Top Oregon State, Ohio State List

This Big Ten heavyweight fight went the distance.

In one of the biggest games of the regular season, Oregon hit a 19-yard field goal with just under two minutes left to beat Ohio State to clinch the No. 1 spot in next week’s US LBM Coaches Poll.

On the final drive of the game, OSU drove into the Oregon red zone before a crucial offensive pass interference call ended any chance of a potential game-winning field goal attempt. With six seconds left, the Buckeyes were at the Ducks’ 38-yard line and the final snap ended with quarterback Will Howard scrambling up the middle and coming to a stop as time expired.

It was a battle of quarterbacks, elite offense, often incredible receiver play and just enough defense to allow the Ducks to pull off perhaps the most significant regular season win in program history.

Howard was 28 of 35 for 326 yards and three touchdowns, including one on the ground. Dillon Gabriel had one of the best starts of his well-traveled career, completing 23 of 34 throws for 341 yards and three scores of his own. The two teams combined for 963 yards of total offense.

The new-look Big Ten has a new leader. After spending much of the past few decades at or near the top of the Pac-12, the No. 3 Ducks are clearly built for life in this conference and a run at the national championship.

The two teams could meet again in the Big Ten Championship Game, if not for a third time in the College Football Playoff. But the immediate takeaway from Saturday night’s thriller is simple: These are two extremely elite teams worthy of being ranked among the Bowl Subdivision’s very best.

The win over OSU gives Oregon a ton of room to make the playoffs. Even if there was a collapse in the home stretch, a team with two defeats and one such win would have good arguments for an overall offensive. Such a stumble seems very unlikely.

While extremely survivable for the Buckeyes, the loss is humbling. Oregon was the newcomer; The Buckeyes were the Big Ten’s established powerhouse. The result tells us something about the Big Ten’s pecking order and how the league has been strengthened by this offseason’s expansions. The loss was Ohio State’s first in conference play against a team other than Michigan since losing to Purdue in 2018.

OSU and the Ducks reveal Saturday’s biggest winners and losers:

winner

Texas

It wasn’t the prettiest performance, especially in a rocky first quarter, but No. 1 Texas put things right with a 34-3 win over No. 16 Oklahoma to remain the only undefeated team in the SEC. After missing two games due to injury, quarterback Quinn Ewers had 199 yards passing, running and throwing for a touchdown, while the running game yielded 177 yards on 30 carries. The Red River win was another very good defensive performance from a unit that entered the weekend ranked second nationally in yards given up per game: Texas held the Sooners to 237 yards at 3.4 yards per game, with a good portion With these yards the game was already well under control.

Iowa

Iowa scored 40 points in a very nice win over Washington, and if you think that’s no big deal, you might not be familiar with the Hawkeyes’ recent history. Iowa had not scored 40 points against a Big Ten opponent since a 51-point loss to Maryland on Oct. 1, 2021. Last year’s team scored a total of 131 points in 10 league games, suffering a narrow loss to Michigan in the Big Ten championship. Even though they were helped by a few short fields in the fourth quarter, the Hawkeyes are clearly better on that side of the ball; This makes them a threat to almost every opponent the rest of the time.

buffalo

Buffalo is making a lot of noise under new coach Pete Lembo. A few weeks after upsetting Northern Illinois, the Bulls defeated the MAC favorites with a 30-15 win over Toledo. Two factors were key to the upset: first, a plus-two lead in turnover margin and second, a dominant performance on both sides of the line. Buffalo ran for 230 yards on 52 carries while holding the Rockets to just 46 yards rushing with 1.8 yards per rush. Lembo once worked wonders at Ball State and is doing the same with the Bulls.

Louisiana Monroe

ULM has played in just one bowl game in program history, losing the 2012 Independence Bowl, but may be able to start planning for a postseason trip after moving to 5-1 with a 38-21 win over Southern Mississippi. New coach Bryant Vincent has done an extremely impressive job taking over a program with no apparent track record and an even poorer recent history. ULM posted an 8-36 record in the four years prior to his arrival, including a winless 2020 season that ranks among the worst seasons by a team in FBS history. Vincent was previously the interim coach at Alabama-Birmingham and was a contender for the permanent job given to Trent Dilfer. How did this decision turn out for the Blazers?

Vanderbilt

Okay, so the Commodores are real. If you thought last week’s shocking upset of Alabama was an isolated incident, a 20-13 win at Kentucky solidifies Vanderbilt as a legitimate threat to win six or more in the regular season. Diego Pavia was a little less flashy than he was against the Crimson Tide, but was still great, rushing for 143 yards and two scores on 15 of 18 throws, with another 53 yards on the ground. Defensively, the Commodores forced two turnovers, made two fourth-down stops and kept a lid on the Wildcats’ passing game to win two straight SEC games for the first time since November 2022.

loser

Alabama

Sirens, alarms, flares, cuckoo clocks – they all go off at once, amid another surprising result for Kalen DeBoer and the No. 7 Crimson Tide. Hey, at least they won this time: Alabama got on the defensive late and held off South Carolina to win 27-25. Of course, that’s an improvement from last week’s loss to Vanderbilt. But there are so many signs of concern, including an offensive plan that worked so well for DeBoer in Washington but didn’t translate well to the physicality and style in the SEC. The win against the Gamecocks keeps the Tide alive in contention for the SEC championship and a playoff spot, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to see how they can make it through the regular season without another two or more losses .

Mississippi

Leading 23-16 with a few minutes left, No. 8 Mississippi gave up the game-winning touchdown to No. 10 LSU with less than 30 seconds left and then lost 29-26 in overtime. This is a brutal result for two reasons: first, the Rebels had outplayed the Tigers and had a chance to take a bigger lead than just 17-13 at halftime, and second, a second loss midway through the regular season essentially serves the purpose as a chance eliminator for all realistic playoff hopes. This self-inflicted defeat was reflected in a disastrous overtime possession in which the Rebels committed multiple penalties before scoring a 57-yard field goal. LSU responded with a touchdown pass on the first play of its possession to clinch the win. For all the hype and excitement surrounding his program, Lane Kiffin hasn’t yet managed to get Ole Miss over the hump and secure a permanent spot in the SEC’s upper echelon.

Southern California

USC had No. 5 Penn State trailing 20-6 after a very effective first half and on the ropes, but faltered in the second, allowing the Nittany Lions to force overtime and ultimately a 33-30 to achieve victory. With six minutes left, USC led 30-23 and allowed two fourth-down conversions to help PSU tie the game with about three minutes left. In the final period of regulation time, USC played for overtime instead of pushing the ball offside for a chance at a potential game-winning field goal. After USC missed a field goal on the first possession of overtime, the Nittany Lions converted a 36-yard field goal to escape. For Penn State, the comeback win preserves some very strong playoff hopes and avoids the kind of loss that would have raised the stakes in its November matchup against No. 2 Ohio State.

North Carolina

These are not normal losses. These are bad, bad, bad losses, each seemingly worse than the last. And that’s saying something considering North Carolina’s current four-game losing streak began with a 70-50 home loss to James Madison. And yes, the latest one was worse. After tying Georgia Tech at 34-34 on a 26-yard field goal with 44 seconds left, the Tar Heels allowed Tech running back Jamal Haynes to run 68 yards for a touchdown on the second play of the ensuing drive and lost with 41:34. UNC is now 3-4 and winless in ACC play.

Oklahoma

There are too many flaws for this team to stay in the top 25. The biggest problem at OU is an offense that lacks a quarterback and no surrounding talent — the receiver corps has been decimated by injuries — and appears to be a problem for years. At quarterback, Brent Venables and his staff appear to have made fun of former starter Jackson Arnold and don’t seem to know how to create anything positive behind Michael Hawkins Jr., a more limited passer. The Sooners still have to play the Rebels, No. 18 Missouri, the Crimson Tide and LSU line up, so six wins may be easier said than done.

(This story has been updated with new information.)