It was a relatively light week for the SEC and college football as a whole.
Not much happened in terms of shocking, CFP-altering upsets (we’ll get to you, Ohio State) this week. A lot almost happened, though. G6 frontrunner Boise State barely escaped Texas State as Saturday bled into Sunday. Notre Dame started slow against Navy before figuring it out in the second half. Miami squeaked out a win over North Carolina, and Indiana once again pulled off some witchcraft to win its 29th-straight game over an unranked opponent.
As for the SEC, it was business as usual. Every favorite won except Oklahoma, and I personally thought it was a little silly that the Sooners were initially favored against a South Carolina squad that looks better and better with each passing week.
Speaking of South Carolina, let’s jump right into Week 9’s winners and losers:
Winners: LaNorris Sellers & South Carolina
Since the 12-team Playoff began, there’s always been a 3-loss team entering November that catches fire and leads everyone to believe it should be in the College Football Playoff. Last year it was Texas. The year prior it was Ole Miss or South Carolina. This year, though there’s a long way to go, it once again appears to be South Carolina.
The Gamecocks are playing high level football right now, and it’s all thanks to LaNorris Sellers’ complete 180 at the QB position. The USC quarterback had an October to remember, leading the Gamecocks to a 3-1 record with their sole loss coming in overtime at the hands of ballsy Will Stein and Kentucky.
Across these 4 games, Sellers has averaged 342 yards of total offense and 3.75 touchdowns per game. He’s not doing it against scrubs, either — Oklahoma and Tennessee boast top 5 passing defenses in the SEC, and Sellers posted perhaps his 2 best games in wins over the Sooners and Volunteers. His outing this week was flat-out phenomenal — Sellers collected just under 400 yards of total offense with 5 touchdowns to lead the Gamecocks to a 42-25 win that was not as competitive as the score lets on.
South Carolina has a ton of work to do if it wants to be seriously considered for a spot in the Playoff, but the path is definitely there. The Gamecocks face Texas A&M and Arkansas before a pivotal matchup at home against Georgia in the penultimate week of the regular season. If they manage to go 3-0 in those game (that’s a pretty gargantuan “if”), the Gamecocks can stamp their ticket with a win at rival Clemson.
Loser: Ohio State
Ohio State might be dead.
The Buckeyes’ defense was incredibly worrying coming out of the bye week. The Trojans possessed the ball for just 20 minutes of Saturday’s game and still put up 338 yards of total offense with only 4 punts. Jayden Maiava picked the Buckeyes apart for 222 passing yards and a touchdown to Trent Mosley on 15-of-22 completions. Ohio State lacked physicality and, most worrying of all, looked completely unprepared coming out of the bye week.
A quick reminder: USC scored 7 points in a loss to a Wisconsin team that was just blanked by Iowa.
I don’t see how the Buckeyes reach the College Football Playoff this year with Sayin out for the season. The Buckeyes need to win out with matchups vs. Oregon, Northwestern, at Nebraska and Michigan.
Winner: Wake Forest
The Wake Forest Demon Deacons control their own destiny in the ACC.
With SMU’s loss to Syracuse on Saturday, Wake Forest is now the only 1-loss team in the conference behind undefeated Miami, which it lost to in September, 33-20. The Demon Deacons outscored opponents 187-31 in October and finished with one of their most lopsided wins of the season, a 51-7 shellacking of Virginia. The Wake Forest run game continues to be dominant — WF rushed for 309 yards and 5 touchdowns against the Cavs.
Are the Deacons a College Football Playoff team?
Loser: Nebraska
Nebraska fans show up in droves to get socked in the face each and every week. It’s a humiliation ritual unlike any other, and it’s pretty depressing to watch from an outside perspective.
Nebraska led for 58 minutes and 29 seconds of Saturday’s loss to Washington. The Huskers surrendered a 7-3 lead with 1 minute and 31 seconds remaining, then promptly threw an interception on the ensuing drive that was returned for a touchdown. A 7-3 lead turned into a 17-7 deficit across about 20 seconds of game time.
Nebraska has led entering the 4th quarter in every single game it has played this season. The Huskers are now 5-3, having lost 3 straight to Indiana, Oregon and now Washington.
Winners: Everyone who stayed up for Boise State-Texas State
While most fans were sleeping or celebrating Halloween, Boise State and Texas State were busy playing the Game of the Year over in western Idaho.
The 4th quarter of this one went completely off the rails. Six touchdowns were scored, including 3 in the final 4 minutes and 15 seconds. Texas State came all the way back from down 28-3 in the second half to take the lead with under 5 minutes remaining, and the 2 teams combined for just under 1,000 yards of total offense in a 46-45 Boise State win.
Boise State did it without its starting quarterback for much of the 2nd half, too. Max Cutforth picked up right where Maddux Madsen left off, throwing 3 touchdown passes in the 4th quarter. That includes the game-winner:
The Broncos needed it. The G6 spot has little if any room for error, and a loss would have dropped Boise State to 6-2 on the season. Instead, Boise is 7-1 heading into Week 10 at Colorado State.
Loser: Arizona
For all intents and purposes, Arizona’s bid for a spot in the College Football Playoff ended in Week 9. The Wildcats fell to Texas Tech 34-26 in a game they led midway through the 3rd quarter.
The Wildcats have now lost to BYU and Texas Tech in a tight Big 12 title race. That’s unfortunate. A win would have placed the Wildcats 3rd in the conference ahead of Texas Tech and Houston. Instead, the Wildcats are now 5th with 4 games to play, including a matchup against the Big 12’s top team, Utah.
To reach the Big 12 title game, Arizona needs to win out and have at least 3 of the following 4 scenarios happen:
- Utah to lose at least once (BYU, at TCU, West Virginia)
- BYU to lose at least twice (at Utah, Baylor, at Kansas, Cincinnati)
- Texas Tech to lose at least twice (West Virginia, at OK State, at Baylor, TCU)
- Houston to lose at least once (Cincinnati, at Colorado, at West Virginia, Baylor)
Good luck, Wildcats!
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Ethan Stone is a Saturday Down South News Editor and an advocate for the return of the Seattle Supersonics.
