And on Saturday Jim Harbaugh’s team humiliated Penn State, 42-7, to improve to 8-1 (6-0 Big Ten).

Michigan entered the day giving up just 3.71 yards per play. Penn State fared just a bit better, averaging 3.96.

The Wolverines have one last stop on the revenge tour. After facing Rutgers and Indiana the next two weeks, there’s an excellent chance they will be 10-1 with only Ohio State standing in the way of a Big Ten title game appearance.

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This might be coordinator Don Brown’s nastiest defense since he came to Ann Arbor, with end Chase Winovich and linebacker Devin Bush the key cogs. No one’s surpassed the 24-point plateau against the Wolverines, and it’s fair to wonder if anyone will before a potential national semifinal.

One thing’s for sure: With the chance to exact some payback, the Wolverines didn’t let Wisconsin, Michigan State and now Penn State come close to settling in on offense.

Winners

Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish remained undefeated, turning back host Northwestern 31-21 to improve to 9-0.

Notre Dame authored perhaps the most impressive drive of the day after the Wildcats (5-4) trimmed a 17-point deficit to merely a field goal with two quick touchdown drives. The Irish went 89 yards in 10 plays, culminating with quarterback Ian Book’s 23-yard scoring run off a fake handoff coming out of a timeout.

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The question left for Brian Kelly’s team: Can it sweep through Florida State, Syracuse and Southern California and complete a perfect regular season? If it does, it’s hard to imagine the Irish will miss out on a playoff berth.

Army. The Black Knights are assured of retaining the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy after a 17-14 defeat of Air Force. Army (7-2) can still win it outright with a Dec. 8 defeat of Navy, and the Black Knights might well be going for a 10-win season since FCS foes Lafayette and Colgate will make the trip to West Point the next two weeks.

An amazing statistic: With the victory over the Falcons, Army will possess the trophy in consecutive seasons for the first time in program history.

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Georgia. The Bulldogs locked up their second SEC East title in a row, dispatching Kentucky, 34-17. Georgia (8-1, 6-1) now must survive the next three games (against Auburn, Massachusetts and Georgia Tech) to turn its SEC title game appearance into a de facto play-in game for the playoff.

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UTEP. Take a bow, Miners. The longest losing streak in the FBS — 20 miserable games — came to an end as UTEP fended off Rice, 34-26. Not that it wasn’t more interesting than it needed to be. The Miners (1-8, 1-4 Conference USA) led 34-10 entering the fourth quarter before the Owls (1-9, 0-6) made a late push. Nonetheless, they nabbed their first victory since 2016, a span of three coaches.

West Virginia. Fortune favors the bold, something the Mountaineers reminded everyone of Saturday. West Virginia pulled within a point of Texas when Will Grier found Gary Jennings Jr. for a 33-yard touchdown catch with 16 seconds to play. After three timeouts (one by West Virginia, then two by Texas), Grier scampered in for the two-point conversion and a 42-41 victory.

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* Seth Williams. Catch of the day?

The Auburn freshman’s 11-yard touchdown grab from Jarrett Stidham lifted the Tigers past Texas A&M, 28-24. Auburn is now bowl-eligible at 6-3, with Georgia and Alabama still to come this month.

Losers

Bobby Petrino. This is getting embarrassing. The Cardinals’ post-Lamar Jackson descent continued as they sealed a losing season. It was pretty obvious a team that had lost 66-31 to Georgia Tech and 56-35 to Wake Forest was facing a choose-the-score situation at Clemson. Only Clemson got to choose the score, and it was 77-16.

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The Cardinals (2-7, 0-6 ACC) have fallen apart, and that lands on the fifth-year coach. With Syracuse, N.C. State and Kentucky to come, there’s a good chance that not only will there be a new coach, but that he’ll inherit a nine-game losing streak.

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Miami. The Hurricanes have lost three in a row. That’s bad for a team expected to win the ACC’s Coastal Division.

They’ve averaged 13 points a game during the skid. That’s even worse for a team with a senior quarterback (Malik Rosier) and a coach (Mark Richt) known for his offensive acumen.

And those losses came against Virginia, Boston College and Duke. That’s awful, at least for a fanbase that is apoplectic when Miami isn’t winning 11 games a year. This just in: Miami (5-4, 2-3 ACC) isn’t going to win 11 games this year.

Penn State. The Nittany Lions’ 42-7 loss to Michigan was not only ugly, it also meant that James Franklin’s team was swept by the other three Big Ten East powers. Unlike the home losses to Michigan State and Ohio State, this was thoroughly noncompetitive.

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Maybe it was expecting too much from Penn State to win 10 or 11 regular season games. It wasn’t too much to think the Nittany Lions (6-3, 3-3) could avoid a thrashing like this. Then again, maybe it’s the Big House; Penn State lost 49-10 in Ann Arbor two years ago

Pac-12 South. With Utah’s 38-20 loss at Arizona State, all six teams in the Pac-12 South have at least three losses. To describe it as mediocre is a disservice to mediocrity.

Florida. A week after falling out of the SEC East race by losing to Georgia, the Gators no-showed at home against Missouri in a 38-17 loss. Florida fell to 6-3.