College football Week 7 schedule, scores, previews, fun stuff and more

An overtime game is always emotional for fans. Most often you get to see the happy faces of the wining team as they celebrate their victory in a postgame interview. But then there’s the other side of it: sad fans!

Based on the woman’s body language, it looks like she would rather tear her face off than sit idly by while Oklahoma State celebrates on Mountaineer Field.

If something big happens in sports, chances are that the fans are more pumped than the players. The players typically keep their composure, at least until the end of the game.

Kansas State’s kicker, however, was probably more excited than anyone about the field goal he kicked late in the fourth quarter. A few pats on the back calmed the erratic kicker for a few seconds until we went back to going crazy.

Alabama is pretty good, right? The Crimson Tide are usually credited as a collective whole, but let’s take time to appreciate the absolute annihilation from one player in particular.

Linebacker Dillon Lee pushes Arkansas running back Alex Collins with little regard. Actually, little regard would almost be a compliment. Based on Lee’s momentum, it looks like he didn’t even realize a player was in front of him until he saw him already jolting mid-air.

You definitely know two teams have a rivalry when their kickers get into altercations BEFORE the game.

There’s no love lost between the Miami Hurricanes and the Florida State Seminoles, so much so that the field is not big enough for two kickers to practice on.

In lieu of placing Puddles—their duck-billed mascot—on their helmet this week against the Washington State Cougars, the Oregon football team honored Lewis and Clark. This is quite possibly the most Oregon thing that Oregon has ever done, even more than Puddles!

But instead of being jealous, Puddles decided to get in on the Lewis and Clark action by dressing appropriately. We don’t know how much we trust Puddles exploring the northwest, but we definitely like the style.

Quentin Ezell is a 253-pound fullback, but don’t tell his legs that. He looks like a poised running back on his way to a Navy touchdown.

Probably the most amazing thing about this rotund rush is that the offensive line didn’t let the Notre Dame defenders get anywhere near their fullback. With that momentum, Notre Dame is lucky the 253-pound player didn’t mow down anyone on his way to the end zone.

Things calmed down considerably on the schadenfreude fronts this week, thanks to some well-timed bye weeks and narrowly avoided upsets. If you’re angry about the latter, please send all your mail to UNC, Kansas, and Purdue. Actually, don’t send anything to Kansas. They might misinterpret it as a job application, and then you’ll be stuck coaching in Lawrence.

Ramblin’ Wreck fans were relatively measured in their disappointment after Georgia Tech lost at home to Duke, perhaps in part due to the hour-plus rain delay before the start of the second half. But one From The Rumble Seat commenter demands pain and will create it if it is not given.

It’s your weekly look at how each college football conference stacks up so far.

“CHRISTIAN HACKENBERG? YER A BUM!”

He will say this about 15 more times in the game, always punctuated the same way, with CHRISTIAN HACKENBERG as a question, and YER A BUM! as the answer, always ending on a jolt. At one point he goes so far to walk down at least 15 rows, lean over the black, waist-high iron gate separating the stands from the field, and yell it out at Hackenberg from close range.

Last Week: 18-for-34, 246 yards, one TD, two INTs; 21 carries, 121 yards, two TDs; defeated Auburn, 38-23

2014 Season: 96-for-156, 1,478 passing yards, 14 TDs, four INTs; 106 carries, 576 yards, eight TDs; receiving TD

Current Odds: 9/4

Until (unless?) Mississippi State loses, Prescott is going to look like the best bet in this Heisman race because of two things: His pedigree and his position.

For fun, let’s project that over four full seasons with bowl appearances. That’s 52 games. Let’s throw in a 53rd for fun; we’ll say they make a conference title game at some point (hell, maybe in 2014). Obviously this assumes no injuries or slumps.

Texas outgained Oklahoma by 250 yards, committed only one turnover, held OU to 1-for-11 success on third downs, and lost on Saturday, 31-26. That’s really difficult to do.

Accompanied to Baton Rouge by outlandish expectations while transitioning from New Orleans (La.) St. Augustine, including comparisons to Adrian Peterson, Fournette had mostly been a disappointment before breaking out against the Gators with 27 carries for 140 yards and two touchdowns in the 30-27 win, his first 100-yard game against a power-conference opponent.

But to talk about impact performances by true freshmen and not mention a bevy of other talented young backs would be remiss. Several other ball-carriers impressed over the weekend, providing more evidence that running back is one of the few positions in football where high school success can quickly translate.

Another week down, another wild slate of games in college football. Six undefeated teams remain, as well as 22 one-loss power-conference teams. Mississippi State has officially removed Florida State from the top spot, with Ole Miss and Baylor filling out the other two hypothetical playoff spots in both the AP and Coaches Polls.

We’ve combined those polls with two long-running computer standings for this week’s broadest look at college football rankings:

There are many reasons to love college football. Tradition, school ties, the joy of watching bad defenses keep nearly every game within reach ... But why we really follow the sport is chaos. Pure chaos. The purest form of said chaos? Everyone finishing with a .500 conference record in the ACC Coastal.

The Coastal is one of college football’s most balanced (read: mediocre) divisions, without any superb team standing above the rest or dreadful team bringing the division down. Instead, there’s a whole bunch of average going on, and the chances of a seven-way tie, however slight, are just too delightful to pass up.

Only a couple of years ago, Baylor’s McLane Stadium was just a bunch of dirt by the Brazos River. It makes it too easy to draw reference to Baylor games as sandlot, “draw up plays” pick-up ball. But how are you supposed to avoid making those references after you watch Baylor and TCU do what they did on Saturday?

On the same day that Alabama and Arkansas clobbered each other over the head for 60 minutes in a 14-13 decision, and on the same day that Michigan and Penn State field goal’d each other to death in an 18-13 finish, TCU and Baylor combined for 119 points, 1,267 yards, 62 first downs, and 14 touchdowns and still found time for 11 punts.

Week 7 wasn’t as cataclysmic as Week 6, but the results of a few big games still reshape the College Football Playoff picture. Mississippi is running amuck, and there’s nothing you or I can do about it. Here are some new picks that might be slightly closer to the actual thing! Let’s wait and see!

Last week’s, for reference.

Clemson’s chances in a tough ACC game against Louisville have taken a major hit, as starting quarterback DeShaun Watson will miss the rest of the game with a hand injury, the school announced.

Update, 10/12: Watson will have surgery on his hand and will likely miss five weeks, per Scott Keepfer.

Florida wide receiver Latroy Pittman suffered what appeared to be a serious injury in the Gators’ game against LSU Saturday, taking a big hit from linebacker Kwon Alexander over the middle and dropping to the ground.

Update, 10/12: Good news from the Gators:

We’re gonna sort of repeat ourselves for a moment, but there’s no way around it. Ole Miss and Mississippi State -- already earning their highest AP rankings in 50 years and forever, respectively -- are still here. Either could even steal the No. 1 spot without too many serious gripes.

This is the same Mississippi that combined to go 6-10 in the SEC last year and 2-14 in both 2011 and 2005. The two have not combined for a winning record in the SEC since 1999. Only one Mississippi team appears among the 44 teams that have played in the SEC Championship, and that 1998 MSU team finished 8-5 and unranked.

Arkansas just barely lost a squeaker against Alabama on Saturday night. But Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema put it in perspective: things could always be worse.

He is referring, of course, to Paul Finebaum caller Phyllis from Mulga, whose rant on the call-in show went viral last week. Yep, things can definitely be worse. There but for the grace of god go Tide.

We’re not sure of the context here (besides CLANGA), but who cares? It’s Lou Holtz dancing with a cowbell!

Underrated: whatever the heck Rece Davis is doing. Clang on, Clangas.

An instantaneous survey of four teams in the best position for the College Football Playoff’s four spots at this very moment, plus the biggest threats looming for each. Be advised: these have nothing to do with the Top 25 polls. If you get mad about this, you will be pointed to the previous sentence.

A 35-20 win over Texas A&M on the road is not as impressive as it might have seemed after Week 2 or 3 of this season, but put it in a larger context.

Skowron was just 2-of-4 heading into the kick, but drilled what amounted to a practice attempt when USC called a time out. The actual attempt? Well that didn’t go as well. Skowron didn’t catch the ball well, missing well to the right. The miss was evident right off his foot and Skowron knew it then attempted to flop to draw a penalty. That attempt was also unsuccessful:

Via @RedditCFB