It was a wild week in college football this week, with many upsets, almost upsets, and some really great games throughout the nation. It started on Thursday night in East Carolina, where the Pirates got an unexpected fight from UCONN. They held on late at home, and remain in the chase for a spot in an elite bowl come early January as the champion of the Group of 5 “non power conferences.” Friday night in Santa Clara, Oregon faced California in shiny new Levi’s Stadium. It seemed as though neither defense made the trip. The Golden Bears of California put up a fight against the #6 Ducks, but it couldn’t keep up. Oregon won 59-41. Two great games set the table for a crazy Saturday.
#25 UCLA narrowly escaped Boulder with a 40-37 double overtime win over the woeful Buffaloes. West Virginia followed up its upset of Baylor with an impressive 34-10 beat down of Oklahoma State IN Stillwater. #11 Kansas State clamped Texas, as they shutout the Longhorns 23-0 in Manhattan. Meanwhile in Fort Worth, #10 TCU absolutely obliterated Texas Tech, with a score of 82-27. 82 points! It was a great day for the BIG 12, with all three of their top 25 teams winning today.
#1 Mississippi State was determined to make its first ever game as the top team in the nation not be its last. It was no walk in the park in Lexington, as the 5-2 Wildcats battled. The Bulldogs escaped though, and their undefeated season continues. #23 Marshall also remained undefeated with their defeat of FAU. The only other perfect team in the nation did not finish the day like that. Ole Miss could not escape Death Valley alive. It was an instant classic game in Baton Rouge. In A nitty gritty SEC battle, Ole Miss had the chance to tie with a last second field goal, but they gambled and it backfired. Instead of kicking, they ran another pass, and it was intercepted to send Tiger Stadium into a frenzy. 10-7 was the final score in perhaps the best game of the year.
Three more one loss teams traveled into tough environments. Two survived, one collapsed. Minnesota looked to have a cupcake game in Champagne, but the Illinois Fighting Illini would have none of that. They got their first conference win in a whole year, and beat Minnesota 28-24. #4 Alabama marched into Knoxville and played in front of a raucous 102,000 Volunteer fans. It looked like a beat down, but the Vols fought back. They fought until the end, but Alabama held on 34-20. #13 Ohio State traveled to Happy Valley to face the Penn State Nittany Lions. Again, it looked over at the half, but Penn State clawed back and sent it to overtime. Somehow Ohio State came out of Beaver Stadium in double overtime, 31-24
In a late PAC 12 game, #19 Utah hosted #20 USC. The Utes led a game winning drive, scoring a touchdown with 8 seconds left to stun USC. The “blacked out” students rushed the field after a huge win for the Utah Utes. Also, both Arizona and Arizona State won in Washington State and Washington respectively. That keeps the race between Utah, ASU and Arizona for the PAC 12 South crown very much alive.