Ohio State manhandled Illinois on Saturday night en route to a comfortable 55-14 win. It gives Ohio State its 20th-straight regular-season Big Ten win and sets up a trip to East Lansing. Gameday will be on the scene to oversee the primetime matchup between last year's Big Ten Championpship Game participants.
However, Ohio State fans can bemoan that the primetime game against Illinois was light on attention despite its primetime position on ABC. It was not even a national telecast either. More attention was afforded to the games running concurrent on ESPN and ESPN2 that saw Mississippi State play Arkansas and Ole Miss host Auburn. The former included the undefeated no. 1 team in the country and the latter was a game between the no. 3 and no. 4 teams.
Entering November, national college football conversations may have moved beyond the Big Ten and Ohio State in particular. If Ohio State is to sneak into the college football playoff, it needs a lot more to happen elsewhere. This feature will discuss the week that was in college football and as it pertains to Ohio State's optimism for a spot in the playoff.
Florida Chomps Georgia
The biggest upset of the week was in the SEC. Florida ran over Georgia en route to a 38-20 victory.
Characterizing Florida's win as "running over" Georgia is appropriate. Georgia's season to date had been built on a power-running game that saw Todd Gurley an odds-on favorite for the Heisman Trophy before his four-game suspension. His true-freshman substitute, Nick Chubb, had 345 yards in Gurley's absence. It was an easy prediction this would continue against the lowly Gators.
Instead, it was Florida's running game that ruled the day. The Gators ran the ball 60 times for 418 yards. Kelvin Taylor (Fred's son) and Matt Jones combined for 50 of those 60 carries for 389 yards and four touchdowns. Florida only had 27 passing yards on six attempts and three completions, but Florida did not need to pass. Why bother with that kind of day running the ball?
Nick Chubb still had a solid game (21 carries, 156 yards, one TD). Hutson Mason had a good game overall (26/41 passing, 319 yards, one TD). However, Georgia's porous run defense put the Bulldogs behind the eight-ball in the third quarter.
From an Ohio State fan's perspective, this is a somewhat pleasant development. With two losses on the season, Georgia becomes a new "chaos team" and a rooting interest for Ohio State fans going forward. With two losses on the season, to two teams a combined 8-8 record no less, Georgia may be done in the national championship picture. However, it has a golden opportunity to do Ohio State fans a solid and beat Auburn in two weeks. Todd Gurley will return to Georgia for that game in Athens.
Meanwhile, Florida could possibly turn around its season. A Florida team playing like it did against Georgia could beat Florida State at the end of the season.
The upset also creates an interesting scenario where Missouri controls its own destiny with just one loss in conference play and the tie-breaker over Florida (albeit not over Georgia). If it wins out (at Texas A&M, at Tennessee, vs. Arkansas), Missouri will go to the SEC Championship Game.
Yes, the reigning and possibly repeating SEC East champion would have a home loss to Indiana (on the SEC Network, no less) on its resume.
Texas Christian Escapes Morgantown
Last week I mentioned it's time to fret the Horned Frogs. Texas Christian had been playing like a team that would earn a top-four selection by season's end. It showed as much in winning at Morgantown, 31-30.
TCU looked to be reeling after a Terrell Chestnut ripped out the ball from a wide receiver and returned it for six points. This gave West Virginia a 27-14 lead midway through the third quarter.
WVU had a nine-point lead through the fourth quarter before a rally saw TCU score the game's final ten points. TCU won on a game-winning field goal as time expired.
The game was not a blowout win, nor was it easy. However, that was not the point. TCU won a conference road game in a place in which Baylor could not win. Given the caliber of the opposition and the game's atmosphere, this is impressive.
Further, this might be the last good team Texas Christian plays on the road unless one is optimistic about Texas' mid-season development. TCU visits Kansas in two weeks and then plays Texas in Austin for Thanksgiving.
However, a home game against Kansas State is next for Texas Christian. The loser is out of the playoff picture.
Meanwhile, in the SEC West
Alabama and LSU took the week off before their big game this upcoming week in Baton Rouge. Texas A&M took on Louisiana-Monroe with a new quarterback and won by just five points.
The remaining four teams in the SEC West were the focal point of the evening games on Saturday. Mississippi State hosted Arkansas and rallied to a 17-10 win. Auburn and Ole Miss battled with Auburn prevailing, 35-31.
I'll spare belaboring some points I have mentioned in the past few weeks, but I think these are the important lessons from these games going forward.
Mississippi State is still a paper tiger, or, well, "bulldog". If, somehow, Mississippi State is undefeated after the SEC Championship Game, that's exactly the kind of team Ohio State should want if the Buckeyes sneak into the four-team playoff.
Alabama now controls its own destiny in the SEC West. It hosts both Mississippi State and Auburn. Ohio State and Ole Miss fans alike are hoping Alabama loses another game somewhere.
Arkansas is still a chaos team in the SEC West and a rooting interest. After going toe-to-toe with teams like Alabama and Mississippi State before falling short in both games by a combined eight points, one wonders how much gas Arkansas has left in the tank.
Ole Miss' loss was tough and the kind of game that underscores one play can change everything. Laquon Treadwell was en route to the end zone with what would have been the game-winning touchdown before being taken down with a broken ankle. He fumbled the ball into the end zone, which was recovered by Auburn.
However, pollsters, and possibly the committee, may be more forgiving of Ole Miss' loss than I am. The AP consensus has two-loss Ole Miss ahead of one-loss Ohio State. This is because Ole Miss' back-to-back losses are to teams in the top 15 of the AP or Coaches Poll. I could bemoan how circular this argumentation is but I feel I would just be preaching to the choir.
For now, let's root for LSU at home against Alabama on Saturday night while Ohio State plays Michigan State.
Elsewhere in College Football
Don't worry, Florida State fans. We'll talk about the Noles. Florida State went down 21-0 late in the second quarter. It outscored Louisville 42-10 thereafter, winning 42-31. I don't see many, if any, opportunities for Florida State to lose before the playoff game unless the aforementioned Florida Gators build on their win over Georgia.
Chris Blewitt is a fine kicker for Pitt. He may even be a solid human being. However, his raison d'être for being on the planet Earth was to build a pun off his last name for shanking an easy field goal for a game on ESPNU. Pitt lost to Duke 51-48 in double overtime.
You're not helping, Virginia Tech.
USC got back in the win column with a 44-17 win at Washington State. Sadly, for Washington State fans, Connor Halliday broke his leg in the first quarter, effectively ending his collegiate career.
Oregon got some much needed catharsis in defeating Stanford by 29 points. The win basically guarantees Oregon the Pac-12 North, barring a monumental collapse down the stretch.
Notre Dame survived Navy, 49-39. Arizona State beat Utah in overtime in a game of two one-loss teams. Notre Dame travels to Arizona State next in an elimination game for the playoff.
South Carolina has blown two-touchdown leads in three of its last four SEC games. Steve Spurrier didn't want to talk about it.
Auburn got away with a 12-men-on-the-field penalty on offense, which should never happen.
