Weekly Recap; Purdue Takes Down Iowa; UT-Ole Miss Ends With Ugly Display By Fans

October 17, 2021 by Staff

Purdue went to Iowa and took down the Hawkeyes with relative ease, 24-7. Iowa entered the game ranked 2nd across the board (Congrove, Computer Rankings, Super 16 Poll, AP Poll, Coaches Poll) and looking to extend its 12-game winning streak. The Boilermakers improved to 4-2 overall and, more importantly, stayed in the Big Ten West race with a home game against Wisconsin on deck.

27 teams were idle this week, including the computer's 4th-ranked Michigan Wolverines, No. 7 Ohio State, No. 9 Wake Forest. No. 10 Penn State, No. 11 SMU, No. 14 Notre Dame, and No. 16 Coastal Carolina.

Georgia, the consensus number 1 team, continued to act like it as the undefeated Bulldogs waged a successful 30-13 defense of their home turf against previously unbeaten Kentucky.

Oklahoma State outscored Texas 19-0 to rally from a 24-13 third quarter deficit and upset the Longhorns 32-24 in Austin. The Cowboys are 6-0 on the season, 3-0 in the Big 12, after bagging their 8th straight win since last December.

Oklahoma then played its most complete game of the season against a FBS foe, knocking off TCU 52-31 behind a sterling performance from Caleb Williams who who completed 18-of-23 for 295 yards and 4 TD's, and added a 41-yard rushing score. The win was need for the Sooners to keep pace with Oklahoma State at the top of the conference standings. At this point, the rivals appear to be headed toward their season-ending Bedlam game in Stillwater with a lot more than state bragging rights on the line.

LSU on Saturday gave Ed Orgeron a much-needed win as the Tigers outscored Florida 49-42 in Baton Rouge. The Gators fall to 2-3 in the eastern division with the loss and 4-3 overall, while LSU improves to 2-2 in the western division and 4-3 overall.

Cincinnati flexed its muscle against visiting UCF, slamming the door shut early on any upset aspirations by tallying the first 35 points of the game in a 56-21 romp. The Bearcats are 6-0.

Alabama recovered from its loss at Texas A&M with a 49-9 dismantling of Mississippi State in Starkville. The Tide gained 543 yards, limited the Bulldogs to 299 and forced 3 turnovers.

Tennessee, behind Virginia Tech transfer QB Hendon Hooker, and Ole Miss, led by head coach Lane Kiffin and QB Matt Corral, put on a show in Knoxville on Saturday night. Unfortunately, a large number of the Volunteer fauthful disrupted the end of the game by throwing debris on the field, causing a 20-minute delay after UT turned the ball over on downs by being ruled a yard short of a first down. Ultimately, the final seconds were allowed to play out and Ole Miss held on for a 31-26 win, but Hooker was injured on the 3rd-to-last play of the game. Joe Milton came in and threw for a first down to the Rebels' 21, then threw one high in the end zone. With 3 seconds left at the start of the final play, he inexplicably took off on a scramble run and was chased out of bounds well short of the end zone. Kiffin was struck by a yellow golf ball during the ugly display by fans which also caused the UT band and cheerleaders to seek refuge.

Liberty fell 31-28 at UL-Monroe in a huge upset as the Flames were laying 32 points. If you played it based on the computer spread of 28.69, however, you would've cashed in. The Warhawks took a 28-14 lead into the 4th quarter only to give it all away when Malik Willis rambled 53 yards to knot the score at 28 with 7:49 to play. But after the teams exchanged punts, Louisiana-Monroe took back the lead on a 53-yard field goal with 1:44 remaining. Willis was intercepted on the second play after the kickoff and UL-Monroe had the upset secured.

Pittsburgh, in battle between the lone undefeated teams in the ACC Coastal division, chalked-up a dominating 28-7 win at Virginia Tech. The Panthers become the easy odds-on favorite to win the division as they now essentially hold a two-game lead on the Hokies, and a straight-up two-game lead on Virginia.

Miami dropped 2-4 over-all, 0-2 in the ACC, with a 45-42 loss at North Carolina. The Tar Heels climbed back above .500 at 4-3 overall, 3-3 in the ACC.

Nebraska fell to 3-5 with a 30-23 loss at Minnesota (4-2), putting Scott Frost firmly on the hot seat. The 'Huskers are 1-3 in the Big Ten and have lost four of their last five games. Honestly, firing Frost doesn't likely solve anything. Nebraska could be better served by quieting the constant noise around the program.

South Carolina needed a last-minute touchdown to thwart the upset attempt by Vanderbilt with a 21-20 win in Columbia. The Gamecocks had lost 9 straight SEC games, but improved to 1-3 in conference play this season as Shane Beamer's record improved to 4-3 in his inaugural year as head coach. Vanderbilt saw its conference losing streak increase to 16 straight. The Commodores' last conference win came against Missouri nearly two years ago to the day (Oct. 19, 2019).

Among the games played Saturday night, Washington State upset Stanford 34-31 in Pullman, giving the Cougars their fifth straight win over the Cardinal. And UCLA was a 24-17 winner at home against Washington as the Bruins improved to 5-2 and the Huskies fell to 2-4.

Utah blanked Arizona State 28-0 in the second half to over come the visiting Sun Devils 35-21. Both teams were undefeated in conference play heading into the game.

Boise State was a 24-17 loser at home to Air Force as the Broncos dropped to 3-3 and the Falcons rose to 5-1. It's the third straight home loss for Boise State, and the fourth loss in the last five at home going back to last season. Prior to 2020, it took the Broncos nearly five full seasons to lose 4 home games.

FCS vs. FBS

2 teams will play 2 FCS teams this fall (UConn and UMass), and 115 teams will play 1 FCS school for a total of 117 such matchups. 105 of those 117 games have already been played.

There was one such game this week as Yale visits UConn as a 0.09-point computer favorite, but fell 21-15.

The FBS is 96-10 vs. the FCS this season. Since we began tracking this in 2003, the FBS teams are now 1,565-138 (.919).

Last year, 30 FBS teams played a total of just 34 games against FCS schools and the FCS won just 1 game (1-33). That honor also went to Jacksonville State with its 19-10 victory over FIU.

Here are the FCS wins in 2021:
September 2: UC Davis 19, Tulsa 17
September 2: Eastern Washington 35, UNLV 33 (2 OT)
September 3: South Dakota State 42, Colorado State 23
September 4: Holy Cross 38, UConn 28
September 4: Montana 13, Washington 7
September 4: ETSU 23, Vanderbilt 3
September 11: Duquesne 28, Ohio 26
September 11: Jacksonville State 20, Florida State 17.
September 18: Incarnate Word 42, Texas State 34.
September 18: Northern Arizona 21, Arizona 19

This was the only FCS win vs. the FBS in 2020:
October 23: Jacksonville State 19, FIU 10

In 2019, FBS teams were 111-3 (.974) in such games. These were the only FCS wins that season:
August 29: Central Arkansas 35, Western Kentucky 28
September 7: Southern Illinois 45, Massachusetts 20
September 14: The Citadel 27, Georgia Tech 24 (OT)

Streaks

OKLAHOMA: Won 15 straight over-all (FBS longest).
LAST: Won 52-31 at home over TCU on Saturday, Oct. 16.
Next: Visits Kansas on Saturday, Oct. 23.

OHIO STATE - Won 24 straight conference games (FBS longest), and 11 straight road games (FBS longest).
Last: Won 66-17 over Maryland on Saturday, Oct. 9.
Next: Visits Indiana on Saturday, Oct. 23.

CLEMSON - Won 31 straight home games (FBS longest).
Last: Won 17-14 at Syracuse on Friday, Oct. 15.
Next: Visits Pittsburgh on Saturday, Oct. 23.

NEW MEXICO - Lost 16 straight road games (FBS longest).
Last: Lost 36-7 at home vs. Colorado State on Saturday, Oct. 16.
Next: Visits Wyoming on Saturday, Oct. 23.

KANSAS - Lost 18 straight to FBS schools (FBS Longest), and 15 straight conference games.
Last: Lost 41-14 at home to Texas Tech on Saturday, Oct. 16.
Next: Hosts Oklahoma on Saturday, Oct. 23.

ARIZONA - Lost 18 straight over-all (FBS Longest), and 17 straight to FBS schools.
Last: Lost 34-0 at Colorado on Saturday, Oct. 16.
Next: Hosts Washington on Friday, Oct. 22.

VANDERBILT - Lost 16 straight conference games.
Last: Lost 21-20 at South Carolina on Saturday, Oct. 16.
Next: Hosts Mississippi State on Saturday, Oct. 23.