We spend basically all of the interminable college football offseason arguing about spreadsheets, procedures and hypotheticals. Who should be No. 1? Who should be the favorite in Conference X? How many at-large bids should the Big Ten get (even though we have no idea who will have what record)? Is inequality wrecking the sport? How much private equity money should School A (OK, Florida State) take? Are we going to have a Super League soon? Is School B (OK, Colorado) taking too many transfers? Is School C (OK, Clemson) not taking enough? Has an expanded College Football Playoff ruined big games? Has it ruined big upsets?
Arguing fills the offseason calendar like nothing else, but then the games start, and we get to bask in the absurd drama of a random college football Saturday, and the stakes and spreadsheets and everything else just fade away. We get to watch dueling field stormings, as LSU wins a huge game against Ole Miss, and Georgia Southern wins what was, on paper, an afterthought game against Marshall. We watch the game of the week, Oregon vs. Ohio State, live up to all the hype while what seemed like a completely uncompelling contest, Illinois vs. Purdue, surpasses it. We watch Penn State, Purdue, Georgia Southern and Dartmouth pull off huge comebacks. We watch a Boise State running back continuing to move himself up the Heisman list.
Week 7 was another impactful and immensely entertaining week in an impactful and entertaining college football season. With the midpoint of the season here, let’s both look back at the action and look ahead to the most interesting battles and races we’ll be talking about as we approach the second half of the season.
With a battle of top-three teams (Ohio State-Oregon) and a grade-A helmet game (Penn State-USC) leading the way, the Big Ten appeared to be the main character of the week. But we had absolutely no idea what was in store. Northwestern, Wisconsin and Iowa all pulled off surprisingly easy blowout wins to get the weirdness started, then Purdue came back from 24 down to force overtime against Illinois on the road. And the main events either matched or exceeded all hype.
First, Penn State came back from 20-6 down to force overtime and win, thanks primarily to one of the best tight end performances you’ll ever see. Tyler Warren caught 17 passes for 224 yards, quarterback Drew Allar outdueled Miller Moss down the stretch, and with a 33-30 win, the Nittany Lions got to remain major players in the Big Ten race.
Then,…
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