College football recap, week 7: Every team pulled off a big upset except for ours

How Indiana fared

Michigan 27, Indiana 20 (OT)

Despite another frustrating, heartbreaking loss, the Hoosiers should feel positive going forward. This team has the talent to go 7-5 with four more winnable games down the stretch, but as Saturday showed, it’s all about execution, especially in the pivotal final minutes of the game.

Meanwhile, Michigan Men are predictably #madonline about the officiating in a game that they won:

Which is rich, considering some of the calls that went in their favor:

Around the B1G

Wisconsin 17, Purdue 9

An 8-point loss to Wisconsin feels like a 24-point loss to any other team.

Michigan State 30, Minnesota 27

Don’t be deceived by the final score - MSU had a 17-point lead late in this game.

Northwestern 37, Maryland 21

The Wildcats’ offense, which had been missing all season, finally woke up. Meanwhile, Bortenschlager-mania in College Park seems to have run its course.

Ohio State 56, Nebraska 14

Ohio State’s point totals in its four B1G games so far: 49, 56, 62, 56.

That’s right - Indiana somehow has given up the fewest points to OSU of any Big Ten team this year, as of now.

Meanwhile, Nebraska just hired a new AD, which means Mike Riley better already have his house on the market.

Rutger 35, Illinois 24

Apparently Rutger can only win B1G games in stadiums called Memorial Stadium and now I’m begging IU to give its home stadium a name change before November 18.

Elsewhere in College Football

Syracuse 27, Clemson 24

To be honest, this game was barely on my radar, mainly because it was on a Friday night and I never really counted on Cuse making it a game. But props to Dino Babers and the Orange, who never let Clemson take advantage in the Carrier Dome. Clemson is a very good well-coached team, but the Tigers just lost one of their best players in franchise history (who’s crushing it in the NFL, just like all of us college football fans knew he would).

Cal 37, Washington State 3
Arizona State 13, Washington 7

I woke up Saturday morning and saw that Wazzu lost late at night on the road by a middling Pac-12 squad.

Then I woke up Sunday morning and saw that Washington lost late at night on the road by a middling Pac-12 squad.

#pac12afterdark did weird things to the Evergreen State this weekend.

LSU 27, Auburn 23
Miami 25, Georgia Tech 24
Oklahoma 29, Texas 24

I stopped at home for about an hour on Saturday evening and got to see the exciting ending of all three of these games in succession, one after another. The great thing about college football Saturdays is that they’re basically the first two days of March Madness condensed into one long day of games. And, we get 13 straight Saturdays of these every year. I am not complaining.

USC 28, Utah 27

Did you know that Utah QB Troy Williams sometimes does good things...

And other times does ba-

Virginia 20, UNC 14

Your weekly reminder that UVA keeps winning games and that the IU win over them keeps looking solid. With BC and Pitt next, UVA is staring straight at 7-1 heading into November.

Butch Jones Dumb Motivational Technique of the Week

Tennessee lost 15-9 to Will Muschamp, who has never lost to the Vols as a head coach, and I think Butch is just playing with all of us now, man:

In related news, I did everything to start the car except take it out of Park.

Coach on the Hottest Seat

Jim McElwain, Florida

Sure, Florida’s won two straight SEC East titles in McElwain’s first two years with the Gators. But the SEC East is known for being weaker than its western counterpart, and in his third year, McElwain, who was an OC under Nick Saban, still hasn’t found an offensive identity at Florida. At a school where both Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer won national titles with fun offensive schemes, this is a huge issue, and Gators fans aren’t happy about the QB play under McElwain.

This is the part where I mention that I get all my Florida football knowledge from Shutdown Fullcast, since two of the three guys are Florida alums, and neither of them seem too pleased with the Gators being 3-3 right now. In fact last weekend, Florida had a 17-10 lead on Texas A&M late, and the Aggies won the game in the most excruciating way possible - by kicking three straight unanswered field goals.

Oh yeah, and that shark photo is definitely not of him, but still did him no favors.

Playoff Rankings

1. Alabama

2. Penn State

3. Georgia

4. TCU

TCU, welcome to the show! After winning 26-6 at Kansas State, the unbeaten Horned Frogs enter the playoff conversation, thanks to losses from Clemson and both Washingtons. Kenny Hill, last seen playing great for about 5 games for A&M before completely disappearing, seems to be making the most of his second chance at TCU, and his consistent play has the Horned Frogs atop the conference with big wins over WVU and Oklahoma State in their pockets already. Every 2-3 years, Gary Patterson seems to have TCU in title contention, no matter what conference they’re in. This is looking like another one of those years.

Next Week

Indiana at Michigan State, 3:30pm, ABC

SPITTOON WEEK BACK.

For the first time in a decade, Indiana won the trophy last year, in a thrilling 24-21 OT victory against a Michigan State team... that finished 3-9. Sparty is already better this year than last - at 5-1, they’re ranked again and have a victory against Michigan in their pockets. Although the game is in East Lansing, the Hoosiers play the type of football that can hang with the Spartans. Can IU stop MSU running back LJ Scott though? They mostly contained Saquon Barkley (except on kickoffs), but Karan Higdon ran wild for Michigan last weekend.

Elsewhere: USC heads to Notre Dame for a game that looks a lot more competitive than it once did, Alabama gets to put the final nail in Butch Jones’ coffin, UCF plays at Navy in what could be the most secretly fun game of the week, and Penn State gets the Gameday treatment, as they host Michigan under the lights.