College Football Big Game Reaction: Purdue, LSU, Georgia, OU & More
Quick reaction to the biggest games of Week 7: Georgia vs Kentucky, Purdue vs Iowa, Cincinnati vs UCF, Oklahoma vs TCU, Michigan State vs Indiana, Ole Miss vs Tennessee, Oklahoma State vs Texas, and LSU vs Florida
College Football Big Game Reaction: Week 7
– Week 7 Scoreboard, Predictions
Week 7 Big Game Reactions
– Oklahoma State 32, Texas 24
– Ole Miss 31, Tennessee 26
– Michigan State 20, Indiana 15
– Oklahoma 52, TCU 31
– Cincinnati 56, UCF 21
– Purdue 24, Iowa 7
– Georgia 30, Kentucky 13
LSU 49, Florida 42 Reaction
Find two more interesting back-to-back games in a recent series than the ones Florida and LSU came up with.
Last year, the Tigers won a thriller in the fog, and this time around they pulled the game – and possibly the Ed Orgeron era – out of the fire in a defense-optional fight.
Tyrion Davis-Price ran for 287 yards and three scores, and LSU didn’t even win the time of possession battle and was outgained by 35 yards overall.
Florida was supposed to be the running team – it almost pulled off the upset over Alabama with the ground attack – but it got bottled up by the Tigers and had to throw to win. That was a problem.
The yards were there – 350 of them – but Anthony Richardson and Emory Jones each threw two picks, and the -4 turnover margin turned out to be the difference as the Gators ducked out of the SEC title chase.
After losing three of the last five games, what’s next? Georgia in two weeks. At this point, though, the game doesn’t really matter at three games back of the Dawgs in the East.
This did matter, though, for LSU.
It’s still technically in the SEC title chase after this, but forget that. the Tigers needed this just to stay alive for a bowl game, and that’s hardly a given even at 4-3.
There should be a win over ULM in late November, however, coming up …
At Ole Miss, at Alabama, Arkansas, and Texas A&M to close.
For now, LSU got a big win, it was fun, the running game looked great, and Orgeron’s voice was cashed after it was over – all like it’s supposed to be.
Week 7 Big Game Reactions
– Oklahoma State 32, Texas 24
– Ole Miss 31, Tennessee 26
– Michigan State 20, Indiana 15
– Oklahoma 52, TCU 31
– Cincinnati 56, UCF 21
– Purdue 24, Iowa 7
– Georgia 30, Kentucky 13
NEXT: Oklahoma State 32, Texas 24 Reaction
Oklahoma State 32, Texas 24 Reaction
Let’s not focus too much on yet another Texas collapse.
Team gets up big, team looks great, team is on cruise control for a terrific win, team slips, team gets it back, team take the rest of the game off late in the third quarter and loses in disastrous fashion.
It’s been done.
Oklahoma State is the bigger deal, but it’s not splashy like past Mike Gundy teams. It’s not full of quarterback drama like Oklahoma, it’s not lurking as a possible resurgent second half team like Iowa State, and it’s certainly not as fun as Texas.
But this team balls out on D.
It got hit for a few big plays here and there early, but it allowed just 317 yards of Texas offense and shut things down hard in the second half. The offense took care of the help with 19 unanswered points.
Jason Taylor turned the game around with an 85-yard pick six with Texas up 17-3 and driving, the Cowboy D came up with the massive fourth down stop, and it all translated into a huge road win to set up a showdown at Iowa State next week.
Win in Ames, and with Kansas, at West Virginia, TCU, and at Texas Tech before hosting Oklahoma, it’s not crazy to dream big if Jaylen Warren keeps running like the best back in the Big 12 and if the defense keeps on stepping up when it has to.
Week 7 Big Game Reactions
– LSU 49, Florida 42
– Ole Miss 31, Tennessee 26
– Michigan State 20, Indiana 15
– Oklahoma 52, TCU 31
– Cincinnati 56, UCF 21
– Purdue 24, Iowa 7
– Georgia 30, Kentucky 13
NEXT: Ole Miss 31, Tennessee 26 Reaction
Ole Miss 31, Tennessee 26 Reaction
Unfortunately, a wonderful game with phenomenal levels of energy and excitement will forever be marred but the criminal behavior of those Tennessee fans that chose to throw things at Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss players.
More on that as the week goes on – for now, the game.
It’ll also be remembered for Tennessee QB Joe Milton barely missing a game-winning touchdown pass with three seconds to play, and then inexplicably running out of bounds without as time ran out. But before all of that …
That’s the Tennessee offense. It’s awesome, and before getting hurt, Hendon Hooker once showed its potential under first year head man Josh Heupel. Hooker threw for 233 yards, ran for a team-high 108 with a score, and now he might be out for a bit with Alabama coming up next.
Ole Miss went Ole Miss.
There were too many penalties, spotty defensive power outages, and a whole lot of late drama with the offense failing to put it away after a great first half.
Matt Corral threw for 231 yards and two touchdowns with a pick, and he ran 30 times for 195 yards – and he paid for it. He was beaten up by the Vol defense, but that’s partly because the rest of the Ole Miss parts weren’t used enough.
But he and the team survived by the skin of their teeth for the second straight week, and now they get LSU and a trip to Auburn up next.
Tennessee? At Alabama, at Kentucky, Georgia. The Vols needed to pull this out to have a little breathing room to go bowling – they’re now 4-3 and could be 4-6 by mid-November – but South Alabama and Vanderbilt close things out.
Week 7 Big Game Reactions
– LSU 49, Florida 42
– Oklahoma State 32, Texas 24
– Michigan State 20, Indiana 15
– Oklahoma 52, TCU 31
– Cincinnati 56, UCF 21
– Purdue 24, Iowa 7
– Georgia 30, Kentucky 13
NEXT: Michigan State 20, Indiana 15 Reaction
Michigan State 20, Indiana 15 Reaction
Really, Michigan State? You do know that Indiana’s defense isn’t all that great.
To be fair, the Hoosiers have been middle-of-the-pack okay this year defensively, but for a Michigan State team that’s pushing towards something special, struggling to move the ball for long stretches and only coming up with 241 yards wasn’t okay.
There were just enough big plays on both sides to survive and advance, and the defense picked up the slack for the offense, but this isn’t going to work against Michigan in two weeks if the team isn’t refreshed.
12 penalties, struggles on third downs, little control of the clock, two turnovers, no consistent push by the offensive front – it was ugly. Sometimes, though, good teams have to push through the rough days, and the Spartans did just that.
Now the real work begins.
It’s possible that Michigan State has yet to play a team that’s going to end up in a bowl game. What’s next after getting those two weeks off?
Michigan, at Purdue, Maryland, at Ohio State, Penn State.
The preseason is over.
Week 7 Big Game Reactions
– LSU 49, Florida 42
– Oklahoma State 32, Texas 24
– Ole Miss 31, Tennessee 26
– Oklahoma 52, TCU 31
– Cincinnati 56, UCF 21
– Purdue 24, Iowa 7
– Georgia 30, Kentucky 13
NEXT: Oklahoma 52, TCU 31 Reaction
Oklahoma 52, TCU 31 Reaction
Well that sure as shoot looked like the Oklahoma we all know and fear.
Okay, okay, so the team continues to have a big problem playing only 40ish minutes of a 60 minutes game – the D took a solid power nap for a little while in the first half – but it didn’t matter because the Oklahoma O was the Oklahoma O.
Fun fact – it was the first time all year the Sooners beat an FBS program by more than a touchdown. It was also the first time Caleb Williams got the start.
Brilliant, he hit 18-of-23 passes for 295 yards with four touchdowns, he ran for 66 yards and a score, and …
In the absence of any other reasonable option, he might get into the Heisman race very, very quickly. That’s for later.
The D really does have to tighten up, blowing through the TCU defense this year isn’t that big a deal, and none of that matters right now because Oklahoma is 7-0, it’s avoiding the big upset that’s plaguing almost everyone else, and now it gets a few weeks off with at Kansas, Texas Tech, and an open date.
Week 7 Big Game Reactions
– LSU 49, Florida 42
– Oklahoma State 32, Texas 24
– Ole Miss 31, Tennessee 26
– Michigan State 20, Indiana 15
– Cincinnati 56, UCF 21
– Purdue 24, Iowa 7
– Georgia 30, Kentucky 13
NEXT: Cincinnati 56, UCF 21 Reaction
Cincinnati 56, UCF 21 Reaction
It’s going to be hard for Cincinnati to receive unquestioned national respect with its mediocre schedule – beating Indiana isn’t that big a deal and one win over Notre Dame isn’t enough …
Whatever. the team is more than fine.
You can control only what you can control – I think I read that in a fortune cookie.
What Cincinnati can’t control is the rest of college football, and that’s melting down fast with the ACC and Pac-12 very, very close to being out of the CFP mix, Iowa losing, and with the likelihood of no more than three viable Power Five champions – one-loss or unbeaten champs – that will need spots.
Oh yeah, and it helps to power-slam everyone along the way, like in a 56-21 win over UCF that wasn’t even that close.
The Knights were without injured star QB Dillon Gabriel, but he doesn’t play defense. Cincinnati’s ground attack ripped up eight yards per carry, helped by a monster 189-yard, four-score day from Jerome Ford. The O line took over the game right away.
QB Desmond Ridder wasn’t amazing, but he didn’t need to be – his stats and performance in this only matters in the Heisman race. He was good, the team was great, and the machine isn’t stopping.
In a year when everyone but Georgia appears to be having issues, keep winning, keep doing it in impressive fashion, and it’ll all work out just fine.
Week 7 Big Game Reactions
– LSU 49, Florida 42
– Oklahoma State 32, Texas 24
– Ole Miss 31, Tennessee 26
– Michigan State 20, Indiana 15
– Oklahoma 52, TCU 31
– Purdue 24, Iowa 7
– Georgia 30, Kentucky 13
NEXT: Purdue 24, Iowa 7 Reaction
Purdue 24, Iowa 7 Reaction
What was going to happen when the Iowa defense didn’t come up with a bazillion takeaways?
Apparently, this.
Purdue was a bad, dangerous opponent for the Hawkeyes. The Boilermaker D was and is the real deal – DE George Karlaftis wore the Iowa backfield as a hat – and the O was more than happy to play a low-scoring fight of a game.
Iowa turned it over four times – QB Spencer Petras threw four interceptions – and Purdue turned it over just once.
The Boilermakers didn’t take too many chances. WR David Bell caught 11 passes for 240 yards and a score, but it wasn’t like QB Aidan O’Connell had to force anything to get him the ball.
Combine the air-tight game – brilliant called by Jeff Brohm and the coaching staff and perfectly executed by both sides of the ball – with a +3 in turnover margin against the statistically worst offense in the Big Ten, and there goes the perfect season for the No. 2 team.
Yeah, this changes up the Big Ten West race – Minnesota, Purdue, and even Wisconsin and Northwestern are back in it – but not really.
For example, Purdue still has Michigan State, at Ohio State, and a slew of other dangerous games to deal with, so …
Don’t just dismiss Iowa quite yet.
Yes, the offense has to be better, and yeah, there has to be a massive tweak to the downfield passing game. But the rest of the schedule is more than manageable.
Wisconsin is hot mess disguised as … not a hot mess. It’s going to turn the ball over 18 times in two weeks when the Hawkeyes visit Camp Randall.
At Northwestern, Minnesota, Illinois, at Nebraska. All of those are losable if the O plays like this, but it’s not insane to think the Hawkeyes could win out and get to the Big Ten Championship at 11-1 with a real shot at the CFP – go 12-1, win your Power Five championship, and you’re in.
Week 7 Big Game Reactions
– LSU 49, Florida 42
– Oklahoma State 32, Texas 24
– Ole Miss 31, Tennessee 26
– Michigan State 20, Indiana 15
– Oklahoma 52, TCU 31
– Cincinnati 56, UCF 21
– Georgia 30, Kentucky 13
NEXT: Georgia 30, Kentucky 13 Reaction
Georgia 30, Kentucky 13 Reaction
In a strange way, both teams got exactly what they needed.
Georgia was business-like in its dominant performance. There wasn’t any real drama, Stetson Bennett didn’t make any major mistakes to go along with his three touchdown passes, TE Brock Bowers turned into a superstar – he caught five passes for 101 yards and two touchdowns – and the defense was a brick wall against the Kentucky running game.
UK threw the ball 42 times, but Will Levis didn’t get a whole lot of big plays out of his 32 completions. That served as the running game with Chris Rodriguez being held to seven yards on seven carries for an attack that finished with 51 yards.
Now Georgia gets a week off to prepare for Florida. It gets to rest up, hope that JT Daniels can be back and healthy, and then waltz through the coronation to the SEC Championship from there.
But we knew the Dawgs were going to roll like this. Kentucky is the more interesting case.
There’s no such thing as a sure thing in the SEC – obviously, to a point when talking about Vanderbilt – but the rest of the UK schedule is manageable. If the team really is that good, it should have a shot at Mississippi State on the road, Tennessee, at Vanderbilt, New Mexico State, and at Louisville.
If Georgia really and truly is the be-all-end-all No. 1 team, then losing 30-13 in a tasteful, dignified way on the road is more than acceptable as the only loss.
To cut to the chase, it wasn’t the total annihilation that might disqualify Kentucky from being in College Football Playoff considering if it goes 11-1.
Week 7 Big Game Reactions
– LSU 49, Florida 42
– Oklahoma State 32, Texas 24
– Ole Miss 31, Tennessee 26
– Michigan State 20, Indiana 15
– Oklahoma 52, TCU 31
– Cincinnati 56, UCF 21
– Purdue 24, Iowa 7
– Georgia 30, Kentucky 13
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