Another weekend, another top team goes down as Ohio State loses to Penn State on a blocked field goal for a touchdown. Buckeye fans can blame their special teams all they want but the fact is they were in position to lose that game late because their offense did not play well throughout the entire game.

Penn State played some tough defense - they got after the ball really well - and once again Ohio State’s receivers didn’t make a lot of big plays on the day. I’ve said this before, but Nebraska has a better group of receivers than Ohio State overall. For all we’ve heard about how the buckeyes have this blue-chip recruiting machine, it was somewhat mind-boggling that one of those athletes didn’t make plays on offense on Saturday night.

Ohio State fans will tell you that all they need to do to win the Big Ten championship and get to the playoff is when out. Their correct, of course, but I don’t think they’re looking at their team with anything but confirmation bias.

Texas A&M looked like they were going to hang with Alabama and took a lead earlier in the game. Then the Crimson Tide became the robots we’ve all known them to be and ended up destroying the Aggies 33 – 14. I was very disappointed. It’d be nice to get Alabama a loss.

If you got a chance to watch the Oklahoma – Texas Tech game you saw a mockery of Power Five defense. Oklahoma won 66-59, Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield threw for 545 yards, while Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw for 734 yards, and set the all-time NCAA record for all-purpose yards, finishing with 822. Is that really football anymore?

Meanwhile, West Virginia stayed undefeated, blowing out TCU and making everyone wonder if they’re for real. Texas lost to Kansas State and everyone rejoiced, while no one gets a flying shit about Baylor. One wonders if the Bears would make the playoffs if they’re the only undefeated team in the nation (I hope it doesn’t come to that).

Right now Alabama looks like a clear number one, although Michigan continues to destroy all of their opponents with relative ease. In fact, Jim Harbaugh seems to enjoy mocking his opponents as he’s bleeding the life out of them.

The undefeated teams down to Alabama, Michigan, Clemson, Washington, Baylor, West Virginia, Western Michigan, and Boise State.

It’s another college football season where nothing is as it appeared at the beginning. No one thought Oregon would dive in the ground, along with Stanford, Notre Dame and no one except a true Homer would’ve believed that Nebraska would be undefeated this late in the season.

November is setting up-once again-to be an incredible month of college football.

Big Ten

Minnesota Football: Rodney Smith is the next great Gopher running back - The Daily Gopher

The preseason hype was all about Shannon Brooks, but the regular season has belonged to another sophomore in the backfield

Minnesota Football vs Rutgers: Rodney Smith, The Bad, and The Ugly - The Daily Gopher

The Golden Gophers have problems everywhere except for the running back position — where a star is rising.

Minnesota Football-Let’s Chill Out About Firing Claeys - The Daily Gopher

In all of the vitriol over the Rutgers game, a fair amount of the fanbase seems to have forgotten that the Gophers are 5-2 on the season with five games to play. Minnesota will be favored in the next two, and should they win those games will be 7-2 headed into a showdown in Nebraska.

Takeaways from Rutgers’ 34-32 loss to Minnesota - On the Banks

Rutgers fought till the very end but ultimately came up short in a 34-32 loss to the Minnesota Golden Gophers. This loss was heartbreaking to say the least, but it was the team’s best game of the...

It’s Time To Stop Doubting Michigan’s Offense - Maize n Brew

The Wolverines have maintained a torrid clip through the first seven games, and they’re only getting better.

Kirk Ferentz on Inexplicable Field Goal Decision: "You Have to Score Twice" When Down by Eight | Go Iowa Awesome

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz found himself down 14-6 with 5:25 left in the fourth quarter against Wisconsin. Iowa had the ball, facing 4th & 5 from the Wisconsin 20. It was the deepest Iowa had taken the ball in the second half, and the first time his offense had managed a mere first down in the last four series. Even against Wisconsin's vaunted defense, the situation demanded Iowa go for a first down; even with a field goal, Iowa would still have to score a touchdown (or kick two more field goals) to catch the Badgers, and time was running out.

This is mind boggling. Completely, utterly mind boggling. Iowa is doomed to have this man coaching their team forever because of his buy out. All of it is mind boggling. I’m glad this is not us.

Five Things: Failure to Win Line of Scrimmage and Poor Special Teams Doom Buckeyes in Happy Valley | Eleven Warriors

Ohio State quite simply lost too many different facets of the game to expect a victory at Penn State.

Ohio State’s offensive line, special teams to blame for upset loss to Penn State - Land-Grant Holy Land

Failing to protect your quarterback is a surefire way to get upset, it turns out.

Special teams failures spark Ohio State’s unraveling at Penn State - Land-Grant Holy Land

The kicking game was not exactly stellar against the Nittany Lions.

Northwestern 24, Indiana 14: Richard Lagow’s struggles cost Hoosiers in Evanston - The Crimson Quarry

Indiana’s offense turned in their worst performance of the season. Is it time to consider a change at quarterback?

Player grades from Northwestern’s 24-14 win over Indiana - Inside NU

It’s a mixed bag, much like the game was.

Elsewhere

Oklahoma-Texas Tech shatter records everywhere, but Sooners still alive for CFP - CBSSports.com

A list of all the records broken in Oklahoma's 66-59 win at Texas Tech

Oklahoma Sooners Football: Baylor Scores Touchdown on OU Three Weeks Before Actual Game - Crimson And Cream Machine

College football went full-on Twilight Zone yesterday, and things appear to only be getting zanier.

Oklahoma Sooners Football: Bitter Victory - Crimson And Cream Machine

The points just kept coming during OU’s record-setting night in Lubbock.

The SMO: Taking a look at options - Burnt Orange Nation

But because it appears the writing is on the wall for Texas head coach Charlie Strong, let’s take a look at options as we head into the back nine of the 2016 season.

We still own Texas - Bring On The Cats

Kansas State is now 7-1 all time at home against the Longhorns

Colorado Buffaloes vs. Stanford Cardinal: Day after thoughts - The Ralphie Report

Three takeaways from the big win over Stanford.

Todd Graham Confronts "Chickenshit" Mike Leach During Post-Game Handshake

The Pac-12 fined Washington State head coach Mike Leach $10,000 earlier this week for claiming Arizona State steals signals from opposing teams—something Sun Devils head coach Todd Graham admitted to last year. Graham wasn’t taking kindly to the allegations this time around, though, telling Leach during the handshake that followed Wazzu’s 37-32 win that the allegations were “chickenshit.”

Todd Graham is great at stealing signs and that bothers Mike Leach - CougCenter

Why some sign stealing is acceptable, and some is not.

I think your conference is actually bad: Week 8 college football power rankings - SBNation.com

Your league is trash, and I’m only here to find out which one is the least trash.

Tim DeRuyter out as Fresno State head coach. Jeff Tedford seems to be the name to know - SBNation.com

After a 1-7 start to 2016, Tim DeRuyter is done at Fresno State. The Bulldogs fired him on Sunday and named offensive coordinator Eric Kiesau the interim coach. Kiesau came to Fresno State this year, after serving as an analyst on Alabama’s national championship team last season.

We helped kill a coach?

There’s This

And This, Because It’s Monday