College Football Winners and Losers from October
It’s hard to believe, but there are only six Saturdays left in the 2014 college football season.
This week’s release of the College Football Playoff selection committee’s first Top 25 set a benchmark for the rest of the season, with some fans thrilled and others disgusted by their team’s initial placement.
Like it or not, teams now know where they stand nationally, which is really more than they could officially say before this week.
Teams are being rewarded or punished for their play on the field, and the month of October had a lot to say about just where we sit as the final full month of the season begins. Some teams and players took advantage of the month, while others faded back to the pack. Here’s a look at college football’s winners and losers for October, with five winners followed by five losers, alphabetically.
Winner: Florida State
1 of 10
Love them. Hate them. It doesn’t matter. Florida State just keeps winning, and winning, and winning in dramatic fashion.
Following a dominant 14-0 run on the way to 2013’s BCS National Championship, these Seminoles have been anything but dominant. But they are resilient, as this month proved.
FSU survived a Top Five challenge from Notre Dame when a go-ahead touchdown was called back for offensive pass interference in the final minute, hanging on for a 31-27 win.
Thursday night, the Seminoles spotted Louisville a 21-0 lead on the road and trailed by 17 points early in the third quarter but rallied for a hard-fought 42-31 win. FoxSports.com's Stewart Mandel said FSU "is a cinch" for the College Football Playoff.
The offensive line looks leaky, and thee linebacker corps is banged up. Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Jameis Winston is far from infallible (he threw three interceptions Thursday). But freshmen like speedy tailback Dalvin Cook (who scored two long touchdowns) are stepping forward, and Thursday was the toughest game left on the regular-season schedule. FSU looks like a good bet to go unbeaten and claim a College Football Playoff spot.
Winner: Kansas State
2 of 10
When the 2014 season began, Kansas State was a contender for the Big 12 title but an afterthought behind the likes of Baylor and Oklahoma. Who would have imagined K-State would be the last team unbeaten in the Big 12 ranks, besides Wildcats fans?
Nobody.
Yet, as October turns to November, Kansas State might be the league’s best hope for a College Football Playoff bid. At 6-1, 4-0, the Wildcats the second-highest Big 12 team in the College Football Playoff Top 25 behind No. 7 TCU.
They pulled off a season-changing 31-30 upset at Oklahoma and blanked Texas 24-0, handing the Longhorns their first shutout in league play since 2004. Following this week’s visit from Oklahoma State, the Wildcats must travel to TCU, which will be followed by a difficult Thursday night trek to West Virginia. A season-ending game at Baylor is also tough, but if K-State wins out, it has as good a case as anyone for one of the four playoff bids.
Winner: Mississippi State QB Dak Prescott
3 of 10
Perhaps the biggest factor in Mississippi State’s rise from SEC West mediocrity to national title contention has been junior quarterback Dak Prescott. He has been highly impressive this season, throwing for 1,694 yards with 15 touchdowns against five interceptions while adding 664 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground.
Prescott is hard to tackle and tough to stop through the air, and October marked his rise into the national consciousness and the Heisman Trophy race. In consecutive weekends, he led MSU’s wins over Top 10 teams in Texas A&M and Auburn, accounting for eight total touchdowns.
The Bulldogs still must travel to Alabama and Ole Miss, but they’re a factor in the College Football Playoff chase. And they never would have gotten there without Prescott at the helm.
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Winner: SEC West
4 of 10
You might not care for the SEC West or the attention it receives from ESPN, sports media and college football fans. But it is impossible to deny its overall strength and the impact it has had (and will have) on the race for the College Football Playoff.
When the selection committee released its initial Top 25 Tuesday night, four SEC West teams were among the top six: Mississippi State (No. 1), Auburn (No. 3), Ole Miss (No. 4) and Alabama (No. 6) (No. 2 Florida State and No. 5 Oregon were the interlopers).
How much respect does the SEC West receive? Ole Miss was ranked fourth despite coming off an ugly 10-7 loss at previously unranked LSU. Will there be change and attrition over the next month? Sure.
Four games involving the current SEC West ruling class remain on the slate, which should knock several teams from contention and allow the rest of the nation a chance to get back in the playoff picture. But there’s no denying that this is the best division in college football.
Winner: TCU
5 of 10
In retrospect, Gary Patterson’s decision to hire Sonny Cumbie and Doug Meacham as his new co-offensive coordinators looks like the smartest move of the 2013 offseason. The Horned Frogs were wretched last fall in stumbling to a 4-8 record, but with the pair’s high-powered passing offense in place, they look like the nation’s most improved team this fall.
Despite a 61-58 loss to Baylor, TCU grabbed the nation’s attention in October, beginning the month with a 37-33 upset at then-No. 4 Oklahoma and ending it with an 82-27 curb-stomping of Kliff Kingsbury and Texas Tech.
TCU averages 50.4 points per game, best in FBS. The Frogs offense is keyed by junior quarterback Trevone Boykin, who has thrown for 2,306 yards with 21 touchdowns against three interceptions and added 374 rushing yards and four scores on the ground.
West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen had high praise for Boykin, per Mike Casazza of the Charleston Daily Mail. "He’s probably—well, not probably—he is the most improved player in college football,” Holgorsen said.
The Horned Frogs still must travel to West Virginia and host Kansas State over the next two weeks, but at No. 7, they’re the Big 12’s highest-ranked team in the new College Football Playoff poll. Patterson and Co. have plenty to smile about in Fort Worth.
Loser: Baylor
6 of 10
With a nonconference schedule of Buffalo, SMU and FCS foe Northwestern State, Baylor needed a perfect run through the Big 12 to have any shot at a College Football Playoff bid. Strength of schedule was a noted factor for the selection committee, and the Bears’ out-of-league slate just didn’t provide it.
That’s why a 41-27 loss at West Virginia was so damaging. Even though Baylor is among a crowded group of one-loss teams, it doesn’t have the juice of, say, Alabama, Ole Miss or even Big 12 rival Kansas State (whose only loss was a hard-fought 20-14 home defeat to Auburn).
The Bears had to be perfect, and they were far from it. In fact, if not for a stunning 24-point fourth-quarter rally in a 61-58 win over TCU, they’d already be saddled with two losses. Baylor can still win the Big 12, with Oklahoma and Kansas State on its schedule, but its hopes of a national title are over.
Loser: Florida
7 of 10
Will Muschamp began October on the hot seat at Florida. He ended it as a dead coach walking.
The Gators finished October 1-2 and were very fortunate to squeak out a 10-9 win at Tennessee. LSU walked into Ben Hill Griffin Stadium and handed Florida a disappointing 30-27 defeat, but the real damage came a week later against Missouri.
The Tigers managed just 119 yards of total offense but put up a combined four defensive and special teams touchdowns in a 42-13 rout of Florida. It was the Gators’ worst loss, well, since a November 2013 loss to then-FCS Georgia Southern. It’s no surprise that Muschamp is on the hot seat, but when your athletic director is forced to release a statement saying he’ll evaluate your status "as the season plays out" (as Florida AD Jeremy Foley did), it’s a really bad sign for your job security.
September’s canceled game against Idaho could spell the difference between six wins and spending the holidays at home, but barring a miracle, it appears Muschamp will be looking for a new job either way.
Loser: Georgia Tailback Todd Gurley
8 of 10
As October began, Georgia junior tailback Todd Gurley was on top of the world. He raked Vanderbilt for 163 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries and looked every bit like a leading Heisman Trophy candidate. He had 773 rushing yards and eight touchdowns on just 97 carries, averaging an incredible 8.2 yards per carry.
Then? Well, you know the rest. Gurley was suspended indefinitely while the NCAA and Georgia investigated whether he had received payments from memorabilia dealers for his autograph.
Gurley sat out wins over Missouri and Arkansas before the NCAA announced its decision this week: a four-game suspension (with credit for time served), which means he’ll be eligible to return Nov. 15 vs. Auburn after UGA's appeal was denied.
Considering that Gurley allegedly accepted more than $3,000 in payments, that could be considered a victory, but not for Gurley’s Heisman Trophy chances.
Georgia hasn’t really missed him, thanks to the running of freshman tailback Nick Chubb, but we’ll never truly know what he could have accomplished this season.
Loser: Texas A&M Quarterback Kenny Hill
9 of 10
Remember late August when Kenny Hill was a Heisman Trophy contender after lighting up South Carolina’s defense for a Texas A&M single-game passing record in his first career start? When Hill's parents applied to trademark his nickname, “Kenny Trill," per ESPN.com's Darren Rovell?
Boy, that seems like a long time ago, doesn’t it?
Texas A&M’s sophomore quarterback has put up some big numbers this season, but he’s now fighting for his job. Offensive coordinator Jake Spavital has declined to name a starter between Hill and freshman Kyle Allen entering Saturday’s home game against Louisiana-Monroe—a stunning fall for Hill.
A&M is riding a three-game losing streak, including a 59-0 demolition at Alabama’s hands. In that stretch, Hill has thrown six touchdowns against six interceptions. At Alabama, he completed just 17 of 26 passes for 138 yards with no touchdowns and an interception.
Hill was probably overhyped on the heels of his big game in Columbia. Remember that the next time a newcomer puts up a huge game early in a season. College players are judged by an entire season, not just one game.
Loser: Oklahoma
10 of 10
Following a convincing Sugar Bowl win over Alabama, Oklahoma began 2014 with sky-high hopes. The Sooners were strong College Football Playoff contenders, with nothing less than claiming a Big 12 title acceptable.
Then, October rolled around, and Bob Stoops’ bunch was slapped back to reality. A 37-33 home loss to TCU put the Sooners’ playoff hopes on life support, and a 31-30 home loss to Kansas State killed them along with any serious hopes of a Big 12 championship.
Sophomore quarterback Trevor Knight hasn’t taken the next step forward in his development this season, throwing for nine touchdowns against six interceptions with 1,821 passing yards. Oklahoma’s defense has been far from dominant, allowing an average of 31.8 points in Big 12 play.
OU has one marquee game left, against No. 12 Baylor, but this season has lost its luster. It’s a big disappointment for Sooners fans.
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