Thoughts Around The Nation: Week Nine

College football in November always brings fireworks, and this season will be no exception.

-Last Saturday was the biggest win for the Michigan State program since December 5, 2015. That was the Big Ten Championship game where the Spartans defeated Iowa to clinch not only their most recent conference title but their first and only College Football Playoff berth.

Fast forward six years and Michigan State is in contention to repeat the feat.

The Spartans defeated rival Michigan 37-33 in a thrilling comeback, battling back from down 16 points in the final 19 minutes to steal a victory from the Wolverines.

Michigan State’s defense looked questionable in a few spots, but ultimately came up with big plays when they needed them: in the fourth quarter, the Spartans forced a red-zone field goal, forced a fumble that led directly to the game-winning touchdown, and intercepted Cade McNamara with 1:15 to go on the first play of Michigan’s last attempt.

Although the defense had its rough moments, this game was exactly what you wanted to see from Michigan State, particularly in the final twenty minutes. It showed heart, resilience and when the Spartans backs were against the wall, they came up huge.

I believe Spartans running back Kenneth Walker III earned the lead in the Heisman race this weekend. Walker had yet another phenomenal game, running for 197 yards and five touchdowns.

This was not just a rivalry game, it was a top-10 showdown and without Walker, Michigan State would not have won. You couldn’t have asked for a better showing from the best player on the field on Saturday.

On the season, Walker now has 1,194 yards and 14 touchdowns. In his final four games, Walker faces Maryland and Purdue, where he could run for another 150 in each game. Then comes the big one for not only himself, but the team: at Ohio State.

Ohio State has had its share of trouble defending the run. The Buckeyes gave up 203 yards to Minnesota and 269 to Oregon, but have since tightened up the defense and helped themselves out in making opponents one-dimensional. Then the season ends against Penn State.

By the time we’re done with the season, we should be looking at Walker finishing with between 1,800-2,100 yards and 22-26 touchdowns. With numbers like that and a great record for Michigan State, Walker definitely has a seat in New York on December 11.

–TCU’s firing of Gary Patterson will have effects on the entire state of Texas for years to come.

It’s hard to imagine that when Patterson was leading the Horned Frogs to the top of Conference USA, into the Mountain West where they maintained crazy amounts of success and then eventually conquering the Big 12 and coming within an eyelash of the College Football Playoff, this would be the ending Patterson would face.

But there’s light at the end for Patterson. Just because his time at TCU is over doesn’t mean his time as a coach is over. He’s only 61 and can easily coach for another five to ten years if he wants. Both TCU and Patterson could come out as winners in this situation.

But you know who the biggest loser might be? Poor old Texas Tech.

With UTSA’s Jeff Traylor off the board after signing a huge extension, SMU’s Sonny Dykes is the leading candidate for both jobs. His father Spike is a legend at Texas Tech, but according to sources of CBS Sports, he’d rather leave to go to TCU. That would mean Texas Tech’s top two candidates are no longer options.

So where does Patterson fit in this? You’d have to think both SMU and Texas Tech would hire him at their school. Would Patterson rather stay home in the Big 12, or lead another Group of Five school with aspirations to hang with the Power Five?

I’ve said since this realignment stuff started that the Big 12 is making a huge mistake not bringing the Mustangs along. If SMU were to bring Patterson into the fold, even for a few years, that would definitely grab the conference’s attention. Patterson would no doubt bring in some big recruits while doing what he does best: turning two and three-star prospects into the best football players they can be.

And if Texas Tech doesn’t end up with Patterson, there are rumors that they could go after Dana Holgorsen of Houston.

Then another big Texas school would be looking for a leadership change just as the program begins to hit its stride under Holgorsen and just before they arrive in the Big 12.

-Anyone remember a few seasons ago when Iowa was ranked number two in the country and were on the road to a 12-0 season? Wait, that was three weeks ago?

Seriously, the Iowa offense has gone missing, scoring 14 points and 351 total yards over the last two weeks. They’ve done an excellent job of playing themselves right out of Big Ten West contention.

When it’s all said and done, who gets the division?

Well, take the bottom three out: Illinois, Northwestern, and Nebraska are done. I don’t think Purdue is good enough, especially with back-to-backs against Michigan State and Ohio State on tap.

There’s Wisconsin who already has wins over Iowa and Purdue. They have Rutgers, Nebraska, and Northwestern, which should be wins. But something is telling me that Wisconsin should be VERY careful with Nebraska.

Iowa still could, as they have three near-lock wins remaining with all three Big Ten West bottom feeders remaining, plus Minnesota. But with losses to Purdue and Wisconsin already there, things are going to be tough. One loss there slams the door on the Hawkeyes’ title hopes.

But when one door closes, another one opens. And knocking on that door is PJ Fleck and Minnesota. That’s right, the Big Ten West runs through Minneapolis.

Minnesota was one of the teams I was extremely high on this preseason. They brought so many players back from an 11-win team in 2019 and were hammered by Covid in some form or fashion almost all of 2020. People seemed to have thought the Gophers forgot how to play football.

Instead, they’re now in sole possession of the Big Ten West in November. And with the Gophers on such a roll, who can beat them? Illinois and Indiana should be locks. They go to Iowa on November 13, which looks very winnable now. Then the season finale is at home against Wisconsin. I think that’s where the West is decided, and I definitely give the edge to the Gophers.

Of course, I have to mention that Minnesota’s running back depth will be tested as if it hasn’t already been. They’re now down to their fourth-string running back. By the time the Wisconsin game happens, the popcorn guy in section 110 might be starting for Minnesota. Injuries there might be enough to decide Minnesota’s fate.

-Finally, the first College Football Playoff rankings come out tonight. No matter what the committee does, they’ll take some heat. I won’t call them out yet, I’ll wait until they do something highly questionable (which shouldn’t take long.)

The one thing they can’t get wrong is that Georgia is far and away from the No. 1 team. Then things might be up for debate.

I’d have to put Michigan State at number two right now. If resumé and on-field results matter, the Spartans have one of the most impressive wins in all of football last week. They also have a dominant win over a Miami team that’s heating up, If you’re a Michigan State fan, you’re now also a Miami fan.

Third I’d have to go Alabama. Their only loss was a last-second field goal to the 13th ranked team in the country on the road. As for wins, they’ve dominated almost everyone they’ve played with the exception of Florida, but that’s when the Gators were actually decent. You know Alabama is going to get everyone’s best shot.

As for the final spot, I don’t think there’s a right answer, but I think you have to include Oregon. The Ducks win over Ohio State is another quality victory and wins over UCLA and Fresno State cannot be overlooked. Even if you disagree with Oregon this high, I can’t see a single argument for voting Ohio State over the Ducks. Head to head is supposed to matter, right?

Rounding out the top six would be Cincinnati and Oklahoma, respectively. Both are undefeated, but Cincinnati’s best win at Notre Dame is much more impressive than Oklahoma’s best win which was more of a Texas collapse than an Oklahoma victory.

Outside of Notre Dame, Cincinnati’s best win is over a 5-3 UCF team. And as for Oklahoma, I’ve only seen them play one full 60 minute game against FBS competition. The rest of their games have required comebacks on their part, collapses from their opponents, or in some cases, both.

So my final top ten would be 1. Georgia, 2. Michigan State, 3. Alabama, 4. Oregon, 5. Cincinnati, 6. Oklahoma, 7. Ohio State, 8. Notre Dame, 9. Wake Forest and 10. Oklahoma State.