The consensus preseason opinion pinned Ohio State and Georgia in a class of their own with the two clear-cut best rosters in America. Midway through October, both the Buckeyes and Bulldogs have fallen while Indiana and Army sit undefeated at 6-0 as conference play reaches its apex.
Texas is the indisputable number one team in the country to this point but has not looked phenomenal for an entire four quarters yet – scary.
There is a real chance a College Football Playoff game will be hosted in Provo, Utah or Ames, Iowa. Army and Navy may play in back-to-back weeks to claim the final ticket to the College Football Playoff.
There is no calm week of college football.
The good, the bad and the ugly from Saturday’s losing teams
No. 16 Utah (4-2) – 27-19 L @ Arizona State (5-1)
The good: Despite a marginal day from its offense, the Ute defense held the lead against Arizona State late in the third and held the Sun Devil offense to its lowest total yardage of the season thus far.
The bad: Utah managed just one touchdown drive all game while having five minutes more of possession time than the Sun Devils and seven more first downs.
The ugly: Cameron Rising’s long-awaited return went belly-up as the seventh-year veteran turned the ball over three times and missed on 21 passes while evidently playing through injury.
Rutgers (4-2) – 42-7 L vs. Wisconsin (4-2)
The good: The Scarlet Knight pass defense wasn’t horrible – but even that’s reaching.
The bad: The offense sputtered – failing to score until early in the fourth quarter when the game was already out of reach for the Scarlet Knights.
The ugly: Two weeks removed from entering the conversation to become a ranked team after an upset win over Virginia Tech, Rutgers has face planted to a point differential of -42 across its two losses to Nebraska and Wisconsin.
No. 18 Oklahoma (4-2) – 34-3 L vs. No. 1 Texas (6-0)
The good: The Sooner defense held Texas to zero first quarter points and even intercepted Quinn Ewers on the third play from scrimmage.
The bad: The Sooners had just three drives reach Texas territory and three points to show for it without its top five wide receivers.
The ugly: The flood gates opened in the second quarter as the defense broke down and allowed 34 unanswered points and 406 yards in OU’s second blowout Red River Rivalry loss in three years.
USC (3-3) – 33-30 L vs. Penn State (6-0)
The good: The Trojans showed a hardy defensive effort against the run, holding feature back Nick Singleton to 26 yards and the explosive Kaytron Allen to 56 yards and a score.
The bad: Drew Allar completed 30 of 43 passes for 391 yards as the Trojan secondary failed to cover Tyler Warren who caught 17 passes (FBS record for tight ends).
The ugly: USC took a 14-point lead into halftime but answered consecutive second half Nittany Lion touchdowns with punts as the lead dissolved and the Trojans dropped to 3-3.
Arizona (3-3) – 41-19 L @ No. 14 BYU (6-0)
The good: Arizona struck first against one of the conference’s top defenses and Noah Fifita out threw Jake Retzlaff by nearly 60 yards.
The bad: BYU answered with 24 straight points and went on a 41-12 run to end the game, forcing four turnovers and allowing just 3.7 yards per carry.
The ugly: After a 10-win, NY6 Bowl victory in 2023, Arizona drops to 3-3 and 1-2 in the Big-XII. AU is 1-3 against opponents with winning records with its only win coming against Utah and backup quarterback Isaac Wilson.
No. 2 Ohio State (5-1) – 32-31 L @ No. 3 Oregon (6-0)
The good: Seven receivers caught a pass, and the Buckeyes totaled 467 yards of offense while holding the lead at five different points in the game.
The bad: Despite three critical miscues on special teams, Oregon still had the opportunity to score and take the lead with under two minutes remaining.
The ugly: The nation’s number one defense surrendered 496 yards and were gashed at the line of scrimmage repeatedly as Ducks’ running back Jordan James ran for 115 yards and a score.