Winners and losers: And then there were 12 undefeated teams
The ranks of the undefeated fell by two on Saturday.
For a while, Week 8 appeared to be a relative snoozer; a Saturday relatively free of the chaos we’ve seen through the first half of the college football season. But Saturday evening marked the end of perfection for two top-10 teams and eliminated the College Football Playoff hopes of a highly-ranked one-loss team.
Let’s start with Utah. The Utes had risen to No. 3 largely off wins vs. Michigan and Oregon and a turnover margin that was one of the best in the country. Turnover regression hit hard Saturday night as quarterback Travis Wilson threw four interceptions. One of those was a pick-six that USC LB Cameron Smith returned 54 yards.
As Wilson turned the ball over more than the Utah offense had in any game all season, the Utah defense didn’t force a single one. The result? A 42-24 loss to the Trojans – one that’s not an upset because USC was nearly a touchdown favorite – and a spot near the bottom of the top 10.
While Utah’s loss was a bludgeoning, No. 9 Florida State’s was an unexpected kick in the nether regions. The Seminoles lost 22-16 to Georgia Tech as the Yellow Jackets returned a blocked field goal for a touchdown with no time left.
And there’s a notable turnover tidbit in FSU’s loss too. Quarterback Everett Golson threw his first interception of the season.
In the SEC, No. 15 Texas A&M established that it’s not a contender for the College Football Playoff in a 23-3 loss to Ole Miss. The Rebels’ defense, missing top defensive player Robert Nkemdiche, absolutely handcuffed the Texas A&M offense as coach Kevin Sumlin inserted 3rd-string QB Jake Hubenak in the third quarter in an attempt to create any semblance of offense for his team.
Though undefeated seasons are now out of the question for Utah and Florida State, the two teams still have legitimate playoff hopes. The Utes are still in control of the Pac-12 South and Florida State has the right-of-way in the ACC Atlantic if it beats Clemson on November 7.
We still don’t have any clue how the top four will be organized when the College Football Playoff committee releases its first rankings on November 3. With six weeks to go in the season, there’s plenty of time for either Utah or FSU to work its way back into the discussion for the top four. But because of each team’s losses Saturday night, we’re sure they won’t be in the immediate mix.
Here are the rest of our Week 8 Winners and Losers:
WINNERS
Ka’imi Fairbairn, UCLA: How was your Thursday? Fairbairn spent a portion of his booting a school record 60-yard field goal to close out the first half of a 40-24 win over Cal. Fairbaim is having a stellar season after a slow start as a Bruin. He’s 13 of 14 on the season, putting him in good company with the top kickers in the nation after going 11 of 22 on tries of 40 yards or longer before this season. He’s also put himself within the school record for career points. John Lee holds the mark of 373, which he set in 1985, and Fairbairn is just 17 points shy.
Keyarris Garrett, Tulsa: The Golden Hurricane lost 66-42 to No. 18 Memphis, but good lord did Garrett ever have himself a night, catching 14 passes for a career-high 268 yards and 3 touchdowns. The 268 yards were also an AAC record, and a return to the form Garrett had against Oklahoma in 52-38 loss. Garrett gave the Sooners’ secondary fits, as well, catching 14 balls for 189 yards and a score in that game.
AAC: The conference’s heavy hitters all went to work this week. As previously mentioned, Memphis beat Tulsa 66-42, Houston blew out UCF 59-10, and Temple staged a furious fourth quarter run to top East Carolina 24-14. Things start to get interesting for the undefeated trio next week, though. Temple hosts Notre Dame and Houston hosts Vanderbilt. The former looks a lot tougher than the latter, but games against P5 schools are always tricky. Memphis hosts Tulane, so expect nothing to change for the Tigers, but it will be tougher for all three to remain undefeated through next week.
Washington State: Fear the Cougars. Wazzu is 5-2 after a 45-42 win at Arizona. It’s the first three-game winning streak in the Pac-12 for the Cougars since the 2003 season. That season, WSU finished 10-3 and in the top 10 of the AP Poll. Are the 2015 Cougars on that track? Probably not after a season-opening loss to FCS Portland State, but the Cougars are now one win away from bowl eligibility. And with games against Arizona State, Colorado and Washington remaining, an 8-4 season suddenly doesn’t seem too farfetched.
Christian Hackenberg, Penn State: Hackenberg has faced quite a bit of criticism over the past few seasons, but he was a big reason Penn State came away with a win over Maryland on Saturday. Hackenberg completed only 13-of-29 passes, but he threw for 315 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-30 win. In the process, Hackenberg, a junior, became the Penn State career leader in completions (608) and passing yards (7,453) as the Nittany Lions improved to 6-2. Hackenberg threw 15 interceptions last year, but has only two this season.
LOSERS
Mizzou’s offense: The Tigers haven’t scored a touchdown since they played South Carolina. The game against the Gamecocks was on October 3. Yes, it’s been a three-week drought for Mizzou, which lost to Vanderbilt 10-3 on Saturday. Freshman Drew Lock, the quarterback many Mizzou fans were clamoring for as Maty Mauk’s completion percentage hovered near 50 percent has looked, well, like a true freshman. And the Mizzou running game, which was so strong in 2014, is nonexistant. The Tiger defense could be one of the best in the SEC. It’s just that the Mizzou offense is one of the worst in the country. Bowl eligibility is in serious doubt now that Missouri is 4-4.
Massachusetts: After going into halftime up 28-10, Massachusetts had a big opportunity to register a huge upset over No. 19 Toledo, but the Minutemen laid an egg in the second half. The UMass defense allowed Toledo to score on its first seven possessions of the second half – including five straight touchdowns to open the half. The only time the UMass defense stopped Toledo was when the Rockets took a knee to end the game with a 51-35 win. The Minutemen dropped to 1-6 (0-3 MAC) with the loss.
New Mexico State: NMSU dropped to 0-7 on the season on Saturday and did so in blowout fashion for the team’s 17th straight loss. The Aggies dropped a 52-7 home decision to a Troy team that had just one win and hadn’t scored more than 18 points since Week 2. The Aggies gave up 482 yards in the loss and have allowed 50-plus points in five of its seven losses on the season. Doug Martin, now in his third season as NSMU’s head coach, has a 4-27 record leading the program. Not good.
Kansas State: Kansas State’s 23-9 loss to Texas marked the Wildcats fourth consecutive loss of the season and the first time that’s happened since 2005. The Wildcats first two loses in that streak were close against Oklahoma State and TCU, but were dominated by Oklahoma last week Oklahoma and against Texas, the Wildcats never really got their offense going. Kansas State is 3-4 to start a season for the first time since 2004 and there’s not much relief in sight with Baylor up next on Nov. 5.
Kent State’s defense: Kent State knew it was going to allow some points to Bowling Green, after all the Falcons are the Mid-American Conference’s top offensive team. However, the Golden Flashes came into the game as the conference’s top defensive team and thought it would hold its own.
It was wrong.
Kent State allowed 602 totals yards and 31 first downs in a 48-0 Bowling Green win. Bowling Green quarterback Matt Johnson torched the Kent State secondary for 430 yards and five touchdowns.
While this was not a stellar effort by Kent State, the Golden Flashes can take comfort knowing the Falcons have put up similar numbers against nearly every team they’ve faced this season.
