Can You Believe It?

Week 7 was Everything We Wanted and More

October 21, 2022

Welcome to Week 8 and welcome back to the Campus Talks newsletter

Wow, what a week that Week 7 was. Some people are calling it one the best weeks ever, some calling it the most electric week ever. Myself? I'll refer to it more simply - beautiful. It was beautiful. Can you believe it? Can you believe that college football exists? We are so fortunate to live in a world where college football is played every Saturday in the fall.

Life has been a bit busy lately, so no highlight column this week. We'll be back here next week.

But strap in and let's recap last week and look ahead to another big week, week 8. (Link to web version, can play videos directly in tweets there)

Week 7 Recaps

  • Instant Classic: 2006. That was the last time that Tennessee beat Alabama. On Saturday evening, they finally conquered past demons and were victorious against Bama once again. In what ended up being a shootout, Tennessee was able to keep with Bama's scoring with some impressive stats of their own. Quarterback Hendon Hooker went 21-30 with 385 yards and 5 TDs. Wide Receiver Jalin Hyatt caught 6 passes for 207 yards and 5 TDs, a school record. As the clock expired, Tennessee Kicker Chase McGrath sank a 40 yard field goal. Immediately more than 100,000 fans stormed the field and the party was on. Tennessee 52 - Alabama 49 (Tennessee +9 covers)

  • Fall Nights in Utah: Utah fans love their football team so their home crowd advantage is always tough, but there's something about a Fall Saturday night that makes Rice-Eccles Stadium even more difficult when the sun goes down. Saturday night was no different. USC was cruising their way to being 7-0, when the sun set and Utah came roaring all the way back. With the 4th quarter winding down, Utah Quarterback Cam Rising drove the Utes down the field for a touchdown. He then rushed it in for the two point conversion to seal the win. Kyle Wittingham went all in with the two point conversion deciding they were going to win or lose it right there. Utah 43 - USC 42 (USC +3.5 covers)

  • Big 12 Football is Good: The Big 12 has been a conference that has had some really solid football played so far this season. Saturday we had another instant classic between TCU and Oklahoma State. OK State started off hot and had a roaring 24-7 lead 5 minutes into the second quarter. It looked all but over for TCU, but they kept fighting and tied the game up at 30 with less than two minutes remaining. It took 2 overtimes, but TCU got the touchdown after an OK State field goal to seal the victory. TCU is now undefeated and 6-0 on the season. TCU 43 - Oklahoma State 40 (2/OT) (OK State +5 covers)

  • Michigan is a Contender: What was supposed to be a Top 10 dog fight, ended up being a Michigan "putting everyone on notice" game. Michigan played bully ball against Penn State running all over them all game. Even when Michigan was only up 2 at half time, it never really felt like Penn State was in it. Michigan finished with 418 rushing yards and 5 rushing TDs. They are a big, physical team and one week after people were singing Ohio State praises, now it's Michigan's turn. They might be the team to topple Ohio State this year. Michigan 41 - Penn State 17 (Michigan -7 covers)

Coaching Carousel

All is quiet on the coaching front. No new firings to report this week again, but don't let that concern you that the coaching carousel is cooling off. The hot seat is still uncomfortably warm for a lot of coaches. Bryan Harsin is probably the next big name that could go at any moment. His fit and tenure at Auburn was a disaster from the start. Not even the Auburn boosters wanted him, but the AD pushed him in. His Tigers are just 1-8 in their past 9 games against Power 5 schools. I'm actually not sure how he's still the coach given the buzz around him, but seems he could be gone at any moment. We'll keep our eyes alert for his depatrue.

Your New Top 25

via ESPN

Looking ahead to Week 8

  • #14 Syracuse @ #5 Clemson (-13.5)

  • #7 Ole Miss @ LSU (-2.5)

  • #9 UCLA @ #10 Oregon (-6.5)

  • #20 Texas (-6) @ #11 Oklahoma State

  • #24 Mississippi State @ #6 Alabama (-21)

  • #17 Kansas State @ #8 TCU (-3.5)

Sights from around the league

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