Here we go, November is here and now the primetime games are full of chaos and upsets that shake up the landscape. Let’s dive in on what this all means.
American
It appears Navy’s ship has sunk. They went down in a blaze of turnovers against Notre Dame and things didn’t get much better against Rice. This was a very bizarre game where the first 5 or so hours was mostly weather delays with 13 snaps squeezed in between. Once they got going Navy’s offense just wasn’t what we saw the first 6 games, they still turned the ball over too much and it seems Horvath isn’t 100% which isn’t helping. Hopefully Navy can eventually snap out of the skid. This was a huge win for Rice, they already made a change letting go of Mike Bloomgren this week and the Owls responded with their best game of the season.
Never celebrate too hard during a game. After an early back and forth shootout between Memphis and UTSA, Memphis forced a Roadrunner 3 and out then Memphis receiver DeMeer Blankumsee appeared to have blown the game open with a long TD that helped him match his career high in receiving already early in the game. Unfortunately he got a little too crazy with his celebration and hurt his leg, then never returned. Memphis collapsed afterward and UTSA scored the next 30 points in the game on their way to a 44-30 win. Memphis’ playoff hopes are done after this loss, and UTSA appears to be one of the wildest home/road split teams of the year. The Roadrunners are 4-0 at home and 0-5 on the road.
There’s 2 playoff contenders left in the American and those are Army and Tulane. Army rolled to an easy win over Air Force despite Bryson Daily being a surprise scratch, hopefully he will be back next week. Tulane shook off a slow start on Halloween to blow out Charlotte. Ideally for the American the best scenario is for these 2 to win out and face each other in the AAC championship.
ACC
So what is Clemson exactly? The Tigers looked in command ever since their awful season opener but the best team they beat in that stretch appears to be Virginia. They took on Louisville and frankly got smoked, the Cards rolled off to leads of 26-7 and 33-14 in beating Clemson. The Tigers were pushed around a lot, especially on defense and they couldn’t finish drives with 2 blocked FGs. I try not to be the prisoner of the moment but I worry Clemson’s success may have been more about the competition they played and not improvement on their side. The November slate is their toughest so there’s lots of opportunities for them to show that notion is wrong. This was a huge win for Louisville, not only because it’s their first win over Clemson but also because they have been in the middle of an absolutely BRUTAL stretch, 4 of their last 6 games have been on the road and their 2 home games were against Miami FL and SMU.
SMU hosted Pitt in a ranked showdown and it turned out to be a one sided show in favor of the Mustangs. They dominated Pitt early and often on their way to a blowout victory. SMU has an explosive offense that can score from anywhere on the field and that gets a lot of attention, but their defense deserves more attention as well. This unit smothered Pitt in the first half and forced some turnovers to bury the Panthers early, this is after the defense saved the Mustangs last week when allowing 0 points off 6 turnovers. This is a team that is playing very well together.
Have we hit the part of the season where NC State very quietly saves their season? Out of nowhere the Wolfpack destroyed Stanford 59-28 and strung together multiple wins for the first time this season.
Virginia Tech and Syracuse played the most exciting game of the Noon slate. The Hokies rolled off to a quick 21-3 lead before Syracuse rallied and they exchanged leads late before going to OT when Syracuse scored quickly then forced a Virginia Tech fumble to win. This was a huge response win by Syracuse, after the disaster at Pitt last week things really could have gone South for the Orange when they fell behind 21-3 but instead the team rallied for the win and is now bowl eligible and looking for more. Virginia Tech was surprisingly without Kyron Drones in this game so it wasn’t a bad effort but they would have preferred to hold on to their early lead once they got it, the Hokies really need Drones back for this closing stretch.
Big Ten
New year, same story for Penn State. Multiple times this year the Nittany Lions rallied to pull off some dramatic wins and it appeared maybe their offense was improved, but now was the time to show it against Ohio State. Instead it was the same story again, offensive ineptitude, especially in the RedZone plagued the Nittany Lions once again in a loss that looked just like every game they play against top opponents. This team hasn’t played a tough schedule and built up an inflated record and ranking against opponents that are no better than Wisconsin? USC? Illinois? West Virginia?? I don’t even know which of those qualifies as their best win but it’s not great. Fortunately for Penn State, Minnesota is their toughest game left on the closing stretch so they’ll make the playoff before losing in the same fashion again to someone in the SEC, if you have to miss a playoff game that’ll be the one to miss.
Minnesota and Nebraska both lost in different fashions back in week 4. Minnesota was blown out by Iowa, while Nebraska lost in a thriller to Illinois. At the time it felt like Minnesota might collapse and fail to make a bowl, while it seemed like Nebraska was going to hang around the top 25. Fast forward to now and both programs have gone in opposite directions. Minnesota now seems like they might pull off one of PJ Fleck’s patented 9 win seasons out of nowhere and Nebraska meanwhile is collapsing their way out of a bowl. The Cornhuskers play USC next after a bye, Nebraska’s issues in one score games is well documented but USC has one score game issues of their own, losing 5 of them just this year… something has to give.
Oregon and Indiana continue to roll, this time both of them crushed their foes on the road in the Mitten state. Indiana trailed for the first time this year taking a punch to the mouth from Michigan State and falling behind 10-0 early, how would Indiana respond? Let’s put it this way, it was the response you’d get if you pissed off a grizzly bear, Indiana scored the last 47 points in a 47-10 win. Meanwhile Oregon casually beat the defending champs on the road by 21 and no one batted an eye.
Big 12
The Big 12 just did it, they had their complete chaos weekend. Iowa State was shocked by Texas Tech, and Kansas State was upset by Houston. Iowa State’s playoff hopes took a big dent. Texas Tech meanwhile is the biggest chaos maker in the conference. They’ve already beaten some of the best teams in the conference yet also took random back to back losses to Baylor and TCU. Meanwhile Kansas State struggled in the rain to Houston. It was impressive, despite the weather Houston QB Zeon Chriss didn’t throw a single incompletion in leading the Cougars to victory. I wonder what this team could have accomplished had Chriss started from the beginning, he’s really helped their offense take off.
Baylor and TCU is a rivalry that always seems to have crazy games and endings. They battled in one of the best games in primetime with Baylor winning on a last moment FG. Dave Aranda is finding momentum for the Bears. They were left for dead early in the season after opening conference play losing to Colorado, BYU, and Iowa State those losses actually aged well in hindsight. Baylor has a bye week and some tough road tests remaining, but everything is winnable.
There were very different fortunes in the state of Arizona. Arizona State overcame a long weather delay to destroy Oklahoma State 42-21. Cam Skattebo was once again unstoppable, he absolutely bowled over their defense. Arizona meanwhile hit rock bottom as they fell victim to the UCF space game which is becoming the annual game where UCF destroys someone. In this case Arizona lost 56-12…ouch.
CUSA
Mid week CUSA ended strong with a critical matchup between Jax State and Liberty. The Flames started fast by forcing a Jax State 3 and out and marching down the field to score, it seemed at that point Liberty had intentions of restoring their dominance atop the conference but it wasn’t to be. Jax State responded, and kept doing so throughout the game. RB Tre Stewart was unstoppable for the Gamecocks as he rolled off 232 yards and 4 TDs. Liberty already has 2 conference losses and just doesn’t seem to be the same team as last year. Jax State meanwhile has improved a lot as the season went on, they struggled at the start but now appear to be the hottest team in the conference.
Sam Houston’s offense has tanked the last couple weeks, it mostly was excusable because Hunter Watson was hurt but he returned against Louisiana Tech and they still struggled to get anything going. Fortunately for the Bearkats their defense picked up the slack in a 9-3 win. Sam Houston has some time to get more healthy on offense, if they can get back going they’ll be a contender to reach the conference championship and maybe get a rematch with Western Kentucky.
I’m not sure why, but it seemed UTEP and Mid Tenn State already moved out from the weeknight games, the Miners and Blue Raiders faced off on Saturday on a beautiful afternoon in the Sun Bowl. It was a tight battle but Mid Tenn State managed to score with under 2 minutes left to win the game. The Blue Raiders remain alive for a bowl, and UTEP is still trying to figure out how to win, Scotty Walden likely has a multi year rebuild on his hands.
MAC
The MAC is prepping for Mid-week MACtion so there was only a couple games. In one of them Buffalo dominated Akron, scoring 38 unanswered points at one point but Akron did rally to make it interesting at the end before Buffalo finished them off. The Bulls are a win away from bowl eligibility in Pete Lembo’s first season.
Toledo and Eastern Michigan gave us all the MACtion thrills. Eastern Michigan was in command early, they took a 19-7 lead on the Rockets at one point, but Toledo rallied quickly to take a 22-19 lead, then both teams went back and forth with Toledo scoring a late TD for a 29-22 lead. Then the craziness happened, Eastern Michigan hit a Hail Mary on the last play! The Eagles went for 2 and the win but didn’t get it. A decision like that gets some criticism because it didn’t work but I don’t fault Creighton for making it, they were better off deciding it in a play with so much excitement in their favor compared to a several minute break and trying to sustain a battle with Toledo in OT when the Rockets clearly had the edge on them in the 2nd half.
Mountain West
Boise State vs San Diego State didn’t catch a lot of headlines but it was a battle of two teams that were undefeated in Mountain West play. San Diego State sold out in the first half to stop Ashton Jeanty, and it didn’t work so well. Maddux Madsen had one of his best games as he torched the Aztecs defense relentlessly in the first half. Boise State seems to be becoming even more dangerous because Madsen and his receivers are really starting to come into their own. Boise State’s defensive line continues to create havoc, they lead the nation in sacks and are a nightmare for every offense to face. Jeanty still had a big game despite all of this by the way.
The other undefeated team in Mountain West play? Colorado State! The Rams had such a rough start to the season but now their offense is clicking and their defense is playing well. Colorado State easily dispatched Nevada as Jay Norvell beat his former program to reach bowl eligibility for the first time at Colorado State. This is a team peaking at the right time, which is good for Colorado State but might not be good for the Mountain West. With the Rams having Wyoming, Fresno State and Utah State remaining they stand a great chance of spoiling the Boise State/UNLV rematch.
It was a good weekend for a couple teams having disappointing seasons. Wyoming grabbed their 2nd win of the season beating New Mexico in a wild 49-45 shootout. Its truly been a mess of a season for Wyoming but at least they’re finally finding some things they’re good at. New Mexico meanwhile is definitely improved and fun under Bronco Mendenhall but it’s going to take more work to reach improvement, they have the offense they need but the Lobos defense just doesn’t have the pieces yet. The other wild game was Hawaii’s late rally to take down Fresno State. The Rainbow Warriors have mostly struggled this year because their offense just hasn’t clicked as expected but the last 2 weeks have been their best, maybe they can close out the season strong. Fresno State meanwhile can consider themselves out of the Mountain West race, the Bulldogs faced tough circumstances entering the season and they’re starting to struggle a bit.
Independents
No Pac-12 section this week because they were on bye! UConn meanwhile hosted Georgia State at the end of their long 6 game home stand. The Huskies once again were led by their strong run game as they never trailed but had to try to put Georgia State away multiple times as the Panthers kept rallying to keep it close. This was a huge win for UConn as they clinched bowl eligibility, a truly massive achievement for them.
SEC
Texas A&M coming off a big name win entered a perfect trap game scenario against South Carolina, a team that looked promising at times but just hasn’t been able to bring home a big win. It was a touch and go first half for the Aggies but with help of a wild South Carolina fumble just when it looked like the Gamecocks would open things up, A&M went into halftime tied with South Carolina. At that point it felt like the Aggies had weathered the storm and could once again put together a strong 2nd half and get out of there with a win. That didn’t happen, South Carolina’s defensive line harassed A&Ms offense the entire 2nd half while the Gamecocks rode some big plays on their way to an emphatic 44-20 win. Despite the large score it’s a game of inches, South Carolina stuffed A&M on multiple occasions in short yardage, to the point where Elko eventually punted on a 4th and short later in the game, he was asked about the decision and was frank in his answer “we made the decision because on multiple occasions we couldn’t even get a yard.”
Teams in the Volunteer state came out with wins. Diego Pavia once again beat Huge Freeze this team leading Vanderbilt to a 17-7 win over Auburn. All of Pavia’s wins over Freeze were by multiple scores, but this was by far the least Pavia scored on a Freeze team so… progress? Tennessee meanwhile slogged their way to a win over Kentucky, Tennessee scored in the first half for the first time since September 21st! Eventually it feels like their slow starting offense will backfire, probably once they play Georgia.
Sun Belt
The biggest game of the week in the Sun Belt happened back on Tuesday when Louisiana traveled to face Texas State in a game that will go a long way toward deciding the Sun Belt West. The Ragin’ Cajuns got off to a slow start but held the Bobcats to field goals early on and then they got going on offense while their defense made critical stops in the RedZone throughout the game. The Ragin’ Cajuns are now in full control of the West division, and they are the Sun Belt’s only shot at the playoff.
The East division is very wide open. Just as Old Dominion took control of the division they lost to Appalachian State on the road. The Monarchs are still all I’ve the place, but Appalachian State has quietly pulled their season back together after their bye week. Meanwhile Georgia Southern saw the game against South Alabama slip away and the Eagles trailed 30-14 at one point, lately they haven’t been able to come back when that happens but the Eagles responded in a big way coming back to win the game and getting back on top of the East.
Marshall is in contention for the East division as well. The Thundering Herd won a critical close game against UL-Monroe 28-23. Marshall has the regret of their loss to Georgia Southern but they can still take the East division with a strong finish. UL-Monroe meanwhile has started to struggle with back to back losses. The Warhawks will need to figure out how to get their winning edge back, they are so close to bowl eligibility.
It’s been a long season for Troy. The Trojans entered this week 1-7 but they finally found the formula that helps their offense go. They went to the ground game and fully committed to it. Out of the 71 offensive plays they ran, they ran on 55 of them for 342 yards. Troy seems set up to finish the season strong. Coastal Carolina meanwhile is seeing their season fall apart, they’ve now lost 4 of 5 games and don’t have a lot of time to sort things out before Appalachian State comes to town.
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