Penn State comeback, Texas rout headline college football Week 7 winners and losers

Southern California had No. 5 Penn State on the ropes after a stunningly effective first half that saw the Trojans turn the page on last week’s loss to Minnesota and resemble the team some thought could be a factor in the race for the College Football Playoff.

But the second half saw the Nittany Lions round back into form. Down 20-6 at the break, they tied the game with under five minutes to go in the third quarter and seemed poised to pull away in the fourth to remain unbeaten.

The response from USC tells the story of the Trojans’ first run through the Big Ten.

Penn State gifted USC a short field late in the third quarter on a Drew Allar interception, one of three on the day from one of the best in the Bowl Subdivision at avoiding turnovers. But the Trojans were only able to get a field goal to take a 23-20 lead into the final quarter.

Ahead 30-23 with six minutes left, USC gave up a pair of fourth-down conversions to help PSU draw even with about three minutes remaining. On the final drive of regulation, USC played for overtime instead of pushing the ball downfield for a chance at the possible game-winning field goal.

After USC missed a field goal on the first possession of overtime, the Nittany Lions converted a 36-yard field goal to escape with a 33-30 road win.

Close. So, so close for USC. But not quite.

There are some positive signs amid a third loss in four games to open Big Ten play. In addition to Saturday’s first half and competitive loss, there was the second half against Michigan, when USC came within a late defensive stand of a narrow win. Before losing to the Golden Gophers, the Trojans looked very good in a win against Wisconsin, which beat Rutgers 42-7 on Saturday.

Looking beyond the standings, USC might be close to becoming a legitimate Big Ten contender. The trick will be packaging what we've seen in spurts — one quarter here, one half there — into the sort of complete performance a team needs to rise to the top of the Big Ten.

For Penn State, the comeback win maintains some very strong playoff hopes and avoids the sort of loss that would’ve raised the stakes around November’s matchup with No. 2 Ohio State. By escaping the Trojans, the Nittany Lions remain in good position to earn an at-large playoff bid even with a loss to the Buckeyes.

The Trojans and Nittany Lions lead the way for Saturday’s winners and losers:

Winners

Texas

It wasn’t the prettiest performance, especially in a rocky first quarter, but No. 1 Texas took care of business with a 34-3 win in the rivalry against No. 16 Oklahoma to remain the only unbeaten team in the SEC. After missing two games due to injury, quarterback Quinn Ewers had 199 yards passing and ran and threw for a touchdown while the running game earned 177 yards on 30 carries. The Red River win saw another very good performance on defense from a unit that entered the weekend ranked second nationally in yards given up per play: Texas held the Sooners to 237 yards on 3.4 yards per play, with a good chunk of that yardage coming with the game already well in hand.

Iowa

Iowa scored 40 points in a very nice win against Washington, and if you don’t think that’s a big deal you might be unfamiliar with the Hawkeyes’ recent history. Iowa hadn’t scored 40 points against a Big Ten opponent since dropping 51 points on Maryland on Oct. 1, 2021. Last year’s team scored a grand total of 131 points in 10 league games, counting a shutout loss to Michigan for the Big Ten championship. While helped by a couple short fields in the fourth quarter, the Hawkeyes are clearly better on this side of the ball; that makes them a threat against just about every opponent the rest of the way.

Buffalo

Buffalo is making some major noise under new coach Pete Lembo. A few weeks after upsetting Northern Illinois, the Bulls took down the MAC favorite with a 30-15 win against Toledo. Two factors keyed the upset: one, a plus-two edge in turnover margin, and two, a dominant performance on both sides of the line. Buffalo ran for 230 yards on 52 carries while holding the Rockets to just 46 yards on 1.8 yards per rush. Lembo once worked wonders at Ball State and is doing the same with the Bulls.

Losers

Alabama

Sirens, alarms, flares, cuckoo clocks – they are all going off simultaneously amid another eyebrow-raising result for Kalen DeBoer and the No. 7 Crimson Tide. Hey, at least they won this time: Alabama made a late defensive stand and held off South Carolina to win 27-25. That’s an improvement, of course, over last week’s loss to Vanderbilt. But there are so many signs of concern, including an offensive scheme that worked so well for DeBoer at Washington but has not translated well to the physicality and style in the SEC. Beating the Gamecocks keeps the Tide alive for the SEC championship and a playoff berth, but it’s becoming harder to see how they manage to steer through the regular season without another two or more losses.

North Carolina

These aren’t normal losses. These are bad, bad, bad losses, each seemingly worse than the last. And that’s saying something given how North Carolina’s current four-game losing streak began with a 70-50 embarrassment at home against James Madison. And yes, the latest was worse. After tying Georgia Tech at 34-34 on a 26-yard field goal with 44 seconds to go, the Tar Heels allowed Tech running back Jamal Haynes to scamper 68 yards for a touchdown on the second play of the ensuing drive to lose 41-34. UNC is now 3-4 and winless in ACC play.

Oklahoma

There are too many flaws for this team to stay in the Top 25. The biggest issue with OU is an offense that has no quarterback and no surrounding skill talent — the receiver corps has been decimated by injuries — and looks like a yearlong problem. At quarterback, Brent Venables and his staff seem to have whiffed on former starter Jackson Arnold and don’t seem to know how to manufacture anything positive behind Michael Hawkins Jr., a more limited passer. The Sooners still have to face No. 8 Mississippi, No. 18 Missouri, Alabama and No. 10 LSU, so getting to six wins might be easier said than done.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: College football Week 7 winners and losers: Penn State, Texas top list