College Football Minute

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1. Forget that No. 4 Alabama shut out Texas A&M, 59-0. In seven seasons as a head coach, Kevin Sumlin's up-tempo spread had never failed to score in double digits. But Nick Saban's suddenly inspired bunch wasn't the only old-school defense to hamper a new-wave offense. No. 22 West Virginia, which knocked Baylor from No. 4 to. No. 12 in a 41-27 upset, is relevant again because head coach Dana Holgorsen brought in former Penn State lifer Tom (Scrap) Bradley to run his defense. The Mountaineers allow 73 fewer yards (455 to 382) and six fewer points (33 to 27) per game than a year ago.

2. Another old-school defensive coach, Bud Foster at Virginia Tech, has a unit struggling with another current favorite of offensive schemes: the running quarterback. Pitt's Chad Voytik' 118 rushing yards joins Justin Thomas of Georgia Tech (165 yards), Marquise Williams of North Carolina (94 yards) and J.T. Barrett of Ohio State (70 yards) as their team's leading rusher against the Hokies. The most any tailback has gained against Foster's defense is 85 yards, by the Panthers' James Conner.

3. With four takeaways and no turnovers against Arkansas on Saturday, Georgia leads the FBS in turnover margin at plus-13. That is an attribute the Bulldogs share with the past two BCS champions. Florida State finished last season at plus-17, and Alabama finished the 2012 season at plus-14. Georgia shares one other attribute with those two teams -- defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt. Funny how that works.

Each Sunday during the season, ESPN.com will highlight storylines that had an impact on the College Football Playoff race.

Chris Morris for ESPN

Chris Morris for ESPN

Chris Morris for ESPN

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Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly adamantly disagreed with an offensive pass interference penalty that wiped away a go-ahead touchdown against Florida State, saying he had even less clarity Sunday than he did in the minutes after the 31-27 loss.

"Actually I have less clarity," Kelly said during his Sunday teleconference. "I guess it was actually called on Will Fuller, not C.J. [Prosise.] So [it] just adds more uncertainty as to the final play.

"But again, the play itself, in terms of what we ask our kids to do, it was pretty clear what happened on the play: Florida State blew the coverage and they got rewarded for it. It's unfortunate."

The official play-by-play of the game states that Prosise was called for an offensive pass interference penalty on a 2-yard touchdown pass from Everett Golson to Corey Robinson on fourth-and-goal with 13 seconds left, which would have put the Irish ahead 33-31, with an extra point pending.

The infraction, however, moved Notre Dame back to the 18-yard line, and Golson was picked off by FSU's Jacob Pugh in the end zone on the Irish's final offensive play.

Kelly said he found out afterward that the officials had actually called the penalty on Fuller, and he said that the play was different from Notre Dame's first touchdown play -- a 1-yard pass from Golson to Robinson -- that drew plenty of comparisons.

Kelly said he thinks there was nothing Fuller could have done differently on the play.

"No, I think he's working back inside and he did not go out of his way to impede the defender," Kelly said. "The official that was furthest from the play that had the ability to see it, saw it differently. That's the way it goes."

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