’Bama, Georgia separate from pack
A game that was supposed to test Alabama’s defense and 17-game winning streak ended up as another smooth win for the top-ranked Crimson Tide.
A matchup of the nation’s top quarterbacks ended up going in favor of Alabama sophomore Bryce Young, who had two touchdown passes in the 42-21 win against Ole Miss. The Crimson Tide even answered questions about a sputtering ground game with 210 yards and a season-high four rushing touchdowns.
Across the SEC in the East division, No. 2 Georgia pushed around once-unbeaten Arkansas behind another magnificent performance from the nation’s best defense.
It was another banner Saturday for the Tide and Bulldogs, who took care of business against ranked but overmatched competition and moved one step closer to a winner-take-all matchup in early December to decide the conference championship.
The two powerhouse programs top the list of college football’s winner and losers:
Winners
Alabama: The 42-21 win against No. 12 Ole Miss was even more dominant than the final score suggests: Alabama led 35-0 almost midway through the third quarter and was in control from the opening kick. (And the Rebels’ 21 points in the second half gives Nick Saban something to harp on this week, so it’s a true win-win.)
Cincinnati: The No. 8 Bearcats are firmly on the College Football Playoff radar after a 24-13 win against No. 7 Notre Dame concluded an undefeated nonconference schedule highlighted by two victories against Power Five competition.
Georgia: The Bulldogs handed No. 11 Arkansas a lopsided loss that underscores Georgia’s place as perhaps the most dominant team in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The 37-0 victory even came without star quarterback JT Daniels, who was ruled out during pregame workouts, leaving the offense under the direction of backup Stetson Bennett.
Kenny Pickett: Pittsburgh’s senior quarterback continued his assault on the program’s record book, even shattering a longstanding mark set by Dan Marino, by throwing for 389 yards and four touchdowns in the Panthers’ 52-21 win against Georgia Tech.
Tennessee: The Volunteers had six touchdown drives of 75 or more yards, gained 35 first downs and 683 yards of offense, racked up 458 yards on the ground and stormed out of the gate with 28 first-quarter points in a jaw-dropping 62-24 win against Missouri.
Texas: UT moved to 4-1 and took back momentum in a series that has recently favored TCU by leaning on star running back Bijan Robinson, who ran for a career-high 216 yards on 35 carries to lead a 32-27 win against the Horned Frogs.
Clemson: While not the sort of performance that suggests Clemson has what it takes to rally back into playoff contention, the 19-13 win against Boston College does represent the Tigers’ best victory of the season and keeps them from falling way behind in the ACC Atlantic race. After two early losses, Clemson’s best result from this season is to win the division, win the conference and reach a New Year’s Six bowl.
Oklahoma State: It’s safe to start buying in on Oklahoma State, which is now 5-0 after its defense put together another superb 60 minutes to shut down Baylor and preserve a 24-14 win. Amid inconsistency on offense, the Cowboys have yet to allow more than 23 points in a game and have held two straight Big 12 opponents (Kansas State and the Bears) to under 300 yards.
Kentucky: For every new flavor of the month among SEC coaches there is a genuine lack of publicity for the job done by Kentucky coach Mark Stoops, who has built the Wildcats into the sort of team that can beat Florida without making national headlines. Kentucky’s 20-13 win against Florida is the program’s first in Lexington since 1986 and the program’s second in four tries after going 30 years without a win in the series.
Nebraska: The Cornhuskers took out five weeks of frustration on Northwestern, putting up nearly 400 yards of total offense in the first half alone and winning 56-7 in the most complete performance of the Scott Frost era.
Losers
Oregon: The Ducks failed to get a late goal-line stand and lost 31-24 in overtime to Stanford, dealing a potentially crippling blow to the Pac-12’s hopes of finally get back into the playoff.
Arkansas: While not subtracting too much from the program’s huge gains under second-year coach Sam Pittman, since more teams than not would get swallowed whole by Georgia, the shutout loss does speak to the gap still separating the Razorbacks from the top third of the SEC.
Wisconsin: The No. 15 team in the preseason USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll, the Badgers have dropped three games against Power Five competition and are in danger of posting the program’s worst season since 2001, the last time Wisconsin finished with a losing record. As in last Saturday’s loss to Notre Dame, the Badgers were competitive against Michigan well into the second half before the bottom dropped out in the fourth quarter.
West Virginia: The Mountaineers are a team running out of excuses after losing 23-20 at home to Texas Tech, coach Neal Brown’s third loss in as many tries in the series. West Virginia was seen as a Big 12 dark horse, one of the small group of teams capable of putting a scare into Oklahoma and cracking the Top 25.
Texas A&M: Holding two losses by the first Sunday of October – with the losses coming to Arkansas and Mississippi State – was not what was expected of A&M, which came into 2021 with enormous momentum after just missing last year’s playoff field and was handed what looked like a very friendly schedule before next week’s matchup with Alabama. A&M put up just 297 yards of offense in Saturday’s 26-22 loss to the Bulldogs and can now be ignored as a legitimate contender for the SEC West and conference championship. Injuries have certainly played a role, especially the injury to Haynes King suffered against Colorado in early September that may cost the starting quarterback the entire season.
Florida: The loss to Kentucky erases any of the good vibes coming out of last month’s close loss to Alabama and makes it borderline impossible to imagine Florida getting back to the SEC championship game.