Contenders and Pretenders from College Football's Week 9

Another week is coming to a close and there are once again disappointments made from teams who were coming off epic victories.  

The Big Ten may not be considered the best conference in America, let alone the second best, but there are solid games each and every week.

Going into this week, the Spartans were just one more crucial victory away from reaching the top and perhaps becoming the favorite to represent the Big Ten in Pasadena.

As we have learned in college football, it is amazing how quickly things can change in one week.

Michigan State Spartans

Nebraska 24, Michigan State 3

The Spartans were picked by some experts to go into a place they have never won a game before (0-6 now).

Sparty got bumped and thumped against the Blackshirt defense, limiting them to just 187 total yards of offense.

Michigan State was the worst rushing offense in the Big Ten going into the game (138), and they could not improve those numbers against Nebraska.

Thirty attempts for 101 yards is not getting the job done, as Edwin Baker and Le'Veon Bell were bottled up for four quarters. 

The passing game was even worse, as Kirk Cousins was 11-for-27 with just 86 yards (0 TD and 1 INT). This offense has some studs, with BJ Cunningham, Keith Nichol and Keshawn Martin. However, their offensive line has been brutal (in part due to injuries), and they may get another loss down the road (Kinnick Stadium-Iowa), if they can shore it up. 

Call them a legit Top 25 if you want to, but this team from East Lansing proved to America they are nothing more than a fraud.

Nebraska Cornhuskers

Nebraska 24, Michigan State 3

The Huskers have been brutal against top 10 opponents, but Sparty was ranked just outside the top 10. Rex Burkhead proved to be an All-American, with the clinic he put on the stout Spartans defense.

Burkhead reached paydirt three times and had a total of 157 yards of total offense in the victory. Taylor Martinez threw a pick and a touchdown on top of only 80 yards passing.

However, Martinez got a ton of help, as he handed off to Burkhead 35 times (career-high) as the Huskers controlled and dominated the battle in the trenches. 

The defense was getting talked about as a soft or slow bunch, but they shut up the naysayers when it mattered most. Lavonte David had a game-high 13 tackles and received huge help from linebacker Eric Martin (2 sacks).

The big question should be: Can Nebraska run the table going into the Big Ten Championship? If so, they may be ranked in the top 10 against either Wisconsin or Penn State with a trip to Pasadena on the line.

Texas A&M Aggies

Missouri 38, A&M 31 (Overtime)

The turnovers doomed the Aggies, and once again it was quarterback Ryan Tanehill who was responsible. Two of the three turnovers were on Tannehill (fumble/pick), and had A&M won the turnover battle, their result would have been likely different.

This team was once in the top 10, and they have officially become the biggest bust of a team this season. Mike Sherman's offense is loaded with talent, but when your quarterback continues to make mistakes, it makes it that much tougher to come away with a W.

Ryan Swope had eight catches for 66 yards and a touchdown, but Jeff Fuller only hauled in five passes for 42 yards.

Fuller is the same stud who took it to LSU's Patrick Peterson for stages of last year's Cotton Bowl, yet he has not had a productive season by any means. This offense was expected to be right up there with Oklahoma State, and yet, the struggles have continued. 

Oklahoma and Kansas State are coming up next, and were they to lose both road games, they would then need a victory over Kansas or Texas to just reach a bowl game.

Missouri Tigers

Missouri 38, A&M 31 (Overtime)

The Tigers entered play on Saturday with a record of just 3-4!

I had them as a legit favorite to reach either the Holiday or Insight Bowl, and yet they're now just trying to become bowl eligible.

Well, they got a massive victory in College Station, and it just needed one overtime. The Tigers defensive line had a ton of talent coming into the season, and we have all been waiting for them to wreak some havoc. 

Though they took Tanehill down for only one sack, the pressure was evident all game long. Plus, it helps to have one of the finest runners in the nation.

Henry Josey came in as the eighth leading rusher, averaging 122 yards per game. However, he ran all over the Aggies, toting it 20 times for 162 yards and a touchdown. Young quarterback James Franklin combined for 295 yards and four touchdowns (no turnovers). 

Oklahoma Sooners

Oklahoma 58, Kansas State 17

This just in: The Oklahoma Sooners are far from being eliminated in the Big 12 race. Hey, they may still have an outside shot at the BCS National Championship, if a few things fall into place. 

Landry Jones absolutely torched the Kansas State defense, spinning it for 505 yards along with five touchdowns (two picks).

Ryan Broyles proved he is the best we have, hauling in 14 passes for 171 yards and a touchdown. Kenny Stills hauled in four passes for 101 yards and Jaz Reynolds snagged three passes for 51 yards (two for touchdowns).

This offense is untouchable at times, but there is some bad news to report. On the opening play from scrimmage, Dominque Whaley was severely injured making a block (ankle). ESPN's Jake Trotter has reported that he is expected to miss the rest of the season. 

While the loss is not devastating, it certainly hurts a bit when your starting tailback is lost for the season. Roy Finch came and filled in admirably (73 rushing/69 receiving), and don't forget the best fullback in the country could be Trey Millard.

They also have Brandon Williams and Brennan Clay, who could also get some extended playing time. All of this offensive explosion makes you wonder how well their defense needs to play to win the rest of the games?

The have a home game against the Aggies coming up, but Bedlam in the final weekend of the season (Dec. 3) could determine the Big 12—as well as who might be in the BCS National Championship game.

Kansas State Wildcats

Oklahoma 58, Kansas State 17

These Wildcats were underdogs despite being the lone unbeaten in the contest. Well, we kind of found out there was a reason behind that logic.

These Wildcats are a solid team, no doubt, but they were exposed against the mighty Sooners. Their secondary was carved up, allowing 520 yards passing. The defense as a whole allowed 690 yards!

This team was a bit overrated since their best victories have come over the likes of Missouri, Texas Tech and Baylor. The offense was stopped dead in its tracks, with quarterback Colin Klein throwing for only 58 yards.

Though he ran for 92 yards and two touchdowns, the rest of the offense was inept for the entire game.

So, can Kansas State right the ship and win the rest of their games, or will they lose a few more? The schedule is brutal, with Oklahoma State and Texas both hosting these Wildcats.

Oklahoma State, of course, is coming off a beatdown of their own, knocking around Baylor 59-24. If Bill Snyder's squad were to lose three more games, it wouldn't be shocking since most picked this Kansas State to lose at minimum five games.

Arkansas Razorbacks & Vanderbilt Commodores

Arkansas 31, Vanderbilt 28

Vanderbilt's defensive end, Tim Fugger, lit up Tyler Wilson twice for sacks (forced fumble recovered by Wilson), and the Razorbacks struggled to pass protect or run block all game.

In fact, after watching this game, Vanderbilt proved to the nation they are far from a fraud. In fact, Vandy should go bowling despite the devastating loss to Arkansas, which included a missed game-tying field goal from just 27 yards out.

Don't forget Vandy was knocking on the door for the putaway touchdown with the Commodores leading 28-20.

Vanderbilt had the ball on the Razorbacks three-yard line with nearly a full quarter go to go. Running back Zac Stacy coughed the ball up and All-SEC caliber linebacker Jerry Franklin took it the house for a game-changing, backbreaking 94-yard fumble recovery touchdown.

This Bobby Petrino led squad has lived on the edge of their seat a few times this season, so this is not new to them. They had a huge comeback win in Arlington over the Aggies and also had to sweat one out in Oxford last weekend.

Despite getting outgained 462-388, the Razorbacks should remain among the top one-loss teams in the nation (at least for now, as they have a huge game against the Gamecocks next weekend).

The final thought should be about the Commodores. This Vanderbilt team has been legit every week, and it was just a few weeks ago they went toe-to-toe with the scorching hot Georgia Bulldogs in defeat.

Georgia Bulldogs

Georgia 24, Florida 20

Who is currently the hottest team in the country outside the top 10? Most should take a stab at Mark Richt's Georgia Bulldogs, who have now won six straight games. 

They came in against the Gators losing 18 of the last 21 meetings, and even some experts had them losing this season (Robert Smith). However, the Georgia defense returned all their horses at linebacker, and they just stymied the Gators rushing attack.

Since sacks go down as lost rushing yards, the Gators were outrushed 185 to negative-19! This is now the second time in SEC play in which Georgia has clobbered their opponent in the trenches. 

Georgia ran for 139 and held the Volunteers to negative-20 yards back on Oct. 8, and the way their offensive line is opening up holes, they should be favored for the rest of the regular season.

Florida Gators

Georgia 24, Florida 20

The Gators were chomping at the bit coming off a bye week (UGA was, too), but they have forgotten how to run the football. Or maybe their opponents in the first month of the season were just awful?

Regardless, Florida's John Brantley had to hobble around the field (ankle) against the fierce Bulldogs defense, and they could not come away with a crucial third down conversion (2-for-13).

Any team that cannot convert on third down will forever fail against one of the better defenses in the nation.

The Gators have now lost four in a row ('Bama, LSU, Auburn, UGA) and the schedule does not get much easier with Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Florida State still left on the schedule.

The only chance I give the Gators to reach the seven win total is if they can get more production from Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey. If not, they will continue to lose close games against solid competition.

Texas Tech Red Raiders

Iowa State 41, Texas Tech 7

Scoring the least amount of points in recent memory (least since 2000) against Iowa State of all teams is not easy to swallow.

In fact, coming off their gigantic road victory against Oklahoma made this a sandiwch or trap game per say. However the scorching hot quarterback Seth Doege threw two interceptions and no touchdowns!

The Red Raiders were averaging 539 yards of total offense going into the game and to make matters worse was that Iowa State was 112th in the nation in total defense allowing 456 yards per game.

Yet, here we are talking about the Red Raiders falling out of the polls with their brutal home loss.

Wisconsin Badgers & Penn State Nittany Lions

Penn State 10, Illinois 7

Ohio State 33, Wisconsin 29

Wait, the Badgers lost via Hail Mary pass again!? And it was to a quarterback who had a game in which he completed just one pass?

Yes, Braxton Millers completed the longest Ohio State pass of the entire season at the most critical moment of the season for both the Badgers and the Buckeyes.

Miller pulled a houdini act in the backfield dodging a few Wisconsin linemen and yet he escaped pressure and slid to his right while heaving a bomb into the hand of Devin Smith (his only catch).

The Badgers are now two games back behind Penn State of all teams (I called it back in the year, but I still don't like my chances). Penn State still has to go to Camp Randall, but the Badgers will need them to lose once before they meet up in the regular season finale. Penn State has two brutal games though they get a bye before they host Nebraska in two weeks.

Then they go to Columbus to face a rejuvenated Buckeyes offense that just ran for 268 yards against the Badgers. Can Penn State knock off Nebraska and Ohio State? If not, they better be ready for the Badgers in the season finale.

Clemson Tigers

In what has turned out to be one of the great nights in BCS history (during regular season) we have lost yet another unbeaten and the count is officially down to six.

I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so! This is why Clemson has always been morte (means dead in Italian) when the pressure is on them. They cannot perform as national favorite even when they have one of the best receivers in the entire country on top of a few NFL defensive linemen.

This team has been prone to getting gashed on defense at the perimeter (see FSU, Auburn) and they just got manhandled and outplayed by a better Georgia Tech team.

Tevin Washington (minus his horrific pick) had his way with the Tigers all night combining for 236 total yards of offensive. They rank the rock 67 times for 383 yards and four touchdowns!

Against the supposedly fifth best team in America?

Clemson was one of the bigger frauds on one of the more exciting nights in the BCS era.

Oklahoma State Cowboys

Giving up 622 yards is never a good thing, but when you force five turnovers and end up winning by 35 points who really cares?

Oklahoma State may not be a top twenty defense, but their offense looks like the best in America hands down right now. Who is going to slow this team prior to Bedlam?

Justin Blackmon (consusiion) was dinged up a bit last week and yet he put on a clinic with 13 receptions for 172 yards and two touchdowns. Joseph Randle at running back gashed an awful Baylor defense for 152 yards and four touchdowns.

Could LSU or Alabama shut this team offense out or at least slow them down with ease? That my friend may not be answered until the BCS National Championship, unless of course Bedlam gives us havoc once again. 

Then what happens? Will we get a one loss Oklahoma team, an undefeated/one loss Stanford squad or perhaps we will finally see Boise State get their chance to shine? 

Stanford Cardinal

Ah, what to make of the Stanford Cardinal?

They had one of the better regular season games in recent memory (better than MSU-Wisc) and they capped it off with an eight point victory in triple overtime though nobody cared about the outcome except a few "experts." 

Still, they found a way to win without their star safety Delano Howell (wrist) and they remain in the discussion as legit contenders for the BCS National Championship.

However, it will be extremely interesting to see where the six BCS computer voters have them at. Last weekend they had the following rankings: 21, 8, 7, 6,, 14 and 9. That average came out to 9.5 and most have to believe the rankings what improve that much, right?

Some could argue they should drop since they only played a legit Top 25 and they had to call and get every call in the book (hook-and-ladder, last second fortunate call in regulation) in order to secure the victory.

A win is a win so most should not punish them, but are they really the third or fourth best in America, honestly? The Coaches and Harris Poll could drop them outside of the top three-four which of course would help out one team.

Boise State Broncos

Wait, Boise State team didn't play, right?

Wrong!

Well, they did not play but there may have not been a better team that reaped the benefits other than the Smurf Turfs.

Boise State team is projected to stay at number four in the latest BCS Rankings according to Brad Edwards, but all the pieces are slowly falling into place. There are still a few more dominoes that must fall for any chance, but some things are already taken care of.

First off, Clemson arguably had the easiest path (Brad Edwards among others said so) and it looked like a near mortal lock that the Tigers were going to run the table, unless of course you stopped to think that this is Clemson we are talking about.

The Tigers really made the night in Boise, Idaho because now only Stanford and Oklahoma State remain unbeaten. Oklahoma and possibly Oregon would give them fits IF they run the table, but that would mean Stanford and Oklahoma State would drop out.

The two powerhouses will lose before it is all said and done and if any of those four lose a game before they play then the Broncos are really looking fine and dandy. 

Also, don't forget the Georgia Bulldogs might be the hottest two loss team in America right now. They are coming off a 24-20 victory over Florida and the way things are looking, UGA will not lose again until perhaps the SEC Championship. (Note: UGA could crack top ten/eleven in few weeks)

South Carolina still must lose for that to happen, but Cocky and the fellas have to play at Arkansas next weekend. 

If I learned one thing from this weekend and in past years it is that college football is always a fluid situation and there will be continued upsets and therefore changes in the much talked about BCS Rankings.