NFL
By: Brock Vierra
This week of college football was a bit quiet and yet it shook up the College Football Playoff projections with Texas A&M’s massive win over LSU in College Station. Indiana, BYU and Pittsburg remained undefeated, continuing their unexpected push toward playoff selection. Navy picked up their first loss of the year, getting blown out by Notre Dame and Boise State increased their odds of making the CFP with a massive win against UNLV in Las Vegas. With that being said…
Let’s recap this week of college football
Let’s start with the top ten. #1 Oregon hosted #20 Illinois, defeating the Illini, 38-9. The Ducks wrapped this game up early, ending the first half up 35-3. #2 Georgia had the week off as #3 Penn State struggled early against Wisconsin. Their first-half woes were made worse when Drew Allar got injured, forcing an early end to his evening. However, a strong run game paired with complementary defense gave the Nittany Lions a comfortable win at Camp Randall.
#4 Ohio State struggled at home to Nebraska, only escaping with a win after Cornhuskers QB Dylan Raiola threw an interception late in the fourth. The same thing happened to #5 Texas who escaped with a win at #25 Vanderbilt due to a Diego Pavia interception. #6 Miami took care of business against in-state rival Florida State. #7 Tennessee, #9 Clemson, and #10 Iowa State all had off this week setting up a massive SEC matchup between #8 LSU and #14 Texas A&M.
Both teams entered this game with one loss, both occurring on the opening weekend of college football. Both teams are also undefeated in conference play with the winner taking the number one spot in SEC rankings. Mike Elko has gotten Texas A&M back to championship standards in year one of his rebuild, having the Aggies performing at levels they haven’t seen since 2012, A&M’s first year in the SEC.
Brian Kelly has LSU playing at a high level with back-to-back conference wins over Arkansas and Ole Miss. Both teams possess high-powered offenses with LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier averaging 328 yards passing per game while Texas A&M running back Le’Veon Moss is averaging 95 yards and a little over a touchdown per game. Both men shined in College Station with Nussmeier throwing for 405 yards and two touchdowns. Nussmeier though, had three interceptions on the day, all three coming in the second half. Moss had 83 yards and two scores. A&M RB Amari Daniels ran for 91 yards as well.
LSU controlled the game in the first half, entering the locker room up 17-7. However, Elko made massive adjustments including bringing in Marcel Reed for struggling QB Conner Weigman. A&M scored all five of their touchdowns on the ground including three by Reed in the second half. One would assume the QB situation at A&M is murky at best moving forward but with a 38-23 win over LSU, they currently sit on top of the SEC. Both teams have a BYE this week.
In other news across college football, #13 Indiana remained undefeated despite not having Kurtis Rourke. A run-based offense saw the program hosting College Gameday remain undefeated with a dominant win over Washington. #15 Alabama got back to winning ways with a 34-0 spanking over #21 Missouri. #16 Kansas State escaped with a two-point win over in-state rival Kansas, #19 Pittsburg intercepted Syracuse QB Kyle McCord five times on Friday in their ACC win, and #22 SMU escaped Duke with a one-point win in double overtime. The win came courtesy of a failed two-point conversion.
Michigan retains the Paul Bunyan trophy with a 24-17 win over Michigan State at the Big House. It’s the Wolverines’ third straight win in the series and their fifth since 2018. Auburn gets their first SEC win of the season as the Tigers knock off Kentucky in Lexington, Colorado becomes bowl eligible with a win over Cincinnati and Washington State survives a scare against SDSU in San Diego.
For Colorado fans, the win also puts them at second in the conference. In the Big 12, TCU and Texas Tech got together for a shootout. Two touchdowns in the final nine minutes gave TCU a 35-34 victory, taking the Horned Frogs to 5-3 on the season. The win puts a temporary pause on talks to replace HC Sonny Dykes just as Baylor’s 38-28 win over Oklahoma State did for Dave Aranda.
#11 BYU defeated UCF in Florida, #18 Ole Miss overcomes first half struggles to defeat Oklahoma, Kennesaw State achieved their first win since coming to the FBS, defeating previously undefeated Liberty and Hawaii picked up their first win over an FBS opponent this season as they were victorious at home over Nevada. For Liberty, this was only their second loss of the Jamey Chadwell era and their first regular season loss since November 26, 2022.
This wraps up this week’s recap of college football. For more college football content, watch the College Football Forecast below.
