Winners and Losers: College Football Week 6
Photo by Lee Coleman/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images
Winner: The Luck of the Irish
Every year, Notre Dame finds a way to win over teams they should’ve already taken care of.
Now, this week isn’t unique. From the Irish’s five wins, three are by one score and two out of three failed to cover the spread (3-pt win over FSU, favored by 7 // 3-pt win over TOL, favored by 16.5).
Virginia Tech in Lane Stadium is one of the toughest places to play in college football, with a home record of 217-82-6 and 15-56-6 against non-conference opponents.
Notre Dame said not this time.
Despite being ranked No. 14, the Irish were the road underdogs for the first time this year and yet still pulled off the win.
Notre Dame was down eight after a 19-yard Virginia Tech touchdown with 3:55 to go, yet Jack Coan led a 70-yard drive to tie it, and after a Hokie punt, led another drive to score a 48-yard field goal to take the lead late.
Never doubt the Irish (except in big games against highly-ranked opponents).
Photo by Jeffrey McWhorter/AP Images
Loser: Spencer Rattler (but not Oklahoma)
This is likely my biggest loser of the season, and boy does he deserve it.
Spencer Rattler had a miserable start to the 117th meeting between Texas and Oklahoma, posting an 8/15, 111 yards, 0 touchdown, one interception stat line.
Oh, and an 11.3 QBR. Horrible.
This isn’t too out of the ordinary, given that his stats on the season rank very low for a once-Heisman hopeful. 1,371 yards (37th), 10 touchdowns (T-37th), five interceptions (T-86th), and a QBR of 71.9 (31st) merit the boos and benching.
Fortunately for the Sooners, Caleb Williams took over and scored twice, threw for 212 yards, and kept the ball secured.
OU won 55-48 in the highest-scoring Red River Rivalry game in history, all while leaving Rattler in the dust.
Photo by Alex Slitz/Lexington Herald-Leader
Winner: The ‘Cats
The Bearcats and Wildcats had a great weekend, and the whole southern Ohio/Kentucky area was rocking.
No. 5 Cincinnati absolutely annihilated Temple 52-3, and Desmond Ridder’s 259 yards and 3 scores were too much for the Owls to handle.
Cincy now moves to 5-0, and next week’s home date with UCF will likely decide the American Conference regular-season crown.
Besides a late-November battle with SMU (also at home), the Bearcats’ remaining AAC schedule is very easy, facing off against Navy, Tulane, Tulsa, USF and East Carolina, all combining for an 8-20 record.
The Wildcats of Kentucky are rolling just the same, advancing to 6-0 for the first time since 1950 (!!).
Kentucky is now No. 11. They have games against Mississippi State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, New Mexico State and Louisville after the Georgia game, which all combine for 13-17 (note: NMSU is 1-6).
After beating No. 20 Florida last week, Kentucky claims victory over another conference heavyweight and faces SEC-juggernaut now-No. 1 Georgia on the road next week.
Let’s hope for some chaos.
Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images
Loser: The Mormons
With the departure of Zach Wilson, BYU looked to fall behind. A 5-0 start quickly denied this take, especially with a dismantling of the Pac-12. The Cougars had won at Arizona, Utah and Arizona State.
Yet the Mountain West Conference would be the death of BYU’s perfect year, and the Boise State Broncos stormed into Provo for their marquee win.
BSU, projected to win the MWC, has done very little to get close to its goal. The Broncos lost to UCF by five, Oklahoma State by one, and Nevada by ten (this loss perhaps the most painful).
Unfortunately for the Cougars, four turnovers simply won’t cut it.
A pick plus three fumbles doomed BYU and set them back to No. 19, likely costing them their slim shot at the playoffs. Hope for a New Years’ Six bowl isn’t lost, but the mountain becomes just that much harder to climb.
Photo by Michael Reaves/AP Photo
Winner: #KennethWalkerIII4Heisman
Kenneth Walker III is the best running back in college football.
This is not a take, this is a fact.
Walker has 912 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on 129 attempts through Michigan State’s first six games (all wins). No other player in the country has even 800 rushing yards dispute four rushers with more carries.
This averages out for 152.2 yards per game and a little over seven yards per carry. He also has two 200+ yard rushing days.
Perhaps the wildest stat is that Michigan State quarterback Payton Thorne is 23rd in the country in passing yards (and 14 touchdowns with just two picks). The only other top-five running back with a quarterback in the top-25 in passing is Duke, who is 2-3.
Walker is one of the most impressive players in the game and should continue this success given that the best rushing defense MSU has left to play is ranked No. 29 (Penn State).
Photo by Rogelio V. Solis/AP Photo
Loser: Betting the Under in the SEC
I rarely have betting information in this column, but anyone who bet the under in nearly any SEC game had themselves a very rough weekend.
Every SEC team minus Mississippi State played this weekend, and every winner scored over 34. The average score of the winning team was a little over 43.
To recap:
ALA vs TAMU: 79 points, over by 28 points (TAMU covered)
UGA vs AUB: 44 points, under by 2 points (the lone exception) (UGA covered)
ARK vs MISS: 103 points, over by 36 points (ARK covered)
LSU vs UK: 63 points, over by 12 points (UK covered)
VAN vs UF: 42 points, under by 18 points (UF covered)
SCAR vs TENN: 65 points, over by 8 points (TENN covered)
UNT vs MIZZ: 83 points, over by 14 points (MIZZ covered)
Georgia and Florida managed to hit the under, but Georgia’s defense has only allowed two touchdowns through six games, so their under wasn’t surprising. Florida’s defense shined too, shutting out Vanderbilt in a very easy win.
For the other games, the Ole Miss/Arkansas game was the third-highest scoring game in their long rivalry, and the highest-scoring non-OT game, too.
Alabama and Texas A&M also broke the scoreboard, nothing out of the ordinary as the teams have combined for over 70 points in the last four meetings, but this still was the highest output since the Tide’s 49-42 nailbiter over the Aggies also in College Station back in 2013.
LSU and Kentucky don’t meet every year as they did from 1952-2002, in fact, they have only met four times since 2007. Despite that, it’s been since 2007 that the score had been this high, and the last time it was 63 total points was the Bluegrass Miracle game, where LSU won at the buzzer on a wild 73-yard score.
North Texas and Missouri have only met twice, both times Mizzou taking the W. But, of course, this week was the highest combined point total between the two.
Lastly here is South Carolina and Tennessee, SEC East foes who have met every year since 1992 and 10 times before then, too. Tennessee dominates the all-time series 28-10-2, but the Vols haven’t put up as much against the Gamecocks since 2014 and the total points this week were the highest since that same game.
Here’s to wishing for more exciting SEC offensive fireworks!