College Football Week 6 winners, losers: Notre Dame back on track?

Loser: Washington QB Michael Penix Jr.

Washington QB Michael Penix Jr. has likely played himself out of any possible consideration to be a Heisman Trophy finalist at the end of the season. With two consecutive losses now and failing to throw a touchdown pass against Arizona State, Penix Jr. likely just won’t have a worthy enough resume for consideration.

It’s a shame for the Huskies quarterback, who had been playing phenomenal football for the first five weeks of the college football season. The left-handed quarterback looked like an elite quarterback through the first four weeks of the season, throwing for more than 300 yards in each game, tossing 12 touchdowns and only one interception. Since then, he’s maintained his 300+ passing yards per game but has thrown 4 TD and 3 INTs and his team is 0-2.

To make things worse, he took a massive hit to the throat via a targeting play on the final drive of the game that left him “gasping for air,” according to the Associated Press.

Loser: South Florida Bulls

Another week and another one-possession loss to a ranked team for the South Florida Bulls. In Week 3 it was a three-point loss at No. 18 Florida, in Week 6 it was a four-point loss at No. 24 Cincinnati.

The Bulls have endured three blowout losses to No. 25 BYU, Louisville, and East Carolina, but they truly are just a few plays away from being 3-3 vs being 1-5. In this game against the Bearcats, South Florida couldn’t make the most out of two Cincinnati turnovers.

The Bulls came up with three points after a first-quarter interception of Ben Bryant and time expired as they picked off the senior just before halftime.

Things are only going to get more difficult for the Bulls with games against Tulane and at Houston to round out the month of October.