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We couldn't help but feel that a wave of upsets was on the way when Oklahoma fell at Kansas right out of the gate on Saturday. But when the day was said and done, there was no further carnage done on the final weekend before the much anticipated initial rankings from the College Football Playoff committee. Other than the 9th-ranked Sooners, the entire Top 10 of the Congrove Computer Rankings all won.
No. 1 Michigan and No. 7 Alabama were idle, joining No. 14 LSU, and No. 18 Missouri.
2nd-ranked Florida State flicked away Wake Forest 41-16, and 3rd-ranked Ohio State pulled away from a 10-all tie for a 24-10 win at Wisconsin.
In Jacksonville, Florida scored first and No. 4 Georgia scored the next 29 as the No.4 team secured a rather easy 43-20 win over the Gators.
No. 5 Washington fought off a valiant effort by Stanford on "The Farm" and ultimately left with a 42-33 win.
No. 6 Penn State prevailed 33-24, but had more trouble than it wanted from Indiana as Happy Valley became "Panic Valley" for much of the afternoon. The Hoosiers tied the game at 24-all with 2:58 to play, but the Nittany Lions but regained the lead with a TD pass at the 1:46 mark. What happened next was a bit unusual. On 1st-and-10 at its own 25, the Indiana QB was strip-sacked and the ball eventually made its way through the end zone for a safety as neither team could secure the loose ball
No. 8 Texas had no trouble at home with BYU as redshirt freshman QB Maalik Murphy started in place of the injured Quinn Ewers and led the Longhorns to the 35-6 win.
Not enough defense was a common theme for No. 9 Oklahoma and No. 22 USC, though the outcomes were different.
Brent Venables' 9th-ranked Sooners fell 38-33 at Kansas on Devin Neal's 9-yard run with 55 seconds left. Oklahoma reached the Kansas 23 in four plays, but the gasp was an incomplete pass through the back of the end zone. The win ended an 18-game losing streak to the Sooners that dated back to 1997 in a series that Oklahoma has dominated and holds a 78-22-4 lead.
Former Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley has the same issue at USC that he had in Norman - a porous defense. Saturday we could label it nonexistent as the Trojans were gifted a 50-49 win because Cal head coach Justin Wilcox inexplicably decided to go for two points on its home field after scoring a TD with 55 seconds remaining. Otherwise, USC may have taken a 3rd straight loss. A team that was ranked 3rd at the start of the year has fallen from 9th to 15th (loss at Notre Dame two weeks ago), and from 15th to 22nd after last week's loss to Utah.
In conference games, Oklahoma's defense ranks 91st and USC's ranks 116th.
(9) Oregon 35, (13) Utah 6 - In this battle of 2 of the top 3 teams in the PAC-12 on defense, Oregon roared to a quick 21-3 and never looked back. The Utes were held to a pair of field goals and managed just 241 yards of total offense. Oregon QB Bo Nix is the likely Heisman Trophy favorite at this point after throwing for two scores and running for another. It was a disappointing end for the locals to a long and exciting day in Salt Lake City where College GameDay started the festivities early and the hometown fans were hoping to see their team extend its 18-game home winning streak.
(18) Louisville 23, (21) Duke 0 - You still can't say enough about what Mike Elko has done for the Duke football program in less that two years, but it's way past time to admire the job Jeff Brohm is doing in his first season at Louisville. Up next is a home date with Virginia Tech who, believe it or not, is tied for 2nd with the Cards in the ACC race.
(2) Michigan, (8) Alabama, (15) LSU, (16) Missouri.
(SEE: Weekly Picks/Scores)
Penn State and North Carolina fell from the list last week. Oklahoma drops off this week. Of the remaining 8 unbeaten teams, 3 are Group of Five schools - Air Force, James Madison and Liberty.
Here is a look at who each played, along with the sportsbook odds in parenthesis, followed by the computer's projected margin and the final result.
ACC
Florida State, 8-0 (-20) by 23.01 at Wake Forest - FSU won, 41-16
B1G
Michigan, 8-0, idle
Ohio State, 8-0 (-14.5) by 13.04 at Wisconsin - Ohio State won 24-10
Big 12
Oklahoma, 7-1 (-10) by 1.28 at Kansas - Oklahoma lost 38-33
CUSA
Liberty, 8-0 (-4) is a 4.38-point underdog at Western Kentucky - Liberty won 42-29
MWC
Air Force, 8-0 (-12.5) by 17.56 at Colorado State - Air Force won 30-13
PAC-12
Washington, 8-0 (-26.5) by 38.19 at Stanford - Washington won 42-33
SEC
Georgia 8-0 (-15.5) by 16.92 over Florida at Jacksonville - Georgia won 43-20
SUN BELT
James Madison 8-0 (-17.5) by 24.98 at home over Old Dominion - James Madison won 30-27
The last team standing is still Sam Houston which was favored to win its Wednesday night home game over UTEP, but suffered another disappointing close loss.
CUSA
Sam Houston 0-8 (-3) by 4.43 at home over UTEP - Sam Houston lost 37-34
Collectively, the Big 12's four new additions this season - BYU, Houston, Cincinnati and UCF - had a horrendous Saturday.
The blue-and-white Cougars lost 35-6 at Texas, the red-and-white Cougars were skunked 41-0 at Kansas State, the Bearcats were routed 45-13 at Oklahoma State, and the Knights fell 41-28 at home to West Virginia.
The new entrants are combined 3-17 in conference games with BYU leading the way at 2-3, followed by Houston at 1-4, while the Cincinnati and UCF are 0-5.
Tuesday night at 7 is when we find out how the College Football Playoff Committee assesses the performance of teams, thus far. Among the more interesting questions to ponder are whether or not they will punish Michigan for the latest 'cheating' allegation, and if they will overlook Georgia's fairly weak schedule or pay homage to the Bulldogs' 25-game winning streak.
We usually have a pretty accurate idea of what they will do in week 1. Right now, we can not profess to do anything more than guess.
1. Michigan - the Wolverines have looked to be the most complete team on the field.
2. Georgia - In most circles, Georgia vs. Michigan is the expected championship game.
3. Florida State - It comes down to the 'Noles or Washington here. We don't think there is any question that FSU is the more complete team. By that,we mean they have a defense that compliments an offense that has scored 30+ points in 14 straight games.
4. Washington - See reason for FSU being 3rd.
5. Ohio State - If everyone is suggesting Michigan and Georgia will play for the championship, then they are also suggesting that Michigan will beat Ohio State.
6. Oregon - The Ducks destroyed Utah and their only loss was by 3 points at Washington. Don't they have to be the highest-rated one-loss team.
The remaining 1-loss Autonomy 5 schools are Texas, Penn State, Alabama, Ole Miss and Oklahoma.
Texas beat Alabama and only lost to Oklahoma. Oklahoma's only loss came to Kansas which is now 6-2. Penn State's only loss came at Ohio State, and Alabama's only loss came to Texas.
This is tough to sort out.
You could say the Sooners have the worst loss, but they also beat Texas for the best win. We think you still have to honor Oklahoma's win over Texas.
7. Oklahoma
8. Texas
9. Penn State's only loss is to No. 5 Ohio State.
10. Alabama's only loss is to No. 8 Texas.
11. Ole Miss' only loss is to 10 Alabama.
We are not going to spend our time trying to delve into 12 through 25. But we will add that Air Force will likely be around 18 and ahead of Tulane (but not by much) in the G5 battle for the automatic berth in a New Year's Six bowl game.
While we were laser-focused on college football throughout the day, we later learned that Saturday was also a day when Matthew Perry, one of the ensemble stars of the beloved TV series, 'Friends', passed away from an apparent hot tub drowning with no foul play involved. Perry's character Chandler Bing is the one that would later marry Monica, played by Courteney Cox. He was just turned 54 in August.
It may seem strange to included this in a football recap column, but we literally do not know anyone who isn't familiar with the show and doff our cap with sadness and respect to Perry.
This season has 117 of the 133 FBS schools facing one FCS opponent, and Army playing two such games for a total of 118 FBS-FCS matchups.
Of the 16 FBS schools that do NOT play a FCS program, 7 are in the B1G (Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Purdue, Wisconsin). 6 more are evenly split between the Big 12 (Houston, Oklahoma, Texas) and Pac-12 (Colorado, USC, Washington). The other three are Liberty (CUSA) , UTSA (American), and Virginia Tech (ACC).
No FBS-FCS games were scheduled this past weekend. There will be 3 such games this coming Saturday (November 4), followed by 1 on November 11, and the remaining 4 on November 18.
The FBS programs are 106-4 this year against the FCS schools. Over-all, the FBS is a collective 1,792-152 (.922) since we began tracking this in 2003.
Here are the FCS wins in 2023, so far:
September 9: Idaho 33, Nevada 6
September 9: Southern Illinois 14, Northern Illinois 12
September 9: Fordham 40, Buffalo 37
September 16: Sacramento State 30, Stanford 23
GEORGIA - Won 23 straight home games, 25 straight over-all, and 13 straight true road games.
Last: 43-20 win over Florida in Jacksonville on Saturday, October 28.
Next: Hosts Missouri on Saturday, November 4.
MICHIGAN - Won 20 straight conference games.
Last: 49-0 win at Michigan State on Saturday, October 21.
Next: After a bye week, hosts Purdue on Saturday, November 4.
SAM HOUSTON - Lost 10 straight over-all (8 since entering FBS).
Last: 37-34 home loss to UTEP on Wednesday, October 25.
Next: Hosts FCS member Kennesaw State on Saturday, November 4.
UMASS - Lost 8 straight home games.
Last: 21-14 win at Army on Saturday, October 28.
Next: After a bye week, hosts Toledo on Tuesday, November 7.
NORTHWESTERN - Lost 14 straight road games.
Last: 33-27 home over Maryland on Saturday, October 28.
Next: Hosts Iowa on Saturday, November 4.
ARIZONA STATE - Had lost 8 straight conference games.
Last: 38-27 home win over Washington State on Saturday, October 28.
Next: Visits Utah on Saturday, November 4.
MICHIGAN STATE ad ULM have each lost 7 straight straight conference games.