Winners and Losers: College Football Week 6
WINNER: Overtime Lovers
Anyone who loves the classic college football overtime had their favorite weekend of the season this Saturday, as football again gifted the nation with four ranked games needing more than 60 minutes to decide a winner.
Starting out west, the No. 4 Penn State Nittany Lions survived against Southern Cal 33-30 after an electric outing from tight end Tyler Warren to stay unbeaten at 6-0.
Warren’s 17-catch day is a new record for most in a game by a Penn State player and ties the FBS tight end record.
This was PSU’s longest trip for a regular-season game since 1991, and they join Indiana as the only Big Ten teams to win a conference game two or more time zones away (nine teams have lost).
The Trojans led by 14 at halftime, allowing the Nittany Lions to tie the game at 20, 23, and 30 to force overtime.
Also in the Big Ten, the No. 23 Illinois Fighting Illini hosted bottom-feeder Purdue in a tune-up home game, and with a 27-3 lead halfway through the third quarter seemed very safe.
Purdue then rattled off 17 points in the final 7:43 of that quarter, and even 16 more Illini fourth-quarter points couldn’t hold off the Boilermaker offense, as they took a 43-40 lead inside the final minute.
Illinois scored a 38-yard field goal as time expired to go to OT, and a 25-yard touchdown in their first crack in overtime for the lead.
Purdue also scored on their turn, but quarterback Ryan Browne got sacked on the potential game-winning two-point try: Illinois survives.
Moving to the Deep South, the No. 8 Tennessee Volunteers needed to recover from an ugly road loss last week to Arkansas and hosted the mediocre Florida Gators.
The Florida defense, however, had other ideas.
The Gators chomped into the Vol offense, forcing two turnovers and holding Tennessee to 312 total yards, plus 4-15 on third down.
Florida also scored the tying touchdown with 29 seconds left, but head coach Billy Napier puzzlingly decided not to go for the win, but the tie. 17-17 game.
After a four-play, negative four-yard drive, Florida missed their field goal attempt, and Tennessee scored the game-winning touchdown in just five plays. Vols win.
The final ranked overtime game this weekend featured the annual Magnolia Bowl between No. 13 LSU and No. 9 Ole Miss, bitter rivals where the home team nearly always wins.
Ole Miss came into Tiger Stadium seeking to snap a seven-game losing streak in Baton Rouge, and after a 17-7 first-quarter lead, they looked to be in firm control.
That lead whittled away, but still, the Rebels led 20-16 going into the fourth quarter, and 23-16 inside two minutes.
LSU would methodically go down the field in a 13-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to tie the game with 27 seconds left on a fourth-down conversion, their second successful fourth-down play of that drive.
The Rebs couldn’t score at the end of regulation and would make a miraculous 57-yard field goal in overtime.
Kyren Lacy did not care. One play, 25 yards, touchdown LSU; Tigers win (more on this game later in the article).
LOSER: Cam Rising and the Utes
The Utah Utes started the season with high aspirations, and rightfully so.
Picked to finish first in the Big 12 in their debut season, veteran quarterback Cam Rising returning for his seventh season, and an easy out-of-conference schedule.
What could go wrong?
Apparently, plenty.
Utah did start the season 4-0 capped by a win at a then-No. 14 Oklahoma State, but after back-to-back puzzling losses against Arizona and now at Arizona State, the wheels are falling off a bit in Salt Lake City.
Rising can’t seem to shake his everlasting injury bug, sitting out the entire 2023 season after blowing out his knee in the January 2023 Rose Bowl. This year, he missed three games early in the season and will now be out the rest of the year after another lower-body injury.
So yes, this does make Rising eligible for an EIGHTH year of college football (as of now, no, he won’t take it).
Rising went out with a performance to forget, passing 16/37, 209 yards and three interceptions, no touchdowns. The Utes led 6-0 late in the first quarter and 16-13 early in the third, but couldn’t take the lead back after back-to-back long second-half Cam Skattebo touchdown scampers.
Utah allowed fewer total yards than they gave up, but 7-15 on third down with one fourth-down attempt failed sealed their fate.
The Utes look to improve their 1-2 conference start when they host the mediocre TCU Horned Frogs this week.
They still have yet to play No. 9 Iowa State and rival No. 13 BYU, but both games will be in friendly SLC.
WINNER: The Inevitable Pittsburgh Panthers
The kings of chaos this season keep surviving week after week, and this Saturday was no different as the No. 22 Pittsburgh Panthers continue to refuse to lose.
Pitt beat the now 3-3 (0-3) California Golden Bears 17-15 after blowing a healthy 17-6 lead, scoring zero second-half points.
Cal had the perfect chance to take the late lead inside the two-minute timeout... and just watch this.
Pittsburgh still couldn’t put the game away, giving Cal another chance after a three-play, six-yard drive, but the Golden Bears would turn it over on downs just four plays later to give the Panthers their sixth win.
This isn’t the first absurd win Pitt has pulled off, as they beat Cincinnati by one after trailing 27-6 in the second half and West Virginia by four after two touchdonws in the final three minutes.
Pitt has outscored their opponents 73-16 in the fourth quarter this season, with this Cal game as the only one of their six to be held scoreless in the final frame.
Pitt is now 6-0 for the first time since 1982, that team finished the year 9-3 and ranked No. 10 in the AP poll. The ‘82 Panthers finished that year with back-to-back losses at rival No. 2 Penn State and No. 4 SMU in their Pony Express years.
LOSER: Oklahoma’s non-existent offense
https://x.com/TexasLonghorns/status/1845245501295427874
The Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns’ Red River Rivalry had its 120th entry this weekend, and, for the first time since 1965, a No. 1-ranked Texas team got their win.
The Longhorns imposed their will on the Sooners in every aspect of the game, holding their northern rivals to 237 total yards, 4.9 yards per pass, 2.3 yards per rush, and a pair of turnovers.
Oddly, the first quarter started in a decent back-and-forth battle, with Oklahoma picking off Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers on the opening drive, but then missing a 44-yard field goal. Three punts later and OU would drill a 42-yard field goal to lead after the first quarter.
This would not last, as UT rattled off three touchdowns in their next four drives, and took a 21-3 lead into halftime after a missed field goal of their own.
Oklahoma dominated the old Big 12 days, winning five of the last six meetings, but fell completely flat in their first SEC meeting with their archrivals.
The Sooners’ offense was heavily hobbled, as they had five receivers out with injury and no rushing game, leaving the bulk of offensive pressure on the young shoulders of freshman QB Michael Hawkins, Jr.
Oklahoma is now 4-2, winless against ranked teams, and still has four of their last six games against those top squads (@ No. 18 MISS, @ No. 19 MIZZ, vs. No. 7 ALA, @ No. 8 LSU).
Texas remains ranked at No. 1 following week six, making this streak their longest reign at the top since the 1977 regular season.
WINNER: Dan Lanning and the crafty Oregon Ducks
It was a great Saturday to be a mighty Oregon Duck.
Head coach Dan Lanning engineered a masterclass of a game to win No. 3 Oregon’s sixth of the season, remaining unbeaten with a 32-31 W over No. 2 Ohio State.
Potential Heisman candidate Dillon Gabriel passed for 341 yards and two passing touchdowns (and a rushing score), fueling the Ducks’ offense for a wild game that featured eight lead changes, the most of any ranked matchup this season.
Oregon held Ohio State to 4-12 on third downs, plus forced the only turnover of the game. OSU’s eight penalties crippled their drives, as 70 yards subtracted from Will Howard and Co.’s solid day.
The biggest winner is the mind of Dan Lanning, who orchestrated a 12-men on-the-field penalty intentionally.
Here’s the strategy behind it: the pass was incomplete as no big gain occurred, yet four seconds ticked off the clock to leave just six seconds to go. This play kept Ohio State out of field goal range, and it left just enough time for one deep shot, but not two plays.
Absolutely genius.
Howard would scramble for a decent chunk the next play but slid too late before a first down so the clock ran out, and Oregon clinched perhaps their biggest win in program history.
LOSER: Ole Miss’ 4th Quarter
https://x.com/LSUfootball/status/1845506211409465809
The Ole Miss Rebels had lofty aspirations this preseason, entering the year ranked No. 6 and ready to go with quarterback Jaxson Dart and head coach Lane Kiffin returning.
Ole Miss then won their first four games without any trouble, clobbering FCS Furman, Middle Tennessee State, Wake Forest and Georgia Southern.
Then came the Kentucky Wildcats.
They knocked off the Rebs 20-17 at home, and the season seemed on the ropes.
South Carolina offered hope, as Ole Miss smothered them 27-3 on the road to hope back in the win column.
The roller coaster barrelled downhill only a week later, as the Rebels traveled to Baton Rouge, LA for the Magnolia Bowl against their hated rivals, the No. 13 LSU Tigers.
And man, talk about a heartbreaker.
Ole Miss took a 10-0 and later 17-7 second quarter lead that whittled to 17-13 at halftime.
The third quarter featured a pair of field goals, and after an interception with 10 minutes to go, they only needed a touchdown to potentially ice the game.
Instead, the drive went negative-nine yards, and the the Rebels punted the ball right back.
LSU failed to do much after, and Ole Miss scored another field goal despite a first and 10 at the Tiger 24.
The Tigers would then go on a scorched-earth, 13-play, 75-yard drive in the final three minutes, including two fourth-down conversions, the latter a 23-yard bomb from quarterback Garrett Nussmeier to Aaron Anderson.
LSU and Ole Miss gifted America with free football, and overtime featured Ole Miss losing 15 yards and drilling an impressive 57-yard field goal, followed by only one play for LSU to drive the dagger in with a 25-yard Kyren Lacy touchdown.
LSU wins, Ole Miss loses, and the Rebels still have recently-unranked Oklahoma next week and at No. 5 Georgia in two weeks.