Clemson and Michigan secured a spot in the playoffs on Saturday, but it’s fair to say there are still some questions about both teams.

The No. 21 Tigers were the more convincing team in a 59-35 win over NC State, while No. 18 Michigan needed a late fourth-down touchdown to avoid a second-half collapse in a 27-24 home win over No. 11 USC.

Let’s start in Clemson, where the Tigers’ offense looks a lot different than it did in a 34-3 Week 1 loss to Georgia. Clemson (2-1) has scored 101 first-half points in its last two games since being beaten and opened the scoring less than two minutes into Saturday’s game when QB Cade Klubnik ran 55 yards for a TD.

The Tigers led 28-0 after the first quarter and sailed the rest of the way against an NC State team that fielded a freshman QB in C.J. Bailey, making the first start of his career after former Coastal Carolina QB Grayson McCall was injured in Week 3 against Louisiana Tech. By the time NC State scored 21 points in the fourth quarter, Clemson just wanted to run out the clock.

There’s no denying how good Clemson has looked in its wins over Appalachian State and the Wolfpack, but there’s also the question of how real they are. Appalachian State fell to South Alabama 1-3 on Thursday, and NC State was blown out by Tennessee in Week 2 with a healthy McCall.

Michigan, meanwhile, pulled ahead 3-1 thanks to a heroic effort from Kalel Mullings in the fourth quarter. After USC took its first lead of the game in the fourth quarter, Mullings broke off a 63-yard run before scoring the game-winning TD with 37 seconds left. He rushed 17 times for 159 yards and two TDs, despite no threat from a forward pass from Michigan QB Alex Orji.

Orji was 7-of-12 passing for 32 yards on Saturday as Michigan ran 46 rushing plays. The offensive scheme of running the ball was exactly what coach Sherrone Moore wanted.

Michigan has long been a team that values ​​running the ball more than passing it. But this is a new extreme. Michigan QBs have thrown for 491 yards on 90 attempts through the first four games of the season.

Is it sustainable to keep winning with those passing numbers? The Wolverines certainly hope so, but there’s plenty of reason to doubt it’ll work. There were certainly plenty of Michigan fans pessimistic about the team’s chances of a comeback before Mullings broke up the big run. This is a team that clearly isn’t built to trail in late-game situations.

But it’s also a philosophy that could work throughout October. Michigan’s next four games are against Minnesota, Washington, Illinois and Michigan State before No. 9 Oregon visits Ann Arbor to open November. Given the way Michigan’s defense played on Saturday, it’s not inconceivable that Michigan’s offense does enough without a substantial improvement in the passing game to put the Wolverines 7-1 through the first two months of the season.

Clemson should also keep winning. With Florida State’s struggles, the Tigers appear to be the class of the ACC, along with Miami, and they won’t play a ranked team until they host Louisville on Nov. 2. It’s not too early to imagine a Tigers-Hurricanes matchup for the ACC title, even if you’d like to see a little more of Clemson’s offense to clear the memory of that Georgia game.

Here are this week’s remaining winners and losers.

Winners

James Madison: The Dukes scored 53 points in the first half in an incredible 70-50 victory over North Carolina. QB Alonza Barnett III had the game of the weekend. He was 22 of 34 passing for 388 yards and five touchdowns, while also rushing 13 times for 99 yards and two scores.

JMU mustered 611 yards of total offense on the Tar Heels while UNC lost the ball five times with three fumbles and two interceptions, including a pick-6. It’s an embarrassing loss for North Carolina after the Heels started the season 3-0, but it’s also a vindication for James Madison after coach Curt Cignetti went to Indiana in the offseason and QB Jordan McCloud transferred to Texas State.

West Virginia: The Mountaineers staged a huge comeback after a long thunderstorm delay in their 32-28 win over Kansas. Storms slowed the game in the fourth quarter, and Kansas took a 28-17 lead with 5:39 to go. West Virginia cut the lead to three with 3:27 to go, then scored the go-ahead TD with 26 seconds left when Rodney Gallagher III caught a 15-yard pass from Garrett Greene.

The win moves West Virginia to 2-2 and drops Kansas to 1-3 as QB Jalon Daniels continues to struggle. He fumbled on the Jayhawks’ final possession and also threw an interception. Greene threw two interceptions of his own, but was 15 of 30 passing for 295 yards and rushed 17 times for 87 yards.

Buffalo: The Bulls earned their first win over a ranked team since beating No. 12 Ball State in the 2008 MAC title game with a 23-20 overtime victory over No. 23 Northern Illinois. Buffalo trailed 14-3 at halftime but tied the game in the fourth quarter, taking a 20-17 lead with 3:28 remaining. NIU was awarded a field goal to force overtime, but Kanon Woodill’s 42-yard field goal attempt in OT was blocked. That set up Upton Bellenfant to hit a 37-yarder for the win and demoralize the Huskies in their first game since beating Notre Dame in South Bend.

Indiana: The Hoosiers are 4-0 after an easy 52-14 win over Charlotte at home. Former Ohio QB Kurtis Rourke was 16-of-20 passing for 258 yards and had two total touchdowns while eight players combined to rush 41 times for 222 yards and six scores. Indiana’s opening schedule hasn’t been incredibly tough, with its best win coming at UCLA in Week 3. But with Maryland and Northwestern on the schedule over the next two weeks, Indiana has a very good chance to qualify for a bowl by the end of Week 6 and could even slip into the AP Top 25 on Sunday.

Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson: Johnson took over in the third quarter of Iowa’s 31-14 win over Minnesota. He scored on runs of 15 and 40 yards in the third period to turn a 14-7 Minnesota lead into a 21-14 Hawkeye advantage that they never relinquished. Johnson finished the game with a career-high 206 yards and three TDs on just 21 carries as Iowa improved to 3-1.

Losers

Chestnut brown: The Tigers still have a quarterback problem. QB Hank Brown started for the second time this season but threw three interceptions in the Tigers’ 24-14 home loss to Arkansas. Brown was replaced in the second half by Payton Thorne, the man who started Auburn’s first two games. Thorne found KeAndre Lambert-Smith for a 67-yard TD in the fourth quarter to pull the Tigers within three, but Arkansas went on a 12-play drive that took 6:12 to decide the game on a TD run by Ja’Quinden Jackson. We’ll see who coach Hugh Freeze names the starter for next week’s game against Oklahoma. The game is the first of three straight against ranked opponents for the Tigers.

Memphis: Like Northern Illinois, the good feelings from Memphis’ blowout win over a power conference opponent didn’t last long. The Tigers fell 56-44 at Navy in a game that could be a huge blow to Memphis’ late-season playoff hopes. After ruining Florida State’s run game in Week 3, Memphis was mauled by Navy’s option attack for 361 yards and five TDs on just 39 attempts. The Midshipmen were also effective through the air, as Blake Horvath was 9 of 12 for 192 yards and two scores, in addition to his 90-yard TD run and three other rushing scores.

Virginia Tech: The Hokies have now lost 12 straight non-conference games against power conference opponents after Rutgers claimed a 26-23 road win. The Scarlet Knights led 14-0 in the first quarter and never trailed, though Virginia Tech fought back in the fourth quarter with back-to-back touchdowns to tie the game at 23-23.

Jai Patel hit a 24-yard field goal with 1:56 left, but Kyron Drones threw a third-down interception with 1:24 left to tie the game. After losses to Vanderbilt in Week 1 and Rutgers on Saturday, Virginia Tech’s last non-con win against a tough opponent still dates back to a victory over West Virginia in the 2017 season opener.

Florida International: The Panthers fell to FCS-level Monmouth 45-42 at home after a brutal fumble in the endzone. Monmouth fired a field goal to go up by three with less than two minutes left and FIU drove past the Monmouth 21-yard line with 41 seconds left. Keyone Jenkins completed a pass to Eric Rivers and as Rivers struggled to score after running down the field … he fumbled. Monmouth recovered to end the game.

Houston: It’s going to be a long first season for coach Willie Fritz. The Cougars were blown out 34-0 at Cincinnati to fall to 1-3. QBs Donovan Smith and Zeon Chriss combined to throw for 92 yards and an interception on 21 attempts and Houston also fumbled twice to become the first power conference team to be eliminated in 2024. The Cougars played Oklahoma tough in Week 2, but it’s tough to see more than a few Big 12 wins on the schedule the rest of the season with three of their four home games coming against ranked opponents.