College Football Awards, Week 9 (2024) October 27, 2024

COACHES
Wish I were him:  Mike Elko, Texas A&M

Glad I’m not him: Brian Kelly, LSU

Lucky guy: Chris Klieman, Kansas State

Poor guy: Lance Leipold, Kansas

Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Ryan Day, Ohio State

Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Jake Dickert, Washington State

Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Jamey Chadwell, Liberty

Desperately seeking … anything:  Derek Mason, Middle Tennessee

TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Miami (defeated Florida State 36-14)

Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Ohio State (defeated Nebraska 21-17)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Missouri (lost to No. 15 Alabama 34-0)

Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t:  Vanderbilt (lost to No. 5 Texas 27-24)

Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did:  Pittsburgh (defeated Syracuse 41-13)

Most improved from previous week:  Nebraska

Dang, they’re good: Oregon
Dang, they’re bad:  Central Michigan

Can’t Stand Prosperity:  Liberty

Did the season start?  LSU
Can the season end?  Mississippi State

Can the season never end? Texas A&M

GAMES
Play this again:  No. 14 Texas A&M 38, No. 8 LSU 23

Play this again, too:  No. 17 Boise State 29, UNLV 24

Never play this again: No. 15 Notre Dame 51, No. 25 Navy 14

What?  Houston 17, Utah 14

Huh?  Akron 25, Eastern Michigan 21

Are you kidding me??  No. 14 Texas A&M 38, No. 8 LSU 23

Oh – my – God:  Kennesaw State 27, Liberty 24

NEXT WEEK

rankings are current AP (week 10)
Ticket to die for:  No. 4 Ohio State @ No. 3 Penn State

Best non-Power Four vs. Power Four  matchup: (they are all bad)

Best non-Power Four matchup: Jacksonville State @ Liberty

Upset alert: No. 10 Texas A&M @ South Carolina

Must win: No. 18 Pittsburgh @ No. 20 SMU

Offensive explosion: TCU @ Baylor

Defensive struggle: Kentucky @ No. 7 Tennessee

Great game no one is talking about: USC @ Washington

Intriguing coaching matchup:  PJ Fleck of Minnesota vs Bret Bielema of Illinois

Honorable mention:  Jeff Brohm of Louisville vs Dabo Swinney of Clemson

Who’s bringing the body bags? Air Force @ No. 21 Army

Why are they playing?  Maine @ Oklahoma

Plenty of good seats remaining: Middle Tennessee @ UTEP

Plenty of good seats remaining, B1G edition:  Northwestern @ Purdue

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?  UMass @ Mississippi State

Week 9 Thoughts:

Thursday gave us a surprising upset in Kennesaw State, winless up to that point upsetting Liberty.  Indeed, the Flames picked up their first loss of the season.  Given how lopsided the matchup was on paper, that clearly merits this game as the biggest upset of the week.

Then Friday gave us two very engaging games, one wherein Louisville managed to gradually gnaw away at BC’s lead to where they eventually triumphed, 31-27, on the road, no less.

Later that night, the grandest Non-Power Five clash of the week occurred with UNLV taking on Boise State, wherein the Broncos had to fight hard to fend off the Runnin’ Rebels, 29-24.

Nebraska @ Ohio State

What to make of this game?  A couple of weeks ago, Ohio State was considered a major favorite to win the national title.  Then they lost to Oregon, on the road, in Autzen Stadium, which is a tough place to play and even tougher if it is a team’s first time there.  But they still looked like playoff contenders.

Then, the Buckeyes had a bye week to lick their wounds before taking on Nebraska at home.  While the Cornhuskers are no chump team, they are no Oregon or Georgia.  Ohio State only scored 21 points against them, and the Huskers even led for 4:39 in the 4^th quarter.

So what to make of all this?  One can boil it down to two potential explanations.  The first:  the Cornhuskers have drastically improved under Matt Rhule as the season has progressed, especially within the past couple of weeks.  At the same time, Ohio State is showing regression at running the ball and on the offensive line, and they had to extend themselves to beat a decent team.

The second potential explanation:  Nebraska may have considerably improved, but they are not world-beaters.  Ohio State got caught in a trap game while too many on the team were looking past the Huskers in anticipation of taking on Penn State in Happy Valley next week.

Occam’s razor, to which I generally subscribe, would suggest the latter.  But seriously, if the Buckeyes are serious about giving the Nittany Lions their first “L” of the season, they need to work on their running game and their line play.

Illinois @ Oregon

The outcome of the Ducks defeating the Illini at home was hardly in doubt.  Oregon got that job done and then some, 38-9.  Nevertheless, Illinois put up a valiant effort in the process.  Yet one cannot help but wonder as to why such a considerable loss only knocked Illinois down five positions, at the most, in the latest rankings.  Yes, the Illini are still a good team, but after losing that badly yet to stay ranked (from about No. 19 to No. 24) is quite likely more of a commentary on the high esteem the voters have towards Oregon and less of the regard they may have for Illinois, which clearly has not diminished much, and rightly so.

LSU & Texas A&M

The SEC evening game on ABC certainly did not disappoint.  But one of the biggest upsets of the week did occur, where the Aggies triumphed over the Tigers, 38-23.  LSU was the higher-ranked team going in, and could have won.  So what happened?  Simply put, LSU’s QB play went South.  Yes, Garrett Nussmeier did throw for 405 yards and two touchdowns.  But he also threw three interceptions, all of which were at very inopportune times.  It leads us to the biggest takeaway of the game, that Brian Kelly needs a better QB if he wants to take LSU to the promised land.

Elsewhere:

One more interesting aspect to Week 9 was that a cluster of close, competitive games happened late at night.  Colorado continues to surge under Coach Prime after a sluggish start to the season, defeating Cincinnati 34-23.  Kansas and Kansas State slugged it out in a classic rivalry clash.  Though the latter’s record is vastly superior to that of the former, you could barely tell that last night, as the Wildcats had to fight hard to come back against the Jayhawks, 29-27.  Duke took SMU not only down to the wire, but into OT, and even then, the Mustangs only won by a point, 28-27.  Out on the west coast, Washington State, who quietly grows stronger by the week, had to stage a 4^th-quarter comeback over visiting San Diego State.  It was a good week, and a unique one at that.