One sign of a great team to me is being able to survive and win games when things are not going their way. Every team will have an off-game every occasionally or play against a team firing on all cylinders, but the ones that can still win are teams that are seriously good. In this article, I will talk about teams who survived this week despite some mistakes or having a ton of pressure put on them and what their win means for the rest of the season.

Who Survived

Georgia

After they lost to South Carolina and struggled against Kentucky, Georgia was not held in very high regard by most college football fans. On the other hand, Florida had taken down Auburn, hung with LSU, and beat the same South Carolina team that Georgia lost to. Many people saw this game as a potential changing of the guard in the SEC East with Florida retaking the title after Georgia held it the lad two seasons. Georgia looked as though they had other plans as they beat Florida 24-17 to win this rivalry game for the third season in a row.

It seemed evident from the beginning that Florida was putting all of their defensive focus on stopping D’Andre Swift and getting push against Georgia’s elite offensive line. While Swift was not totally contained, he did have just 86 yards on 25 carries for his lowest yards per carry in a game this season. Florida’s defensive strategy indicated that they did not particularly trust Jake Fromm to beat them on his own. Well Fromm rose to the challenge and threw for 279 yards and two touchdowns. This game also marked the first time in his career that Fromm threw the ball 30 times and Georgia won the game. Lawrence Cager came up big for Georgia in this game, as he had seven catches for 132 yards and a touchdown. The Miami transfer was Fromm’s go to target all game and had three catches that moved the chains on third down. Georgia was very effective on third down the whole game as they moved they got the first down on 12/18 third down attempts. While their run game was not as effective as usual, Georgia was also able to control the ball, as they held the ball for 36 minutes.

Defensively, the Bulldogs completely bottled up Florida’s run game. Florida had just 21 rushing yards on the day for 1.1 yards per carry. While Kyle Trask did fine at quarterback, he just could not carry the offense. Georgia also did pretty well in pass coverage, deflecting six passes. Georgia also did well in not letting Florida extend their drives as the Gators were just 2/9 on third down.

The Bulldogs had some struggles on the ground, but still came away with a win, and Jake Fromm definitely made sure people did not forget about with his strong performance. While Georgia still has to play at Auburn, I think they should have no problem winning the rest of their games, which will set up a matchup with Alabama or LSU in the SEC Championship. Georgia might have an uphill battle, but the playoff is not out do the question for them. Also side note, but why can’t Georgia and Florida not both wear their home jerseys for this game. Is red and blue that much harder to tell apart than blue and white or red and white? I think the rule of not letting both teams wear their home jerseys if they are not similar colors is a dumb rule and it would make rivalry games like this one way more aesthetically pleasing.

Auburn

Auburn might have already had two losses going into the Ole Miss game, but they are still a very good team as both of those losses were on the road against a then top 10 Florida team and a second ranked LSU. The Tigers unfortunately had some slip ups on Saturday against Ole Miss as they could never really separate themselves in the 20-14 win. Their biggest issue on the day was their inability to creat big plays on the ground, with just one run of more than 10 yards all day. They also left some points on the board as they had three missed field goals.

Where the Tigers were able to find some success was through the air as Bo Nix threw for 340 yards. Nix did not throw for a touchdown, but was a definite aide in setting up the offense well. This was especially huge for Nix as he has had more and more people question his chops as a starting quarterback. Like I previously discussed with Georgia, Auburn also was able to keep their drives going as they were 12/21 on third down, and defended well on third down as Ole Miss concerted just 3/15 attempts. The Tigers also allowed just 99 passing yards from Ole Miss on 3.7 yards per attempt. The Tigers might have had to play an ugly game, but they were sure to win ugly.

Memphis

This past Saturday was the first time College GameDay had ever gone to Memphis and it made for possibly the biggest game in the program’s history. The Tigers hosted a then undefeated SMU team and they handed SMU their first loss of the season. The Tigers came out with a 54-48 win, but it was definitely not won the way most fans would have expected. Memphis has been known to be pretty reliant upon the run game during Mike Norvell’s tenure, but they flipped that narrative on its head a bit this game. Brady White had a strong showing at quarterback, throwing for 350 yards and three touchdowns. Also coming up big we’re receivers Damonte Coxie and Antonio Gibson. Coxie led the team with seven catches for 143 yards while Gibson had a terrific all-purpose day. Gibson ripped off a 78 yard run to put the Tigers ahead 54-32 in the fourth quarter, he had 130 receiving yards and a touchdown, and he ran the opening kickoff of the second half back 97 yards for a touchdown. Memphis also struggled a bit in terms of defending the pass (or just defense in general). They allowed 456 passing yards from SMU’s Shane Buechele, but they were still able to find ways to win. SMU put up 48 points, but they still had to punt six times during the game while Memphis trotted out their punter just once and had one turnover on downs early. With this win, Memphis controls their own destiny in the AAC East and even has a decent chance to be the G5 rep in the NY6 Bowls.

Notre Dame

After losing to Michigan by 31 points, Notre Dame was not held in a very high regard by most college football fans. A loss at home to Virginia Tech would have really put the Fighting Irish in bad spot. That looked to be the case for awhile as Virginia Tech held a 20-14 lead deep into the fourth quarter. After Virginia Tech first took the 20-14 lead with 13 minutes left to play, Notre Dame then went on two pretty impressive drives. The first of which was 17 plays long and they went 82 yards. The drive featured two third down conversions and a fourth down conversion, all of which had at least five yards to go for the first down. Unfortunately, that drive ended with a missed field goal and Virginia Tech had the ball up six with seven minutes left to play. After coming up with a big stop, the Fighting Irish got the ball back with 3:19 left (also Virginia Tech deserved a turnover on downs after they tried and failed to huddle up and confuse their opponent as to which player was holding the ball). From there, they went on a 18 play, 87 yard drive that ended with the game winning touchdown. This drive needed two fourth down conversions, the biggest of which was when Ian Book completed a 26 yard pass to Chase Claypool on a fourth and ten with a minute to play that put Notre Dame inside the 10. While they struggled for most of the game, Notre Dame was able to flip on the switch and get things going in the fourth quarter which is not ideal, but I am sure most fans can live with it (actually I am not sure about that knowing how Notre Dame fans typically do not have reasonable expectations).

Baylor

Baylor remained undefeated last week but it was not without some worrying. The Bears had to play against West Virginia in a weird Thursday night game. Baylor looked in control during the second half but that was before West Virginia ran back a kickoff to keep the game tied at 14. From there, Baylor had to punt the ball away and get a key stop before finally kicking through what ended up being the game winning field goal with four minutes left. Charlie Brewer did well at quarterback, but overall the Bears were not dazzling anybody with their offensive performance. What they did do well offensively was sit on the ball as they had possession for 36 minutes, and were able to bleed the clock. Baylor also completely shut down West Virginia’s run game, allowing just 14 rushing yards in total. With the amount of playoff caliber teams, Baylor has a small margin of error if they want their playoff dreams to come true. They kept those dreams alive with this win.

Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State received some pretty tough news this week when it was revealed that star receiver Tylan Wallace would be out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL. Wallace often carries the passing attack for Oklahoma State this season and it seemed possible that the Cowboys would be worse throwing the ball and now opponents could fully sell out for stop star running back Chuba Hubbard. Whatever strategy TCU did employ to slow down Hubbard on Saturday did not work as he ran for 223 yards while running for over 10 yards per attempt. Hubbard has been borderline unstoppable this season as he has 1,604 rushing yards in nine games and leads the nation in rushing by a fairly big margin. The gap in yards between Hubbard and the second leading rusher in the country is larger than the gap between the second and twelfth leading rusher in the country. Hubbard has been dominant this season and I feel like he needs way more Heisman buzz, but that is just what happens when you do not play on a top level team. I think Hubbard is the best running back in the country and should be one of the favorites for the Heisman, especially if he keeps up these numbers as the main doves of Oklahoma State’s offense.

While Hubbard deserves a lot of the credit for Oklahoma State’s win, some credit also should go to receiver Dillon Stoner who stepped up and had 93 receiving yards and two touchdowns to make up for Wallace’s absence. Quarterback Spencer Sanders also threw for 158 yards on 15 passing attempts and ran for another 88 yards. Where the Cowboys also came up big was in the pass rush. They had five sacks on the day, and another eight quarterback hurries. This solid pass rush also led to three interceptions for Oklahoma State, two of which by Kolby Harvell-Peel. The Cowboys stepped up big time this week despite being without a star player, and had to rearrange their offense a bit. Despite all that, they came away with a win over a solid TCU team. The Bedlam game against Oklahoma during rivalry week will definitely be an exciting matchup.

Some Random Thoughts

1. Appalachian State is no longer undefeated after they fell to rival Georgia Southern last Thursday night. The Mountaineers have had their ranking in the top 25 spoiled by Georgia Southern for the second straight year now. Also this rivalry game is very underrated.

2. Rutgers has interviewed Butch Jones and Greg Schiano for their head coaching vacancy. I think Rutgers should really try for Schiano and Eastern Michigan head coach Chris Creighton. Jones on the other hand, does not seem promising after his tenure with Tennessee.

3. College GameDay will be going to Tuscaloosa this week for Alabama’s matchup with LSU. I know many people are upset that they are not going to Minneapolis to see Minnesota and Penn State, but it is hard to argue that they should not go to the most hyped up regular season game since these same two teams played in 2011.

4. Purdue had a pretty nice win over Nebraska on Saturday. The Boilermakers lost quarterback Jack Plummer who was already the backup to an injury near the start of the fourth quarter, leaving third string walk-on Aidan O’Connell to take the reigns. Purdue was down by three after Nebraska scored with four minutes left to play, but they marched down the field and scored on a reverse to win 31-27.

5. Nebraska has struggled on the road in the Scott Frost era as they have only won one game away from Lincoln since he has been the head coach. Nebraska will almost for sure not make a bowl game this year either as they would need to beat either Wisconsin or Iowa to do so.

6. Boston College ran absolutely wild in their 58-27 win over Syracuse. The Eagles had 496 rushing yards as a team including 242 yards from AJ Dillon and 172 yards from David Bailey. The Eagles are down to their third string quarterback and have been relying on the ground game a lot more. What is surprising is that it has worked fairly well. It will be interesting to see how the Eagles fare against the remaining teams on their schedule as they have to play Florida State, Notre Dame, and Pittsburgh and will be bowl eligible with one win in those three games.

7. Texas A&M running back Isaiah Spiller had a big day on the ground 217 with rushing yards in a 45-14 victory over UTSA. The Aggies seem to have found their footing in the run game, and that definitely will make them a tougher out.

8. Houston’s 2019 season has been a bit of a disaster, but I have been encouraged by their last couple of games. While they lost both, they hung tough with two pretty solid teams in SMU and UCF.

9. Even though Virginia Tech lost to Notre Dame, I think head coach Justin Fuente’s job should be safe. The Hokies have had a lot of injuries and are now on their third string quarterback. Fuente seemed on the hot seat to start this season, but I think that should have cooled off a bit as Virginia Tech is now 5-3.

10. Illinois is inching toward bowl eligibility and it is now in their grasp. The Fighting Illini need to beat either Michigan State, Iowa, or Northwestern to get to a bowl game for the first time since 2014.

11. Miami had a nice righting of the ship in their 27-10 win over rival Florida State. Quarterback Jarren Williams had a nice day, and the Hurricanes absolutely swarmed Florida State defensively. Miami had nice sacks and 16 tackles for loss on the day. The star of the show for the Hurricanes was defensive end Gregory Rousseau who just recently worked his way into the starting lineup. Rousseau definitely did enough to keep his starting job as he had four sacks and five tackles for loss against Florida State. On the season, Rousseau has 12 sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss, which is on par with Ohio State’s Chase Young. I will be interested to see how Rousseau, a redshirt freshman, does the rest of the season.

12. This loss for Florida State also led to the firing of head coach Willie Taggart. Taggart was only in his second season in Tallahassee, but things have definitely not gone well for him. Taggart had a rough 2018, but there was still confidence that he would turn things around. That did not look like the case as Florida State is currently 4-5. While many might say that he was fired too early in his tenure, I think it was reasonable. Florida State has not improved at all this season, they really did not show any fight or strong desire to win, and they have been heavily penalized and play very undisciplined. I think the program is in definite need of a culture change.

13. I do not know who Florida State will go with, but I have heard rumors about Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops being a top candidate. Stoops was the defensive coordinator for the Seminoles from 2010-2012 and has done a great job at Kentucky. There would be worse hires to make than him. I also have heard Florida State and NFL legend Deion Sanders express interest in the job. While I think it could help recruiting, I do not really think he has the coaching chops to handle that job as he has only coached some for high schools. Still, it would be interesting and I could see it working if they make good coordinator hires. This hire will be huge for Florida State as whiffing ok a second straight coaching hire will really take the program to a really bad spot.

14. Mississippi State running back Kylin Hill had a monster game of his own as he ran for 234 yards in Mississippi State’s 54-24 win over Arkansas.

15. North Texas had a solid 52-26 win over UTEP on Saturday where quarterback Mason Fine threw for 332 yards and an astounding seven touchdowns. What was definitely more interesting though was that he did his postgame interview in a dinosaur costume.

16. This Memphis fan that booed a bad call and got kicked out of the game for it is a national treasure. I also would like to applaud the camera guy that made the decision to just focus on him for 20 seconds.

17. Even though he might not be the better option, Ole Miss needs to stick with John Rhys Plumlee at quarterback because he is very entertaining to watch. Plumlee lacks arm talent, but is a very good runner and he makes for some entertaining.

18. East Carolina gave Cincinnati all they could handle and then some, but ultimately lost 46-43 on a game winning field goal. The Pirates were ahead 40-28 in the fourth quarter but unfortunately collapsed. East Carolina quarterback Holton Ahlers threw for an impressive 535 yards, 283 of which were to CJ Johnson.

19. Indiana is 7-2 after winning 34-3 over Northwestern. The Hoosiers already are in the middle of their winningest season since 2007 and one more win will give them their winningest season since 1993. I think their upcoming matchups with Penn State and Michigan will be interesting.

20. Virginia had a very nice North Carolina as quarterback Bryce Perkins threw for 378 yards and three touchdowns while running for another 112 and two touchdowns. The ACC Coastal race is still chaotic, but it looks to be down to Virginia, Pittsburgh, and Virginia Tech.

21. Speaking of division title races, Oregon State is still second in the Pac 12 North. The Beavers beat Arizona 56-38 last week, and are fighting to try and play in a bowl game. They are 4-4 but still have to play Washington and Oregon. There is hope but not a lot.

22. Oregon blew out USC Saturday night after USC seemingly made it interesting at first. USC led 10-0 at the end of the first quarter, but then the Ducks outscored USC 56-14 the rest of the way. Oregon was ranked seventh in the first college football playoff rankings, but they were ranked above Oklahoma meaning if they win out, they should be in the playoff as three teams ahead of them mathematically have to lose before the season is over.

23. This game also looks to signify the beginning of the end for Clay Helton at USC. The Trojans hired a new athletic director this week, and I think that was the nail in the coffin. A new athletic director will not want to start their tenure off with a football coach they do not have faith in and Helton has done little to earn anyone’s trust based off of what he has done with the tremendous talent USC has.

24. If you thought for a second the Thursday night crew of Adam Amin, Matt Hasselbeck, and Pat McAfee were not going to dress up for the game they broadcasted on Halloween, you are sorely mistaken. Amin, Hasselbeck, and McAfee dressed up as Ron Burgundy, Brick Tamland, and Champ Kind from anchorman. I only wish they had a fourth member to complete the main cast.

25. UCLA has won three straight games after their 31-14 win over Colorado and honestly a bowl game is doable for the Bruins. They will need to beat both USC and Cal, but neither team is in a great spot at the moment.

26. This week’s cool uniform award goes to Oregon, North Texas, UCF, and Purdue.

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