Weekend Recap: Oklahoma Falls at Kansas State, Notre Dame Demolished at Michigan

October 27, 2019 by Dave Congrove

First it was Georgia, then Wisconsin. This past weekend, Oklahoma was the surprising loser as the 23.5-point Vegas favorites fell 48-41 at Kansas State. And though it wasn't an upset on paper, Notre Dame was shockingly dismantled in a 45-14 beatdown at Michigan.

The Sooners' loss ended a FBS-leading 22-game winning streak in true road games. Making matters worse for Oklahoma, this is the last impression that the playoff committee will have of the Sooners as they don't take to the field again until November 9 when they host Iowa State.

The loss by 5th-ranked Oklahoma (Congrove Computer Rankings) opened the door for Iowa State to move into a tie with the Sooners for 2nd behind Baylor, but the Cyclones then fell 34-27 at home to Oklahoma State.

Notre Dame's loss to Michigan was one of the widest margin of defeats in the history of the series by either school, but occasional romps have been commonplace over the last 14 meetings. Notre Dame won the 2014 contest 31-0 after Michigan had blanked the Irish 38-0 in 2007. The Wolverines also scored a 47-21 rout in 2006 and and administered yet another 38-0 whitewash in 2003.

For the most part, the highly-ranked teams avoided the carnage of a legitimate 'Upset Saturday" that saw 19 Vegas favorites wind up on the losing side of the equation. As a result, the computer was 36-19 straight up and 24-31 against the spread, but our Feature Picks were 8-6 SU and 11-3 ATS.

Two more Big 12 upsets saw Texas lose 37-27 at TCU, and Kansas win 37-34 at home over Texas Tech on a 32-yard walk-off field goal. Just last week, Texas needed the last-second field goal to avoid the upset loss to Kansas.

Ohio State continued to roll, crushing Wisconsin and further re-enforcing the Buckeyes' No. 1 ranking in the Congrove Computer model (see CCR Top 130).

LSU, the computer's No. 2 team survived a tough battle with visiting Auburn, 23-20.

4th-ranked Alabama easily dismissed visiting Arkansas, 48-7, with Tua Tagovailoa on the sideline. In relief, Mac Jones was 18-of-22 for 235 yards and 3 touchdowns. 'Bama had a field goal on its first possession, but went 4-for-4 for touchdowns and had a 31-0 lead before punting for the first time with 5-an-a-half minute to go in the first half.

LSU and Alabama each get next weekend off before facing each other in Tuscaloosa on November 9.

No. 3 Clemson trashed Boston College 59-7 at home.

No. 8 Oregon averted the upset to Washington State by kicking a walk-off 26-yard field goal for the 37-35 win. The Ducks drove into position for the game-winner after the Cougars had taken the lead with 1 minute left. Washington State had won 4 straight over its north division rival.

Utah had an easy go of it against California, blanking the Golden Bears 35-0 in Salt Lake City.

The PAC-12 saw a pair of mild upsets as UCLA was a 42-32 home winner over Arizona State, and Stanford was a 41-31 home winner over Arizona.

The SEC wasn't without its upsets as Tennessee downed South Carolina 41-21 in Knoxville, and Missouri lost 29-7 at Kentucky.

In other Big 10 games, Minnesota stayed undefeated with a 52-10 romp over visiting Maryland, and Penn State stayed perfect with its 28-7 win at Michigan State.

Indiana beat Nebraska 38-31 in Lincoln to snap a 5-game losing streak to the Cornhuskers. It was only the second meeting for the two schools since Nebraska joined the Big Ten in 2011. The Hoosiers had not beaten Nebraska since 1959, but Indiana was 9-0-1 in the series from 1941-1959.

Rutgers scored a 44-34 upset of Liberty at home. The win doesn't end the school's 17-game conference losing streak, but it does give the Scarlet Knights a second win in the same season vs. FBS schools - something which has now happened just twice in the last 4 years.

Illinois picked up where it left off after last week's upset of Wisconsin. This time, the Illini went on the road to score the 24-6 upset at Purdue as an 8.5-point Vegas underdog.

In the ACC, Louisville upset visiting Virginia 28-21 and North Carolina took the victory bell from Duke 20-17. The combination of those results put Virginia and Virginia Tech back on course for a de facto division title playoff game on the final week of the season.

Also in the ACC, Florida State romped over visiting Syracuse 35-17 to even its record at 4-4.

Georgia State improved to 6-2 over-all, 3-1 in the Sun Belt East, with a 52-33 win over visiting Troy. The Panthers have 5 wins as a Vegas outright underdog, including the last four games in-a-row.

In the Mountain West, Colorado State visited Fresno and upset the 13.5-point favorites 41-31.

The college football weekend began last Thursday night with SMU holding off Houston 34-31 to remain undefeated (8-0).

On Friday night, USC rallied for the 35-31 win at Colorado State to keep its hat in the ring foe the PAC-12 South title.

Group Of Five

The top team from a Group of Five conference (America, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Sun Belt) earns a New Year's Six bowl bid to the Cotton Bowl. The top contenders for the coveted slot entering the weekend were Appalachian State, Cincinnati, SMU, Boise State and Memphis. Two of those five - Boise State and Cincinnati - were idle this week.

Appalachian State won a 30-3 laugher at South Alabama, and SMU earned a hard-fought 34-31 win at Houston.

Memphis survived its journey to Tulsa, winning 42-41 when the Golden Hurricane missed a 29-yard field goal as time expired.

Undefeated

These are the 9 teams that remain perfect and the result of each of their games this week:

American:
SMU - Won 34-31 at Houston

ACC:
Clemson - Won 59-7 at home over Boston College

Big 12:
Baylor - Idle

Big 10:
Minnesota - Won 52-10 at home over Maryland
Ohio State - Won 38-7 at home over Wisconsin
Penn State - Won 28-7 at Michigan State

SEC:
Alabama - Won 48-7 at home over Alabama.
LSU - Won 23-20 at home over Auburn.

Sun Belt:
Appalachian State - Won 30-3  at South Alabama.

Winless

Akron, New Mexico State and Rice are still searching for their first victory.

Akron was skunked 49-0 at Northern Illinois. It was the second straight shutout loss for the Zips who will finish October having scored just 3 points the entire month.

NMSU lost 41-7 at Georgia Southern, and Rice fell 20-6 at home to Southern Miss.

FBS vs. FCS

114 games this year pit FBS teams against FCS schools. That's two more than a season ago when FBS teams won 105 of 112 games.

No FBS-FCS games were played this week.

FBS teams are 100-3 (.971) for the season. Since we began tracking this in 2003, the FBS schools are 1,424-127 (.918).

FCS victories over FBS teams in 2019:
August 29: Central Arkansas 35, Western Kentucky 28
September 7: Southern Illinois 45, Massachusetts 20
September 14: The Citadel 27, Georgia Tech 24 (OT)

FCS victories over FBS teams in 2018
August 29: UC Davis 44, San Jose State 31
September 1: Villanova 19, Temple 17
September 1: Northern Arizona 30, UTEP 10
September 1: Nicholls State 26, Kansas 23 (OT)
September 2: North Carolina A&T 28, East Carolina 23
September 8: Maine 31, Western Kentucky 28
September 22: Illinois State 35, Colorado State 19

Streaks

CLEMSON - Won 23 straight over-all (FBS longest). Won 25 straight regular season games (FBS longest) games. Won 19 straight conference games (FBS longest). Won 20 straight home games (FBS longest). Won 10 straight true road games (FBS longest).
Last: 59-7 home win over Boston College on October 26.
Next: Hosts FCS member Wofford on November 2.

ALABAMA - Won 30 straight home games (FBS longest).
Last: 48-7 home win over Arkansas on October 26.
Next: Hosts LSU on November 9.

OKLAHOMA - Had won 22 straight true road games (was FBS longest).
Last:: 48-41 loss at Kansas State on October 26.
Next: Hosts Iowa State on November 9.

RUTGERS - Lost 17 straight conference games (FBS longest).
Last: 44-34 home win over Liberty on October 19.
Next: Visits Illinois on November 2.

AKRON - Lost 13 straight overall (FBS longest).
Last: 49-0 at Northern Illinois on October 26.
Next: Visits Bowling Green on November 2.

CONNECTICUT - Had lost 21 straight vs. FBS teams (was FBS longest).
Last: Won 56-35 at UMass on October 26.
Next: Hosts Navy on November 1.

NEW MEXICO STATE - Lost 15 straight vs FBS teams (new FBS longest).
Last: Lost 41-7 at Georgia Southern
Next: Visits Ole Miss on November 9.

RICE - Lost 15 straight road games (FBS longest).
Last: Lost 20-6 at home to Southern Miss on October 19.
Next: Hosts Marshall on November 2.