News/Commentary

Weekend Recap: Records Were Set, Drama Unfolded, But Top Teams all Survived

October 9, 2022 by Staff

The FBS began on Wednesday with UCF winning its rescheduled home game against SMU 41-19. The game had been moved from October 1 due to Hurricane Ian.

A couple of futility streaks ended on Friday night.

For starters, Nebraska halted its 10-game futility streak in one-score games by rallying from a 13-0 deficit for the 14-13 win at Rutgers.

Later that evening, Colorado State snapped its 10-game over-all losing streak on a 43-yard walk-off FG for the 17-14 upset at Nevada. That game was acrimonious from the start as it featured the return of Jay Norvell to Reno after he left his head coaching position the Wolf Pack after five seasons to take the same job at Colorado State. Eleven of his players went with him.

Not to be outdone in Friday's dramatic department, Houston overcame a 19-point 4th quarter deficit at Memphis in its 33-32 win. The Cougars still trailed 32-19 until scoring a TD with 1:17 left, then recovered the onside kick and scored the game-winning touchdown with :18 remaining. Most importantly, Houston converted the PAT kick to avoid a fourth OT game of the season.

The weekend also ended on dramatic play when Tre'Shaun Harrison made a great catch that became a 56-yard TD to cap a 3-play 76-yard drive with 13 seconds left as Oregon State stunned Stanford 28-27. The play came after Stanford had extended its lead to 5 on a 46-yard FG.

There were a season-low 57 games on this week's schedule as 17 teams had a bye and no one played a school outside the FBS.

Two games pitted Super 16 Poll teams against each other with No. 11 Utah visiting No. 14 UCLA, and No. 13 TCU heading to a resurgent Kansas that popped into the rankings at No. 16. The Bruins won and Horned Frogs won those matchups.

With varying degrees of difficulty, every team in the computer's top 8, the Super 16 Poll's top 10, and the AP Poll's top 10, won on Saturday.

The computer's No. 2 team, Alabama, came within yards of losing.That's how close Texas A&M was on the final play when an incomplete pass ended the upset threat and 'Bama escaped with the 24-20 win.

Top-ranked Ohio State was an easy 49-20 at Michigan State, while No. 3 Michigan pulled away to a 31-10 win at Indiana by outscoring the Hoosiers 21-0 in the second half.

Fourth-ranked Georgia slowly wore Auburn down and went on to a methodical 42-10 whipping of the Tigers, and 5th-ranked Oklahoma State outscored Texas Tech 21-7 in the second half to secure a 41-31 win at home.

No. 6 Clemson also started slowly at Boston College but eventually ran off to a 41-3 win, while No. 7 Tennessee was taking a different tact by pouncing on LSU from the jump and quieting the home faithful in Baton Rouge with a 40-13 romp.

Homestanding Vanderbilt had a 20-17 lead on 8th-ranked Ole Miss at the half, but the Rebels won the second half 35-8 and the game 52-28.

9th-ranked TCU won an incredible see-saw battle at Kansas, 38-31. The Jayhawks lost Jaylon Daniels to a shoulder injury just before halftime, but backup Jason Bean played spectacularly in relief.

No. 10 Penn State was ide.

In some other key games, Notre Dame was a 28-20 winner over BYU in Las Vegas, South Carolina scored a 24-14 upset at Kentucky as Wildcats' QB Will Levis sat out with an injury.

UCLA and USC both remain undefeated after home wins. The Bruins upset Utah 42-32, and USC knocked off a tough Washington State squad 30-14.

Navy blasted Tulsa 53-21 for a 37.5-point flip from the betting line which had the Golden Hurricane favored by 5-1/2. Meanwhile, Buffalo was a 38-7 winner at Bowling Green for a 32.-5point flip from the 1.5-point underdog line.

See the computer's New Top 131. Also, get the Complete Schedule, Scores and Picks for every game.

Record-Setting Performances

The Red River Showdown was a complete mismatch as Texas blanked Oklahoma 49-0. It was Oklahoma's first scoreless game since 1998 (19-0, Texas A&M), and the first time the Sooners were shut out by Texas since 1965. It also marked the first time in history that Oklahoma lost consecutive games by 31 or more points. The final margin of victory was 42.5 points above the spread.

Pittsburgh RB Israel Abanikanda had a day he won't soon forget, and neither will anyone else who pays attention to Pitt football. in a 45-29 home win over Virginia Tech, Abanikanda ran for 320 yards to break Tony Dorsett's school record of 303 against Notre Dame in 1975. He also scored 6 TD's to tie a mark that was first set in 1910 by Normal 'Bill' Budd against Ohio.

Interim HC's 6-3, Old Bosses 5-15

Five teams have fired their head coach this year because he wasn't producing w's - Arizona State, Colorado, Georgia Tech, Nebraska, Wisconsin. On Saturday, four of those teams played and all four interim head coaches came away with victories.

Arizona State handed Washington a 45-38 loss in front of a delighted home crowd to give Shaun Aguano his first win.

Colorado, and new interim HC Mike Sanford, was idle.

Georgia Tech's Brent Key is now 2-0 after a 23-20 home win in overtime against Duke.

Nebraska is 2-1 under Mickey Joseph and tied for first in the Big Ten west following a 14-13 win at Rutgers. As we mentioned earlier, that win halted Nebraska's 10-game futility streak in one-score games as the 'Huskers rallied from a 13-0 deficit for the win.

And finally, Wisconsin, which had just figured its head coach six days earlier, pummeled Northwestern 42-7 in Evanston and many are wondering if Pat Fitzgerald's days are numbered. At any rate, the Badgers are undefeated (1-0) under interim HC Jim Leonhard.

As a whole, the interim HC's are 6-3 after their bosses had gone a collective 5-15.

Power 5 Conference Leaders

Alabama and Ole Miss are the only teams with unblemished conference mark in the western half of the SEC, while Georgia  and Tennessee have that distinction in the eastern half.

Big Ten east members Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State have yet to lose a conference battle, while the west has Illinois, Purdue and Nebraska all sitting at 2-1.

Kansas State is 3-0 in the Big 12 with Oklahoma State and TCU at 2-0.

Clemson (4-0) and, believe it or not, Syracuse (2-0) have the top conference marks in the ACC Atlantic, while UNC is the only team with an undefeated ACC record in the Coastal.

USC (4-0), UCLA (3-0) and Oregon (3-0) are the top teams in the PAc-12 which no longer uses division play.

FCS vs. FBS

There will be 118 FBS vs. FCS matchups this season with App State, Army and Marshall each playing two such games, and 115 other FBS schools playing one apiece.

No one played a FCS school this week and only 8 FBS-FCS matchups remain for the rest of the season.

The FBS is 102-8 vs. the FCS this year, and 1,676-148 (.919) since we began tracking this in 2003.

Here are the FCS wins in 2022:
September 2: William & Mary 41, Charlotte 24
September 3: Delaware14, Navy 7
September 10: Weber State 35, Utah State 7
September 10: Incarnate Word 55, Nevada 41
September 10: Holy Cross 37, Buffalo 31
September 10: Eastern Kentucky 59, Bowling Green 57 (7 OT's)
September 17: Southern Illinois 31, Northwestern 24
September 24: Sacramento State 41, Colorado State 10

Streaks

CLEMSON - Won 12 straight over-all (FBS longest); Won 37 straight home games (FBS longest).
Last: Won 31-3 at Boston College on Saturday, October 8.
Next: at Florida State on Saturday, October 15.

CINCINNATI: Won 18 straight conference games (FBS longest).
Last: Won 28-24 vs. USF on Saturday, October 8.
Next: at SMU on Saturday, October 22.

GEORGIA - Won 9 straight true road games (FBS longest).
Last: Won 42-10 vs. Auburn on Saturday, October 8.
Next: Hosts Vanderbilt on Saturday, October 15.

COLORADO STATE - Had lost 10 straight over-all (was FBS longest). Had lost 9 straight to FBS schools (was FBS longest).
Last: Won 17-14 at Nevada to end both streaks on Friday, October 7.
Next: Hosts Utah State on Saturday, October 15.

MASSACHUSETTS - Lost 9 straight to FBS schools (FBS longest).
Last: Lost 42-24 vs. Liberty on Saturday, October 8.
Next: Hosts Buffalo on Saturday, October 15.

VANDERBILT - Lost 23 straight conference games (FBS longest).
Last: Lost 52-28 vs. Mississippi on Saturday, October 8.
Next: at Georgia on Saturday, October 15.

NEW MEXICO STATE - Lost 21 straight road games (FBS longest).
Last: Lost 21-7 vs Florida International on Saturday, October 1.
Next: Hosts New Mexico on Saturday, October 15.