College Football Awards Week 7 (2026) October 19, 2026

Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.
Tags: Alabama, Arch Manning, Army, Auburn, Billy Napier, Bob Chesney, Bret Bielema, BYU, Central Florida, Cincinnati, Clemson, college football, Cougars, Dan Lanning, Delaware, Florida, Florida Atlantic, Florida State, football, Gators, Georgia, Hawaii, Holiday Bowl, Illinois, Indiana, James Madison, Julian Sayin, Kalani Sitake, Kennesaw State, Kent State, Kirby Smart, Longhorns, Louisville, Marcus Freeman, Mario Cristobal, Miami, Miami (FL), Michigan State, Mike Norvell, Missouri State, NCAA football, New Mexico, New Mexico State, North Dakota State, Northern Illinois, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Oregon, Pittsburgh, Sam Houston, South Florida, Steve Sarkisian, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Toledo, UCLA, Virginia Tech, Washigton State, West Virginia, Western Michigan
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COACHES
Wish I were him:  Kalani Sitake, BYU

Glad I’m not him: Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame

Lucky guy: Mario Cristobal, Miami

Poor guy: Mike Norvell, Florida State

Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Bob Chesney, UCLA

Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Billy Napier, James Madison

Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Kirby Smart, Georgia

Desperately seeking … anything: Steve Sarkisian, Texas

TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Texas A&M (defeated The Citadel 41-0)

Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Northwestern (defeated Michigan State 24-21)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Kent State (lost to South Florida 29-2)

Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Michigan State (lost to No. 25 Northwestern 24-21)

Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did:  Army (defeated Florida Atlantic 56-24)

Dang, they’re good: Ohio State
Dang, they’re bad: Kent State

Can’t Stand Prosperity: Georgia

Did the season start?  Texas
Can the season end? Washington State

Can the season never end? BYU

GAMES
Play this again: No. 8 BYU 28, No. 2 Notre Dame 24

Play this again, too: No. 4 Ohio State 19, No. 5 Indiana 15

Never play this again: Texas A&M 41, The Citadel 0

What? No. 14 Tennessee 26, No. 6 Alabama 10

Huh? Florida 27, No. 7 Texas 24

Are you kidding me?? No. 8 BYU 28, No. 2 Notre Dame 24

Oh – my – God:  Auburn 27, No. 1 Georgia 24

NEXT WEEK

rankings are current AP (week 8)
Ticket to die for:  No. 7 Ole Miss @ No. 19 Texas*

Best non-Power Four vs. Power Four  matchup: none

Best non-Power Four matchup: Western Michigan @ Toledo

Also: North Dakota State @ New Mexico

Upset alert: Pittsburgh @ No. 1 Miami

Must win: No. 14 Houston @ No. 10 Utah

Offensive explosion: No. 8 Texas Tech @ Cincinnati

Defensive struggle: New Mexico State @ Sam Houston

Great game no one is talking about: Virginia Tech @ Clemson

Intriguing coaching matchup:  Dan Lanning of Oregon vs Bret Bielema of Illinois

Who’s bringing the body bags?  Liberty @ Kennesaw State

Why are they playing?  N/A

Plenty of good seats remaining: Hawaii @ Northern Illinois

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? Missouri State @ Delaware

Week 7 Thoughts:

Today was an historic day for top-ten losses.  For the first time in more than 5,000 days, both the number-one and number-two teams lost their respective games.  If that is not enough, other top-ten teams lost as well, not only Georgia, but also Texas and Alabama.  The last time that all three of those teams lost on the same day was Oct. 26, 1996, almost 30 years to the day.

In the process were some thrilling games, and others with improbable outcomes.  An example of the latter was the Florida game at Texas, where the Longhorns led for most of the game, only to have zero offensive output for most of the second half, save for a quick drive late in the fourth with a touchdown made possible by a beautiful, long pass from Arch Manning, who then fumbled on the last drive to essentially seal the deal for the Gators.  For the second week in a row, the Longhorns improbably gave the game away, in part due to anemic second half offensive performances. 

To break it down further:  Texas currently depends too much on Arch Manning while neglecting their running game.  Worse yet, Manning is clearly over-coached, to the point of him appearing to be caught in an invisible straightjacket.  Add late-game turnovers on top of that, and you have the Horns’ current death spiral.  Needless to say, Steve Sarkisian has coach his way onto a burned orange hot seat.

Speaking of improbable losses, what to make of Georgia’s head-scratching loss to Auburn at home?  While Kirby Smart owned up to his team getting out-played during the post-game presser, in hindsight, this was a trap game for the Bulldogs, who just came off a massive win on the road over Alabama, only to be caught in the Oldest Rivalry of the Deep South the following week.  Welcome to the stupefying vicissitudes of college football.

Meanwhile, Ohio State was able to settle a major score with Indiana, in Bloomington no less, but it came at the cost of QB Julian Sayin being knocked out of competition for several weeks, making the Buckeye’s victory a Pyrrhic one.

As things developed, ABC Sports was wise to schedule the Notre Dame @ BYU game in the evening.  Speaking of which, even though I had listed the Ohio State-Indiana game as the “Ticket to die for”, this game also qualified as such.  The matchup was a classic one of heart vs talent, with the outcome being one of the relatively rare instances when heart won the day/night.  This massive win for the Cougars amounted to the biggest regular season victory in the history of the program.  Only the 1984 Holliday Bowl triumph, securing BYU’s only national title to date, could be considered greater.  Such a victory has surely put the rest of the college football world on notice, proving that the Cougars can hang with the heavyweights, at least for this year.

After such a monster week for some big games, let us now brace for the let-down.  Next week’s slate of games will not be as good.  But then again, they can’t all be winners.

Random Thoughts:

Last week’s supposed/predicted offensive explosion turned out to be quite the one-side affair, 31-3 in favor of Ole Miss, with Missouri’s offense deciding to take a bye week without telling the rest of the team.  Aside from the anomalous Texas State over Colorado State 66-27, a closer offensive explosion in reality turned out to be West Virginia over Cincinnati, 45-42, no overtime involved.  An honorable mention would be Army over Florida Atlantic 56-24.  Evidently, the Fighting Schellenbergers did not bring much fight with them to this week’s game.

Along the lines of trap games (see:  Auburn’s massive upset over Georgia), keep an eye on BYU venturing to Central Florida next week.  The Golden Knights’ record is nothing to right home about, but always beware of teams going on the road after an historically emotional win.

*The rationale for this game’s designation is twofold.  A) it’s a down week.  Georgia, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Nebraska, Penn State, Louisville, Wake Forest, Florida and many others have byes for Week 8.  B) like a trainwreck, you cannot not look away.