College Football Awards, Week 7 (2024) October 14, 2024

COACHES
Wish I were him:  Steve Sarkesian, Texas

Honorable mention:  Dan Lanning, Oregon

Glad I’m not him: Brent Venables

Ditto:  Ryan Day, Ohio State

Lucky guy: Bret Bielema, Illinois

Poor guy: Ryan Walters, Purdue

Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Kyle Whittingham, Utah

Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Kenny Dillingham, Arizona State

Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Jedd Fisch, Washington

Desperately seeking … anything:  Trent Dilfer, UAB

TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Army (defeated UAB 44-10)

Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Georgia (defeated Mississippi State 41-31)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: UMass (lost to No. 25 Missouri 45-3)

Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t:  Purdue (lost to No. 23 Illinois 50-49)

Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did:  Iowa (defeated Washington 40-16)

Dang, they’re good: Texas
Dang, they’re bad:  UMass

Can’t Stand Prosperity:  Utah

Did the season start?  Washington
Can the season end?  UTEP

Can the season never end? Oregon

GAMES
Play this again:  No. 3 Oregon 32, No. 2 Ohio State 31

Play these again, too:  No. 8 Tennessee 23, Florida 17

                                      No. 4 Penn State 33, USC 30

                                      No. 7 Alabama 27, South Carolina 25

                                      No. 13 LSU 29, No. 9 Ole Miss 26

Never play this again: No. 11 Notre Dame 49, Stanford 7

What?  Arizona State 27, No. 16 Utah 19

Huh?  Iowa 40, Washington 16

Are you kidding me??  No. 13 LSU 29, No. 9 Ole Miss 26

Oh – my – God:  No. 3 Oregon 32, No. 2 Ohio State 31

NEXT WEEK

rankings are current AP (week 8)
Ticket to die for:  No. 5 Georgia @ No. 1 Texas

Best non-Power Four vs. Power Four  matchup: Wake Forest @ UConn

Best non-Power Four matchup: UNLV @ Oregon State

Upset alert: No. 11 Notre Dame @ Georgia Tech

Must win: No. 7 Alabama @ No. 11 Tennessee

Offensive explosion: New Mexico @ Utah State

Defensive struggle: UCLA @ Rutgers

Great game no one is talking about: Nebraska @ No. 16 Indiana

Intriguing coaching matchup:  Josh Heupel of Tennessee vs Kalen DeBoer of Alabama

Honorable mention:  Jeff Brohm of Louisville vs Mario Cristobal of Miami

Who’s bringing the body bags? No. 2 Oregon @ Purdue

Why are they playing?  Ball State @ Vanderbilt

Plenty of good seats remaining: Kennesaw State @ Middle Tennessee

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?  Wyoming @ San Jose State

Week 7 Thoughts:

We said, on this blog, that this week was going to be grand.  Not to be self-congratulatory in the least, but we were more right than we realized.

This week was one of the most epic for college football in ages.  To wit:

Friday evening started the weekend off interestingly, delivering an upset of No. 16 Utah at the hands of unranked Arizona State.  Lesson learned:  take the Sun Devils lightly at one’s own peril.

South Carolina, battered by Ole Miss the week prior, came off the mat to threaten Alabama within an inch of its life, taking the Crimson Tide down to the wire and losing only 27-25.  Had the Gamecocks not botched a two-point conversion attempt, it is unlikely that Bama could have escaped intact.

Texas avenged its unexpected loss from last year, trouncing Oklahoma gradually over the course of 60 minutes of play, triumphing most convincingly 34-3.  The Sooners’ only three points came early in the first quarter before the Longhorns’ defense and offense settled into their respective rhythms.  In the process of this most ripping victory, Texas has, for now, vindicated its current standing as the No. 1 team in the nation.

Even the lesser-regarded teams got in on the act and delivered incredible games in their own right.  Cal ventured across the country to Pittsburgh, and gave a valiant effort, only losing 17-15 to the No. 22 Panthers.  Despite the loss, I am left convinced that Justin Wilcox is the best coach nobody has heard of.

Iowa decided to find this new thing called an offense, and blew out an unsuspecting Washington squad at home, 40-16.  This blew more than a few minds, given that the Hawkeyes have been in more than a few defensive struggles as of late.

Purdue, earning its reputation as a punching bag, what with its hitherto dismal performances, suddenly found an offense as well.  The timing was perfect, since the Boilermakers have become Illinois’ nemesis or sort in recent years.  The Boilers took the 23^rd-ranked Illini into overtime before coming up short in an expected thriller, 50-49.

Louisville, having had something of a “Virginia problem” as of late, likewise rebounded after a tough loss to SMU and picked up the win on the road, in comeback fashion, no less.

Penn State ventured out to Los Angeles to take on USC in the Coliseum.  The legendary venue showed up beautifully on TV, what with a packed house creating a “sea of cardinal”; the east stands decked out in full Trojans banner-regalia; the 4^th quarter tradition of the lighting of the Olympic torch; it all blended together as a symphonic feast for the eyes.  Better yet, the game surpassed the outward aesthetics.  The Trojans came through on big plays to maintain a lead most of the game.  But the Nittany Lions are nothing if not tenacious, gnawing away at the opposition throughout regulation, waiting to capitalize on the inevitable mistake.  Penn State’s comeback was enough to take the game into OT, where they won by a field goal.  On a grander scale, such a thriller of a game personified the amazing potential of new conference matchups made possible by the recent west coast additions to the B1G.  Yes, it still feels like we’re in the Twilight Zone with the Big Ten having expanded this way, but such games make question whether being in such a “Zone” is so bad after all.

All these games listed, and we still have yet to note the night game thrillers!

To start off that segment, Tennessee finally got a major money off its back by defeating Florida in a close one, 23-17.  Pundits have speculated on the inconsistent offensive output on the Volunteers’ part since they beat Oklahoma earlier this season.  While those concerns are not unfounded, what made this game more of a nailbiter than considered ‘on paper’ is that Florida continues to improve as a team under the much-maligned Billy Napier.  Perhaps giving Napier the ax so soon would be unnecessarily hasty.  Regardless, the Volunteers have little time to celebrate, as the Crimson Tide comes calling next week.  That matchup between Tennessee and Alabama shall be easily the most epic clash of those two teams in easily 30 years, if not more.

In another massive game, LSU took on Ole Miss in Death Valley.  The level of play and intensity of rivalry directly harkened back to the high-stakes matchups between the two teams of the late 1950s when legendary coaches Paul Dietzel and Johnny Vaught helmed the respective squads.  The Tigers’ huge, come-from-behind win is no doubt a monkey off Brian Kelly’s back, who still has yet to prove himself to everyone’s satisfaction in the most brutal of conferences.

Finally, the perhaps the biggest thriller of them all took place in Eugene, where No. 2 Ohio State ventured out to the west coast to take on conference newcomer, No. 3 Oregon.  Not only was this matchup massive on paper, but teams’ performances lived up to the hype.  In the end, the Ducks overcame the Buckeyes thanks to the latter’s clock mismanagement in the final seconds.  But to zoom out the proverbial lens, this game’s outcome is not the end, only the beginning.  Between the new 12-team playoff format, and the reformatted conference championship, if the two teams continue to live up to their potential, it is very likely their paths may cross again.  Should that come to pass, perhaps that should favor the Buckeyes, who now have luxury to examine what went wrong and to take corrective action in anticipation of the next time.  But in the meantime, they had better prepare to meet still-undefeated Penn State come Nov. 2.

Finally, Deion Sanders & CO (see what I did there?) delivered a highly competitive night cap.  Seriously, the game kicked off at 8:15 local [Mountain] time:  who in their right mind starts a game that late?  Say what you want about Coach Prime, but after the first few games which were a comedy of errors, the team has suddenly gotten serious, having steadily improved during the last few games.  This improvement has developed to the point where they almost triumphed, on the road, over consistently tough No. 18 Kansas State.  Let us not give the Buffaloes up for dead yet, as they have a slate of challenging but winnable games throughout the remainder of their schedule.