College Football Awards, Week 9 November 2, 2026

Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.
Tags: Air Force, Alabama, Army, B1G, Boston College, Brent Venables, Buffalo, Bulldogs, BYU, college football, Dan Lanning, Ducks, Duke, FIU, Florida Atlantic, football, Gamecocks, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, Jason Eck, Jedd Fisch, Julian Sayin, Kalen DeBoer, Kennesaw State, Kentucky, Lane Kiffin, liberty, Lincoln Riley, Longhorns, LSU, Maryland, Matt Rhule, Miami, Miami (FL), Miami (OH), Minnesota, MTSU, NCAA, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Texas, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Oregon, Purdue, Rebels, Rhett Lashlee, Ryan Day, SEC, SMU, Sooners, South Carolina, Syracuse, Tennessee, Texas, Tigers, Tony Elliott, Trinidad Chambliss, UCLA, UConn, USC, Utah, Volunteers, Wake Forest, Washington, Wildcats, Wisconsin
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COACHES
Wish I were him:  Lincoln Riley, USC

Glad I’m not him: Ryan Day, Ohio State

Lucky guy: Jedd Fisch, Washington

Poor guy: Matt Rhule, Nebraska

Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Rhett Lashlee

Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Jason Eck, New Mexico

Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Brent Venables, Oklahoma

Desperately seeking … anything: Tony Elliott, Virginia

TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Wake Forest (defeated Virginia 51-7)

Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Indiana (defeated Minnesota 23-16 (OT))
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: FIU (lost to Liberty 49-10)

Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Kennesaw State (defeated MTSU 44-28)

Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did:  Duke (defeated BC 47-2)

Dang, they’re good: Georgia
Dang, they’re bad: Boston College

Can’t Stand Prosperity: SMU

Did the season start?  Ohio State
Can the season end? UTEP

Can the season never end? Utah

GAMES
Play this again: Iowa State 51, No. 24 Oklahoma State 49

Play this again, too: No. 1 Miami 38, North Carolina 35

Never play this again: No. 14 Wake Forest 51, Virginia 7

What? Iowa 30, No. 25 Wisconsin 0

Come again? Iowa State 51, No. 24 Oklahoma State 49

Huh? Oregon 34, No. 20 Northwestern 26

Double-Huh?? Syracuse 30, No. 19 SMU 27

Are you kidding me?? South Carolina 42, Oklahoma 25

Oh – my – God:  USC 30, No. 2 Ohio State 18

NEXT WEEK

rankings are current AP (week 10)
Ticket to die for:  No. 7 BYU @ No. 3 Utah

Also: No. 1 Miami @ No. 4 Notre Dame

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

Best non-Power Four matchup: Buffalo @ Miami (OH) (Tuesday)

Upset alert: No. 5 UCLA @ Minnesota

Must win: No. 8 Kentucky @ No. 16 Tennessee

Offensive explosion: West Virginia @ No. 14 Texas Tech

Defensive struggle: Michigan State @ Michigan

Great game no one is talking about: Air Force @ Army

Intriguing coaching matchup:  Kalen DeBoer of Alabama vs Lane Kiffin of LSU

Who’s bringing the body bags?  Merrimack @ No. 14 Wake Forest

Why are they playing?  (see above)

Plenty of good seats remaining: Hawaii @ UTEP

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

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? North Carolina @ UConn

Week 9 Thoughts:

Some major and some minor upsets occurred this week.  Let us address the 900-lb gorilla in the room with USC upsetting Ohio State, 30-18.  If both teams were intact, this outcome would be most unlikely, even with the Buckeyes having to venture out to the west coast to play.  But Ohio State’s victory at Indiana last week proved to be more Pyrrhic than first considered.  The loss of QB1 Julian Sayin was a major hit to the Buckeyes’ offense, which was left sputtering at times and unable to put the ball into the end zone at other times.  The rain certainly did not help things for true freshman backup Luke Fahey, either. Still, the Buckeyes dominated time of possession, and they were decent on 3rd down, on the road. One possible takeaway is that OSU can learn from this, even build upon this, and recover further as the season further progresses.

Other interesting surprises included Iowa whipping Wisconsin, 30-0.  So much for this week’s defensive struggle, at least as far as the Iowa side of the equation was concerned.

Oregon’s upset over Northwestern sounds oxymoronic on a number of levels, but the immediate context makes the categorization of an upset technically correct.  After all, Northwestern came into Eugene ranked.  The Ducks, ranked in the top-10 at the season’s start, have suffered enough losses to be currently out of the rankings altogether.  Perhaps Oregon’s win is a sign that Dan Lanning might be righting the ship for the season after all.

As for the most entertaining upset of the week, that clearly goes to South Carolina defeating Oklahoma, on the road, no less.  The high-scoring affair could also consider itself an explosion of offense of sorts, what with the Gamecocks scoring 42 points compared to the home team’s 25.  The Cocks’ triumph should remind the rest of the conference to take Shane Beamer’s team lightly at their own peril.

One of the most engaging games was the low-scoring affair in Bloomington, Ind., between defending national champ Indiana and scrappy Minnesota.  Fun fact:  this was the first game in B1G history (which spans 130 years) wherein two 60-yard field goals were kicked, and that’s not even the whole it.  Both teams kicked theirs within the last two minutes of the game.

Another near-upset occurred with North Carolina plays top-ranked Miami closely throughout, making this week’s intriguing coaching matchup even more interesting to observe as the game unfolded.

Offensive Explosion Review:

For once, my predicted offensive explosion actually came to pass.  North Texas triumphed over Florida Atlantic in a rather thrilling finish, with high scoring throughout the game.  Interestingly, that was not the only offensive explosion worth noting.  Texas State almost upset No. 20 Boise State, with a second-half near-comeback mounted in the second half (the Bobcats outscored the Broncos 22-0 alone in the 3^rd quarter), but the Broncos managed to hold off the challengers in the end, barely, 46-45.

Looking Ahead

Two potentially legendary games await us next week, what with a fitting replay of the “Catholics vs Convicts” as No. 1 Miami ventures up to South Bend, Ind., to play No. 4 Notre Dame, with obvious playoff implications abounding.  At the same time, No. 7 BYU plays No. 3 Utah in what could be the most legendary, definitely most high-stakes “Holy War” ever staged. 

Elsewhere, other intriguing matchups abound.  Kentucky plays Tennessee:  the fact that the Wildcats currently outrank the Volunteers merits us to queue the “Twilight Zone” theme music. 

While UCLA currently sits at the No. 5 ranking, they now venture up to the Twin Cities to play Minnesota, a team that almost upset IU on the road.  Can the Bruins handle the frozen tundra of Huntington Bank Stadium? 

Consider that Texas heads up to Missouri.  Can the Longhorns’ defense contain the Tigers’ offense while Arch Manning continues to find his own offensive footing, including achieving further growth in playing to his strengths (he clearly takes after his grandfather more than he does his uncles).

In another must-win scenario, Oregon, which seems to have stabilized, now plays Ohio State on the road, just as the Buckeyes continue to scramble to revive their offense, assuming such a thing is possible in the first place.

Also, No. 2 Georgia plays No. 12 Ole Miss:  can the Rebels’ Trinidad Chambliss overcome the Bulldogs’ potentially stifling defense?  Conversely, can the Dawgs effectively contain Chambliss and thus put themselves into the driver’s seat in the whole SEC?  We’ll find out this and more this Saturday.  Buckle up, Buckaroos.