COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEK 7

BIGGEST TAKEAWAY FOR EVERY TOP 25 TEAM

College football Week 7 saw a slew of upsets in the Top 25 after Georgia, West Virginia, Washington and Penn State lost in what was a wild Saturday.

Four teams ranked in the Top 10 lost in Week 7 as the top teams in the nation are separating themselves from the pretenders. Further, the College Football Playoff picture is getting a little clearer, albeit a couple of weeks ahead of the first rankings are released.

When all the carnage was over, No. 2 Georgia, No. 6 West Virginia, No. 7 Washington and No. 8 Penn State all fell. No. 10 UCF almost had the nation’s longest winning streak snapped too but used a 16-point comeback to edge Memphis by 1 point. With all the losses in front of them, UCF is creeping closer and closer to the top 5 and being finally respected as a serious playoff team.

As we do every Sunday night, let’s take stock of what happened across the nation and provide the biggest takeaway for every Top 25 team.

ALABAMA – Alabama won but lost Tua Tagovailoa to a knee injury. It doesn’t appear too serious, but Nick Saban should wrap him in bubble wrap until the LSU game on Nov. 3 just to be safe.

GEORGIA– The Dawgs are doomed after losing at LSU. The offense looked out of sync all day, in large part because of the LSU defense. Georgia might need to use Justin Fields more to complement Jake Fromm moving forward. Playoff hopes are still alive but need to win out to get there.

OHIO STATE – Dwayne Haskins had another 400-yard game with K.J. Hill accounting for 187 and two of Haskins’ three touchdowns. The Buckeye defense didn’t look so hot though, allowing 169 rushing yards to Minnesota.

CLEMSON – Tigers were off before next week’s home game with undefeated NC State.

NOTRE DAME – It wasn’t pretty but Notre Dame got the win to avoid the upset vs. Pitt. Despite the sloppy win, their path to the Playoff got easier after Georgia lost to LSU.

WEST VIRGINIA – I didn’t think the Mountaineers were anywhere close to the sixth-best team in the country, but that’s where they fell after a number of upsets last week and their undefeated record. But they were exposed at Iowa State and Will Grier’s Heisman campaign is dead in its tracks after going 11-of-15 for 100 yards and an interception.

WASHINGTON – The Huskies lost in overtime on the road to Oregon and now their playoff hopes are dead. And the Pac-12’s hopes of making they playoff died with them.

PENN STATE – See ya, later Nittany Lions. After losing to Penn State, you can wave goodbye to any chance of coming back to win the Big Ten and sneaking in the playoff.

TEXAS – Shane Buechele came off the bench to fill in for an injured Sam Ehlinger for a narrow win over Baylor. But if the Longhorns want to win the Big 12, they’ll need Ehlinger back healthy.

UCF – We’re going streaking! The streak lives on and sits at 19 after a one-point win at Memphis. McKenzie Milton and the Knights overcame a 16-point deficit to win 31-30.

OKLAHOMA – Sooners were off after losing to Texas last week.

MICHIGAN – Karan Higdon topped the century mark as the Wolverines remain unbeaten when he runs for more than 100 yards. Michigan’s blowout win over Wisconsin was classic Michigan with a dominant run game and a dominant defense shutting down everything. I’m ready for Michigan-Ohio State now.

LSU – After a convincing win over Georgia, it’s pretty clear the road to the SEC West title will go through Baton Rouge. LSU hosts Alabama in what should decide the division.

FLORIDA – It looked sketchy for much of the first half, but Dan Mullen’s team avoided the hangover loss after a big win vs. LSU last week. With Georgia losing to LSU, the door is open for the Gators to make the SEC East an interesting race.

WISCONSIN – Just the second loss away from home for Paul Chryst as the Badgers head coach, but this was a miserable one. Wisconsin allowed 31 unanswered points after they tied Michigan at 7 early in the second quarter. Alex Hornibrook had a game to forget with only three completions for 25 yards and two interceptions before adding 75 yards and a touchdown in garbage time.

MIAMI – Malik Rosier came in on relief of an ineffective N’Kosi Perry at quarterback but he couldn’t make a difference as the Canes were upset by Virginia. Quarterback play was always the Achilles’ heel for this team and sure enough, it came back to haunt Mark Richt’s team.

OREGON – With an overtime win against Washington, the Ducks are now the favorite to win the Pac-12.

KENTUCKY – The Wildcats were idle after losing their first game of the season last week. They’ll get Vanderbilt and Missouri out of the bye and have a shot at winning 10 games.

COLORADO – The Buffaloes lost for the first time as they couldn’t get anything going offensively at USC. A bigger concern is Leviska Shenault left the game with an injury. Colorado had the easiest schedule in the Pac-12 to this point and they didn’t respond well and they’ve got to go to Washington to take on an angry Huskies team coming off an overtime loss at Oregon.

NC STATE – Wolfpack were idle as they travel to Clemson next week. The extra week of prep should do them well in their upset bid.

AUBURN – The biggest disappointment in college football this year. Gus Malzahn has a $31.1 million buyout so things aren’t going to suddenly change for the better.

TEXAS A&M – Jimbo Fisher’s team is getting better and better with every week. They could play spoiler in the second half, especially in the season finale against LSU.

SOUTH FLORIDA – The Bulls flirted with disaster against a woeful Tulsa squad on Friday night but escaped and remain undefeated. Looks like USF-UCF to decide the AAC.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Joe Moorhead’s team was off after beating Auburn last week. They’ll travel to LSU on Saturday looking to slay the other Tigers.

CINCINNATI – If the AAC doesn’t run through USF-UCF, it’ll be because Cincinnati had something to say about that. The undefeated Bearcats were off this week.