If you wanted to be treated to some wild college football action from the get-go on Saturday, you were in luck in Week 6. There’s almost no better way to kick off a ranked weekend of college football than with the Red River Rivalry.
While we did get some solid Friday night action with Kansas State trying to show that it belongs back in the AP Top 25, Oklahoma State was able to take care of the Wildcats.
Saturday’s Big 12 battle between Texas and Oklahoma took center stage. It had just about anything you could think of from blocked punts to bloody hands to points on points (in the first half). The Red River Rivalry did not disappoint as the No. 3 Longhorns tried to hold off the No. 12 Sooners in a battle of the unbeaten. This was a much better game than last year and Oklahoma got some revenge.
Alabama went to Texas A&M in the mid-afternoon slate and the Tide were able to overcome a halftime deficit to win a close one, 26-20. Nick Saban continues to own his former assistants.
Georgia hosted Kentucky in the night slate while Notre Dame went to Louisville as both AP Top 25 matchups grabbed everyone’s attention. Georgia raced to a big win while Notre Dame didn’t have it as easy as the favorite.
USC ended the night with a thrilling three-overtime win over Arizona.
What will the Week 7 AP Top 25 look like?
Clemson didn’t have quite the showing against Wake Forest in Week 6 that fans would have hoped and expected, but the Tigers won and will slide right back into the rankings on the back-end, taking the place of Miami who lost to Georgia Tech in the final seconds on Saturday night.
Although Tulane had a bye week, it was one of the first teams ranked on the outside of the AP Top 25. The Green Wave will get back in thanks to a few losses by teams ranked in the 20s. Willie Fritz has another Group of Five contender on his hands.
No Jalon Daniels? No problem for Jason Bean and Co. The backup quarterback did the job and the Jayhawks rolled to a blowout win over UCF. It helped that the Knights couldn’t keep John Rhys Plumlee on the field, but Kansas was just dominant from start to finish. This team is clearly AP Top 25 worthy.
Since Tennessee lost to Florida in Week 3, the Volunteers have been pretty solid, winning their last two games handily. They got a bye this week and it comes at a good time because they’re about to face a gauntlet moving forward with Texas A&M, Kentucky, and Alabama coming up after the bye.
Washington State will fall a few spots after going to UCLA and falling just short. The Cougars were disjointed offensively all game long and it looked like no one was on the same page. It was a tough game for that side of the ball as Cam Ward was out-dueled by freshman Dante Moore. Four turnovers led to this 25-17 loss to end Wazzu’s unbeaten season.
Dante Moore and the Bruins will jump right back into the AP Top 25 this week after taking down No. 13 Washington State and holding Cam Ward in check. The Bruins are now 4-1 on the year and they look like legitimate Pac-12 title threats in a conference that is actually looking like the deepest in the country.
The last showing for Duke was a tough one as the Blue Devils lost to Notre Dame in heartbreaking fashion. In that loss, Duke also lost Riley Leonard to what has been revealed as an ankle sprain which has to be the best possible news for Blue Devils fans who saw the injury happen live. Duke returns next week against NC State.
Notre Dame went on the road and lost a tough one which will almost surely eliminate the Irish from playoff contention, especially without a conference title to play for. The loss to Louisville was ugly and it could drop the Irish quite a bit this week. I think Nos. 18-19 is around the right range for them.
The last time Utah took the field, it was falling on a Friday night to Oregon State on the road. Will Cam Rising be back the next time the Utes take the field after the bye? Kyle Whittingham sure hopes so because their playoff and Pac-12 title hopes depend on his health. Utah is a good team even without Rising but it would be great with him.
LSU will undoubtedly move up a bit after this week’s win over Missouri on the road. It was impressive to see the Tigers come back from being down 22-7 to win by 10, especially since the defense didn’t show up on the road. Brian Kelly and Matt House have some work to do, but if this defense is even just average, LSU is a title contender.
Is this too much of a jump for Louisville? Honestly, it may seem like that but the Cardinals beat a really sound Notre Dame team and made it look easy. Louisville is continuing to prove that its red-hot start to the season is no fluke. Plus, they got helped by a handful of losses by teams ahead of them in the AP Top 25.
Ole Miss had a bit of a scare on Saturday night against Arkansas at home but escaped with a victory. It seems like every time people count Arkansas out, it rises to the occasion and nearly pulls off a crazy upset. Fortunately for the Rebels, they survived and will move up a couple of spots.
Oregon State is at Cal on Saturday night and I fully expect the Beavers to win this game and move up a couple of spots in the rankings. It’s not going to be a walk in the park, but Oregon State will win and stay alive in the Pac-12 title race as well as the playoff one.
For some reason, the spread for the North Carolina vs. Syracuse game was fairly tight, but the Tar Heels made sure to make Vegas look silly by blowing the doors off the Orange. Drake Maye returned to Heisman form, throwing for well over 400 yards in the blowout win. North Carolina will inch ever closer to the top 10.
USC faced an improved Arizona team on Saturday night and the Trojans struggled mightily all night, going down 17-0 early before taking a 28-20 lead in the second half. That lead didn’t last long and the game actually went to overtime and neither team was giving an inch. This was a shocking thriller in Los Angeles. We’ll see the Trojans drop a couple of spots because of this one.
Alabama went into College Station and picked up a massive win over Texas A&M during a game that felt like it was going the way of the Aggies. Texas A&M led 17-10 at halftime and the Crimson Tide needed a huge second half on the road to beat Jimbo Fisher and the Aggies. Everyone expected this game to be close, but I’m not sure people expected a 26-20 final. It was a really good game, but the better-coached team won.
Jalen Milroe stepped up and played like a star in the second half and had three touchdown passes against the Aggies. He didn’t panic and led the Tide to a huge road win to keep those playoff hopes alive.
The Tide are now 5-1 and atop the SEC West with a 3-0 record in conference play. Milroe deserves major props for this win.
Is this your typical dominant Alabama team? No, but it’s one that can scratch and claw its way to tough wins and that’s going to continue all year.
Does Texas stay in the top 10 after losing to Oklahoma in a classic Red River Rivalry game? I think so. The Longhorns were about 15 seconds away from winning the game, but a late touchdown throw by Dillon Gabriel was the difference.
Texas took a 30-27 lead with just over a minute left but Gabriel and the Sooners marched down the field without any timeouts and scored a touchdown when all they really needed to do was settle for a tying field goal to get the game to overtime.
Quinn Ewers and Co. started slowly but the second quarter on was much more like the talented quarterback. He shook off two picks and a fumble to put his team in a position to win, coming back from down 10 in the second half.
If Texas’ defense just held up on that final drive like it did during the second-half comeback, the Longhorns would be flirting with the No. 1 overall ranking.
That didn’t quite happen, but this is a top-10 team.
One of a few top-10 teams on a bye in Week 6, Oregon will have an extra week to prepare for the elite offensive attack that is Washington. In fact, the Ducks will head to Seattle next weekend, looking for revenge for last year’s loss at home to the Huskies.
Oregon is 5-0 to start the season and it looks like a team that might just be able to make the College Football Playoff this year.
Bo Nix is playing at an elite level even without Kenny Dillingham and he’s put himself right in the Heisman race this season. That battle next week against Michael Penix Jr. and Washington will not only be somewhat of a playoff elimination game but it’ll also be a battle of two Heisman contenders. Whoever’s team wins will likely stay in that race for the coveted award.
Dan Lanning has exceeded all expectations in his first two years and he may be in the running for national coach of the year.
Everyone will be tuned into next week’s Pac-12 showdown in Seattle.
After a nice 5-0 start to the season, Michael Penix Jr. and Washington got their bye in Week 6. The Huskies are getting an extra week of preparation for a rivalry game and what might be their toughest test of the season as No. 8 Oregon comes to town in Week 7.
For a lot of teams, byes can come at the right time because focus may be lost and it’s a good chance to reset and come back refreshed. Washington, on the other hand, has been red-hot so maybe this bye wasn’t the best thing for the Huskies.
Washington did just escape Arizona with a seven-point win last week, so this bye may actually help clean some things up, but the Huskies are first in college football in passing yards, fifth in points per game, and the defense has stepped up to sit at No. 30 in points allowed per game.
Penix is right up there as a legitimate Heisman candidate with 1,999 yards and 16 touchdowns through five games which is just unheard of.
I can’t wait for Oregon vs. Washington next week.
After beating Northwestern last week in runaway fashion, Penn State got a bye in Week 6. The Nittany Lions’ bye comes at a good time as it looked like they lost focus a little bit in the first half of the Week 5 win over Northwestern, taking a tie game into the locker room before running away with a 41-13 win.
Plus, Ohio State is waiting on the schedule in a couple of weeks. The UMass matchup next week will be a nice tune-up game.
Drew Allar is having a solid first season as the QB1 thus far and it just feels like this defense is going to be a problem for anyone on the schedule. If the defense continues to dominate like it has, I just can’t see the Nittany Lions losing more than 1-2 games this year.
James Franklin has himself maybe his best team since the one that won a Big Ten title in 2016.
Oklahoma is going to jump into the top 10 this week after beating Texas in thrilling fashion in the annual Red River Rivalry. This year’s contest didn’t disappoint like last year’s did when Texas won 49-0 against the Sooners as Oklahoma got its revenge, 34-30.
This was a really well-coached game by Brent Venables and it makes up for last year’s debacle as Sooner fans will be able to proudly flash the “horns down” sign for the rest of the year.
It’s starting to look like Oklahoma is getting back to being a playoff contender after last year’s disappointing result. The Sooners are now 6-0 with one of the best wins any team has had this season.
You have to give credit to Dillon Gabriel as well who stayed calm in the final minute of action without a timeout to lead a game-winning touchdown drive. He looked fantastic and deserves some Heisman hype.
Oklahoma will see a healthy climb in the rankings this week.
Fresh off a bye week, Florida State hosted a mediocre Virginia Tech team in Week 6 and if you were looking for a flawless victory for the Seminoles, you were probably a little disappointed. A 10-point second quarter from the Hokies made the final score a little closer than it actually was.
Jordan Travis had a decent game and didn’t make too many mistakes so he’s probably going to remain in the mid-season Heisman Trophy race.
Trey Benson finally got on track after a really slow start to the season, rushing for over 100 yards and a touchdown. If the Seminoles can get more of this version of Benson, they’re going to run the table. No one is going to be able to slow that offense down.
It wasn’t the prettiest win for Florida State, but it did what it had to do in order to improve to 5-0 and shake off some bye week rust.
A win is a win.
What the heck is going on with the slow starts by Ohio State? The Buckeyes seem to come into games sleep-walking only to run away with convincing wins but the Buckeyes took care of Maryland by 20 points on Saturday when there were some who believed there was going to be an upset in Columbus.
Maryland took a 17-10 lead in the second half but Ohio State scored 27 straight points to beat the Terrapins 37-17.
Marvin Harrison Jr. was unguardable once again, going off for over 160 yards and a touchdown while Kyle McCord bounced back from a slow start, passing for 320 yards and two touchdowns.
If Ohio State can figure out how to start games quickly, there may not be many teams in college football that can beat the Buckeyes. But at least they’re finishing strong, which is better, right?
Michigan had one of its toughest tests of the first half of the season on Saturday evening, taking on a Minnesota team that looked like it didn’t stand a chance within the first minute of the game. The Wolverines raced out to a 7-0 lead with an early pick-six and it felt like the game was over at that point.
Minnesota did fight back with 10 points before halftime to go into the break down only 24-10, but Michigan was just too much for the Gophers.
Michigan has been fairly consistent this season. The Wolverines have exerted their dominance on lesser opponents but we won’t really know much about this team until they play a serious opponent.
But hey, you beat the teams on your schedule. And Michigan has done that.
Slow starts have been the theme for Georgia this season as they trailed to some inferior opponents in recent weeks, but the Bulldogs got off to a quick start on Saturday night against No. 20 Kentucky, scoring on a long touchdown pass to take a quick 7-0 lead.
Before anyone could even blink, it was 21-0 Georgia in the second quarter as the offense looked like a completely different unit.
The Bulldogs led 34-7 at halftime and never looked back as this game was supposed to be much closer but the Bulldogs dominated from the get-go. They proved that they’re the No. 1 team in the country and I don’t think there should be any doubt about that at this point.
Carson Beck also demanded some respect from this win over the Wildcats.