We had some big games this week and they didn’t disappoint. There were plenty of matches that are going to drastically shift the top 25 this week. I’m going to go conference by conference and go over everything that happened this week. Of the 16 games including a top 25 team, 11 of them were 1 score games.
SEC
Almost every SEC game this week included a ranked team. #13 Ole Miss took care of business at home against #4 LSU, winning 24-19. Trinidad Chambliss has looked good every since taking over at QB for Ole Miss. He had 314 yards passing and added 71 yards on the ground. Kewan Lacy added 87 yards, with the team totaling 170 rushing yards. LSU couldn’t get the offense going with just 197 passing yards and 59 rushing yards. Garrett Nussmeier didn’t have an awful game but just couldn’t get it going for the win.
#17 Alabama never trailed against #5 Georgia. Georgia held them to 0 second half points, but the offense couldn’t close the gap. Alabama had control of the ball for a heavy majority of the game. Ty Simpson did everything he needed to do, going 24/38 for 276 yards and 2 TDs. Georgia had 227 rushing yards and only 130 passing yards. Georgia went for it on 4th down late, passing up the game tying field goal. Georgia was stopped by the Alabama defense and Alabama ran the clock to secure the win.
#9 Texas A&M survived Auburn and won 16-10. Auburn’s defense bent but didn’t break allowing plenty of yards but keeping Texas A&M to field goals. Le’Veon Moss and the Texas A&M rushing attack ran wild for 207 total yards. Marcel Reed also had 207 yards in the air. Auburn had under 200 offensive yards and just couldn’t keep up. They scored their only TD after a 73 yard interception put them in scoring position.
#15 Tennessee survived Mississippi State in OT, 41-34. Joey Aguilar had a big game in terms of yardage but threw 2 picks. Mississippi State relied on RB Fluff Bothwell who had 23 carries for 134 yards and 2 touchdowns. Tennessee forced OT and scored in 1 play; Mississippi State was unable to equalize.
#18 Vanderbilt ran away from Utah State 55-35 with Diego Pavia scoring 5 TDs. #20 Missouri beat UMass 42-6 with Beau Pribula and Ahmad Hardy looking good. #22 Notre Dame scored at will and beat Arkansas 56-13. CJ Carr looked legit and led the SEC in passing yards on the week. South Carolina beat Kentucky 35-13 with LaNorris Sellers throwing for just 153 yards but doing enough to win comfortably.
Big Ten
#6 Oregon survived a comeback attempt from #3 Penn State winning the game in 2OT 30-24. Defenses reigned supreme and both teams entered the locker room at halftime with just 3 points on the board. Drew Allar scored 2 late TDs to tie the game at 17 and force OT. After both teams scored, Oregon got the ball in second OT. Oregon scored in 1 play, but threw a pick on the 2pt attempt. The Penn State defender returned it over 50 yards but could not get the score. Drew Allar came out and threw a pick on the first play of the drive to a leaping Dillon Thieneman. Allar and the Penn State rushing attack had quiet games. Dante Moore took care of business on his side with a 248 yards and 3 TDs.
#11 Indiana pulled off a win late against Iowa. Iowa isn’t ranked but everyone knows what they are, which is a top 25 defense with a pitiful offense. The game was just 10-10 coming into the 4th and then Indiana tied it at 13 with under 10 minutes to go. Indiana broke the game open to go up by 7 and then ended the game via safety to make the score 20-15. Fernando Mendoza didn’t have a heisman favorite performance but did enough to win in the end.
#23 Illinois wins it at the end against #21 USC. Illinois led for the whole game, but with 1:55 left USC took a 1 point lead. Luke Altmyer drove Illinois back down the field and set up a 41 yard field goal for David Olano to win the game. Altmyer and Maiava gave strong performances. Waymond Jordan and Makai Lemon each had 2 TDs for USC.
#1 Ohio State beats Washington 24-6. Although Washington led 3-0 in the 2nd quarter, OSU ended up winning rather cleanly. Minnesota won a great battle with Rutgers 31-28 although neither is in top 25 conversations. Drake Lindsey had a great game for Minnesota, winning despite the team totaling just 38 rushing yards. Northwestern held on 17-14 to beat UCLA in what could very well end up being the battle for last place in the Big Ten.
Big 12
Arizona State beat #24 TCU at home 27-24. While unranked, Arizona State was a preseason Big 12 favorite who was formerly ranked. Sam Leavitt won the QB battle with Josh Hoover throwing 2 interceptions. TCU rushing also totaled just 12 yards.
#14 Iowa State took care of Arizona 39-14. Noah Fifita showed flashes but threw 2 interceptions. Rocco Becht surprisingly did not throw a touchdown and had 1 interception of his own. Becht did have 3 rushing TDs though. RB Cardon Hansen had 2 TDs on the ground as well.
BYU entered the top 25 this week, and put up a questionable performance. They did win the game against Colorado but won by only 3, finishing 24-21. Bear Bachmeier threw for just 179 yards but was the leading passer in the contest as well as the leading rusher. BYU came back from 14-0 and 21-17 deficits to remain undefeated.
Connor Weigman and Houston pulled off a 27-24 win in overtime against Oregon State. Cincinnati upset Kansas on the road with a 37-34 victory. Jalon Daniels threw for 445 yards in the loss. Kansas State bounced back against undefeated UCF, winning 34-20. Baylor took care of Oklahoma State 45-27 with Sawyer Robertson throwing 4 TDs. Utah steamrolled West Virginia 48-14, with Devon Dampier having 4 TDs and West Virginia completing just 6 passes on the game.
ACC
Unranked Virginia pulled off the most surprising upset of the week on Friday, 46-38 over #8 Florida State. 5 total interceptions were thrown but 11 TDs were scored. Virginia originally led 14-0, but the teams traded blows all game. Florida State hit a FG with under a minute in regulation to force OT. Both teams kicked FGs in first overtime. Virginia scored 8 in 2nd overtime, forcing Florida State to make a play to force another period. A Castellanos interception instead ended the game.
It took an overtime period, but #16 Georgia Tech survived on the road 30-29 against Wake Forest. GT trailed 20-3 but entered OT tied 23 a piece. GT scored their TD and extra point. After Wake Forest scored a 1 play TD, Wake Forest went for the 2pt conversion to win the game. Unfortunately for them Georgia Tech intercepted the 2 point pass and held on to win by 1.
Duke blew Syracuse out 38-3. The Orange put themselves on the map after beating Clemson last week, but with Steve Angeli out the Syracuse offense fell flat. Louisville trailed 17-0 to Pitt and after erasing that deficit they trailed again later 27-17. Louisville did not allow any second half points and survived 34-27 to remain undefeated. Miller Moss had a big high-volume game to keep the team on top. Cal bounced back from a blowout loss to beat Boston College 28-24. Virginia Tech also bounced back from a tough start to the season and beat NC State 23-21. Stanford rallied to beat San Jose State 30-29 as well.
Group of 5
The 5 main contenders, East Carolina, North Texas, Navy, Tulane, and Memphis all played this week and all won. Memphis played probably the most impressive game of the 5, although only Navy was truly at risk of losing.
San Diego State won their game 6-3 over NIU in the lowest scoring game of the week. Conference favorite UNLV did not play. Boise State, Hawai’i, and New Mexico all won their games.
Sun Belt favorites James Madison and Old Dominion won their matches, with Texas State having a bye. Georgia Southern lost, but it was at James Madison. South Alabama and App State lost their non-conference matchups to North Texas and Boise State. Southern Miss won theirs against Jacksonville State. ULM continues to surprise, this time beating Arkansas State. Finally, Louisiana beat Marshall in a 2OT barn burner where both teams cleared the 50 point threshold.
CUSA went 0-3 in the non-conference this week. In conference Kennesaw State beat MTSU; Western Kentucky beat Missouri State; and Louisiana Tech beat UTEP. This pushes Louisiana Tech and Western Kentucky to the front of the pack as favorites. Delaware is in the mix as well.
The MAC also struggled in FBS non-conference games but had a few FCS wins. In conference Ohio beat Bowling Green; Central Michigan beat Eastern Michigan; and Toledo blew out Akron. Every team in the MAC has at least 2 losses, with Central Michigan and Ohio at 3-2 and 1-0 in conference. Toledo is also 3-2 but 1-1 in conference.
Other
Oregon State remained winless with their loss to Houston, but Washington State won their game. They beat Colorado State 20-3 with Zevi Eckhaus under center again.
Independents Notre Dame and UConn both won. ND beat Arkansas 56-13 and UConn snuck by Buffalo 20-17.
Final Thoughts
Big switchups are coming in the top 25 with Penn State, Georgia, and LSU losing. The top G5 teams all won their games this week so not much clarity on that front just yet.
