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Sup, Jason Kirk here, playing Arch Manning to Jayna Bardahl’s Quinn Ewers. After all, like Arch, I have several uncles.

The undefeated

Ducks dump Bucks from the ranks

There are only 11 undefeated teams left in FBS play.

A few years ago I did some looking up and found that the average season from week 10 onwards is about seven or eight undefeated runs. So as we enter week 7, we are around the usual pace.

But this time there is something different. The 12-team College Football Playoff means that going undefeated as a power conference team is no longer just about continuing to chase a title, but more specifically, chasing a first-round bye. (And for Group of 5 teams, such a feat will all but guarantee a near-unprecedented Playoff shot.)

No matter how the Playoff goes in any given year, undefeated status has always meant something extra romantic in college football. With that in mind, let’s see who made it about halfway yesterday:

Quarterback Quinn Ewers returned to the Texas lineup on Saturday and led the Longhorns to a loss to rival Oklahoma. (Kevin Jairaj / Imagn Images)

No. 1 Texas 34, No. 18 Oklahoma 3: These Longhorns haven’t been through many tests yet, but they’ve passed them all. To that list we can add the complete absence of a QB due to injuries and one of the traditionally most chaotic rivalry games in the country. Ewers is back and throwing for a rusty 199 yards, not that it mattered much against the helpless Sooners. The following is an intermediate period that is worth an entire night: Georgia visits Austin for the first time since 1958.

(Meanwhile, Brent Venables is 20-12 in Oklahoma. Will these much-flawed Sooners win any of their remaining SEC games?)

No. 3 Oregon 32, No. 2 Ohio State 31: Seven lead changes. A record crowd in the Autzen Stadium. About a million crazy little moments. Classic. Feed it back. Even though the Ducks weren’t even remotely considered a Big Ten program until news of the realignment broke about a year ago, they are now the Big Ten favorites. They’ll likely be favored every week until they reach Indianapolis, and maybe even beyond.

No. 4 Penn State 33, USC 30: After a 45-minute Nittany Lions comeback, plus a quick overtime period, your new hero is Penn State tight end Tyler Warren. He entered the record books with 237 all-purpose yards on 19 touches, including perhaps the national play of the day, when he broke the ball – and then caught it in the end zone:

Double pass TD for @PennStateFball to start the second half! 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/54lph5ddUw

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 12, 2024

There are three weeks until Penn State welcomes Ohio State. For USC, a 3-3 record (and a trip across the Earth to Maryland afterward) means the pressure on Lincoln Riley is increasing.

No. 6 Miami (bye): Road trips to Louisville and Georgia Tech remain, but the Canes’ path is relatively clear.

No. No. 11 Iowa State 28, West Virginia 16 and No. 14 BYU 41, Arizona 19: As expected, the new Big 12 mostly looks like an unpredictable mess (that’s a compliment). Naturally, the top two teams were picked sixth and 13th, respectively, in the conference’s preseason poll. The Cougars already have more wins than last season, including a blowout win over Kansas State, while Iowa State still has to play the Wildcats.

No. 18 Indiana (bye): The Hoosiers, who have already surpassed their Vegas total of 5.5 wins for the year, have several winnable games heading into their trip to Columbus. #NineWindiana is real.

No. 22 Pitt 17, Cal 15: Every 2024 Pitt game is a dramatic victory, no matter what happens in the first 59 minutes. But the 2024 Cal (3-3) games are often the opposite. That’s why the Panthers won despite gaining only 277 yards, converting just a third down and losing the turnover battle.

Army 44, UAB 10: The nation’s most prolific rushing attack put up 413 yards on the ground, plus a passing touchdown — the seventh-most this year, in fact. More about UAB below, but first something really crazy is planned…

Navy (day): As we’ve been following for a few weeks, the two teams at the top of the AAC standings won’t meet until after the AAC title game. It’s possible that Army and Navy will be favored in every remaining conference game (likely excluding Navy-Tulane), so we’re getting closer to one of the weirdest blasphemies in CFB history: an Army-Navy rematch.

Freedom 31, FIU 24: Likely a non-factor in the Playoff race, as the Flames enjoyed the FBS’s easiest schedule thus far, per FPI, plus one of the easiest going forward.

Elsewhere

Maybe this is just your life now, Bama

For nearly a decade, every time Alabama lost, every college football viewer feared what would happen to the Tide’s next opponent. Give Nick Saban a reason to point out more mistakes by his players? Are you trying to get someone out of the closet with a thousand people?

Well, that trope doesn’t officially apply to the Kalen DeBoer era, at least not yet. Against South Carolina, a week after the Tide lost to Vanderbilt for the first time since 1984, they nearly collected their first regular-season losing streak since 2007, Saban’s first season. If not for LaNorris Sellers’ two late turnovers in the 27-25 game, which otherwise put an absolute burden on Bama’s defense, the Tide would have rolled into Knoxville week facing a potential three-game losing streak.

Fast:

• Another return from Cam Rising. Another Cam Rising injury. This time his lower right leg, as No. 16 Utah fell 27-19 to Arizona State on Friday night.
• No. 18 Kansas State held off Colorado 31-28 Because a shoulder injury sidelined the Buffs’ two best players, Travis Hunter and Travis Hunter.
• No. 13 LSU is back on trackwho rallied to defeat No. 9 Ole Miss 29-26 in overtime. The Tigers head to Arkansas next, while the Rebels have dropped two of three.
• Remember when Tennessee was the best team in the country against the spread? Now it follows up a loss to Arkansas with a late overtime victory against Florida.
• Lots of OT this week! What about this blowout: The pregame over/under for Purdue-Illinois was a modest 47.5 points. Each team surpassed that number in a 50-49 victory for the No. 23 Illini.
• Can Ashton Jeanty be stopped? The Boise State star had 31 carries for 217 yards and a touchdown in the Broncos’ 28-7 win over Hawaii.
• FCS control: No. No. 3 Montana State crushed No. 8 Idaho 38-7.
• Besides, after three consecutive eruptions, UAB’s Trent Dilfer is now 5-13 as a head coach. The interim coach UAB could have hired instead, Bryant Vincent, is 5-1 in his first season at ULM, within reach of the Warhawks’ best season ever. (ULM defeated UAB, ICYMI.) At the time, most of us were against Dilfer’s appointment, but things now look even worse than any of us could have imagined.

Quick snaps

Tylee Craft, a former wide receiver at North Carolina who was diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer in 2022, died yesterday, the program announced. He was 23.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Milton are the displaced USF Bulls played with a heavy heart in Orlando and came up short against Memphis yesterday.

State of Florida has gained some ground in the ongoing lawsuit against the ACC.

What will college football look like in the future? But the Big Ten And SEC want to. Scott Dochterman reports on their recent summit.

Yes, I’m still thinking about it Vanderbilt defeating Bama. Checking in with the kids who got to carry Vandy’s goal post to the river to celebrate: “There will never be a better moment in college than this.”

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(Top photo: Chris Pietsch/USA Today Network via Imagn Images