College Football Odds and Sods: Big Weekend For Mississippi and Katy Perry

We entered week six with some attractive matchups. We ended it with four of the top six being toppled, two Mississippi teams in the top five and the Purdue Boilermakers coming off a double-digit win over (at least technically) a power five team. The only thing clear is the selection committee will have real decisions to make. Don’t presume anything at this stage…except Michigan losing.

The SEC West

Those SEC West teams were bound to start playing each other eventually. It was a blood bath. Half of them lost.

Ole Miss upset Alabama 23-17. It’s the Rebels’ biggest win since… not even worth looking it up. You get the point. The Tide picked up where they left off in 2013, with poor special teams play and a failure to close a team out in the fourth quarter on the road. The offense threw in a late interception for good measure. It’s a long season. Too much will be read into this in the immediate aftermath. Alabama can still reach the playoff by winning out, but looks very mortal. Ole Miss’ top five statistical defense did not break against a very good offense.

Mississippi State dumped Texas A&M 48-31 in Starkville. Two garbage time touchdown drives flatter the Aggies a bit. Texas A&M may have been a bit overrated. But, this was a statement win for the Bulldogs. Their defense held A&M to a pedestrian 5.7 yards/play. Dak Prescott had a standout performance, completing 21/27 for more than 10 yards/attempt and producing five total touchdowns. Dan Mullen finally has his quarterback. Mississippi State is the No. 1 team in the nation per Football Outsiders.

The Bulldogs have Auburn next week and road trips to Alabama and to Ole Miss remaining. But, there’s no reason, at this stage, to conclude they can’t win the West. Even a strong, 9-10 win season could give Dan Mullen some intriguing relocation options. Return to Florida? Head back to his native north at Michigan? Zillow may already be bombarding his email box. Texas A&M’s track will also be an interesting one. Momentum swings tend to affect young teams. Three of the Aggies’ next four are against Ole Miss, Bama and Auburn. It’s worth remembering the Vegas win total over/under for Texas A&M was seven.

Auburn vs. LSU went more predictably, with Gus Malzahn’s Tigers taking care of business 41-7 at home. Things are not coalescing for LSU this season. The away Tigers allowed six yards/carry for the third time against a reputable opponent. They couldn’t stop the pass. Their offense, cycling through overwhelmed quarterbacks, converted zero of 13 third down attempts. Les Miles’ team looks primed for a down year, at a time where the latter half of the conference is on the rise. Their easiest game remaining, maybe, is Kentucky.

Others Upset

Arizona beat Oregon 31-24, adding to the weird Thursday night upset meme. It was a “stunner,” unless you remembered Rich Rod shot down the Ducks last season. This was straight-forward. Oregon’s defense tired in the second half. The Wildcats, having an uncharacteristically efficient day, out-executed them, with help from a dumb penalty. Mark Helfrich, it appears, is not Chip Kelly.

The Twitter echo chamber portrayed this as a jab against Michigan. Wolverine fans did not know what they had going 6-18 in B1G play and getting rock bottomed by Ohio State, every year.

TCU knocked off Oklahoma 37-33. This one wasn’t so surprising, filtering out the inertia from preseason polls. Trevor Knight is not the guy he was against Alabama game-in, game-out. The Horned Frogs have a marginally better defense. They were playing at home. Gary Patterson has had some hard luck on and off the field since joining the Big 12. This could be the year that changes. The Horned Frogs could place themselves atop the Big 12 totem pole with a win at Baylor next weekend.

The Good…

Purdue won a B1G game. It was their first conference win since 2012, beating Illinois 38-27. Purdue achieved it by doing B1G things. Akeem Hunt and Austin Appelby combined for 253 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. The Boilermakers held Illinois to just 2.6 yards/carry. Things are sort of looking up for Darrell Hazell. Things are looking about the same for Tim Beckman.

Kentucky picked off South Carolina. The Wildcats beat the Gamecocks 45-38 in Lexington, with their running backs combining for 242 yards and four touchdowns on 31 carries. Mark Stoops’ team is fast-rising from plucky bottom-dweller to bona fide contender in an open SEC East.

The Not So Good…

N.C. State had themselves a letdown game. After battling valiantly against Florida State, the Wolfpack went on the road and lost 41-0 to Clemson. Clemson freshman DeShaun Watson produced four touchdowns. N.C. State quarterback Jacoby Brissett completed four passes.

UCLA’s offensive line. Brett Hundley was sacked an incredible 10 times, in UCLA’s 30-28 loss that ended their undefeated bid. That’s more than 50 FBS teams have allowed all season.

Losing streak. Michigan lost 26-24 to Rutgers, dropping to 2-4. This was the Wolverines’ seventh-straight defeat to a power five opponent. The offense crept back toward reasonable stature with Devin Gardner, gaining 5.9 yards/play and only turning the ball over once. It was for naught, though, as their pass defense allowed 10.1 yards/attempt to Gary Nova.

The Unfortunate…

BYU’s hopes of anything beyond an early December bowl game are kaput. The Cougars lost 35-20 to Utah State, ending their hopes for an undefeated bid. Taysom Hill went down for the season with a broken leg. Their defense gave up 12.8 yards/attempt to the Aggies’ backup quarterback.

In a Losing Effort…

Melvin Gordon ran for 259 yards and a touchdown on 27 carries. Despite that, Wisconsin managed to lose to Northwestern 20-14.

Vine of the Week

Texas A&M backup quarterback Kyle Allen didn’t let a blowout loss dampen his game on the sideline.

GIF of the Week

Katy Perry played the role of excited college football fan this week. She also had corn dogs.

[USA Today Sports]