College football's Week 9 winners and losers

Dan Wolken | USA TODAY Sports

Those who have been waiting for Clemson to stub its toe against a lesser opponent — the way previous Clemson teams have done — will have to wait a while longer. The Tigers, who might own the most important victory of the year in college football against Notre Dame, show no signs of slowing down after a 56-41 win at N.C. State and will head into their biggest game of their season next week with an 8-0 record.

It sets up a monumental moment for the program at home against Florida State on Saturday. Not only would a win against their annual division rivals set up Clemson for its first ACC title since 2011, but it would open up a pretty clear path to the College Football Playoff. At that point, all that would stand in Clemson’s way are three teams with losing records: Syracuse, Wake Forest and South Carolina plus a conference championship game.

And about that whole “Clemsoning” thing? It’s over. This Clemson team is strong on the line of scrimmage and can win in different ways, even on a day like Saturday when trailed 20-19 late in the second quarter after giving up a couple big early plays and a kickoff return for a touchdown. Though the defense took a step back Saturday, Clemson’s offense seems to gain confidence every week with quarterback Deshaun Watson, who finished with five touchdowns and 383 passing yards on 23-of-30 completions.

And with a big potential stumbling block out of the way, next week is going to be the most meaningful game at Clemson in a long, long time.

Other winners and losers from Week 9:

WINNERS

Florida: Though it’s not totally official yet — there are still technically some tiebreaker issues with Vanderbilt — the Gators all but wrapped up the SEC East on Saturday with a 27-3 victory against Georgia. Florida will be making its first trip to Atlanta since 2009, which is a huge surprise given the state of the program under Will Muschamp last season and the personnel problems inherited by Jim McElwain.

It’s hard to say what the rest of the season looks like for the Gators, who have clearly taken a step back offensively with Treon Harris at quarterback instead of Will Grier. Grier is suspended the rest of this season after testing positive for an NCAA-banned performance enhancing substance. But the Gators' defense is still tremendous, limiting Georgia to 223 yards of offense, and they have carried this team well above expectations.

Mississippi: Because the Rebels control the head-to-head tiebreaker over Alabama, the SEC could be in a nightmare playoff scenario if two-loss Ole Miss wins out. The Rebels, of course, don’t seem too eager to get out of Alabama’s way since losing to Memphis on Oct. 17. Though it certainly wasn’t perfect, Ole Miss held on for a solid 27-19 victory at Auburn and now needs to beat Arkansas, LSU and Mississippi State for its first trip to the SEC Championship game. Quarterback Chad Kelly overcame two interceptions, throwing for 381 yards and two touchdowns, while its maligned running game generated 156 yards.

Penn State: For all the nitpicking about the offense and quarterback Christian Hackenberg’s development, James Franklin continues to get good results. Penn State is 7-2 and clearly improving after a 39-0 whitewash of Illinois, a game in which its defense held Illinois to 130 passing yards and 37 rushing yards on 27 carries.

The best news, however, may be how efficient Hackenberg looked, completing 21 of 29 attempts for 266 yards and two touchdowns. Penn State will get an opportunity to show just how far it has come in the tough final stretch of the season, beginning at Northwestern next week and finishing with consecutive games against Michigan and Michigan State. The Nittany Lions will be a factor in who wins the Big Ten’s Eastern division.

Southern Miss: After sinking to unimaginable depths the past three seasons, the Golden Eagles returned to bowl eligibility with a 34-13 victory against Texas-El Paso. Southern Miss had made 10 consecutive bowl games — and won a Conference USA title in 2011 — before a shocking 0-12 season in 2012 under Ellis Johnson. The school fired Johnson after just one season and turned to Todd Monken, who has slowly rebuilt the program. After going 1-11 and 3-9 his first two years, Monken has Southern Miss at 6-3 and in contention for a C-USA title.

LOSERS

Nebraska: The Huskers have had a lot of bad luck in 2015, but their performance at Purdue in a 55-45 loss was just plain bad. Though Nebraska made the score a little more respectable late, this was a complete blowout as they trailed 42-16 heading into the fourth quarter and turned the ball over five times. Now 3-6, there will be serious questions about whether Mike Riley was the right hire for Nebraska after predecessor Bo Pelini won either nine or 10 games in seven consecutive seasons. Pelini was fired for many reasons, the foremost of which was his inability to get Nebraska to the next level of national relevance.

Though Nebraska’s first five losses came by a combined 13 points, Saturday was clear evidence the program has backslid. Injuries were undoubtedly a factor — quarterback Tommy Armstrong was among a handful of key players out Saturday — but Purdue was previously 1-18 in Big Ten games and 2-26 against FBS teams under Darrell Hazell.

Cal: After a 5-0 start, the Bears have quickly faded from contention in the Pac-12 North. Cal’s three consecutive losses have all come against good teams, including Saturday's 27-21 loss to Southern California, but the Bears still have three more quality opponents left. Squeaking out a 6-6 record would not be considered a huge success for Sonny Dykes in his third year. Highly-regarded quarterback Jared Goff had another tough game, throwing for just 272 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Duke: Not only did the Blue Devils lose in cruel and possibly questionable fashion to Miami, but they also lost the chance to be unblemished in the ACC Coastal division entering Saturday's game vs. North Carolina. The Tar Heels remain unbeaten in the division with Duke a game back, damaging Duke's chances of an outright title and berth in the ACC Championship game.

Minnesota: On Wednesday the Golden Gophers lost their coach to a sudden retirement for medical reasons. On Saturday the Golden Gophers lost a game for virtually no reason. Instead of kicking an extra-point-length field goal to send their home game vs. Michigan into overtime, Minnesota's coaches opted to go for the win, running their quarterback up the middle and getting stuffed at the goal line to end the game and any hope of a victory.

Georgia: Starting Faton Bauta at quarterback — who had previously been No. 3 on the depth chart — seemed like a desperate gambit for Mark Richt in an attempt to spark a flatlining offense that badly misses injured running back Nick Chubb. The results against Florida, however, only proved why Bauta hadn’t played earlier this season. Bauta completed just 15 of 34 passes for 154 and threw four interceptions. Now 5-3, Georgia is headed for a third consecutive disappointing season, which will spark more questions about Richt’s future.

Texas Tech: The Red Raiders put up 31 points in the first 19 minutes of their game against Oklahoma State and led by 17 points. It didn’t last long. The Cowboys dominated the second half, winning 70-53, and taking away an opportunity for a huge home win for Kliff Kingsbury. The Red Raiders have allowed more than 60 points in consecutive weeks (Oklahoma scored 63).

Boston College: The Eagles have been brutal on offense all year, and they tried their fourth different quarterback this season against Virginia Tech with similar results. Boston College gained only 80 yards in the first half of a 26-10 home loss, dropping the Eagles to 0-6 in the ACC. Boston College hasn’t scored more than 17 points this season against an FBS opponent.

HOW THE TOP 25 FARED IN WEEK 9