Never in the annals of college football have we had 11 ranked teams go down to defeat in one weekend. Yes, there were a couple of head-to-head match ups in the top 25, but having the number second, third, fourth, sixth and eighth-ranked teams lose all in the same weekend was unthinkable. There surely has to be an explanation for the disaster that was week six. I watched with shock and awe as team after team went down in flames and wondered out loud if this was the beginning of the greatest run to the national championship that anyone could have ever scripted. The polls were turned upside down with four favorites ousted from the ranks. Florida State picked the right week to be playing Wake Forest and cruised back into the top slot, while Ohio State made a solid move upwards with a decisive victory over Maryland.
Week Six Changes the Future of College Football
I faithfully stated last week that the SEC would have at least two upsets but never figured that both would come out of the state of Mississippi. Alabama came into the Ole Miss game as the prohibitive favorite and nothing suggested anything less than that would happen. The Crimson Tide got a fortuitous non-penalty just before the half, pounced on a loose ball and went into the locker room up 14-3. What happened next would easily fill up the commercials for your favorite energy drink. Ole Miss did not collapse, and actually seemed to get stronger as the game progressed. Bo Wallace was not spectacular, but efficient, throwing three touchdown passes, as the Rebels won the biggest game in recent memory in Oxford. It was Wallace’s time to shine and he ate up the adulation.
Over in Starkville, on the other side of the state, it was more of the same as quarterback Dak Prescott stood tall in the saddle and out dueled Kenny Hill and the Texas A&M Aggies. Both quarterbacks threw for miles all afternoon, but the stout Bulldogs defense made some huge stops along the way and turned the SEC West into absolute chaos. Running back Josh Robinson was a big difference maker lugging the ball 17 times for 107 yards and two touchdowns. Hill took a bit of a Heisman hit with the misery of 3 interceptions even though he also tossed four touchdowns. The Aggies gave up 48 points to the Bulldogs and no magic was going to top that. The Mississippi teams now enter the playoff conversation for the near future.
Marcus Mariota is not superman. In fact without his offensive line firing on all cylinders, Mariiota will be hard pressed to get out of the Pac-12 North. Quarterback Anu Solomon and his Arizona team seemed to match up pretty well with the Ducks and this victory at Autzen Stadium proves that last year’s takedown was no fluke. This victory will get the Wildcats into the right frame of mind before their upcoming game with USC. Things don’t get much easier for the Ducks with a head-to-head match against UCLA as the next roadblock. A win over the Bruins makes the Pac-12 as chaotic as the SEC.
Utah State put a dagger into the plans of the BYU Cougars. The BYU schedule looked manageable, with the one proviso that Utah State was a very good opponent. Come Saturday morning after the Aggies had pounced on the Provo faithful, there were no more undefeated teams in the state of Utah. Darell Garretson had a great day at the helm of the Aggies with three touchdowns and 321 yards for his efforts against what was supposed to be the Cougars’ strength. If Notre Dame continues to win then BYU is out of the conversation for a berth in the playoff.
Speaking of the Irish, Everett Golson continues to add to his legacy at Notre Dame with another last minute nail biter against the Stanford Cardinal. The Blue and Gold will now have their version of “The Catch” if they can continue this run into playoff contention. The end zone cliff hangar sent the Notre Dame faithful home in a tizzy. Meanwhile another knife went into the Cardinal tree trunk as their season comes unraveled with two losses at the halfway point of their campaign. These two schools certainly seem to be headed in opposite directions.
Auburn decimated the LSU on the weekend and kicked the Bayou Bengals right out of the Amway Coaches Poll. Nick Marshall and his potent offense had things their own way all afternoon and the 87,000 plus at Jordan Hare stadium were in full throat watching this takedown. Les Miles threw his hat into the ring with Brandon Harris at quarterback and it was not a night to remember. With Wisconsin losing on the weekend, LSU cannot even rely on an out-of-conference signature win to get back into the conversation. There will be no playoff for the LSU Tiger fans. Lest we get too far ahead of ourselves, Auburn’s next foe is undefeated Mississippi State on the road.
If you want to talk about signature wins, then the TCU takedown of Oklahoma on Saturday puts the Big 12 in good shape moving forward. The Horned Frogs went toe to toe with the Sooners and their defense once again provided a bend but don’t break mentality against the onrush of the OU attack. Trevor Knight didn’t do himself any favors however with a terrible 14-35 day passing and two untimely interceptions. The Horned Frogs kept dialing up the pressure on defense and Knight had no response. Coach Gary Patterson has to be happy to get that important Big 12 win finally under his belt, so TCU can move confidently forward. Baylor and TCU are now at the top of the Big 12.
What was supposed to be the marquee match for the Big Ten had two very distinct personalities. Michigan State looked like they owned this game and were on cruise control into the fourth quarter. What the Spartans were not ready for was the 19-point onslaught that almost became a disaster in East Lansing. Nebraska continued to pound away at the Spartans and only a timely interception stopped the Huskers from stealing this game. If not for a late pass by quarterback Tommy Armstrong bouncing out of the hands of the receiver in the end zone, the Cornhuskers steal this game. The Michigan State defense owned Ameer Abdullah all day holding the running back to just 45 yards on 24 carries, but his two touchdowns kept the Nebraska fans engaged. The Nebraska loss coupled with Wisconsin’s surprising defeat to Northwestern puts the Big Ten West up for grabs. Don’t look now, but the Wildcats now hold the key in this division.
I have talked about the chaos that is the weekly polls and moving forward we can see that qualifying for the four team playoff is not nearly as easy as the prognosticators predicted. Each conference has triggered conversations about viability and I watched on Saturday as a random poll suggested that two teams from the SEC should qualify. Sixty five percent of those polled picked two teams, but that was before Alabama, LSU and Texas A&M went up in flames. Each conference will beat each other up until one survives. How they survive will become the next question. Do not discount the Independents or a non-Power Conference team from moving forward either. An undefeated Notre Dame or Marshall gets into the mix if everyone else falls by the wayside. This is the unofficial halfway mark of the season and it can only get better from here.
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