Indiana’s statement, Penn State’s implosion and more college football Week 7 takeaways

And now, 20 Final Thoughts from Week 7. Who’s ready for Indiana, Georgia Tech, Texas Tech and Navy in the College Football Playoff semifinals?

1. College football history is littered with stories of coaches lifting longtime doormats to glory: Bill Snyder at Kansas State, Bill McCartney at Colorado, Rich Brooks at Oregon, Frank Beamer at Virginia Tech, among others. The common theme: slow, steady progress, with the payoff finally coming three, four, five years down the road.

Indiana’s Curt Cignetti, by contrast, has pulled off one of the most impressive transformations in the history of the sport in the span of just 19 games. Why waste time with the traditional “cute, cuddly underdog” phase when you can go straight to “big, bad bully that can beat anyone in the country”?

2. The seventh-ranked Hoosiers (6-0, 3-0 Big Ten) went to Autzen Stadium, where No. 3 Oregon was 22-1 at home under Dan Lanning, and left zero doubt they were the better team in a 30-20 win. The more physical team, too. Indiana’s defense held the Ducks’ (5-1, 2-1) normally potent offense to 267 yards, sacking Heisman front-runner Dante Moore six times.

It appeared Oregon had seized momentum early in the fourth quarter when freshman Brandon Finney Jr. picked off Fernando Mendoza and returned it 35 yards to tie the score at 20, but Mendoza turned around and led a 75-yard touchdown drive, after which IU’s defense picked off Moore twice to seal the victory.

Cignetti’s surprise 11-win team in 2024 mostly won with its skill talent. Its offensive line got exposed when it ran into superior foes Ohio State and Notre Dame (the latter in the CFP). That did not happen this time. IU protected Mendoza well against Oregon’s athletic defensive front. The potential first-rounder wasn’t great (20 of 31, 215 yards, one TD, one INT), but he connected repeatedly with stud WR Elijah Sarratt (eight catches, 121 yards, one TD).

3. Obviously, the transfer portal makes it possible to flip a program faster than prior generations could, but signing a bunch of transfers is no guarantee of anything. Ask North Carolina. Cignetti has hit on his portal additions at an astounding rate. Mendoza (Cal), Sarratt and LB Aiden Fisher (James Madison), RB Roman Hemby and OLB Kellan Wyatt (Maryland) and OT Kahlil Benson (Colorado) all played major roles Saturday.

But Cignetti, offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan and defensive coordinator Bryant Haines are terrific schemers, too. They outcoached Lanning’s own highly respected staff.

Indiana, which had never beaten a top-five foe on the road, will likely enter the top five itself on Sunday. It belongs there. Though I’m sure some folks will now try to claim Oregon was overrated, because …

4. … That Penn State team the Ducks beat in overtime on Sept. 27 has imploded in spectacular fashion. The Nittany Lions (3-3, 0-3 Big Ten) became the first known team to lose consecutive games to 20-plus point underdogs, falling 22-21 at home to Northwestern (4-2, 2-1) a week after going down at then-0-4 UCLA. Wildcats running back Caleb Komolafe (19 carries, 72 yards) scored a go-ahead 9-yard TD with 4:51 left, after which Penn State failed to gain a first down and failed to stop Northwestern from running out the last 3:00.

Adding injury to insult, senior quarterback Drew Allar (13 of 20 for 137 yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT) suffered a season-ending leg injury on a third-down scramble on the Nittany Lions’ last drive.

5. No need for the “will they or won’t they pay” dance at this point. James Franklin is done. Penn State fans made that abundantly clear Saturday by arriving uncharacteristically late to the game and booing their heads off when the game ended. There’s no winning them back. Come end of season, the school and its 12th-year coach will negotiate some sort of reduced buyout (from $48 million). The only question now is how many more games will the nation’s preseason No. 2 team lose?

Because it just lost to its own conference’s preseason No. 15 (UCLA) and No. 17 (Northwestern) teams.

6. Texas quarterback Arch Manning has taken his share of heat in this column, so let me say emphatically: He was great in the Longhorns’ 23-6 Red River rout of No. 6 Oklahoma. Manning (21 of 27, 166 yards, one TD, no INT; plus a 29-yard rush) got the ball out quicker, got sacked just once by a defense that came in averaging 4.2 sacks per game and, most importantly, protected the ball. That said, the Horns scored only one offensive touchdown.

It was Texas’ (4-2, 1-1 SEC) defense that may have saved its season.

Bouncing back from a brutal day at Florida last week, the Horns suffocated Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer (20 of 38 for 202 yards), sacking him five times and picking him thrice. Perhaps Mateer rushed back too soon from his September thumb surgery, though he said afterward, “The pain level was nothing, no excuse.” But this was the type of dominant defensive performance we’ve come to expect under Texas DC Pete Kwiatkowski, the kind that can keep Texas in every game while Manning (hopefully) keeps progressing.

7. Technically, Texas was a slight favorite in Red River, but it’s still a disheartening result for Brent Venables’ Oklahoma team. As Mateer goes, so do the Sooners (5-1, 1-1), who have no rushing attack whatsoever. And the rest of their schedule is … rough. At South Carolina, Ole Miss, at Tennessee, at Alabama, Missouri, LSU. Oklahoma’s defense is strong enough to keep it in every game, but Mateer may need to be Herculean to get his team to the Playoff.

8. There’s always at least one stunning Week 1 result that proves to have been wildly misleading. This year, it was Florida State’s 31-17 rout of Alabama.

Bama (5-1, 3-0 SEC) just beat its third straight ranked opponent with its 27-24 win at No. 14 Missouri (5-1, 1-1). Tide QB Ty Simpson (23 of 31 for 200 yards, three TDs, no INT) looks like the SEC’s best passer. On Bama’s fourth-quarter drive to go up 27-17, Simpson threw a 29-yard strike to freshman Lotzeir Brooks on fourth-and-8, then threw a touchdown on fourth-and-goal from the 1. And the defense that got run over in Tallahassee shut down Mizzou’s No. 3 rushing offense in the second half and sealed the win on an interception.

Those calls for Tide coach Kalen DeBoer’s head proved premature. At the time, that debacle in Tallahassee marked Bama’s fourth loss in its last five road games. But since then, it has won in Athens, Ga., and Columbia, Mo., and its only remaining trips are to mediocre South Carolina and Auburn.

9. As for FSU, its turnaround from last year’s 2-10 disaster is proving to be less dramatic than it seemed in late August. Pitt (4-2, 2-1 ACC) came to Doak Campbell and knocked off Mike Norvell’s team 34-31, dropping the 3-3 Noles to 0-3 ACC in play. Pitt true freshman QB Mason Heintschel, promoted to QB1 just last week, averaged 11.1 yards per passing attempt. While he also threw two picks, FSU only converted them into three points.

I assume FSU, which travels to 2-4 Stanford next week, will at least get bowl-eligible, but Noles fans got their hopes up that this team had a higher ceiling. FSU is now 1-10 in conference play since the start of last season. For perspective, Bobby Bowden lost just eight games during FSU’s first 13 years in the conference (1992-2004).

10. Ohio State’s 2025 defense may be the sport’s most dominant unit since Georgia’s 2021 national championship defense that allowed just 10.2 points per game. The top-ranked Buckeyes (6-0, 3-0 Big Ten) delivered another suffocating performance in their 34-16 rout at Illinois (5-2, 2-2). They limited the nation’s fifth-rated passer, Illini QB Luke Altmyer, to just 5.6 yards per pass attempt; he came in averaging 10.6. They forced three turnovers, had four sacks and allowed 1.7 yards per rushing attempt.

But the most telling window into DC Matt Patricia’s unit came a night earlier, when one of their previous foes played. Washington star Demond Williams Jr. showed why he might be a future All-American, throwing for 402 yards and running for 136 in the Huskies’ (5-1, 2-1 Big Ten) 38-19 win over Rutgers (3-3, 0-3). He is just the 16th FBS player to pass for 400 and rush for 100 in the same game.

Ohio State held him to 145 total yards.

11. USC (5-1, 3-1 Big Ten) has been flying under the radar, but there’s a lot to like about Lincoln Riley’s team, which ran away from No. 15 Michigan (4-2, 2-1), 31-13 at the Coliseum. QB Jayden Maiava (25 of 32 for 265 yards, two TDs and one INT) and WR Makai Lemon (nine catches, 93 yards, one TD) have excelled all season, but the Trojans can run the ball, too. After USC lost its top two tailbacks, Waymond Jordan and Eli Sanders, in the first half, freshman walk-on King Miller came in and burst for 158 yards on 18 carries.

Riley has calmed the waters after a couple of rough years, but he could fully win the fans back if the Trojans find a way to win next week at No. 16 Notre Dame. He’s not been great on the road, though, and the Irish (4-2), which stomped NC State (4-3) 36-7 on Saturday, will be USC’s toughest foe to date.

12. I truly feel bad for Auburn, which has now been on the wrong end of game-changing officiating miscues in two of its three SEC losses. First, it was the Oklahoma trick-play touchdown that should have been negated. Then on Saturday, a Jackson Arnold goal-line sneak that would have put the Tigers up 17-0 on No. 10 Georgia late in the first half turned into a fumble recovery for the Dawgs. TV replays indicated Arnold had crossed the plane, albeit barely, but the SEC command center upheld the fumble call. Georgia (5-1, 3-1 SEC), which had barely moved the ball to that point, drove down and kicked a field goal, eventually scoring 20 unanswered points in a 20-10 win.

Georgia’s offense has been underwhelming for much of the season, but the Dawgs sealed the game with an 8:45 touchdown drive in which QB Gunner Stockton was 7 of 8 for 63 yards. Thus, they remain in the thick of the SEC race. Auburn, on the other hand, is now 0-3 in the conference and 2-9 since the start of last season. SEC officiating has managed to turn Hugh Freeze into a sympathetic figure.

13. Another week, another convincing victory for No. 5 Texas A&M (6-0, 3-0 SEC), which looks like it could be the conference’s most complete team. The Aggies won 34-17 at home over Florida (2-4, 1-2), which couldn’t build on its big Texas win last week. A&M’s absurd success stopping its opponents on third down continued, with the Gators converting just 1-of-10 attempts. The Aggies’ three SEC opponents combined have gone 2 of 33 on third downs.

In an unusual scheduling quirk, all three of A&M’s conference games so far (Auburn, Mississippi State and Florida) have been at home. That will now flip, with consecutive road games at Arkansas (2-4), No. 11 LSU and No. 14 Missouri. I predict the Aggies won’t still be perfect after that stretch, but their SEC title hopes will still be intact.

14. A year after nearly reaching the CFP, South Carolina (3-3, 1-3 SEC) has slipped back into the bottom half of the SEC. No. 11 LSU (5-1, 2-1) completely shut down Gamecocks star LaNorris Sellers (143 total yards, no TDs, one INT) in a 20-10 win. The game was only as close as it was because the Tigers coughed up two turnovers at the goal line. It feels like Shane Beamer’s program has spent five years ping-ponging between tantalizing surprises and humbling mediocrity, and this season has become one of the latter.

15. BYU is doing it again, folks. The Cougars were one of the nation’s biggest surprises when they started 9-0 last season, en route to 11-2. Expectations were tempered for the 2025 team when it lost QB Jake Retzlaff to Tulane, but lo and behold, the Cougars are 6-0 again. No. 18 BYU (6-0, 3-0 Big 12) survived at Arizona (4-2, 1-2), 33-27 in double overtime, after rallying from a 24-14 fourth-quarter deficit.

It sets up a massive edition of the always-heated Holy War next week in Provo. Utah (5-1, 2-1) throttled short-handed Arizona State (4-2, 2-1), 42-10. It was a vintage Kyle Whittingham-flavored performance, as Devon Dampier and the Utes ran for 276 yards and six TDs. And with Sun Devils star Sam Leavitt sidelined, the Utes defense shut down his replacement, the well-traveled Jeff Sims (18 of 38 for 124 yards).

The Holy War is always good for something wild, like last year’s defensive holding call on fourth down that gave BYU new life en route to a game-winning field goal (after which Utah AD Mark Harlan lost his mind). It’s going to be a blast.

16. Texas Tech quarterback Behren Morton can’t seem to avoid the injury bug. He went out for the third time this season, suffering an apparent leg injury in the second quarter. But the ninth-ranked Red Raiders (6-0, 3-0 Big 12) have a lot of weapons. RB Cameron Dickey exploded for a career-high 263 yards and two TDs on 21 carries in Tech’s 42-17 rout of Kansas (4-3, 2-2). Joey McGuire has a heck of a rushing tandem in Dickey and J’Koby Williams, who are averaging a combined 158.2 yards per game.

The current Big 12 favorites (58 percent chance to win the league, per Austin Mock) visit the defending Big 12 champs next week at Arizona State.

17. Deion Sanders’ thus-far disappointing third season at Colorado took a turn for the better Saturday when the Buffs (3-4, 1-3 Big 12) knocked off No. 22 Iowa State, 24-17. Liberty transfer quarterback Kaidon Salter, who lost his job at one point, had his best game to date (16 of 25 for 255 yards, two TDs, no INTs; nine carries for 57 yards), while veteran Rocco Becht (18 of 33, 205 yards, no TDs, one INT) struggled for the suddenly fading Cyclones (5-2, 2-2). It was Sanders’ first Top 25 win since his first game in 2023 at TCU, and it came just four days after the coach underwent surgery for blood clots in his leg.

Coach Prime was apparently unaware the Big 12 fines schools when the fans storm the field until after it happened Saturday. “Who made that a rule?” he asked.

18. The list of Group of 5 CFP contenders still runs four or five deep, but no one is touching No. 24 USF’s (5-1, 2-0 American) resume yet. USF, which began the year by smacking Boise State and upsetting Florida, scored 42 second-half points in front of undefeated North Texas’s sold-out crowd, winning 63-36. QB Byrum Brown (245 yards passing, 82 rushing, five total TDs) feasted on five turnovers by the Mean Green (5-1, 1-1), which had started 5-0 for the first time since 1959.

USF’s competition for the American title (and likely CFP berth that comes with it) includes Tulane (5-1, 2-0) and undefeated squads Memphis (6-0, 2-0) and Navy (6-0, 4-0). The Midshipmen stayed perfect in dramatic fashion, when, on a fourth-and-1 with 39 seconds left, quarterback Blake Horvath dashed 51 yards for a touchdown, then hit a two-point conversion throw to survive 32-31 against Temple (3-3, 1-1).

USF plays road games at both Memphis (Oct. 25) and Navy (Nov. 15).

19. Apparently, UCLA’s Jerry Neuheisel is the world’s most impactful offensive coordinator. The once 0-4 Bruins followed up their 42-point outburst against Penn State last week by hammering Michigan State (3-3, 0-3), 38-13 in East Lansing. The Bruins (2-4, 2-1) ran for 238 yards, while QB Nico Iamaleava threw three TDs.

It’s been a rough start for second-year Spartans coach Jonathan Smith, who fell to 3-9 in Big Ten play. The former Oregon State coach is a Pasadena native who was once considered a UCLA candidate. That seems highly unlikely now.

20. Finally, Wisconsin was so embarrassed by losing 42-10 to offensively challenged Iowa last season that its players did 42 pushups after every spring practice. Which must make this year’s 37-0 home loss to the Hawkeyes (4-2, 2-1 Big Ten) feel even more humiliating.

There’s no sugarcoating it: Luke Fickell’s Badgers (2-4, 0-3) have hit rock bottom. They’ve scored a combined 34 points against their four Power 4 foes. And three of their next four opponents are top-10 foes Ohio State, Oregon and Indiana. Barring a miracle turnaround, Wisconsin will need to find $27.5 million to cut ties with Fickell, whose program has managed to graduate from mediocre to awful.

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