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We're a bit short on Top 25 matchups with just two of those on the docket this week, but this is a huge weekend as playoff contenders will be looking to impress the College Football Playoff Committee which releases its first set of rankings for the 2023 campaign on Tuesday.
Be very, very careful this weekend in Lawrence, OU.
Oklahoma hasn’t lost this century to Kansas, winning 18 in a row. But with a close call against UCF in the rear-view mirror and a trip to Stillwater for Bedlam up next this could be a trap game for the nation’s sixth-ranked team. The Jayhawks are well-coached by Lance Leipold and well rested, which has given dynamic QB Jalon Daniels extra time to heal his aching back. Kansas, which is 4-0 at home this fall, is a different team with Daniels on the field. And the Jayhawks will need to crank up the offense to keep pace with QB Dillon Gabriel and a Sooner offense averaging 43.1 points per game. Gabriel has accounted for 24 total touchdowns, including 19 through the air, as he mounts a challenge to become Oklahoma’s fourth Maxwell Award winner.
Georgia and Florida meet in Jacksonville for the 101st edition of the game still colloquially known by fans as the “World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party”.
Under Kirby Smart, the Dawgs have tamed the Gators, winning two straight comfortably and five of the last six. Top-ranked Georgia takes a school-record 24-game winning streak into Week 9, though it does so without its best weapon, injured TE Brock Bowers. Talented sophomore Oscar Delp moves into the lineup, but QB Carson Beck will need more help from his receivers, veterans Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint and Ladd McConkey and transfers Dominic Lovett and Rara Thomas. Florida has stabilized since losing at Kentucky Sept. 30. That was the Gators’ only SEC loss, so an upset here would be a springboard to the top of the SEC East. The offense is beginning to hum behind QB Graham Mertz who’s completing 76% of his passes and has thrown three TD passes in each of the last two games.
Five Pac-12 teams are jockeying for the two spots in the Dec. 1 league championship game. Two of them meet Saturday afternoon at Rice-Eccles Stadium, where Utah has won 18 in a row and 29 straight when fans were allowed to attend.
Either Oregon or Utah has won the last four Pac-12 titles, including head-to-head meetings in 2019 and 2021. The Ducks rebounded last week from their lone loss, a heartbreaker at Washington, by handling Washington State in Eugene, 38-24. The Utes are coming off a thriller over USC at the Coliseum. The offense belongs to QB Bryson Barnes, now that Cam Rising has officially been declared out for the year, and moonlighting RB Sione Vaki who also plays defense. Along with UCLA, these are two of the league’s stingiest and most opportunistic defenses, with both boasting 25 sacks through seven games.
With a little help from Minnesota and a big rally in Champaign, Wisconsin is atop the Big Ten West heading into the final stretch of the regular season.
Iowa fell to Minnesota on a questionable fair catch call, and the Badgers erased a 14-point fourth quarter at Illinois to shift the balance of powers out West. But can Wisconsin, which has lost nine straight and 12 of the last 13 to Ohio State, remain on top for more than one week? The offense is in the hands of redshirt freshman QB Braedyn Locke now that veteran Tanner Mordecai has been lost for the season. Meanwhile, the Buckeyes passed its second Top 10 test of the year, suffocating Penn State, 20-12, behind a defense that has yet to allow more than 17 points in a game. OSU appears to be on a one-way collision course with Michigan on Nov. 25 to decide the East winner and a likely playoff berth.
The Maxwell Football Club honors the nation’s best offensive player with the Maxwell Award. Here’s a look at last week’s standout offensive players.
The Sooners have their next in a very long line of game-breaking wide receivers. Wait till he starts getting more touches. Just a redshirt freshman, Anderson is already one of the nation’s most efficient pass-catchers, with half of his 16 receptions this season resulting in six. In Saturday’s close call with UCF, the 6-4, 207-pound hero of the Red River win had a season-high five grabs for 105 yards and two scores as Oklahoma remained unbeaten, 31-29.
Boston College has gathered some serious momentum, led by its dynamic young transfer from UCF. Castellanos has injected life into the Eagles, which have won three straight games since opening the season with a thud. This past Saturday, he engineered 21 unanswered points in the final quarter for a 38-23 win at Georgia Tech. Escaping pressure like a raw Kyler Murray, Castellanos totaled 383 yards, 128 on the ground, and a pair of touchdowns.
Daniels has found a home at Rice, and it could result in the school’s first winning season in nine years. After stints with USC, Georgia and West Virginia, the sixth-year senior has brought much-needed leadership and consistency to the Owl offense. In Thursday’s road demolition of Tulsa, Daniels went 24-of-37 for 342 yards, two touchdowns and no turnovers. He also added a rushing score to complement the big play running of Dean Connors.
Stillwater, which has seen its fair share of prolific backs through the years, has another star in Gordon. The Fort Worth sophomore has increased his rushing total in each of the last four games, with the exclamation point coming Saturday in Morgantown. Gordon took the game with West Virginia over, rushing for 282 yards and four touchdowns on 29 carries. Three of his scores came in the decisive final quarter, and his yards on the ground are the most by an FBS player so far this season.
In an alley fight that featured just two touchdowns, Harrison gave the Buckeyes all the offense they needed to hold off Penn State, 20-12, and remain undefeated. The game’s best stars show up at the biggest moments, and that was the case with No. 18 Saturday versus the top-ranked Nittany Lion D. Playing without running mate Emeka Egbuka in the slot, Harrison caught a career-high 11 passes for 162 yards and an 18-yard touchdown pass to ice the game late in the final quarter.
Jim Harbaugh has been outspoken in suggesting McCarthy has a chance to be the best quarterback in program history. No. 9 did nothing Saturday night to make his coach’s comments seem unreasonable. McCarthy was in complete control in East Lansing, guiding the Wolverines to a 49-0 beatdown of rival Michigan State. He connected on 21-of-27 for 287 yards and four TDs, while leading all Week 8 quarterbacks in Pro Football Focus grade and Big Time Throws.
Three wins in the last four games have the Falcons back in the bowl-eligibility hunt. Stewart has been the offensive sparkplug for Bowling Green, rushing for at least 100 yards in all but one of the last five games, including the Sept. 30 upset at Georgia Tech. This past weekend, the sophomore from Memphis went for 131 yards and a career-best three touchdowns on 19 carries in a 41-14 defeat of Akron.
Colorado’s Travis Hunter isn’t the Pac-12’s only two-way playmaker. Vaki has been a revelation for the Utes, a freakishly explosive athlete who can bench-press 400 pounds and vertical leap 39 inches. The team’s starting safety is now being employed on offense, which will likely continue based on recent results. In Saturday’s pivotal win at USC, Vaki rushed for 68 yards, caught five balls for 149 yards and two touchdowns and had two tackles out of the secondary.
The Maxwell Football Club honors the nation’s best defensive player with the Chuck Bednarik Award. Here’s a look at last week’s standout defenders.
James Madison’s march toward a possible perfect season continued with Thursday’s 20-9 drubbing at Marshall. The Herd didn’t do much thundering in the loss, failing to score an offensive touchdown and amassing just 169 total yards. As he’s been all season, Green was menacing off the edge throughout the night. The Baltimore native had six tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 10 total pressures and five sacks. It was the most sacks in a game by an FBS player this fall and tied for the most in JMU history.
Heckard came up big for the Cougars in Saturday’s 27-14 defeat of visiting Texas Tech. The senior grad transfer from Weber State recovered a fumble in the end zone with late in the first quarter to give BYU an early 14-0 lead. Late in the second quarter, Heckard intercepted a pass and returned it 38 yards to set up a field goal. He also had four stops, a tackle for loss and a pass breakup as the Cougars moved to 5-2 on the season.
The Illini fell to Wisconsin, squandering a two-touchdown in the fourth after Newton was ejected for targeting. But the disruptive junior continues to perform like one of the nation’s premier tackles and a future first round draft choice. The Badger O-line could not slow down No. 4 who had six tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and eight total pressures, most among all interior linemen in Week 8. Newton’s Pro Football Focus grade of 95.5 was far and away the highest among FBS defensive players this past weekend.
Behind the play of an airtight defense, Air Force took another step toward a perfect season—and the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy—Saturday in Annapolis. The Falcons stifled the Midshipmen who had just 124 total yards and a late touchdown after the game was already out of reach. Richter came hard off the edge all afternoon, making seven stops, including six solos, four tackles for loss and a sack.
Clemson fell at Miami in double-overtime, 28-20, essentially ending any hopes of an ACC title run in 2023. But don’t expect Trotter to take his foot off the gas in his final few games with the program. One of the country’s elite run defenders played like it in the loss, showcasing the instincts, wrap-up tackling and drive of a future 10-year pro. Trotter notched a game-high 11 tackles, including nine solos, two stops for loss, a forced fumble and two pass breakups.
It's almost semifinal season on the college football awards circuit, and Watson is making a strong push for the Bednarik Award. Mississippi State earned its first SEC win of the year Saturday, suffocating Arkansas in Fayetteville, 7-3. The Razorbacks managed just 200 yards as Watson flew around the field to make 14 stops and a couple of sacks of KJ Jefferson. The senior from Maplesville, Ala. is one of the surest tackling linebackers in all of college football.
Oregon rebounded from last week’s Washington loss to beat Washington State, 38-24, and remain in the playoff hunt. After surrendering an early score, the Ducks kept the Cougars in check throughout the afternoon. Williams had a monster day in run defense, making 14 tackles and a sack to help hold Wazzu to just 57 yards on the ground. His Pro Football Focus tackling grade of 89.3 ranked No. 1 among all defenders in Week 8.
Barry Odom has something special brewing in his first season in Las Vegas. The Rebels, who haven’t had a winning season since 2013, are bowl-eligible with five games left after rallying to beat Colorado State on a walk-off field goal. Woodard, a former recruit and player for Odom at Arkansas, spearheaded the defense with 14 tackles and a stop for loss. It was his second double-digit tackle game of the year and a new career-high for the product of Little Rock.
Rich Cirminiello is the VP of College Awards at Maxwell Football Club.