A lot of teams around the country are closing in on the halfway mark of their season already, but the excitement has not slowed down at all. The Border 8 especially has been chock full of excitement, upsets and all around incredible games. 

In West Lafayette, Nebraska and Purdue had quite possibly the most boring half of college football you’ll ever see. The drives went:  punt, punt, missed field goal, missed field goal, punt, punt, blocked field goal, punt, punt, punt, blocked field goal. Remember kids, no matter what happens, you can never kill the Big 10 West. In the second half, though, Nebraska poured it on. Purdue struck the first blow going up 3-0, but the Huskers then went on a 28-0 scoring run, with the final two touchdowns being scored in the span of 35 seconds. Purdue was able to finally find the end zone with about 90 seconds left, but at that point it was far too late and Nebraska got their first conference win of the year 28-10.

Fresh off a ranked win against the aforementioned Cornhuskers, Illinois went on the road in search of their second against Penn State. The Illini struck the first blow and found the end zone within the first six minutes of the matchup, but that’s all the offense would come up with on the day. Penn State would slowly chip away and walk away with a 21-7 victory, finally getting revenge for the last time Illinois visited Happy Valley and beat the Nittany Lions 20-18 in nine overtimes. The rushing attack was nearly flawless for Penn State, putting up 239 rushing yards on the day with Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton each amassing over 90 yards and a touchdown. While the ground game was strong for them, it was the defense that made Illinois’ day a no good, very bad one. Luke Altmyer only collected 185 yards, threw a pick, and was sacked a whopping five times. The rushing attack performed even worse, only getting 43 yards and averaging 1.3 yards per carry in the loss. 

Iowa and Northwestern both had the week off. 

In the ACC, Louisville hoped to keep their undefeated streak alive against Notre Dame, and early on, it looked like that was within reach. The Cardinals scored in the first 90 seconds to go up 7-0, but Notre Dame found the end zone on their next drive. On the following two Louisville drives, the Fighting Irish recovered Cardinal fumbles and turned those both into touchdowns to take a 21-7 lead they never gave up. Louisville didn’t give up, as they scored 17 of the final 27 points, but it just was not enough. The Cardinals took their first loss of the season as Notre Dame advanced to 4-1 with a 31-24 victory. 

Sitting at 2-2 with no Power Five wins, Kentucky had to go on the road to take on an Ole Miss team that has looked electric all season long. While the Rebels had not had the hardest strength of schedule, they were outscoring opponents by an average of almost 50 points on the season. The Wildcats were more than up to the challenge and made life incredibly difficult in Oxford. After allowing a touchdown on the first drive of the game, the Kentucky defense locked down Ole Miss and forced stops on every ensuing drive in the half. Kentucky also notched 10 points of their own and went into the half up three points. In the second half, though, Ole Miss looked like they had fixed things. Outside of a fumble inside the red zone, they looked decent, scoring 10 more points and holding Kentucky to just 3 points. With five minutes left, Kentucky got the ball back and put together their most impressive drive of their day. Brock Vandagriff and the Wildcats went 85 yards in under two and a half minutes, including Josh Kattus picking up a fumble that almost killed the drive. Instead, Kentucky found the end zone to go up 20-17. The Rebels were able to get back down the field in just over 90 seconds, but Caden Davis’s field goal was shanked and Kentucky held on for their highest-ranked win since 1977. 

Arkansas made their annual trip down to Arlington, Texas for the Southwest Classic against No. 24 Texas A&M. Early on, Arkansas had strong control of the game. The Hogs scored in three plays and wouldn’t give up the lead for the majority of the game. The Aggies tied things up twice, but every time Texas A&M deadlocked things, Arkansas responded and took the lead back. Early in the fourth quarter, the Aggies defense was able to hold the Hogs to just a field goal, and Marcel Reed and the Aggies struck. They ripped nearly five minutes off the clock, and with nine minutes left in the game, Reed found Tre Watson in the end zone for his only reception of the day. The defense held strong and Texas A&M got the win 21-17. Arkansas outgained the Aggies by nearly 100 yards, but once again, turnovers killed them. An interception and two lost fumbles allowed Texas A&M to win the turnover battle 3-0 and get their fourth win of the year. 

In their first ever road game as a member of the SEC, Oklahoma looked like they may have gotten more than they had bargained for against the 2-2 Auburn Tigers. Oklahoma looked strong on the first two drives of the day, holding the Tigers to a three and out and then switching to offense. Michael Hawkins Jr. was able to run 48 yards for a touchdown on his first drive as starting quarterback for the Sooners. After that though, Auburn poured it on, going on a 21-3 scoring run. In the fourth quarter, Oklahoma was able to find the end zone with eight and a half minutes left, but failed on the two point conversion making it just 21-16. With just half a quarter left, Payton Thorne was able to burn almost four minutes off of the clock, and ESPN gave the Tigers over a 92% chance to win. All they had to do was not mess things up. In classic Auburn fashion though, they immediately messed things up. With under five minutes to go in the game, Thorne threw his first pick of the day which Kip Lewis ran back 63 yards for a touchdown that ended up putting the Sooners up 24-21. The defense immediately locked in for Oklahoma to force a turnover on downs, which allowed the offense to be in prime position for a field goal with 54 seconds left to all but close out the game and give the Sooners their first SEC win 27-21. 

Both Tennessee teams got the week off. 

In Big 12 country, both Oklahoma State and Kansas State were looking to bounce back from their first losses of the season. Both teams sat at 3-1 and near the bottom of the top 25. Additionally, the game closed at just a 6 point spread in the Wildcats favor,making it look like a great game was imminent. The Cowboys were up just 13-7 midway through the second quarter, and it looked like that incredible game was going to happen, but Kansas State went on a punishing 35-0 scoring run and made the Oklahoma State Cowboys look like the Dallas Cowboys two weeks ago against the Saints. The Pokes found the end zone with two minutes left, but that cut the lead to 22, so a little bit too late. While Alan Bowman put up 364 yards for Oklahoma State, he only found the end zone once and turned the ball over three times. Avery Johnson, on the other hand, had 319 yards and an astounding five total touchdowns on the day; three in the air, and two on the ground. 

The Kansas Jayhawks hosted their first game of the season at Arrowhead Stadium, and closed for the fourth time this year as the favorite . The collapse continued, though, as they lost to the TCU Horned Frogs 38-27 and are still looking for their first win against an FBS opponent. The Jayhawks were stagnant on offense all day, especially in the air. Jalon Daniels completed barely over 40% of his passes and threw an interception. The rushing attack was stronger with 168 yards, but it could not even compare to the numbers TCU put up. While Josh Hoover was picked off twice, the Frogs put up over 500 yards and four offensive touchdowns. On top of that, JP Richardson ran a punt back for a score to give them a resounding fifth straight win against the Jayhawks. 

Iowa State went on the road for their first conference game of the season and absolutely sonned Houston 20-0. While the offense was not the strongest, it showed up at a few points when it mattered the most. With just over five minutes left in the game, Abu Sama III rushed 77 yards in one play for a touchdown to ice the game. That one play accounted for nearly 20% of the Cyclones’ total yardage on the day. The defense really stepped up for the Cyclones, only allowing 241 and forcing three turnovers. The two interceptions on the day in the fourth quarter alone. Iowa State has started 4-0 for the first time since 2000. 

After a disappointing loss against Buffalo last week, Northern Illinois had the chance to right the ship against NC State. While the game was competitive, NIU could never get over the hump and NC State was able to get the win 24-17. The Wolfpack never led by more than 10 points, but also never trailed throughout the course of the game. The offense for NC State was absolutely abysmal, with just 171 total yards and two touchdowns. Alone, that play would not have been able to win, but paired with the lockdown defense, they were able to hold the Huskies at bay. While NIU outgained NC State with 283 yards, they turned the ball over four total times on the day. Two of those turnovers were inside their own 20 yard line and one resulted in a touchdown return for the defense. NIU is 0-2 since beating Notre Dame.

Western Kentucky also went on the road with a chance to knock off an ACC foe in their matchup with Boston College. Early on, the Hilltoppers had all of the momentum. Western Kentucky led 14-0 and by the time they went up 20-7, they had forced two turnovers off of the eagles. But just as the third quarter was coming to an end, Caden Veltkamp was picked off by Kam Arnold which completely turned the tide of the game. This set up the chance for the Eagles to score again early in the fourth quarter. Veltkamp turned the ball over again in the fourth allowing the Eagles to score to take the lead. They held the Hilltoppers off at the end of the half and were able to walk away with an ugly win 21-20. 

After a shocking loss to Navy last week, they were able to right the ship in a 24-7 victory over MTSU. For MTSU, Nicholas Vattiato’s day was a tale of two stories. He was able to notch 283 total yards and didn’t throw any interceptions, however, he never found the end zone, had a fumble and had -27 rushing yards on the day as a result of being sacked four times. The rushing attack for the Blue Raiders was completely stuffed, only finishing with 29 yards on the day. Seth Hennigan had an eerily similar passing day to Vattiato with 228 yards and no picks, but also no touchdowns. The main difference between the teams though was the rushing game. The Tigers got 186 yards as well as three touchdowns en route to their victory. MTSU falls down to 1-4 and is still searching for their first FBS win. 

Tulsa went on the road in hopes of getting their first conference win against North Texas, and early on things seemed to be going well. Neither team scored in the first quarter, but Tulsa took the lead 3-0 in the second. With five minutes left in the half, North Texas scored. Then they scored again. And again. And before the Golden Hurricanes could even blink, the Mean Green went on a punishing 52-3 run. Tulsa was able to find the end zone twice, but at that point at a score of 52-6, it was too late and North Texas got a 32 point victory. North Texas had the absolute epitome of a bend but don’t break defense. They allowed 418 total yards, but picked off the Golden Hurricanes twice and never let them rush for a touchdown. Tulsa, on the other hand, got absolutely ravaged on defense as the Mean Green totalled 618 yards, 439 of those in the air by quarterback Chandler Morris. Morris also found the end zone five times on the day. 

Arkansas State had a bye week after going on the road to play two ranked opponents. 

1. Iowa State (4-0) (2-0)
2. Tennessee (4-0) (1-0)
3. Illinois (4-1) (2-0)
4. Kansas State (4-1) (1-0)
5. Memphis (4-1) (1-0)
6. Nebraska (4-1) (0-1)
7. Oklahoma (4-1) (0-1)
8. Louisville (3-1) (0-0)
9. Iowa (3-1) (0-1)
10. Western Kentucky (3-2) (1-0)
11. Oklahoma State (3-2) (2-1)
12. Kentucky (3-2) (0-0)
13. Arkansas (3-2) (0-1)
14. Arkansas State (2-2) (1-1)
15. Northern Illinois (2-2) (0-0)
16. Vanderbilt (2-2) (0-0)
17. Northwestern (2-2) (0-0)
18. Tulsa (2-3) (0-2)
19. Kansas (1-4) (0-1)
20. MTSU (1-4) (0-2)