Believe it or not, the college football season is nearly half over. We’ve seen six weeks of action and are slowly putting together a picture of what teams will be in the Playoff conversation. Let’s take a look at the major stories of the past weekend and take a quick look at next week.
Upset Special
In case you weren’t counting, eight top-25 teams lost this past weekend, including three top-10 teams. Let’s do a quick rundown of what ranked teams went down.
- LSU was perhaps the most unlikely top-5 team this season, but they are undefeated no more. The Tigers couldn’t get it done against Florida, who is quietly 5-1 on the season.
- In a memorable Red River Rivalry game, no. 7 Oklahoma fell to no. 19 Texas 48-45. The Sooners erased a 21-point deficit in the 4th quarter, but the Longhorns had the last word with a late field goal.
- The Auburn Tigers managed just three field goals in a 23-9 loss to Mississippi State, a defeat that will undoubtedly cost them their no. 8 ranking.
- Kentucky’s undefeated season is no more, as the Wildcats suffered an overtime loss to Texas A&M. However, at 5-1, Kentucky is still surpassing most expectations.
- No. 14 Stanford suffered their second loss of the season, as they were outclassed by Utah 40-21 at home, albeit without Bryce Love.
- Michigan State also suffered their second loss of the season, going down to Northwestern 29-19 at home. However, just one of those losses was in the Big Ten, so they’re still alive in the conference race.
- Oklahoma State will surely fall out of the rankings after losing to Iowa State 48-42, as the Cowboys once again failed to play much defense.
- Finally, no. 24 Virginia Tech fell, albeit to Notre Dame in a 45-23 Irish victory in Blacksburg.
Shake It Up
After those eight ranked teams loss, the top-25 saw plenty of changes this week. The top four teams remained the same, but Notre Dame made the move to no. 5 with West Virginia moving up a few notches to no. 6. Central Florida is back in the top-10, as they have started the season 5-0. Oklahoma and LSU both dropped out of the top-10, although both remain ahead of Texas, who only jumped to no. 14. Auburn, Kentucky, and Stanford also remain in the top-25 despite losing. South Florida and Cincinnati also move into the top-25, giving the American Conference three ranked teams, the same number as the ACC.
Take A Hike
Giving up 48 points to Texas was apparently the last straw when it came to Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mike Stoops. Multiple outlets are reporting that Stoops has been fired midway through the season. He is the brother of former Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops and had previously been on his brother’s staff since 2012. He was previously at Oklahoma from 1999 to 2003. In between those two stints with the Sooners, he was the head coach at Arizona.
Oklahoma’s defense looked much improved during the early part of the season. However, they gave up 27 points to a lackluster Iowa State offense in Week 3. The Sooners then allowed 33 points to Baylor and 48 points to Texas over the last two weeks. Of course, considering Stoops’ history with Oklahoma, it’s surprising to see him fired midway through a season. The Sooners have a bye next week before playing TCU the following Saturday.
Calling It A Day
The Miami Hurricanes had a tremendous comeback win over Florida State on Saturday to move to 5-1 on the season. However, they will be without star wide receiver Ahmmon Richards for the rest of the season and beyond. The school announced Sunday that Richards is being forced to retire because of a serious neck injury. The school was not specific about the exact nature of the injury. Richards was a freshman All-American in 2016 and could have been an NFL draft pick as early as next spring. Richards had just one catch this season before being sidelined.
Color Me Unimpressed
Guess who’s unhappy with his team’s performance after they won this weekend to move to 6-0? Alabama’s Nick Saban, who voiced his displeasure after the Tide’s 65-31 win over Arkansas. Saban took part of the blame on behalf of the coaching staff, but he clearly wasn’t pleased that Alabama gave up 31 points to a team that is ranked outside of the top-100 nationally in points scored per game. Saban had this to say about the performance:
“I don’t think that you really beat the other team when you give up 31 points, like we did today, at least on the defensive perspective”
There’s a look at the most recent College Football news.