The day started off quickly. Missouri jumped on LSU 7-0. Quinn Ewers threw a terrible interception that led to a quick Oklahoma Touchdown. Ohio State botched a punt snap that Maryland capitalized on. 5 minutes into kickoff, the favorites trailed 7-0 in each of these games. It looked as if we were in for one of those days where all the favorites struggled or lost.
The early upset potential did not carry throughout the day for most of the top 25 (sorry Notre Dame). Ohio State struggled, but pulled away in the second half. LSU had more firepower in their shootout. Alabama and Texas A&M took turns trying to give the game to each other. Ole Miss won another tight contest with Arkansas.
Georgia, Michigan, and Florida State stayed above the fray today and took care of business in convincing fashion.
The crown jewel of the day was the the most anticipated game of the day. The Red River Shootout.
Oklahoma Is Back (Texas Still Is Too…Probably)
49-0. A score that I am sure haunted and motivated the Sooners for the past year. Oklahoma was thoroughly embarrassed by Texas last year. A rare occurrence in this rivalry during the 21st century. Oklahoma occasionally doled out a couple of beat downs like we saw in 2022, but they were not used to being on the receiving end. When Texas came in with growing support as the #1 team in the country and Oklahoma, while undefeated, had looked a little fraudy in some of their performances, another blowout seemed possible. Instead, a game of the year candidate.
Texas seemed hell-bent on turning the ball over early and often. They spotted Oklahoma an early 7-0 and kept themselves from scoring on a couple of occasions. Fortunately, Texas’ defense and some sloppy play by Oklahoma kept the game close. The trend continued throughout the game. Oklahoma kept blowing chances to build a double-digit lead in the second half. Eventually their inefficiency on offense caught up to them and Texas took a late 30-27 lead.
Gabriel Daniel, who is not exactly the most beloved quarterback to suit up for Oklahoma, now had a chance to etch his name in Sooner lore. He did not disappoint. Oklahoma marched right down the field. On 2nd and goal from the 3, Gabriel side stepped a sack and tossed the ball to Nic Anderson for the game-winning score.
The most consistently entertaining rivalry game in college football lived up to the hype. Oklahoma and Texas appear to be the clear favorites to win the conference in their final season and I expect we will see a rematch in December. Perhaps with a chance to secure a playoff bid on the line.
Quick Hits
LSU 49 - Missouri 39. LSU has become appointment viewing if you like shootouts. Missouri and LSU each moved the ball with ease throughout the game. Luther Burden had another monster game (149 yards on 9 grabs). Jayden Daniels continues to dazzle, accounting for 4 touchdowns and 400 yards of offense, including 130 on the ground.
Ohio State 37 - Maryland 17. Ohio State slept walk through the first twenty minutes of this game as Maryland built up a 10-0 lead. Ohio State got on the board with a pick-six that seemed to finally jolt the Buckeyes awake. Marvin Harrison had 163 yards and a touchdown on the day as the Buckeyes got rolling in the second half. Ohio State continues to show this is not the offensive juggernaut we’ve become accustomed to under Ryan Day.
Florida State 39 - Virginia Tech 17. Florida State looked like they were going to name their score in this one, building a 22-0 lead in the first quarter. Virginia Tech made it a little interesting when they returned the opening kick of the second half to make it 22-17. Florida State quickly hit the gas again and pulled away to win.
Alabama 26 - Texas A&M 20. Whichever team won this game, the other would have felt like they let an opportunity slip away. The Aggies had a chance to take control in the third quarter and could not pull it off. Alabama relied on the talents of transfer receiver Jermaine Burton (197 yards) to propel an offense that did just enough in the face of a relentless pass rush by the Aggies.
UCLA 25 - Washington State 17. The Bruins’ defense shutdown Washington State’s previously formidable offense. UCLA did just enough on offense to pull off the upset. In fact, if not for an impressive pick-six right before the half by Wazzu, this score would have been worse.
North Carolina 40 - Syracuse 7. The Tar Heels did whatever they wanted against Syracuse. The big story from this game was wide receiver transfer Tez Walker finally getting cleared to play after the NCAA confusingly denied his waiver request. North Carolina made a big stink about the denial and it seems they convinced the NCAA to reverse course. His addition makes North Carolina’s offense even more dangerous.
Clemson 17 - Wake Forest 12. Well, the Tigers won. Not much else to be happy about for Clemson fans. Klubnik threw for only 131 yards. The Clemson defense is still legit, holding Wake Forest to under 250 total yards for the game. Dabo nabbed his 165th win as Clemson’s head coach, tying the school record.
Louisville 33 - Notre Dame 20. The Irish seemingly ran out of gas in this one after the consecutive nail-biters against Ohio State and Duke. Running back Jawhar Jordan powered the Cardinals’ second half surge, rushing for 143 yard and two touchdowns against the previously stout Notre Dame rushing defense. We can write off Notre Dame as a playoff contender.
Georgia 51 - Kentucky 13. So much for the Bulldogs looking vulnerable. Georgia dominated this game from minute one. Kentucky never stood a chance. Carson Beck threw for 389 yards and 4 touchdowns. Brock Bowers was on the receiving end for 132 of those yards and one of the touchdowns. Perhaps the Auburn scare was the jolt Georgia needed for its season.
Michigan 52 - Minnesota 10. The Gophers threw a terrible pick-six on the second play of the game. At that point the game was already over. Michigan’s offense continues its methodical efficiency. The defense smothered Minnesota and continued its streak of not facing a play within its own 10 yardline.
Iowa 20 - Purdue 14. I forgot to update this last week. Iowa has scored 131 points through six weeks. They are averaging 21.83 points per game. Cade McNamara being out for the season is not going to help matters.
Plays Of The Week
It was a big day for punt returns. Here are a few of them.
We’ve got a few notable catches.
The best part of the Alabama play is that the bobble allowed him to get his knee off the ground so he could run after the catch and pick up the first down.
A couple of fortunate bounces off a fumble and blocked punt for Lamar, Purdue, and North Carolina.
We also had a couple of ill-advised throw away passes.
The best interception of the day comes off a huge hit and ricochet in Eastern Michigan.
The Eagles have made the rugby scrum style ‘tush push’ play quite popular. Arizona State decided to take the opposite approach from a formation standpoint.
This is loosely reminiscent of what the Colts were trying to pull off against the Patriots several years ago with the infamous failed fake punt. Execution makes all the difference.
College Football Moment Of The Week
We have a few nominees this week. We’ll start with Miami’s absolute choke job against Georgia Tech.
Miami had the ball with a 20-17 lead. It was 3rd and 10 and the clock was running. Georgia Tech is out of timeouts. Miami snaps the ball with 33 seconds to go on the play clock. A kneel down literally ends the game. Instead, Miami hands it off.
Because stupid decisions deserve stupid outcomes, Georgia Tech rips the ball out of the running back’s hands and recover the fumble.
The game should be over. Because of Mario Cristobal’s ineptitude, it is not.
At the same time, Georgia Tech is not exactly in prime scoring position. They have it at their own 26, no timeouts, and 26 seconds left. Miami’s defense should be able to hold up. Nope.
Georgia Tech throws an incompletion on the first play and then hits a 30-yard pass to set them up in Miami territory. After a spike on first down, Georgia Tech runs their next play.
Georgia Tech with the stunner. Mario Cristobal’s game management skills will be front and center this week.
Another nominee is the two-point conversion Southeast Louisiana tried to pull off against Incarnate Word.
I don’t think I need to extrapolate further on this beautiful disaster.
Iowa State wore uniforms to honor Jack Trice this week. They looked sharp when the outfit was complete. In warmups, not so much.
And finally, the winner of the college football moment of the weekend goes to Wisconsin photographer Ethan Bacon.
Tough blow to the family jewels. He let everyone know he was okay by posting his view of the situation in high definition slow motion.
I’ll be off next week attending USC’s game at Notre Dame and probably won’t catch enough of the other games to put a post together.
P.S. I’m writing this as USC is in overtime with Arizona.