Couldn’t find the Buckeyes on TV this weekend? Me neither.
Luckily for Ohio State fans, there was no shortage of white-knuckle action around college football during the Buckeye bye week, as more than one national power picked up their first loss and a couple other programs made statements as legit College Football Playoff contenders.
Alabama suffered a loss, Tennessee continues to climb the ranks and Michigan dispatched with Penn State as Eleven Warriors delivers its Week 7 stock report despite Ohio State’s absence of play.
Stock Up
Tennessee
The Vols are back. If you didn’t buy it after their 5-0 start to the season, which included three ranked opponents, there’s nothing more convincing than a win over Alabama, which had won 15 straight games against Tennessee entering the weekend.
The Volunteers held off a late Crimson Tide surge to win a 52-49 thriller at home and subsequently moved up to No. 3 in the AP poll. Tennessee has the No. 1 total offense in the country, a legitimate Heisman Trophy contender at quarterback and designs on a first-ever berth in the CFP.
Hendon Hooker for Heisman
Signature win? Check. Gaudy stats? Check. Hooker’s 441 total yards and five passing touchdowns in a victory over the Crimson Tide have moved him behind only C.J. Stroud as far as Heisman odds go, and his 187.7 passer rating is second in the country to Stroud. Hooker has 18 total touchdowns to just one interception and 2,104 yards of total offense halfway through the Vols’ regular season slate. Hooker and company will have a chance to knock off Georgia next month, which would only boost his Heisman stock.
@henhook2#GBO pic.twitter.com/7wMgDKTSt9
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) September 28, 2022
Ohio State
OK, OK, Ohio State didn’t play this weekend. So how could the Buckeyes possibly boost their stock? Well, losses by Alabama and USC and another close call by Clemson all help to underscore the Buckeyes’ own dominance this season. Save an 11-point victory to open the season against Notre Dame, Ohio State has demolished any obstacle in its path. Given Georgia’s own last-minute, single-digit win against Missouri a couple weeks ago, even the defending champs haven’t been as consistent as the Buckeyes.
Michigan
The Wolverines’ schedule was criticized before their Week 7 matchup with then-No. 10 Penn State, which was the first ranked opponent on Michigan’s regular season slate. But Michigan made the Nittany Lions look like a lower-tier Big Ten program with its 41-17 victory in Ann Arbor. Donovan Edwards and Blake Corum combined for 339 yards and four touchdowns on the ground and the Wolverines continue to look like they could be undefeated when they face Ohio State in late November.
Illinois
The Fighting Illini just keep proving their 2022 success is no fluke. In an important Big Ten West matchup with Minnesota over the weekend, Bret Bielema led Illinois to its sixth win in seven weeks and its fifth victory in a row. Illinois running back Chase Brown finished with 223 yards from scrimmage, and the Illini’s No. 1 ranked total defense held the Gophers to just 14 points and 180 yards of offense in the 12-point win. Illinois now ranks 18th in the AP poll and has only one ranked team (Michigan) remaining on its schedule.
#B1GFootball -
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) October 17, 2022
Chase Brown, @IlliniFootball
Aidan O'Connell, @BoilerFootball
More on their accomplishments: https://t.co/dKt1dCZCAh pic.twitter.com/sI3V176FOj
Surprising undefeated teams
TCU, UCLA and Syracuse are all still undefeated seven weeks into the season, and each program finds itself ranked among the top 15 in the AP poll. The Bruins were on a bye this week, but TCU downed then-No. 11 Oklahoma State to establish itself as the top-ranked team in the Big 12 and Syracuse beat then-No. 15 NC State to become the only ACC team besides Clemson to hold an unbeaten record thus far.
Tennessee may be just as surprising given its 7-6 record a year ago, but we talked about the Vols plenty above. Ole Miss is also something of a surprise at 7-0, although Lane Kiffin and company started 7-1 amid a 10-3 season in 2021.
The point is, this college football season is producing some unexpected twists and turns, and that’s always a good thing in a sport that’s often all too predictable at the top.
Tennessee in the top 3?
— Matt Brown (@MattBrownCFB) October 16, 2022
UCLA in the top 10?
Syracuse and Tulane ranked?
Behind the Ballot celebrates a return to 1998https://t.co/FUQQ3LbgFS pic.twitter.com/TNUYfJqz9M
Stock Down
Alabama
Make it four regular-season losses for Nick Saban over the past four years. That mark might be outstanding for most programs in the country, but for perhaps the greatest dynasty in the history of college football, it’s not a good sign for Alabama. The Tide went down 28-10 to Tennessee early in the first half, but even after taking a 49-42 lead in the final eight minutes of the game, Alabama relinquished the edge again to finish with a three-point loss. The Crimson Tide slipped to No. 6 in the country after the game and may be at risk of losing out on a CFP berth this season.
— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) October 16, 2022
USC
The Trojans joined Alabama in falling from the ranks of the unbeaten on Saturday, dropping to Utah in a one-point loss that included a frantic finish in the fourth quarter. Caleb Williams threw five touchdowns and the Trojans had a 42-35 lead with 6:15 to play, but the Utes scored a touchdown and a 2-point conversion with just 48 seconds left on the clock to steal a win at home. Williams’ stellar numbers are sure to keep him in Heisman contention for the time being, but USC fell to No. 12 in the AP poll with the loss.
CAM. RISING. @crising7 was named to the Manning Award Stars of the Week as well as the Davey O'Brien Great 8 https://t.co/QKyUtGB1VL pic.twitter.com/IGkvdzsKY0
— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) October 17, 2022
Penn State
The Nittany Lions were just a seven-point underdog to Michigan entering the weekend. By the time the clocks hit zero, Penn State would’ve needed three touchdowns and a field goal just to send it to overtime against the Wolverines. The Nittany Lions kept things close in the first half, trailing by just two points at halftime, but were outscored 25-3 in the final two frames as Penn State scored just one offensive touchdown all game and gave up 418 yards and four scores on the ground alone.
There are certainly worse teams to lose to in the Big Ten, but Penn State doesn’t look like a major threat in the East after its latest performance.
Minnesota
Four weeks into the season, Minnesota looked like the frontrunner to come out of the Big Ten West. Fortunes change fast in college football. After scoring a combined 24 points in their past two outings, the Gophers have suffered back-to-back conference defeats to Purdue and Illinois as they’ve begun to slip to toward the bottom of the Big Ten West standings. Injuries to offensive stars Tanner Morgan and Mohamed Ibrahim have helped lead to some of Minnesota’s struggles, but that doesn’t stop its stock from taking a hit after another loss.
Kansas
The Jayhawks’ Cinderella season has come crashing down in the past two weeks, as Lance Leipold’s squad has dropped back-to-back games after its 5-0 start to the season. Neither were particularly bad losses – a seven-point defeat to TCU and a 10-point loss to Oklahoma – but Kansas’ standing as a potential major player in the Big 12 has certainly suffered as a result. Now out of the AP poll, Kansas still has meetings with ranked Oklahoma State, Texas and Kansas State left in the regular season.
