Nittany Lions' scoring drives in those last 11 minutes.

Penn State then went ahead in overtime, and Oregon tied it, and then Oregon went ahead in the second overtime, and finally the Ducks sealed it 30-24 when a former Purdue standout (Dillon Thieneman) intercepted Allar to end it. 

Saturday's America?

It's what you have when both quarterbacks -- Allar and Oregon's Moore -- do heroic things under suffocating pressure, and Moore prevails by throwing for 238 yards and three scores and picking up a game-on-the-line first down with his legs on fourth-and-1 in overtime.

None of this, of course, even gets into what Ty Simpson and Alabama did, which is snap the nation's longest home winning streak (33 games) by beating No. 5 Georgia 24-21 in Athens. Or what No. 11 Indiana did, which was beat pugnacious Iowa 20-13 in Iowa City on a 49-yard Fernando Mendoza-to-Elijah Sarratt touchdown pass with 1:28 to play.

And how about what Ole Miss did in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium?

Knocked off No. 4 LSU 24-19, that's what. Did it behind a 6-foot backup quarterback with a storybook name (Trinidad Chambliss), who threw for 314 yards and a touchdown and ran for 71 more yards on 14 carries. Added one more chapter of lore in the 114th renewal of a rivalry that goes back to 1894.

You know who was president then?

Grover Cleveland.

Know what was happening on Sunday afternoons in the fall?

Nothing, because the NFL wouldn't be born for another quarter of a century.

Saturday's America wins again.