Week Nine College Football Final Word

What a great weekend in College Football. We had close games, playoff impacting matchups, and more undefeated teams going down.

Here are my final words on College Football week nine.

Ohio State Wears Down Penn State

Ohio State outlasted Penn State, 33-24, in a dog fight after James Franklin and his team threw punch after punch to keep this game close.

A game of wild momentum shifts in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday night ended with the pendulum swinging in the home team’s favor as No. 5 Ohio State won its sixth consecutive game this season and its 22nd straight Big Ten game overall.

The Buckeyes fell behind out of the gate after giving up a touchdown on Penn State’s second possession of the game and mustered only one score, a field goal, over their first five possessions. But a touchdown strike from quarterback C.J. Stroud to wide receiver Chris Olave in the second half gave them the lead for the first time, and a scoop-and-score just before halftime made it a double-digit game at the break.

Penn State abruptly erased that deficit with a field goal as time expired in the second quarter and a touchdown score early in the third quarter. As was the case all night, it triggered a reaction with Ohio State getting a field goal and score of its own only for Penn State — sensing a theme here? — to battle back to cut the lead to 27-24 with another score. 

That was as close as it got all night. Ohio State kicked — and made — a pair of field goals in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach. 

Buckeyes freshman running back TreVeyon Henderson stole the show late in the game after finding little room early. He finished with 152 yards rushing and a touchdown. Stroud added 305 yards passing and a touchdown through the air.  

Coming off an ugly nine-overtime loss at home to Illinois, Penn State looked more like the team that had climbed into the top five before losing to Iowa in a game where quarterback Sean Clifford got injured. Clifford looked healthy and sharp, going 35 for 52 for 361 yards and a touchdown after a tentative performance last week. Still, the Nittany Lions lost their third straight to fall out of contention in the Big Ten East.

Up Next: The Nittany Lions look to snap their skid at Maryland & the Buckeyes head to Nebraska.

21 Observations From College Football Week Nine

Kenneth Walker, Heisman Leader?

• He had five rushing touchdowns, the most ever by a player against Michigan. Walker finished with 208 total yards on 26 touches.

Georgia’s Defense Remains Elite

• Georgia’s defense has scored three touchdowns and allowed five this season. The Bulldogs defense scored one on a pick six and allowed one touchdown in a 34-7 win against Florida. 

Florida Continues To Move The Ball, But Also Lose

• A good indicator of how total yardage doesn’t really matter without context, given Saturday’s blowout loss to Georgia. The Gators outgained Georgia 355-354 and lost 34-7. Florida has outgained its opponent in every game but is 4-4.

BYU And Virginia, Scored, ALOT!

• BYU and Virginia combined for 1,322 yards in a 66-49 Cougars win.

Houston’s Marcus Jones Is Special

• He has nine career special teams return touchdowns, tying the NCAA record. That includes a kick return TD in consecutive games.

TCU Is Sacked

• Kansas State Defensive End Felix Anudike-Uzomah had a FBS record-tying six sacks in a win against TCU.

Nebraska Comes Up Short Again

• They averaged 9.3 yards per play on first down and lost to Purdue. Nebraska had 279 yards on first down and 120 yards on all other downs, but the Huskers lost 28-23 to a Purdue team that averaged 4.05 yards per play. 

Bowling Green Better Without Scott Loeffler?

• Bowling Green scored more points after head coach Scot Loeffler’s third-quarter ejection than in any full game in nearly two years.

UTEP Is Not Good On the Eastern Time Zone

• UTEP is 0-26-1 all-time in the Eastern time zone. The Miners brought a 6-1 record to FAU but were double-digit underdogs. A late Miners rally made the game close, but FAU won 28-25.

Texas Continues to Struggle In The Second Half

• Texas has blown a double-digit second-half lead and lost in three consecutive games.

Miss. State’s Will Rogers Is Accurate

• Mississippi State QB Will Rogers set an SEC record (min. 30 attempts) by completing 92.3 percent of his passes.

Wake Forest Continues Its Hot Start

• Wake Forest is 8-0 for the first time ever after a 45-7 win against Duke.

Wisconsin Dominates Iowa

• Wisconsin held Iowa to 17 total yards in the first half of a 27-7 win.

Sean Tucker of Syracuse is Running Hard

• He now has had seven consecutive 100-yard rushing games.

Plenty Of Turnovers, Not The Sweet Kind

• Middle Tennessee and Southern Miss combined for nine turnovers.

Arizona Finally Scores, But It’s Not Enough

• Arizona scored 20 points for the first time this season. USC won 41-34, but Arizona’s previous season high for points was 19 points.

Drake London Injured

• After a crazy year with great game after great game, we may have seen the last of Drake London in College Football. Here’s a tip of the cap to a great career, and hope he recovers with no issues and becomes a great pro.

Kyren Williams of Notre Dame Dominates

• Williams ran for close to 200 yards in a dominating performance against North Carolina. This included an amazing 91-yard touchdown run that you have to see.

Cincinnati Struggled But Got the Job Done

• Cincinnati had another clunker of a game, but in a long season you have to get through these games. They continue to do that and should be in a top 3 position in the CFB playoff top 25.

Kenny Pickett And Pitt Suffer A Bad Loss

• After they finally got recognized in the polls and Kenny Pickett got a lot of attention for the Hesiman, Pitt suffered a bad loss to Miami, I think they do better with no expectations.

Gary Patterson Fired

• In a bit of a shocker, Gary Patterson was let go from the program he brought to prominence. I’m not sure sure this is the best move for TCU, but we will see how it turns out.

My Prediction Record After College Football Week Nine

• Last week: 12-6
• Overall: 119-48
• Upset Picks Overall:3-6

Another swing and a miss for my upset pick. A lot of weird results this weekend in the lower ranked games. I guess that’s what you can expect this type of year.

Here is to next week.

My Personal College Football Top 10 (And Playoff Predictions)

After the Nine week, here is who I have in my College Football top 10:

1. Georgia
2. Cincinnati
3. Michigan State
4. Alabama
5. Oklahoma
6. Oregon
7. Ohio State
8. Notre Dame
9. Michigan
10. Wake Forest

Here are my predictions for the College Football playoffs:

1. Georgia
2. Cincinnati
3. Oklahoma
4. Ohio State

My Heisman Predictions After Week Nine

1. Bryce Young
2. Kenneth Walker
3. CJ Stroud
4. Kyren Williams
5. Sam Hartman

Looking Ahead To College Football Week Ten

Here are your biggest games for week Ten.

• Auburn at Texas A&M
• Michigan State at Purdue
• Tulsa at Cincinnati
• LSU at Alabama
• Oregon at Washington

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