It’s that special time of the year in which we leave summer in the past and transition into that crisp fall weather. Temperatures start dropping. Leaves start to fall. Football weather starts taking shape. It also means that we’ve reached the halfway point of the college football season.
The pecking order starts to take shape in every conference around this time. The pretenders are separated from the contenders, and we get a clearer idea of who the teams to beat are in the race for conference championships.
But this past weekend reminded us that college football is truly a remarkable and unpredictable sport.
Controversies, upsets- it had everything. Whatever we knew heading into the weekend got flipped on its head, and Week 6 was no exception.
To make things simpler, we’ll refer to the rankings prior to the games being played.
Let’s start with the ACC. The No. 3 Miami Hurricanes welcomed an FSU program that, for the past few years, has been a shadow of itself. On and off the field, Mike Norvell has let this once-prestigious program slip into the abyss of the conference. So with the Seminoles heading to Coral Gables, we’d assume that the Canes would comfortably cruise by them just like they do with any other school in their conference and move on to the next week, right?
Well, instead, we got a game in which the Seminoles went the distance with them in an overtime thriller that, if it wasn’t for a controversial holding call that wiped out the touchdown, would’ve forced the game to a double overtime and perhaps could’ve been the upset of the year. Instead, the Canes barely slipped by, 43-35.
Moving on to the Big 12, and we go to Provo, Utah. ESPN College GameDay at BYU for the first time since 2009. Being a top-10 matchup, it was poised to be a special night.
And it was exactly that. No. 2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish fell to the No. 8 BYU Cougars 28-24, in which we saw true sophomore QB Bear Bachmeier deliver a performance for the ages and become the first QB since 1997 to record 2 rushing touchdowns, 1 passing touchdown, and a receiving touchdown. It was as dynamic as you can get.
But of course, the game came with controversy. On the final play of the game, the Irish were inside the 10 with 4 seconds remaining and were about to spoil BYU’s night. Instead, Junior QB CJ Carr rolled right and threw the go-ahead ball on the fade route to win the game.
What came out of it was the Big 12 conference acknowledging that there should’ve been a second left after the play, meaning the Irish could’ve had one more opportunity to win the game, which for them is even bigger considering their strength of schedule. This was a game where they needed to win to prove the doubters wrong.
Now, we move on to another top-10 matchup in the Big Ten. Here, the No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes visited the No. 5 Indiana Hoosiers in a 19-15 victory for the scarlet and white.
The Hoosiers, down 4 on 4th & 4 with a minute and seven seconds left, junior WR Nick Marsh caught the ball in the end zone, and all of Bloomington exploded in celebration. The only one who wasn’t was the man who caught the ball.
In the most brutal way to lose a football game, replay showed that Marsh was out of bounds once he caught the ball and went from hero to zero.
And now, we move on to the SEC.
The SEC this year is the craziest it’s been. You had No. 1 Georgia getting upset at home to the Auburn Tigers on a walk-off field goal. The No. 7 Texas Longhorns got upset at home to the unranked Florida Gators. The No. 6 Alabama Crimson Tide fell to the No. 16 Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville and lost in back-to-back weekends. No. 9 Ole Miss beat the brakes off No. 13 Missouri at home, 31-3.
Utter chaos.
There’s no longer an undefeated team left in the conference, and it truly has become unpredictable to pick who beats who every weekend.
It all goes to remind us that in this sport, anybody can beat anybody on any given Saturday. Once you think you’ve figured something out, you get proven wrong. Time and time again, college football continues to be must-watch TV.
We’ll see what Week 7 has in store for us.