Weekend Recap - Georgia Looks Peachy, Sparty Wins Again, SMU and SDSU Fall For First Time

October 31, 2021 by Staff

Georgia had no trouble in a 34-7 win over Florida in Jacksonville in their annual border war. The Gators turned the ball over on 3 consecutive possessions in the second quarter to help the 'Dawgs establish a 24-0 from which the Gators obviously never recovered.

Oklahoma romped to a 52-21 win over Texas Tech in the first game fro the latter without head coach Matt Wells who was fired earlier in the week.

Michigan State rallied from a 23-14 halftime deficit at home to defeat Michigan 37-33. UM turned the ball over on downs at the MSU 31 with 1:43 left, got the ball back after a punt and promptly threw a pick on first play with 1 minute left. Kenneth Walker III had 197 yards and 5 TD's on 23 carries for Sparty which beat 'Big Brother' for the 10th time in the last 14 meetings.

On another Big Ten showdown, Ohio State fought off a the challenge from Penn State for a 33-24 win. Ryan Day is 20-0 in conference games as a head coach., including the 2018 opening game vs. Oregon State when he acted as interim head coach.

Still in the Big Ten, Wisconsin dumped Iowa 27-7. It's the second game in-a-row that the Hawkeyes were held to just 7 points after bowing 24-7 to Purdue two weeks ago. Iowa was idle last week.

Clemson ran its home winning streak to 32 with a 30-20 win over Florida State. The game ended on a 'hook and lateral' gone awry as FSU tried in desperation to overcome a 24-20 deficit. The clock expired as the initial play was executed so, after a couple of wild backwards and across-the-field passes, Clemson picked up the loose ball and scored a game-ending touchdown. It meant nothing for who won the game, but it meant the Tigers covered the 9-1/2-point closing spread, and it put the total points over the 47.5.

Tulane hang tough with Cincinnati for awhile, but the Bearcats eventually pulled away for a 31-12 win. Neither the final score or the style points will help Cincinnati with the College Football Playoff Committee which is scheduled to release its first rankings Tuesday evening. It helps that Notre Dame beat North Carolina 44-34, but it hurts that SMU lost 44-37 at Houston when Marcus Jones had a 100-yard kickoff return with 17 seconds left to break a tie.

San Diego State also got taken off the unbeaten list as Fresno State took down the Aztecs 30-20.

Pittsburgh lost an ACC game for the first time, falling victim at home to Miami by a 38-34 count. The Panthers still have a 1-game lead in the Coastal.

Meanwhile, Wake Forest is 8-0 for the first time in school history following a 45-7 smackdown of Duke.

Auburn put the clamps down on the playoff aspirations of Ole Miss with a 31-20 win over the Rebels.

Utah takes a commanding lead in the PAC-12 South with the combination if its 44-24 win over UCLA and Arizona State's 34-21 loss to Washington State.Though the Utes only lead the Sin Devils by one in the loss column, they also own the head-to-head tie-breaker. with their 35-21 win over ASU two weeks ago.

Also in the PAC-12, USC held off Arizona 41-34.

Alabama was among the 24 idle teams this week.

FCS vs. FBS

2 teams will play 2 FCS teams this fall (UConn and UMass), and 115 teams will play 1 FCS school for a total of 117 such matchups. 107 of those 117 games have been played.

There were no such games this week.

The FBS is 97-10 vs. the FCS this season. Since we began tracking this in 2003, the FBS teams are now 1,566-138 (.919).

Last year, 30 FBS teams played a total of just 34 games against FCS schools and the FCS won just 1 game (1-33). That honor also went to Jacksonville State with its 19-10 victory over FIU.

Here are the FCS wins in 2021:
September 2: UC Davis 19, Tulsa 17
September 2: Eastern Washington 35, UNLV 33 (2 OT)
September 3: South Dakota State 42, Colorado State 23
September 4: Holy Cross 38, UConn 28
September 4: Montana 13, Washington 7
September 4: ETSU 23, Vanderbilt 3
September 11: Duquesne 28, Ohio 26
September 11: Jacksonville State 20, Florida State 17.
September 18: Incarnate Word 42, Texas State 34.
September 18: Northern Arizona 21, Arizona 19

This was the only FCS win vs. the FBS in 2020:
October 23: Jacksonville State 19, FIU 10

In 2019, FBS teams were 111-3 (.974) in such games. These were the only FCS wins that season:
August 29: Central Arkansas 35, Western Kentucky 28
September 7: Southern Illinois 45, Massachusetts 20
September 14: The Citadel 27, Georgia Tech 24 (OT)

Streaks

OKLAHOMA: Won 17 straight over-all (FBS longest).
Last: Won 52-21 at home vs.Texas Tech on Saturday, Oct. 30.
Next: Visits Baylor on Nov. 13.

OHIO STATE - Won 26 straight conference games (FBS longest), and 12 straight road games (FBS longest).
Last: Won 33-24 at home over Penn State on Saturday, Oct. 30.
Next: Visits Nebraska on Saturday, Nov. 6. 

CLEMSON - Won 32 straight home games (FBS longest).
Last: Won 30-20 at home vs. Florida State on Saturday Oct. 30.
Next: Visits Louisville on Nov. 6.

NEW MEXICO STATE - Lost 16 straight road games (FBS longest).
Last: Lost 48-34 at Hawaii on Saturday, Oct. 23.
Next: Hosts Utah State on Saturday, Nov. 6.

KANSAS - Lost 20 straight to FBS schools (FBS Longest), and 17 straight conference games.
Last: Lost 55-3 at Oklahoma State on Saturday, Oct. 30.
Next: Hosts Kansas State on Saturday, Nov., 6.

ARIZONA - Lost 20 straight over-all (FBS Longest), and 19 straight to FBS schools.
Last: Lost 41-34 at USC on Saturday, Oct. 30.
Next: Hosts California on Saturday, Nov. 6.

VANDERBILT - Lost 18 straight conference games.
Last: Lost 37-28 at home to Missouri on Saturday, Oct. 30.
Next: Hosts Kentucky on Saturday, Nov. 13.