With high-profile games rampant, week 7 of the college football season provided many memorable moments, both good and bad across the board.
College football week 7 winners
- LSU. The Tigers vaulted to #2 in the AP poll following another offensive clinic against a very good Florida defense. As it stands, Joe Burrow should be the frontrunner to win the Heisman trophy especially after LSU put up over 500 yards of offense (Burrow accounted for 293 through the air and 3 TDs). The eyes of the college football universe will most certainly be on Bama/LSU when they collide on November 9th in Tuscaloosa.
- Wisconsin. The Badgers currently boast the best defense in the country and have completed a clean sweep of Michigan schools. Wisconsin blanked Michigan State Saturday and allowed the Spartans 149 yards of total offense. It’s time to start taking Wisconsin seriously as a viable threat to Ohio State in the Big 10.
- Missouri. It doesn’t seem that long ago that the Tigers were losing to Wyoming and being written off by everyone. Since then, Mizzou has won five straight games and have vaulted into the top 25 (sitting at #22 as of Sunday) after a 38-27 win over upstart Ole Miss. Barry Odom has done a tremendous job of keeping the program’s head above water while programs like Tennessee, Arkansas, Nebraska etc. have struggled mightily in the meanwhile.
- Baylor. Just two years ago, Baylor finished the season 1-11 and program morale was at an all-time low following incidents that occurred during Art Briles’ tenure. All of a sudden, the Bears are 6-0 under Matt Ruhl and ranked 18th in the polls. With the way the Big 12 is playing out, they have every opportunity to finish 3rd in the league (and possibly second if they could upset Texas).
- Arizona State. For those that don’t see a lot of Pac-12 action these days, Herman Edwards’ Arizona State Sun Devils are 5-1 and are in a 5-way tie atop the Pac-12 South. It was my belief that Edwards’ hiring at Arizona state came out of absolute nowhere and a desperate attempt by the school of hiring a figure head that had a name and could act as an ambassador for the school. It now appears Edwards can actually coach and they notched another big win on Saturday over Mike Leach’s Washington State Cougars.
Week 7 losers
- Nebraska. Remember, we are only two weeks removed from ESPN’s “College Gameday” emanating from Lincoln, Nebraska while the notion that the program was “back” was shoved down our collective throats. A last-second win against Northwestern followed by a complete beatdown by Minnesota on Saturday has the Huskers reeling at 4-3. This was a team picked by almost everyone to win the Big 10 West and galavant to a 10-win season. Right now, Scott Frost should be pretty worried about trying to beat Indiana and Purdue.
- Georgia. It was a superb effort by South Carolina to pull the upset in Athens, but QB Jake Fromm threw three interceptions and the the team basically slept-walked through the first 3 and 1/2 quarters. Normally reliable kicker Rodrigo Blankenship missed a short field goal to force a third overtime putting the Bulldogs’ playoff hopes on life support.
- Arkansas. Second year Razorback coach Chad Morris went searching for his first conference (and power 5) victory on Saturday in Lexington and came up empty. Kentucky was able to notch its first SEC win of the season despite the fact that former receiver Lynn Bowden actually started at quarterback for the Wildcats. Should Arkansas lose its next five games against Auburn, Alabama, Mississippi State, LSU and Missouri, Morris will become the first coach in SEC history to lose his first 16 conference games.
- The ACC Coastal division. The comedy act that is the ACC Coastal continued last week as division leaders Virginia were beaten 17-9 by an average Miami team. The loss vaults North Carolina and Duke into a three-way tie with Virginia in a division that, apparently, no one wants to win.
- Mississippi State. A team that actually had some promise to start the season dropped a game to the hot mess express known as Tennessee. Taking a look at the schedule, the Bulldogs better beat Arkansas on 11/2 or they will likely lose out in conference play. Head coach Joe Moorhead is simply not getting the job done and his seat is flaming hot in Starkville.
