Rivalry week. One of the greatest traditions in all of sports history. Spreads, records, stats and more get thrown out the window. These rivalries run deep, and that could not be more true than in the Border Eight.
The Nebraska Cornhuskers started the season 5-3 and just had to win one of their last four games to make it to a bowl game. After three straight losses, they sat at 5-6 and still needed one last win to make a bowl game. Hosting No. 17 Iowa, they had a chance. The odds seemed in their favor as they were a 2.5 point favorite, had not lost as a home favorite this year and had not lost to a divisional opponent at home this year. After going down 10-0 early to the Hawkeyes, the Huskers took control scoring 10 straight and barely letting Iowa do anything. Late in the game with Iowa driving, Nebraska’s Tommi Hill picked off Deacon Hill. Nebraska had two options to help them. They could either drive down the field and score or they could run the clock out and go into overtime. They did neither of those things. Chubba Purdy threw an interception directly to Ethan Hurkett. Iowa was able to drive down the field and kicked a game winning field goal off of the foot of Marshall Meeder. This was Meeder’s first kick attempt of the season as Drew Stevens had been blocked twice in this game. This is the third time in the last six matchups that Iowa has beaten Nebraska off of a game winning field goal and the Huskers fall to 5-7 and remain the only Power Five team to not go to a bowl game since 2017.
The Illinois Fighting Illini were looking for a chance to make it back to bowl eligibility, but they had to first take down rival Northwestern and win back the Land of Lincoln trophy. Both of these teams had had some offensive struggles throughout the season, but this game would not be the case. The two combined for 88 points and 834 yards. Northwestern would go up 14-3 early in the second quarter, but Illinois quickly erased the lead to go up 20-14. Northwestern would take back over again scoring 28 of the next 39 points to go up 42-31. Illinois would try to claw back late and made it a two point game with under a minute left, but their two point conversion failed and Northwestern would go on to win against their rivals, 45-43. This is Northwestern’s first winning season since 2020.
While Louisville had already clinched a spot in the ACC Championship, they were still on the outside looking in for the playoff race ranked only No. 10. the lowest out of any one loss Power Five team in the country. To keep those hopes alive though they had to take down rival Kentucky. While the Wildcats were only a 6-5 team, Kentucky has historically played better than Louisville having won the last four and not having lost in Louisville since 2014. Early on, Kentucky was being a major thorn in the sides of the Cardinals, but Louisville had control. They led by 10 at two separate points and never gave up the lead. Halfway through fourth quarter though, the pendulum started to swing towards the Wildcats as Ray Davis caught a touchdown pass to go up 31-24. Louisville responded though to tie things up with just a bit over two and a half minutes left. Kentucky had a chance to respond and got into field goal range and looked to just run the clock down and walk off with a game winning kick, but Ray Davis found an open lane and ran 37 yards to the endzone. Louisville had a minute to work with, but an interception by Jordan Lovett would put the game away, 38-31 and presumably knock Louisville out of the playoff race.
After being outscored 74-17 in their last two matchups, Tennessee looked to bounce back against rival Vanderbilt who was looking for their first Power Five win of the season. Tennessee ultimately got their wish though as they rolled through the Commodores in dominating fashion. Offensively, they put up 617 yards of total offense and scored six touchdowns. All touchdowns were scored by Joe Milton III, four in the air and two on the ground. Statistically, Vanderbilt had decent numbers with three touchdowns and 306 yards, a large majority of it was in garbage time as Tennessee led the Commodores 45-10 going into the fourth quarter and pulled their starters. Vanderbilt will finish the season as the only Power Five team to not beat another Power Five team.
Arkansas’s season was basically a wash at this point sitting at 4-7, but for rival Mizzou, a win would most likely mean a spot in a New Year’s Six bowl game. The Tigers wasted no time scoring a touchdown in under six minutes and it was all Mizzoun from there. Offensively, they put up 370 yards with 217 of them being on the ground by Cody Schrader. Their defense also played lights out as they sacked Arkansas’s quarterbacks five times and recovered five fumbles, one of which got returned for a touchdown. They also balled out on special teams, recovering a muffed punt that quickly led to a touchdown by Brett Norfleet. While Mizzou won, 48-14, it was much more of a blowout as Mizzou put in their backups in the fourth quarter and was up 41-0 going into the final period. Arkansas finished 1-7 in conference play, their worst finish under Sam Pittman while Mizzou finished a perfect 7-0 against Border Eight teams this season.
Oklahoma needed a win over TCU to keep their hopes of a BIG 12 championship alive before they waited to see if Oklahoma State would lose, and on Black Friday, the Sooners made sure to leave no doubt. Defensively, they did not do much, allowing 520 yards and six touchdowns, but the Sooners put on an offensive show that made all of that irrelevant. The Sooners put up 607 yards and eight touchdowns. That along with a few field goals and a pick six late would give Oklahoma the win over TCU, 69-45. Reigning national runner ups will finish an embarrassing 5-7 and will miss the postseason. Oklahoma finished the regular season 10-2, but their cross state rivals made sure that they did not get an extra game on their schedule.
All Oklahoma State had to do to make it to the BIG 12 championship game was win. This should have been an easy enough task as they were playing a 5-6 BYU team at home as a 17.5 favorite, but BYU made it much harder than the Cowboys probably anticipated. After a pair of field goals by the Pokes, BYU zipped out to a 24-6 lead and dominated the Cowboys in every aspect. Oklahoma State rose up to the challenge though, scoring the next 21 to take the lead 27-24. After Ollie Gordan found the end zone though, Alex Hale missed the PAT to keep it a three point game which allowed BYU’s Will Ferrin to kick a game tying field goal to send it into overtime. The two then traded touchdowns to send it into double overtime. After Ollie Gordan found the endzone for the fifth time, Isaac Rex had the ball stripped away from him to give the Cowboys the win, 40-34 and send them to their second Big 12 championship game in three years.
After a two game losing streak, Kansas had a chance to get their most regular season wins since 2007, and against Cincinnati, the Jayhawks left everything out on the field. After going down 3-0 going into the second quarter, they slammed their foot on the gas and outscored the Bearcats 49-13 throughout the rest of the game. They dominated in just about every aspect. In the air, Jason Bean only completed 13 passes, but still managed to throw 250 yards and two touchdowns. On the ground, they rushed for another 312 and five touchdowns, two of those touchdowns being by Jason Bean. They had six players record double digit rushing yards. Defensively, they allowed 342 yards, but the star of the game was cornerback Cobee Bryant. Part way through the second quarter on a deep shot by Brady Lichtenberg, Bryant got up with an arm pinned against a receiver and hauled in a one handed pick that many are touting as the interception of the season.
Iowa State and Kansas State faced off in a snow filled Farmageddon matchup. A lot of times, when football games are plagued with bad weather, a slow, defensive game is what ensues, but that could not be further from the case in this game. In a game where the field could barely be seen, a shootout ensued with 77 total points, 10 total touchdowns and 985 total yards of offense. No team took a lead larger than seven the entire game and the game had four lead changes. The teams played very evenly, but one statistic was very different. Kansas State ran an astounding 102 plays on the night, but Iowa State only ran 35. The Cyclones averaged 13.9 per play with Rocco Becht had an astonishing 29 yards per completion on the day. The insane amount of chunk yardage plays led Iowa State to the win, 42-35.
In the Group of Five, Northern Illinois simply had to beat one of the worst teams in the country to make a bowl game; 1-10 Kent State, but the Golden Flashes made it much harder than the Huskies were probably prepared to take on. After going up 10-0, the Golden Flashes made it into a shootout with four lead changes throughout the game and no lead being larger than 10. Rocky Lombardi was able to find the endzone on a rushing touchdown with under five minutes to go to put the Huskies up by four. Kent State tried to recover, but a fumble returned for a touchdown gave NIU the win, 37-27. Kent State finished the year 1-11 with 0 FBS wins.
Down in the C-USA, Western Kentucky finally put together the offensive performance that many people had been expecting to see from them all season long as they took on FIU. The Hilltoppers scored five touchdowns in the first half, three of which were thrown by Austin Reed. Florida International outscored the Hilltoppers 21-7 in the second half but at that point, the damage was done. The Hilltoppers finished the day with 406 yards and five offensive touchdowns as well as one on the defensive side of the ball to win the game, 41-28.
Despite starting the year 2-7 and losing bowl eligibility very fast, MTSU had won their next two games and seemed like they were just starting to get hot, but it did not look that way at all against FBS newcomer Sam Houston State. The game was mostly led by MTSU, but Sam Houston refused to go away as they never trailed by more than seven points. They finally got their first lead of the game halfway through the third quarter as Trevor Williams picked off Nicholas Vattiato to go up 16-13. DJ Riles took the lead back for the Blue Raiders, but left the Bearkats too much time as John Gentry found the end zone with under a minute left to win the game, 23-20.
Even though the Memphis Tigers were out of the conference championship race, they had a chance to finish strong with a win over Temple and did so with ease. The Tigers put up 440 yards of total offense against the Owls and Seth Hennigan only threw one interception. While Temple did notch more yards than the Tigers at a whopping 465, they were turned over on downs a total of six times and also threw an interception which only let them score three times as Memphis would go on to win the game, 45-21. The Tigers finish the season 9-3 and third in the conference while Temple sits tied for last at 3-9 and 1-7 in conference play. This is the Owls fourth consecutive losing season.
Tulsa went on the road to face off against East Carolina for a battle for last place in the AAC. The game went back and forth with six lead changes throughout the game in a magnificent game that could not mean less. The two had a total of 855 yards, but neither could capitalize on the day much. The first six scores of the day were all touchdowns to put ECU up 21-20 over the Golden Hurricanes halfway through the second quarter. The two slowed down though as the next five scores would all be field goals. ECU would go up 27-26 in the fourth quarter, but Tulsa managed to put together a game winning drive that allowed Chase Meyer to kick a game winning field goal, 29-27 and give ECU their worst record since 2003.
After Arkansas State’s incredible 77 point performance last weekend, they were expected to roll over a struggling Marshall team with no problem, but Marshall controlled the Red Wolves in every sense. Jaylen Raynor only managed to complete 50% of his passes and despite throwing for 263, only found the endzone once and threw an interception. The rushing game did not help out too much with only 55 yards and one touchdown. While the Red Wolves only lost by 14, Marshall was up 28-0 at one point and quickly took their foot off the gas to get the win, 35-21.
Iowa (10-2) (3-0)
Oklahoma (10-2) (2-2)
Louisville (10-2) (0-1)
Memphis (9-3) (1-0)
Oklahoma State (9-3) (3-1)
Tennessee (8-4) (2-0)
Kansas (8-4) (3-2)
Kansas State (8-4) (1-2)
Western Kentucky (7-5) (1-0)
Kentucky (7-5) (1-1)
Iowa State (7-5) (2-3)
Northwestern (7-5) (1-2)
Arkansas State (6-6) (0-2)
Northern Illinois (6-6) (0-2)
Nebraska (5-7) (3-1)
Illinois (5-7) (0-4)
Tulsa (4-8) (1-1)
Arkansas (4-8) (0-0)
Middle Tennessee State (4-8) (0-1)
Vanderbilt (2-10) (0-2)