CFB Week 7 Recap: A Red River rout and a plethora of overtime thrillers

If you’re a fan of overtime college football games (and who isn’t?), this week was an absolute treat. Let’s get to all the free football and more from another amazing week of action.

●#1 Texas took care of business against rival #18 Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl, scoring 34 unanswered points after trailing early to take the Golden Hat back to Austin. OU’s offense was stymied all day long, failing to score a touchdown in the Red River Rivalry for the second time in three years. Horns QB Quinn Ewers looked rusty after a two-game absence but honestly didn’t have to do much with how putrid the Sooners offense was. They now set their sights on a top 5 matchup in Austin next week when #5 Georgia comes to the 40 Acres. The Dawgs beat Mississippi State at home, though they gave up 31 points to the SEC bottomfeeder in the process.

●A week after shockingly falling to Vanderbilt, #7 Alabama was nearly stunned again. This time it was South Carolina who almost pulled the shocker, giving the Tide all they could handle at home. The Gamecocks took advantage of sloppy Bama play all day, including a sequence where South Carolina scored on a long touchdown pass on 4th and 9, an intentional grounding in the endzone for a safety, and a field goal after a very late interception. Bama regained the lead for good with 10 minutes left but still decided to give SCAR some hope, first allowing a late touchdown that could’ve tied the game (2-pt conversion failed), then allowing the Gamecocks to convert an onside kick for one final chance. A Bama INT finally put things away, but it’s another puzzling result after seeing them knock off UGA a few weeks ago.

●One thing #3 Oregon and HC Dan Lanning didn’t have in his time in Eugene was a signature conference win, but that all changed Saturday night. The Ducks went toe to toe with #2 Ohio State all game, trading Dillon Gabriel touchdowns with Will Howard scores. Both vet QBs played well, and after Gabriel led the Ducks on a field goal drive to put them ahead by 1, Howard had his own chance to win the game for the Buckeyes. He recovered from taking a bad sack to put Ohio State in range to win the game, but made the fatal mistake of forgetting how much time was left, and by the time he slid down, there were nothing but 0’s on the clock. It was one of the best games of the season so far, and now the Ducks have a key win in their new league. Ohio State meanwhile loses another big game, leaving more questions about Ryan Day’s ability to lead them to a championship with their uber talented roster.

●Going into #9 Ole Miss at #13 LSU, I really didn’t know what to expect, other than it’d be an entertaining game, and boy did it deliver late. It was a low scoring sloppy affair early though, and Tigers QB Garrett Nussmeier struggled with his accuracy. The Rebels offense wasn’t much better though, failing to score a touchdown in the second half. It allowed LSU to hang around, and Nussmeier made them pay with a wild final regulation drive that tied the game. In OT, Ole Miss kicker Caden Davis made a crazy long field goal that was all for naught when Nussmeier found Kyren Lacy for a game-winning touchdown on the Tigers’ first play of overtime. LSU escaped another wild SEC game with a win while Ole Miss now likely needs to win out to have a shot at the CFP. The committee isn’t gonna be impressed with a home loss to Kentucky and now giving up a lead on the road like this.

●#4 Penn State stared down a double digit halftime deficit in their first coast to coast Big Ten road trip and didn’t blink. The Nittany Lions stormed back to tie the game twice to send things to OT, eventually beating USC 33-30 after the Trojans missed an OT field goal of their own. PSU couldn’t have done this without a truly Herculean effort from TE Tyler Warren, who tied an FBS record with 17(!) catches for 224 yards and a wild touchdown. USC had a chance at a FG to win in regulation but Penn State picked off USC QB Miller Moss to send things to overtime. Penn State remains tied atop the Big Ten standings and now gets a week to rest after the long trip.

●#8 Tennessee again looked rusty on offense, going scoreless in the first half for the second straight week against Florida. The Gators actually held a 10-0 advantage late in to the 3rd quarter, but an injury to Graham Mertz stalled the Florida offense enough to let Tennessee back into things. After storming back to lead 17-10, Gators backup DJ Lagway led an impressive touchdown drive to send the game to OT (a common theme this week). They initially lined up to go for 2 and the win in regulation, and in retrospect that should’ve been the call. The Gators missed a FG on their possession and Tennessee scored a touchdown, giving the Vols a win after they probably didn’t deserve one. Now they’ll host Bama in a matchup of two highly ranked teams that haven’t looked the part in recent weeks.

●#10 Clemson plastered poor Wake Forest, continuing to look like the Clemson of old after their early loss to Georgia. #6 Miami got a well earned week off after their thrilling and exhausting comeback vs. Cal last weekend.

●Arizona State was picked by the media to finish dead last in the 16-team Big 12, so naturally, they’re 5-1 and rolling after beating preseason Big 12 favorite #16 Utah on Friday night. Sun Devils RB Cam Skattebo was a wrecking ball, running for two incredible touchdowns and being generally untackle-able all evening. The Utes got QB Cam Rising back but he still didn’t look right, throwing several interceptions and lacking any zip on his passes. Why Utah continued to throw the ball on a night Micah Bernard averaged 6.1 yards per rush is beyond me, but it gave us an amazing Kenny Dillingham postgame interview, so there’s that.

●#23 Illinois built a 24-point lead against lowly Purdue. Easy win, right? Wrong! The Boilermakers scored 23 points in the 4th quarter to take a 3-point lead! Illinois scrambled to tie things up with a field goal, leading to yet another OT affair for a Top 25 team. Both teams scored touchdowns in overtime, but Purdue wanted to end things with a 2-point attempt that fell just short. Much more stressful than it needed to be against one of the worst Power 4 teams, but Illinois will take wins where they can get them.

●Big 12 undefeateds roll on: #11 Iowa State reached bowl-eligibility with a win over West Virginia, staying undefeated in Big 12 play in the process. It’s their first 6-0 start since 1938! Franklin Roosevelt got to enjoy those Cyclones. Meanwhile #16 BYU dominated Arizona, moving to 6-0 themselves.

●Georgia Tech let an early lead vs. North Carolina slip away, so what better way to make up for that with a long touchdown run to seal a victory? That’s what Jamal Haynes did, running 68 yards for a go-ahead score with 16 seconds left. This win puts GT on the verge of bowl games in back to back seasons for the first time since 2013-14!

●Big 12 after dark was lit in Week 7. #18 Kansas State played an incredibly entertaining back and forth game with Colorado, who remains must-see TV even as they lost their top 3 receivers throughout this one. Shedeur Sanders made magic happen time and time again, putting Colorado ahead after this Avery Johnson pick. But Johnson made up for it with this long touchdown pass to put the Wildcats ahead for good. Was this PI on the Buffs’ final play? The refs said no, and K-State left Boulder with a big Big 12 win.

●Other fun notes: Vanderbilt proved to be more than a one week wonder, knocking off Kentucky as a big road underdog. Army is still undefeated after shellacking UAB. North Texas is 5-1 after winning a barn burner in Boca Raton against FAU.

●Colorado superstar Travis Hunter left his team’s loss to Kansas State in the second quarter and didn’t return. If he’s out for a long period of time, that’s a major loss for the sport, and for a Buffs team that’s been playing much better than last season.

●Washington and Cal continued a trend of West Coast teams in new conferences struggling on long road trips. The Huskies offense never found its footing while getting blown out by Iowa. Cal then fell to undefeated #22 Pitt by 2, leaving them winless in the ACC by a combined 8 points. That’s rough, buddy.

●UCLA had a real shot to pick up their first ever Big Ten win with Minnesota looking sluggish all night, but couldn’t hold on and fell 21-17 at home. Looking at the Bruins’ remaining Big Ten schedule (@Rutgers, @Nebraska, Iowa, @Washington & USC), I don’t see a win there. Tough times in La La Land, but shoutout to Minny for completing the LA sweep in back to back weeks.

●Marshall led Georgia Southern 23-3 with 7 minutes left. Easy win, right? Not so fast my friend. A safety, a GASO touchdown, a Marshall fumble, another GASO touchdown, ANOTHER Marshall fumble after recovering an onside kick and another GASO touchdown meant a 24-23 Eagles win. Just a dreadful final sequence for the Thundering Herd.

●Ryan Day is 2-6 against Top 5 teams after Ohio State’s loss to Oregon. In three weeks he’ll have another shot at a highly ranked team in Penn State, but why should we have any confidence in his team by that point?

●In three Red River games, Brent Venables’ Oklahoma offense has twice failed to score a touchdown. The last time that happened for the Sooners? In 1977. The Sooners’ offensive struggles are honestly hard to watch.

●USC is 11-10 in their last 21 games and don’t look physical enough to compete in the Big Ten.

●An Iowa fan got hit in the face with a football during their win over Washington, so naturally, the Hawkeyes radio team had to interview him.

●Western Michigan began their game against Akron at 3 ET. It ended near midnight ET thanks to some wild weather in Kalamazoo, including plenty of hail.

●Kansas State's DJ Giddens made Colorado’s Shilo Sanders touch the earth with this nasty juke. In the same game, Wildcats QB Avery Johnson took selfies with Colorado fans.

●One of the best graphics you’ll see all season. Get healthy soon, Travis Hunter.

●Kirk Herbstreit called the Red River game in Dallas, but started his day in Eugene. During his trip from Oregon to Texas, he still chimed in to College GameDay in a convertible and on an airplane (I can’t find a good video of the latter sadly).

1. Ashton Jeanty, Boise State RB: A ho-hum day in Hawaii for Jeanty consisted of 217 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD and 1 receiving TD. He only averaged 7.1 yards a carry.

2. Dillon Gabriel, Oregon QB: For the second year in a row, Gabriel has what might be the best win of the regular season. In beating Ohio State he threw for 341 yards and two touchdowns while running for another. His season stats look even better after this win.

3. Travis Hunter, Colorado DB/WR: Hunter didn’t make much of an impact before left the game against K-State, but his play so far this season still puts him near the top of these rankings.

4. Cam Ward, Miami QB: A week off gave Ward time to rest his back, which is surely sore after carrying his team to a wild comeback over Cal last weekend.

5. DJ Giddens, Kansas State RB: Can we finally talk about what the Wildcats star is doing this season? His 220 scrimmage yards against Colorado pushed him to over 900 scrimmage yards on the season, and while his touchdown numbers won’t impress you, he’s an absolute weapon anywhere on the field.