It'll hard to distill the ups and downs of Week 9 of the college football season down into four bite-sized chunks, but we're here to try. Here's our list of the 4 Things We Learned In Week 9 Of College Football.
1. We're Setting Up For Some Massive Late-Season Showdowns
With the way everything's shook out on Saturday, we now know that the College Football Playoff will have several in-season elimination games on its hands over the final few weeks of the college football season. Next week we get #3 Clemson hosting #17 Florida State, a battle of undefeated conference rivals between #5 TCU and #12 Oklahoma State, and a gigantic prime-time showdown between #4 LSU and #7 Alabama. All three of those games will have major CFP implications, and they're only the precursor to what'll be a wild and wooly sprint towards the conference championship games.
2. The Endings Are Getting Crazier
There was Michigan State's improbable last-second win over Michigan on a scoop-and-score off a fumbled punt attempt two weeks ago. The next week, we were given another highlight reel finish with Georgia Tech knocking Florida State from the ranks of the unbeaten with a blocked field goal returned for a TD with time expiring. This week? It was Miami putting Al Golden's firing behind them with a nutso eight-lateral play to beat Duke at the final whistle.
Three weeks, three timeless moments. We're spoiled.
3. Nebraska's In Awful Shape
There'll be plenty of Nebraska fans and boosters who'll preach patience with Mike Riley, even after the team's embarassing 55-45 road loss to Purdue on Saturday. However, we can't help but think that Bo Pelini would have gotten more out of this team in big moments than the more even-keeled Riley. Nebraska is 3-6 now and will have to win out against Iowa, Michigan State and Rutgers just to make a bowl at 6-6. That's a huge fall for a team that never fell below nine wins during Bo Pelini's seven years in town.
It's lucky for other big programs who were embarrassed on Saturday (Texas, Georgia we're looking at you) that Riley's struggles will likely be the major negative which resonates from Week 9.
4. The Group Of Six Is Strong
It's a shame that undefeated Memphis is only ranked #15 in the latest AP Poll. They're good enough on offense to beat at least half of the teams ahead of them at a neutral site. QB Paxton Lynch has been a revelation all year long, but he didn't even have to do that much in the team's 41-13 hammering of Tulane on Saturday. Memphis isn't the only non-Power 5 team making waves, however. Temple acquitted itself well in a narrow 24-20 loss to Notre Dame. Houston PASTED Vanderbilt in a 34-0 home rout to move to 8-0. Toledo remains perfect at 7-0 heading into a Tuesday showdown with Northern Illinois.
This isn't quite the rise of the mid-majors like we've seen in college basketball, but it's something close.
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