With conference play ramping up around the country, the quality of play in the Border Eight has skyrocketed. The games are becoming exponentially more entertaining, and the cream of the crop is setting themselves apart.
Nebraska started the week off hosting Illinois in their 400th consecutive sellout game on Friday night. The broadcasters were quick to point out that every 50th sellout, the Huskers have won. Sadly for the Huskers though, the jinx held up as Illinois got the win over Nebraska 31-24 in overtime to keep their undefeated streak alive. Luke Altmyer only had 215 yards on the day, but he completed passes when they mattered the most, slinging four touchdowns and never being picked off. Dylan Raiola had a strong day as well with just under 300 total yards and three touchdowns, but his day was a little bit more flawed. The biggest point on contingency came early in the second quarter. Raiola threw a 36 yard dart to Isaiah Neyor in the endzone, but Torrie Cox Jr. got his hand between Neyor and the ball and was credited with an interception. On top of that, Raiola was sacked an asstounding six times, the biggest coming on fourth and forever at the end of the game when an Illini went straight up the middle of the offensive line and put Raiola in the ground to end the game. Illinois is 4-0 for the first time since 2011.
Iowa went on the road to Minnesota looking for revenge from last year’s loss when a punt return for a touchdown was ruled back and ended up costing the Hawkeyes the game 12-10. Early on, it looked like Minnesota would have a real shot at the win outscoring Iowa 14-7 in the first half. Iowa made some serious adjustments in the second half though and put the hurt on the Golden Gophers. Iowa would go on to score on every single drive in the second half except for their final one, but it took nearly seven minutes off the clock leaving barely over a minute left for Minnesota to come back 17 points, which proved impossible for them. Kaleb Johnson was the main workhorse for Iowa, putting up an astounding 206 yards on 21 rushes and putting up three touchdowns on the day.
Northwestern had the pleasure of going up to Seattle to welcome Washington to the Big Ten in their first game in the conference. Sadly for the Wildcats, they were not able to spoil the Huskies entrance as Washington won by a head scratching score of 24-5. The Northwestern offense was completely stagnant, only putting up 112 yards, with Jack Lausch only going 8-for-27 on the day, and threw two interceptions. Outside of the safety in the second quarter, the defense didn’t play much better either, allowing 391 yards and 17 points in the first half before they started taking their foot off the gas and outscored the Wildcats 7-3 to close out their first Big Ten conference win.
Having just two games under their belt, what the Louisville Cardinals will look like has been a big question thus far. In their first conference game against Georgia Tech though, they showed out. While the game was close most of the way through, Louisville never conceded the lead after going up 14-7. With seven minutes left in the game, Georgia Tech went on to attempt a field goal, but a block that was subsequently returned by Tayon Holloway for Louisville put the game on ice and Louisville won 31-19 to keep them undefeated before their matchup at Notre Dame. While Haynes King put up 312 yards for Georgia Tech, he was never able to capitalize and finished the day with no touchdowns in the air, though he was able to get one on the ground. Louisville on the other hand knew exactly when to strike. While they only had 326 total yards, less than King alone, they were able to score five times on the day.
A week after Kentucky lost by one to Georgia, the offense kicked into full gear in a get right game against Ohio in a 41-6 victory. The Wildcats strung together a roaring 488 yards overall; 282 in the air and 206 on the ground. Six different players got rushes for Kentucky as well and half of them scored. The defense also had themselves a day only allowing 223 total yards and not allowing a touchdown until the fourth quarter rolled around. They also contributed to the scoring game with a Maxwell Hairston pick-six in the third quarter.
The last time Oklahoma and Tennessee played each other, a double overtime classic ensued between Baker Mayfield and Joshua Dobbs. College Gameday made the trip down to Norman for this year’s top 15 matchup, but despite only the 10-point victory, this game was all Volunteers. Tennessee ripped through Oklahoma and were up 22-3 in the third quarter. Offensively, the Vols didn’t have the most incredible day with just 345 total yards and two touchdowns on the day, but it got the job done, and the defense complimented it well. Tennessee’s defense only allowed 222 yards and didn’t let the Sooners find the endzone until the fourth quarter. On top of that, the defense forced three turnovers and scored a safety on the day. This win pushed Tennessee into the top five going into their bye week.
The week after Vanderbilt’s loss to Georgia State, the Commodores went on the road to take on seventh ranked Missouri and gave them just about everything they had. Diego Pavia found Joseph McVay for a 65 yard touchdown early in the first quarter and didn’t give up the lead until halfway through the third quarter. Down 20-13 in the third quarter, Vanderbilt was able to respond quickly and score to tie it up 20-20 going into the fourth quarter. With the help of some strong defense, as well as a missed field goal from each team, the game was deadlocked at the end of sixty minutes, sending it into overtime. A touchdown by each team kept the game alive and sent it into a second overtime. After being held out of the end zone by the Commodore defense, Blake Craig redeemed himself for the multiple misses throughout the day and nailed a 37 yarder to take the lead. Vanderbilt took possession, but after being held out of the endzone, they missed a 31 yard field goal and Mizzou escaped with the 30-27 win. While the Tigers escaped with the win, it caused them to drop four spots in the AP poll before their bye week.
After two weeks of upsetting performances, Arkansas went on the road to take on Auburn. While the Hogs had a bad performance once again, it could not have been worse than what Auburn did on the day. Arkansas put up 334 yards and three touchdowns, but Taylen Green only went 12/27 and threw two interceptions on the day and was sacked three times. Auburn on the other hand played significantly worse. Despite having well over 400 yards, Auburn turned the ball over a horrifying five times; four interceptions off of two quarterbacks as well as a fumble. To make matters worse, three of the five turnovers were inside the opposing 40 yard line, making it so Auburn could not capitalize really at all. They only scored two times and ended up losing 24-14.
Despite Utah’s starting quarterback being out of the game, Oklahoma State was not able to come out with the win against the Big 12 newcomers in a turnover infested matchup. The major problem on the day for the Cowboys was that their typical one-two punch of Ollie Gordon II and Alan Bowman were not clicking at all. Bowman could not complete 50% of his passes and threw two interceptions on the day. Gordon on the other hand was completely stuffed and was only able to put up 42 yards on the day and never found the endzone. While Utah had a very similar passing day with 206 total yards, just 31 less than Oklahoma State, it was the rushing game that really made the difference. The Utes were able to notch 253 yards on the ground with Micah Bernard being the lead workhorse with 186 yards on his own while Oklahoma State only had 48. Oklahoma State fell to 3-1 before their matchup with Kansas State, but lucky for them, the Wildcats had a much worse week than they did.
After putting the hurt on Arizona 31-7, Kansas State jumped up to number 13 in the country. That was short lived though as they went on the road to take on BYU who proceeded to rout them 38-9 during a late night game. The strangest part of this game was the fact that Kansas State outgained BYU and it was not even close. Kansas State put up 369 total yards while BYU had a measly 237 on the day. The major problem for Kansas State is they were completely unable to capitalize with their only scores on the day being field goals. To make matters worse, Kansas State turned the ball over three times, one of which was a fumble that was returned for a touchdown. Finally to complete the three headed serpent of suck, the special teams did absolutely nothing to help as BYU managed to turn a muffed punt into a nearly full field return for a touchdown. Despite being nearly a touchdown underdog, BYU made easy work of the Wildcats and have still never lost to Kansas State on their home turf.
After two very embarrassing weeks of football for Kansas, it looked like they had finally gotten things together. After trading punches with West Virginia for nearly the entire game, they went up 28-17 with just under six minutes left to go in the game. All they had to do was play solid defense, run the clock out, and don’t mess up. One problem though, they messed up. Bad. Garrett Greene led the team 67 yards in just over two minutes and completed the two point conversion to bring them within three points. Kansas got the ball back and just had to get a few first downs to ice the game out, but they could not manage to convert a single one and punted the ball back to the Mountaineers with two and a half minutes remaining. Once again, Garret Greene led the team 67 yards in about two minutes and scored with 26 seconds left on the clock to go up 32-28. Kansas had to move fast to win the game, but after a 36 yard pass by Jalon Daniels, he was immediately sacked for a fumble that was recovered by West Virginia icing the game out.
After how hard Arkansas State played Michigan last week, it looked like Iowa State might be in trouble hosting the Red Wolves, but that could not have ended up being further from the truth. The Cyclones put on an absolute clinic against Arkansas State and won 52-7 in a game that felt over as soon as it started. The Cyclones put up a roaring 490 yards of total offense and saw four different players score touchdowns. Despite the two interceptions that were thrown, it didn’t matter in the least as Arkansas State could not capitalize at all. They finished with a measly 182 yards of total offense as well as two interceptions of their own. Arkansas State did not find the endzone until the fourth quarter, but were already down 45-0 at that point.
Coming off of a bye week, Northern Illinois was ranked in the top 25 after a program-defining win over Notre Dame a few weeks back. They started off conference play with Buffalo, a team that has been struggling since Lance Leipold left for Kansas. The Bulls came to DeKalb ready to play though. Going into halftime, it looked like it was going to be the same Northern Illinois team the world saw against Notre Dame; strong defense, decent offense and great game control, as the Huskies had a 14-3 lead. Buffalo came out of the half roaring and went on a 17-3 scoring run to go up 20-17. With 21 seconds left in the game though, Kanon Woodill hit a 27 yard field goal to send the game to overtime. In overtime though, the Huskies netted zero yards and Buffalo had a chance to win. They weren’t able to find the endzone, but it didn’t matter. Kicker Upton Bellenfant, total all name team snub I might add, nailed a 37 yarder to knock off the Huskies and kick them out of the top 25.
The week after blowing Mississippi State out of the water, Toledo went on the road to take on Western Kentucky in an all time classic. Early on, Toledo had strong command of the game scoring 14 unanswered in the first quarter. Western Kentucky responded well, but Toledo kept the lead and was up 21-12 with just over 10 minutes left. The Western Kentucky offense was struggling badly. Two interceptions by Caleb Veltkamp, one touchdown, it looked like it might be over. Veltkamp decided to switch things up and use his feel, and in just over two minutes, scored two rushing touchdowns to go up 26-21. Toledo tried to respond strongly and put together a strong drive that lasted over four minutes, but Tucker Gleason threw an interception in the endzone seemingly ending things. Western Kentucky just had to not lose the ball. They immediately fumbled, setting Toledo up at the 19 yard line. Toledo was gifted another chance, but with 13 seconds left, Gleason threw another interception giving the Hilltoppers the win 26-21.
Middle Tennessee hosted Duke hoping to pull off the upset against the 3-0 Blue Devils. Sadly for Blue Raiders fans, that did not happen. After allowing the first touchdown of the day, Duke absolutely poured it on and went up 38-10 before halftime. While Duke only out up 341 yards, the 45 points more than compensated for the relatively normal day yardage wise. The reason they were able to put up so many points with so few points was because of the defense. Three forced fumbles in the first quarter that resulted in touchdowns kept the Blue Devil offense alive and led them to a 45-17 win.
After taking down Florida State the week before, Memphis got into an all out shootout with Navy. The two teams combined for an astounding 1222 yards and 100 points on the day. The two traded punches for a while, but Navy roared ahead and took a 49-30 lead. With just over eight minutes left in the game, Memphis scored, forced a three and out on Navy, scored again and converted an onside kick. Down just three with the ball back. The Tigers had barely over a minute to get in field goal range, but with 29 seconds left, Rayuan Lane III picked off Seth Henigan and ran the interception back to seal the win 56-44 for Navy.
Down in Louisiana, Tulsa got into a nail-biting grudge with Louisiana Tech. Tulsa had strong control the majority of the game, and never conceded the lead. They went up 17-7 going into the fourth quarter before Louisiana Tech turned on the jets and scored 14 straight for their first lead of the game. Tulsa put together a strong three minute offense and with 32 seconds left, Seth Morgan kicked a field goal to send the game into overtime. The Bulldogs offense could not keep the same power alive though as Myles Jackson forced a fumble on the first play, setting up Tulsa for a game winning field goal to get them back above .500 on the season.
Illinois (4-0) (2-0)
Iowa State (3-0) (2-0)
Tennessee (4-0) (1-0)
Louisville (3-0) (0-0)
Oklahoma State (3-1) (2-0)
Western Kentucky (3-1) (1-0)
Kansas State (3-1) (0-0)
Memphis (3-1) (0-0)
Nebraska (3-1) (0-1)
Oklahoma (3-1) (0-1)
Iowa (3-1) (0-1)
Arkansas (3-1) (0-1)
Northern Illinois (2-1) (0-0)
Arkansas State (2-2) (1-1)
Vanderbilt (2-2) (0-0)
Northwestern (2-2) (0-0)
Kentucky (2-2) (0-0)
Tulsa (2-2) (0-2)
MTSU (1-3) (0-1)
Kansas (1-3) (0-1)